Monday, February 27, 2012

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

Welcome to the world's most widely used resource on Charles Darwin.
Darwin Online is now on Facebook.

Darwin Online

Complete publications
    Origin of Species
, Voyage of the Beagle,
    Descent of Man, Zoology of the Beagle,
    Articles, Translations, Published manuscripts,
    
Autobiography
...
International bibliography (Freeman)

Private papers & manuscripts
    Beagle notebooks (Galapagos notebook),
    Beagle diary (audio), Journal
    Evolution notebooks, student bills,
    Annie, Emma's diaries
...
Manuscript catalogue

Supplementary works
    Reviews & responses,
    Darwin's specimens,
    Obituaries & recollections, works about Darwin ...

Forthcoming: editions, translations, introductions, manuscripts & more.

Δαρβινος, Darwin, Charles Darwin, origins of species, on-line,

Posted via email from brexians posterous

Cosmic Loneliness


Cosmic Loneliness, originally uploaded by David Cartier.

Cosmic Loneliness

Since the dawn of the human mind, we've populated the sky with gods, in medieval times saints and madonnas appeared; in this technological age humans have imagined a sky buzzing with flying saucers and hydrocephalic bug-eyed aliens. Even if you are not given to flights of fancy it's hard to look up at the stars without feeling a longing for some confirmation of other distant intelligences. For decades now, sophisticated instruments have searched the sky for whispered echoes of consciousness. No answer comes ...
In a virtually infinite universe of evolving worlds it's counter-intuitive to consider that we could be an anomaly, a singularity. The hard reality is that in even a cosmos teeming with biology, the very scale and size of the universe, the literally unimaginable distance between the stars , the improbable pile of contingent circumstances which have resulted in ourselves ... probably conspire to make life so vanishingly rare, from our provincial perspective, as to ensure that we are well and truly alone, for all practical purposes.
It's a lonely observation , but one of those realizations, like the inevitability of death, which shouldn't be denied, but embraced as part and parcel of the marvel of existence ...

(aurora, 2/25, 15 sec. with russian Mir47 f2.5 lens)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Infographic: What you should know about ACTA

Infographic: What you should know about ACTA

ACTA, a controversial agreement about counterfeiting and online copyright infringements, has been signed so far by 30 countries. In coming months Parliament will be able to decide its fate in the EU by either approving or rejecting it.

* But what is this all about?
* What does ACTA seek to achieve?
* Why has it provoked protests from groups across the world?
* How will the Parliament come to a decision and how will you be able to follow the process?
* What is ACTA about?
* What will be covered by it?
* Who takes part in ACTA?
* Why is it controversial?
* Which countries have already signed it?
* Why is the role of the European Parliament crucial?
* What options are available to the European Parliament?
* How will the European Parliament come to a decision?
* What has the European Parliament said so far about ACTA?
* What happens if the European Parliament votes in favour?
* What happens if the European Parliament rejects it?
* How will I be able to find out the latest developments on this in the European Parliament?

Read the answers :
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/content/20120220...

© European Union 2012 EP

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Nice Curves


Nice Curves, originally uploaded by David Cartier.

I love seeing bright Auroral arcs in a light blue, fully moonlit sky ... beautiful color contrast .... In fact I just love being out in the night during the full moon, anytime ...
Aurora Borealis, morning of February 4.

Mercury Close-up: Hovnatanian Crater (NASA, MESSENGER, 01/16/12)

Editor's note: I believe this striking crater on Mercury is named for the nineteenth century Armenian painter, Hakop Hovnatanian.

Hovnatanian crater was formed by an object that impacted at a very oblique angle, causing the crater to appear elliptical. Although impacts at most angles produce circular craters, impacts with incidence angles <15º (from the horizontal) will create elliptical craters. The rays of Hovnatanian form a "butterfly" pattern, which also indicates an oblique impact.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Original image:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/multimedia/messenger...

More about the MESSENGER mission to Mercury:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/index.html
messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php

For information regarding the use of MESSENGER images, see the image use policy:
messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/image_use.html

View the Mercury MESSENGER photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157626546158766/

_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...

Sunday, February 5, 2012

the eye of the beholder


Cerro Paranal is an astronomers paradise with its stunningly dark, steady and transparent sky. Located in the barren Atacama Desert of Chile it is home to some of the world's leading telescopes. Operated by the European Southern Observatory (eso.org) the Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located on Paranal, composed of four 8 m telescopes which can combine their light to make a giant telescope by interferometry. Four smaller auxiliary telescopes, each 1.8 m in aperture, are important elements of the VLT interferometer. This footage is made during an imaging expedition to Paranal assigned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). All video rights reserved by Babak Tafreshi (btafreshi@twanight.org) of The World at Night (TWAN) program. The music is composed by Thomas Nordwest (thomasnordwest.com) and provided by the Ars Electronica (aec.at).





"Ποταμοῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμβαίνομέν τε καὶ οὐκ ἐμβαίνομεν, εἶμέν τε καὶ οὐκ εἶμεν." "We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not." Heraclitus the Riddler