The Ring of Gyges or Why Study the Classics at UVA or Why anti-Regulators are full of $#*!

About 2500 years ago, the philosopher Plato told a story that even the most dedicated Fox News viewer can understand.  Here it is in text form:

According to the tradition, Gyges was a shepherd in the service of the king of Lydia; there was a great storm, and an earthquake made an opening in the earth at the place where he was feeding his flock. Amazed at the sight, he descended into the opening, where, among other marvels, he beheld a hollow brazen horse, having doors, at which he stooping and looking in saw a dead body of stature, as appeared to him, more than human, and having nothing on but a gold ring; this he took from the finger of the dead and reascended.

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), leader of elite French science.

Georges Cuvier was one of the most influential figures in science during the early nineteenth century. A self-appointed referee of proper science from his stronghold in the elite Académie des Sciences, Cuvier was as successful in creating his own image as a great man of science as he was in the many areas of science he studied.

Cuvier was born on 23 August 1769, at Montbéliard, a French-speaking community in the Jura Mountains then rule by the Duke of Württemberg. Cuvier went to school at the Carolinian Academy in Stuttgart from 1784 to 1788. He was then a tutor for a noble family in Normandy. 

SCURT INVENTAR AL CERULUI ROMÂNESC

Aflați în plin proces de realizare a script-urilor pentru expoziția digitală, ne-am gândit să facem un inventar al cerului românesc în sistemul de criterii deja consacrat: personaje, obiecte, animale și figuri.

Avem pe cerul românesc 4 personaje feminine:

-Fecioara (Fecioara) o ilustrează în componenta religioasă a cerului românesc pe Fecioara Maria, steaua Spica reprezentând prin albeața ei inima curată a Fecioarei;

-Fata mare din constelația Hora (steaua Alphekka din Coroana Boreală);

Realitate sau Photoshop? Calea Lactee surprinsă într-o fotografie de nuntă

Un cuplu proaspăt căsătorit se poate considera foarte norocos după ce fotograful Lakshal Pererea a reuşit să surprindă Calea Lactee în spatele lor.

Imaginea este făcută cu o expunere de 71 de secunde setată în aşa fel să surprindă lumina stelelor de la o distanţă foarte mare, iar mirii Shirley şi Warren Andrews au stat nemişcaţi. Fotografia a fost făcută cu o expunere de 71 de secunde, pe un trepied Mantrotto, f/5.6, ISO400, cu un aparat Canon 16-35mm f2.8L.

Imaginea a fost realizată la o fermă din Deniliquin, din New South Wales, Australia.

Leaellynasaura, dinozaurul erbivor din Australia

In perioada Cretacicului inferior a erei mezozoice dinozaurii erau raspanditi pe tot Globul, existau sute de specii unele adaptate perfect la mediul inconjurator, altele incercand pe cat posibil sa supravietuiasca in acele vremuri. Un loc plin de pericole pentru multe specii de animale preistorice era reprezentat de padurile salbatice si regiunile polare. In acest peisaj ce reprezenta o adevarata provocare pentru orice vietuitoare traiau dinozaurii Leaellynasaura – mici erbivore zvelte care nu depaseau lungimea de 2 m si greutatea de 70 kg.

Uriașii

Uriasii au existat. Acest lucru este confirmat atat de Sfanta Scriptura, cat si de arheologi, care au descoperit unele oase umane uriase. Uriasii nu erau nici extraterestri, nici o combinatie intre ingerii cazuti si oameni, precum se afirma uneori. De asemenea, gresesc si aceia care spun ca uriasii nu ar fi existat deloc, ci ca ei sunt doar mituri si legende antice.

Uriasii nu erau acei oameni mai inalti decat ceilalti, ci un neam aparte, a carui origine ramane inca tainica. Astfel, in tratarea acestui subiect se cade sa venim cu multa smerenie, iar nu cu o iscodire vicleana a tainelor lui Dumnezeu, lipsita de folos si primejdioasa.

