In the case of Jupiter, which is relatively close to the earth right now,
it is ~35 light-minutes away, which means that when were were looking at it
last night, the telescope was aimed in the direction of Jupiter's location
35 minutes previous, when actually Jupiter was located ~9 degrees farther to
the west.
I'm pretty sure my calculations are close to accurate, even considering the
impediments to clear brain function at yesterday's feast.
So why is George Carlin's image posted above? Three reasons: First, the
late Mr. Carlin, whose commentary has eternal applicability, had been awarded
the Mark Twain Prize at the Kennedy Center, and the show was run on PBS.
Among the video clips shown were Carlin on Stuff, the Seven Dirty Words, and Religion is Bullshit, wherein he gives a view similar to the one in my essay, God the Sun.
The second reason: My friend Ralph with the telescope looks, to me, just like George Carlin.
As for God and Mr. Pesci, watch the Religion is Bullshit video.
NOTE: To repeat: I write the hypertext codes for
this site myself. I tailor it for Firefox so it might look distorted on other
browsers.
As always, thanks for the email.
11/04/11 — The little green
dots near the top of the image are particles of what is commonly called
"steam" — i.e., "aerosol particles" which, in this instance, are tiny water droplets rising from water that is boiling off of the hot electrical resistor. This comment is
Seeing Small Things with a Cheap Laser.
11/03/11 — God the Sun — and
The Wealth Argument for a Space Program.
11/01/11 — There are lots of good reading lamps
on the market, even LED ones. Still, I had to make my own Massively
Brass LED Lamp, which came out pretty good.
10/17/11 — Does it really take ~2,000
lbs to push two uranium nuclei right up against each other? I'm still not sure I did the
calculation right. Check out my two electrical charge
calculations, show me where I'm wrong, and stop me before I calculate again, please.
9/10/11 — Photons
and Electrons: A Speculation on the Material Basis of Consciousness, Inspired by Mr.
Feynman and Captain Picard's Holodeck Horse. What happens on the
holodeck stays on the holodeck. – Anon
7/15/11 — It looks like I'm still making
vaporizers — if the price is right. Specifically, I'm open to making
Tobacco Master units. Check out
my latest creation. Contact me, Bob, if you want to talk vapor and means related thereto.
5/16/11 — The water just keeps coming
and coming. Click on the image for a link to an amazing tsunami video.
5/12/11 — A comet heads in toward the sun, then a billion
tons of mass come come flying off a nearly a million miles an hour. Was there
a connection? Probably not, but the videos are worth a few moments of contemplation.
3/14/11 — Terms like "million tons"
and "billion tons" are sometimes mentioned in the news. How much is a million tons of
something? Here are some visual perspectives for Thinking
about Big Things to get a grip on the millions of tons of canned tuna, coal,
corn and other things produced annually by 375 million tons of living human tissue.
3/7/11 — Latest
Project — Vertical Lift. This is a diagram of what I thought was a great
idea, when I was 11 years old in 1953, and flying saucers were hot items in the news.
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of aerodynamics and Newton's Third Law of Motion
should see the silliness of the thing.
3/7/11 — APOD
Solar Flare for today.
2/28/11 — Need Money? Check out this proven, free, money-making
idea.
2/26/11 — Uncle Harry's good friend
Bill explains Barney Frank's scheme to "transfer wealth"
by giving mortgages to poor people who have no hope of paying them off.
2/25/11 — A correspondent whose name is Jesse says he believes
the idea global warming is fiction. He wrote to ask if I believe in it. I said no, the
idea of Global Warming is Unbelievable — but 'tis plausible.
2/24/11 — God's Sex Joke
2/22/11 — A Pneuma owner and long-time correspondent asked if I'd ever
experienced a thrown connecting rod in a car engine. Here's my write-up on a
Thrown Rod, which will I hope provoke me to
describe how ol' buddy Ron patched up his 1951 BSA Goldstar in Chapala, Mexico, when
his piston disintegrated when we were there in the summer of 1964. There's also a
link to a neat video of motorcycle accidents.
2/22/11 — The New Yorker's image of what an in-coming
asteroid would look like (February 28 issue) is different from the one I have
in my thoughts on certain details of an asteroidal impact.
2/17/11 — Most fossils we see
represent the remains of plants or animals. But some fossils are different, such
as the 3.5-million year old Laetoli
footprints of ancient humans. I found an Unusual
Fossil near Hancock, Maryland, some years ago. Took me a few minutes to
figure out what it was. Others might see what it is immediately.
2/16/11 — Slow-Motion view of Saturn V Liftoff
2/13/11 — Within the past year or so
it became clear that if a person presents something to the public, some personal creation
such as, say, Andy Warhol's art or the movies of Tom Cruise or John Travolta,
A Lot of People will like it and want more.
A comment on two articles.
2/8/11 — Uncle Harry and the Big Picture
1/29/11 — Fear,
Terror & Marijuana -- The word "fear" in the title of today's
comment refers to the "uneasiness" I feel when I use marijuana.
1/26/11 — Fast Brains
12/24/10 — A Comment of Portable Vaporizers
9/15/10 — I didn't learn to read till I was 31. What's funny, sort of, was
that, by then, I had got a degree in mechanical engineering and taught AP math and
physics. Marijuana was involved in learning to read. Check out my write-up on
Marijuana and Reading.
Contact me, Bob, if you
have a comment or question.
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