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Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes’ measurement of the Earth’s circumference Ελληνικά: Η μέτρηση της περιφέρειας της γης από τον Ερατοσθένη (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Eratosthenes (276-194 BCE) was an Ancient Greek who apparently was the first to calculate the circumference of the Earth with remarkable accuracy using math that involved measuring the angles of shadows.
He also invented the idea of longitude and latitude, the leap day, and may have calculated the distance from the earth to the sun.
Related articles
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes
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Earth
View of the crescent moon through the top of the earth's atmosphere. Photographed above 21.5°N, 113.3°E. by International Space Station crew Expedition 13 over the South China Sea, just south of Macau (NASA image ID: ISS013-E-54329) - Wikipedia
Earth is the third planet from our sun with orbit between Venus and Mars. The Earth’s diameter is 12,756 km with a distance from the sun of about 150 million km and a circumference of 40,075 km. It’s inner core, the geosphere, is composed of solid, pressurized iron-nickel. This is surrounded by a hot liquid outer core composed of various substances.
The next layer, the mantle, is composed of solid rock which rises, falls and shifts over time due to pressure changes caused by temperature fluctuations. From this, the positioning of the continents is in a constant state of flux. Their slow but inexorable movement is called continental drift.
The next layer, the lithosphere, is composed of different rock forms and lies about 8 to 40 km underneath the visible continents.
The Earth’s atmosphere is mostly composed of oxygen and nitrogen. Theories about the formation and age of the Earth vary, but it’s generally believed that due to gravity a cloud of gas condensed about 4,550 million years ago, forming a ball which eventually took shape as the Earth.
Today the Earth is not a perfect circle. It is flattened at the poles and bulges a little at the equator. The Earth rotates on an axis about 23° off the vertical, this being determined by its orbital path around the sun.
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Gaia Hypothesis
A rendition of life on planet earth via Wikipedia
The Gaia hypothesis was proposed by the British scientist, author and environmentalist James Lovelock (1919-). It suggests that the Earth, itself, is a self-regulating entity geared toward sustaining life.
In his own words, Gaia is
a complex entity involving the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet.¹
This view is alternately accepted and rejected by various scientists. And it’s often mistaken for Lewis Thomas‘ speculation that the Earth, if viewed from space, looks like a single cell.
The Gaia hypothesis is also used out of context by some New Age enthusiasts who uphold it as support for the pantheistic idea that God and the natural, observable world are identical.
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¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
Related Posts » Great Mother
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Gaia
Anselm Feuerbach: Gaea (1875). Ceiling painting, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna via Wikipedia
Gaia (also Ge) is the Greek Goddess of the Earth who arose from Chaos. She was worshipped at Delphi, where her temple was guarded by a Python. The temple was rededicated to Apollo after he destroyed Gaia’s serpent.
Gaia gave birth to the Furies, assisted by heavenly intervention. She was also the mother of Uranus, with whom she gave birth to the Titans and the Cyclopses. She also gave birth to the Giants and other monsters. Her Roman equivalent is Tellus.
Some anthropologists believe that Gaia was worshipped in Neolithic times as a Great Mother, although this academic position has been disputed by most contemporary scholars. Gaia’s Roman counterpart is Tellus.
In the 1970s, the British scientist, author and environmentalist James Lovelock proposed the Gaia hypothesis, where the planet Earth, itself, is seen as a self-regulating entity geared toward sustaining life.
In his own words, Gaia is
a complex entity involving the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet.¹
Today, Neopagans revere Gaia as The Goddess.
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¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
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Lovelock, James
Painting by artist Christine Lovelock (daughter of the Gaia Theorist James Lovelock) "View of Craigenputtock in 2006" via Wikipedia
James Lovelock (1919-) is a British scientist, author and environmentalist best known for his proposal of the Gaia hypothesis, where the Earth, itself, is seen as a self-regulating entity geared toward sustaining life.
In his own words, Gaia is
a complex entity involving the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet.¹
This view is alternately accepted and rejected by different scientists. And it’s often mistaken for Lewis Thomas‘ speculation that the Earth, if viewed from space, looks like a single cell.
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¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
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Moon
Lunar libration via Wikipedia
The Moon is the Earth‘s natural satellite with a diameter of 3,476 km, orbiting our planet from a distance of approximately 384,400 km.
American astronauts first walked on the Moon on July 21, 1969. Although this was a uniquely American achievement, most everyone in the word rejoiced and those with TV access watched in wonder as the event signified “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
For many years it was thought that the moon had next to no water on its surface. But recent discoveries of ice have revolutionized this view, as well as the moon’s prospects for future habitation.
In mythology, lunar deities are both male and female and take on a wide variety of meanings and functions.¹
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¹See, for instance, this list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_deity
Search Think Free » 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apollo, Artemis, Cancer, Diana, Luna, Rona, Sin, Swedenborg (Emanuel)
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Thomas, Lewis
Earth, courtesy Apollo 17
Thomas, Lewis (1913-93)
American biologist, physician and author of several books.
In The Lives of a Cell (1974) Thomas says that the Earth behaves like a huge single-celled organism.
Often misquoted, Thomas makes it clear that he doesn’t say the Earth is a living amoeba. He simply says that if viewed from space, the Earth would seem to behave like one.
I have been trying to think of the earth as a kind of organism, but it is no go. I cannot think of it this way. It is too big, too complex, with too many working parts lacking visible connections. The other night, driving through a hilly, wooded part of southern New England, I wondered about this. If not like an organism, what is it like, what is it most like? Then, satisfactorily for that moment, it came to me: it is most like a single cell (Cited at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_a_Cell).