Spaţiu, timp şi textura realităţii

Spaţiul, timpul şi realitatea cotidiană sunt subiecte care au aprins multe minţi de-a lungul timpului. Teoriile despre spaţiu şi timp nu sunt doar de natură fizică, ci aparţin şi unor riguroase reflecţii filozofice, conceptele fiind îndelung dezbătute de mari nume precum Pitagora, Platon, Aristotel sau Kant. 

Fizicienii şi astronomii au făcut importante descoperiri despre spaţiul cosmic şi despre timp, însă cu siguranţă există o serie de aspecte care vor rămâne un mister până şi pentru savanţii cei mai mari din această lume.

Cele mai INTERESANTE 32 de lucruri pe care NU le stiai despre Turcia!

Descopera cele mai fascinante lucruri despre o tara care a contribuit din plin la istoria si civilizatia omenirii - Turcia.

1. Faimosul Razboi Troian s-a desfasurat in vestul Turciei, unde astazi se mai pot admira ramasitele "Calului Troian".

2. Prima biserica construita vreodata de om se afla in Turcia, Antakya, si se numeste Sf. Petru.

Has Machu Picchu, The 'Lost City Of The Incas,' Become A Victim Of Its Own Success?

The president of Peru announced plans Wednesday to build an airport near the city of Cusco, base camp for the pre-Columbian ruins of Machu Picchu, in order to boost tourism to the surrounding region.

President Ollanta Humala said the $460 million facility would replace Velazco Astete Airport, which is only capable of handling limited daytime flights and has cost Peru key international airline links, including many with the United States.

NASA prepares to explore Van Allen Radiation Belts

Spacecraft engineers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida are slated to configure RBSP for launch at approximately 10 p.m. The terminal countdown operation begins at 12:57 a.m., at which time the launch pad will be cleared of personnel in preparation for fueling the Atlas V rocket - with the loading of cryogenic propellants scheduled for 1:42 a.m and liftoff on track for 4:07 a.m.



Abraham Ibn Ezra on Elections, Interrogations, and Medical Astrology

Abraham Ibn Ezra (c.1089-c.1161), born in Tudela, spent the first fifty or so years of his life in Muslim Iberia, as far as we know writing Hebrew poetry, both secular and liturgical. Beginning in 1140 and for the next twenty years, Ibn Ezra travelled through Italy, southern France, the Angevin territories, and England, composing biblical commentaries, grammatical and theological works, and scientific treatises. Strikingly, as has long been known but is now becoming clearer, Ibn Ezra in his journeys found himself writing two or more versions of most of his works, in response to requests from students and according to the interests of various patrons.

Shlomo Sela is the world’s expert on Ibn Ezra’s astrology, having published an analysis of scientific and astrological concepts of space and time in Ibn Ezra’s biblical commentaries (1999), a survey of Ibn Ezra’s astrological works and particular views on astrology (2003), and numerous articles on his discoveries of previously unknown fragments and versions of Ibn Ezra’s astrological treatises.

Children of older men have more DNA mutations

The father’s age is decisive in determining how many mutations a child has in its genome – the older the father is, the higher the number of mutations is, and the greater the risk is that the child will develop e.g. autism and schizophrenia.

If your father was an older man when you were born, it can have had a negative influence on your DNA: you will have acquired more mutations in your genetic material than you would have if your father had been younger.

Red Giants and White Dwarfs Make Explosive Stellar Pairings

Mysterious stars that incite their stellar companions to explode in spectacular supernovas have just been revealed — these culprits can be bloated red giants, researchers say.

Supernovas are exploding stars that are bright enough to briefly outshine all the stars in their galaxies. They can occur when one star sheds gas onto a dying star known as a white dwarf, the dim fading core of a star that was once about the size of our sun.

Identification chips are vulnerable for attacks

Mohammad Reza Sohizadeh Abyaneh
 has found that RFID chips
aren’t totally safe. (Photo: Dag Hellestad)

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips can identify people, animals and objects from a distance of several metres but the technology is susceptible to misuse and hacking.

They are used in key or access cards, electronic travel cards and ID cards to make life easier. Unfortunately some of them can be used to make our lives a little riskier.

RFID is a technology for automatic and wireless identification of an object, animal or person – without any physical or even visual contact with the RFID reader.

This is because RFID chips are designed to be read by radio waves.