Another Pale Blue Dot: 03/22/09

Earth and the Universe - Size chart

Chart of distances and sizes of the Universe.

Neil deGrasse Tyson - "The Pluto Files"

he Authors@Google program welcomed Neil deGrasse Tyson to Google's New York office to discuss his book, "The Pluto Files".

About the Book:
"The New York Times best-selling author chronicles America's irrational love affair with Pluto, man's best celestial friend.
In August 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted Pluto out of planethood. Far from the sun, tiny, and eccentric in orbit, it's a wonder Pluto has any fans. Yet during the mounting debate over Pluto's status, Americans rallied behind the extraterrestrial underdog. The year of Pluto's discovery, Disney created an irresistible pup by the same name, and, as one NASA scientist put it, Pluto was "discovered by an American for America." Pluto is entrenched in our cultural, patriotic view of the cosmos, and
Neil deGrasse Tyson is on a quest to discover why.
Only Tyson can tell this story: he was involved in the first exhibits to demote Pluto, and, consequently, Pluto lovers have freely shared their opinions with him, including endless hate mail from third graders. In his typically witty way, Tyson explores the history of planet classification and America's obsession with the "planet" that's recently been judged a dwarf."
This event took place on February 9, 2009.

Who's Got God's Millions?

Robert Llewellyn attempts to discover which of the world's top four monotheistic religions has the most money. His journey takes him from Canterbury Cathedral to Vatican City and Israel, as he bids to calculate the income and assets of the Anglican Commune, the Catholic Church, Judaism and Islam.

“As an atheist, I’ve always wondered how much money the faiths keep stuffed under the mattress,” says Robert Llewellyn. In this time of financial crisis, when billions of pounds are being coughed up to support struggling banks, Robert feels it is time to discover the financial interests of the world’s great monotheistic faiths – Anglicanism, Catholicism, Judaism and Islam.

Robert’s first stop is Canterbury Cathedral, where he is surprised to learn that financial figures for the Church of England are readily available. Robert then travels to Westminster Cathedral to learn about the Catholic Church’s status in England. Part of the Catholic Church’s income in the UK goes to fund the Vatican, so Rome is Robert’s next destination. It soon becomes apparent that Vatican City is a financial black hole, and no one wants to admit how much money the Pope actually has.

Next Robert travels to Jerusalem to scour the finances of Judaism, only to find the Israeli government cannot even put a figure on the number of synagogues in the country. “There’s one God – that’s the only figure I can think of,” says Ariel Catane of the National Authority of Religious Services.

Finally, Robert heads to the East London Mosque to get a handle on the wealth of Islam. Despite the plethora of statistics available, he finds that no one has ever conducted an audit of the UK’s 1,600 mosques. And his efforts to obtain the global income for Islam founder when none of the embassies of the world’s biggest Muslim countries agree to meet him. Undeterred, Robert eventually comes up with a total figure – but which of the top religions is the richest?

The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman

Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, speaking at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Sep 9, 2005

The Great Religion Debate: Dinesh D’Souza v. Michael Shermer

The Great Debate: Dinesh D’Souza v. Michael Shermer 2008.9.1
The Skeptics Society (Michael Shermer) - www.michaelshermer.com

In this debate on what are arguably two of the most important questions in the culture wars today — Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? and Can you be Good without God? — the conservative Christian author and cultural scholar Dinesh D’Souza and the libertarian skeptic writer and social scientist Michael Shermer, square off to resolve these and related issues, such as the relationship between science and religion and the nature and existence of God. This event was one of the liveliest ever hosted by the Skeptics Society at Caltech, mixing science, religion, politics, and culture

Michael Ruse on Darwinism

Summary
Michael Ruse, philosopher of science, recounts the history of Darwinism by explaining the theories of evolution and natural selection.
Ruse questions whether these theories are as valid today, 200 years after Darwin's birthday.
Michael Ruse - Michael Ruse is a philosopher of science, working on the philosophy of biology, and is well known for his work on the argument between creationism and evolutionary biology. He was born in England, took his undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol (1962), his master's degree at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario (1964), and Ph.D. at the University of Bristol (1970). Ruse taught at the University of Guelph Canada for 35 years. Since his retirement from Guelph, he has taught at Florida State University and is, since 2000, the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy. In 1986, he was elected as a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Bergen, Norway (1990), the McMaster University, Ontario, Canada (2003) and most recently the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada (2007).

A Conversation About the Universe with Robert Kirshner

(16 minutes) A conversation with astronomer and professor of science, Robert Kirshner of Harvard University, about his book "The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos" which provides an overview of the exploration of the universe and the existence of dark energy.
(aired May 20, 2004)

1950 Movie - Destination Moon

The first sci fi film made in the u.s. and first attempt at technical accuracy in manned rocketship launch to the moon.

How We Staged the Morristown UFO Hoax

How We Staged the Morristown UFO Hoax
Joe Rudy and Chris Russo

In this video, Chris and Joe show the supplies used to construct their UFOs and try to verify the dates and times to prove they, in fact, set up the balloons.

In this video, Chris and Joe let go of the flares in the woods. The first part shows their test launch on January 4, 2009.

In this video, you'll see the reactions of eyewitnesses to the "UFOs", plus various clips from news programs, footage from an "Alien Sale" at a car dealership, and the producers' final thoughts on the experiment
The Reactions - 29:06

Size & Scale of the Universe - Picture sequence

Picture series representing the scale and location of the observable universe.

The Observable Universe

The superclusters

The Virgo supercluster

The Local Group

Nearest structures

The Milky Way

The Orion arm

250 light years radio

20 light years radio

12 light years radio

Where is the earth in this scale

Another view of the Milky Way

The Planets - A Solar System Journey - Dava Sobel

Dava Sobel, the best-selling author of "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter", uses her rare gifts for weaving difficult scientific concepts into gripping stories in this lecture about the planets. Sobel's talk explores our place in the universe.

Time Machine - Masters of Time - BBC Documentary

Alan Boss: The Crowded Universe

Summary
Considered a leader in the search for planets outside our solar system, Alan Boss says we are at a turning point in our search for extraterrestrial life.

He expects we are on the verge of finding many different Earth-like planets across the universe, and he expects it will be common to find life on those planets. He shares his ideas for how the United States can be on the forefront of the next great discovery: life on another planet.