Nevertheless, his idea has been misappropriated to fit with New Age pantheistic beliefs and various end-time prophecies, many focusing on the year 2012. » Gaia Hypothesis, Lovelock (James)
On the Web:
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Vishnu
Vishnu
In Hinduism Vishnu is the second deity of the Hindu Trimurti (i.e. triad) of Brahma, Visnu, and Siva.
He rides the great eagle Garuda with his consort, the goddess of prosperity and good fortune, Lakshmi, at his side.
Hindus believe that the universe passes through endless cycles of creation and destruction.
While Brahma is seen as the creator of the universe, Vishnu is the benevolent preserver and Siva is at times regarded as the cosmic destroyer.
Vishnu is said to have had nine incarnations (avatars) on Earth, including Krishna. The tenth avatar, Kalki, is yet to come and will ride on a white horse.
It is believed that Kalki will reestablish dharma in our present age of alleged moral decline, the Kali-yuga.
On the World Wide Web
- The incarnations of Visnu at http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/vishnu.htm
» AUM , Avatar, Underworld, Visistadvaita, Yuga
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Adamski, George
Adamski, George (1891–1965) Polish-born American well-known among UFO researchers and enthusiasts, alike, for his writings about alleged encounters with extraterrestrials.
In his book written with Desmond Leslie, Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953), Adamski claims that beautiful, benevolent beings invited him aboard their spaceship.
Adamski says the ship’s pilot was telepathically connected to the propulsion system. By controlling thought waves interfaced with advanced technology, the aliens allegedly tapped into elemental harmonic rhythms of the universe.
This, according to Adamski, enabled their penetration and actual travel through space-time. Adamski’s diagram of the circular transportation system is likened to the Hopi medicine wheel.
Adamski also says, however, that the minds of human beings are currently far too chaotic and undisciplined to meaningfully (and safely) harness such a technology, a sentiment which recalls Arthur Koestler‘s notion that, by virtue of its apparently random evolution from primitive to complex, the human brain is intrinsically conflicted.
Critics of Adamski are many. Most feel that his accounts fall into the category of hoax, as the following aptly illustrates.
One aspect of the UFO story does seem to be deeply involved in hoax. This is the so-called contactee cult. Many people now located over much of the world claim to have had direct contact with the flying-saucer people. (Adamski and Leslie, 1958; UFO International).
Perhaps the contactee is informed by mental telepathy that he should report promptly to a certain lonely spot in the desert. Upon obeying, he is met by a flying saucer whose occupants are, as a rule, beautifully humanoid and who frequently take him into their confidence by allowing him to photograph themselves and their craft, inviting him in for a look at the control panels, and perhaps taking him for a quick spin, sometimes to Mars or Venus but best of all to the mysterious planet on the other side of the sun, unobservable from mother earth.
Everything about these stories seems to cry hoax. The proof is typically a series of photographs (which could easily be fraudulent) and copious quantities of pseudoscience. Someone who had really contacted visitors from another world should surely be able to do better than that. Why should visitors from another world bother with such obscure representatives of the human race, anyway? Their message is always that man must cease his wars or be destroyed, but why should such an important message be given to someone who is bound to be considered a liar when he delivers it?
Frank B. Salisbury, “The Scientist and the UFO” in BioScience, Vol. 17, No. 1, (Jan., 1967: 15-24, p. 19).
» Alien Possession Theory (APT)
Image Source:
- “UFO Incident” by Flidais Earie at http://www.flickr.com/photos/flidais/431988892 Creative Commons License
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by posting a comment
Adherents of all Religions
Adherents of all Religions It is difficult to get accurate figures for the number of adherents in each world religion.
Religion being a very personal issue, often central to one’s self-image, it’s conceivable that many people don’t wish to report their true beliefs to a proverbial Big Brother and thus will check “other” or “personal” on a government census.
Other people may live in tribal societies and are never directly asked what they believe–it is merely assumed that each individual adheres to the general beliefs of his of her group. A good example of this would be the Santals of India and Bangladesh, who according to a 1991 census are about 4.2 million strong. Among this significant population, the religious beliefs of only 23,645 individuals are officially recorded.
Another issue is the problem of defining religion (versus, for instance, a cult, a collective delusion, a myth or a pastime) and trying to assess who, if anyone, has the authority to define it.
On the issue of New Religious Movements (NRM) Eileen Barker says:
When social scientists have been pressed in a court of law to say whether a particular NRM is “really” a religion, they have not always insisted as clearly as they might that science cannot give the definition of a real religion. It is only when the court provides a definition, or we use the form “if by religion you mean. . ,” that we can say whether, according to that definition, the movement is “really” religious.
Eileen Barker, “The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking!” in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 34, No. 3, (Sep., 1995: 287-310, p. 306).
Having noted the above, the following figures should be taken cum grano salis.
2000 CE, in millions:
| Christians | 2,020 | |
| Muslims | 1,200 | |
| Hindus | 860 | |
| Buddhists | 360 | |
| Jews | 20 | |
| Sikhs | 24 | |
| Shinto | 95 | |
| Bahai’is | 8 | |
| Jains | 4 | |
| Parsees | 0.219 | |
| Tribal Religions | 100 | |
| New Religions | 138 | |
| Total world population | 6,260 |
Source: D.B. Barrett, ed., World Christian Encyclopedia (1982) in G. Parrinder, A Concise Encyclopedia of Christianity (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1998, p. 9).
On the World Wide Web:
- Adherents.com (an excellent site providing the reservations mentioned above are kept in mind)
Image Source:
- “Canada World Religion Day Stamp” originally uploaded by Kianoosh Raika at http://www.flickr.com/photos/djkianoosh/474556286/, Creative Commons License
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