Starship Asterisk*

• Irony, n.[L. ironia, Gr. dissimulation, fr. a dissembler in speech, fr. to speak.]
  
  • 1. Dissimulation; ignorance feigned for the purpose of confounding or provoking an antagonist.
    
    2. A sort of humor, ridicule, or light sarcasm, which adopts a mode of speech the meaning of which is contrary to the literal sense of the words.
    
    "You're a zealot if you can't see the blinding irony inherent in using force to convince other people that your belief about the unknowable is more accurate than their belief in the unknowable." - Dennis Miller

neufer wrote:Try saying "highly ionized iron atoms" three times fast.

Lé(gi)on (étrangère) wrote:
The autumnal equinox occurred Wednesday night September 22nd at 11:09 pm EDT and only six hours later the Moon will be full and will be this year's Harvest Moon. And along with it comes the great Harvest Moon illusion. But just what is a Harvest Moon anyway?

Well according to the dictionary a harvest is the act of gathering in a crop or the harvested crop itself. And for centuries at this time of year across North America and Europe the fall harvest took place. Now traditionally the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox, is called the Harvest Moon. And since the autumnal equinox Wednesday night will be followed by the full Moon only six hours later this year we are following the lead of astronomer Fred Schaaf and calling it the Harvestest Moon. The last time this happened was 1991 and the next time will be 2029. STAR GAZER THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION http://www.jackstargazer.com/scripts0SG1037.html

neufer wrote:

Lé(gi)on (étrangère) wrote:
The autumnal equinox occurred Wednesday night September 22nd at 11:09 pm EDT and only six hours later the Moon will be full and will be this year's Harvest Moon. And along with it comes the great Harvest Moon illusion. But just what is a Harvest Moon anyway?

Well according to the dictionary a harvest is the act of gathering in a crop or the harvested crop itself. And for centuries at this time of year across North America and Europe the fall harvest took place. Now traditionally the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox, is called the Harvest Moon. And since the autumnal equinox Wednesday night will be followed by the full Moon only six hours later this year we are following the lead of astronomer Fred Schaaf and calling it the Harvestest Moon. The last time this happened was 1991 and the next time will be 2029. STAR GAZER THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION http://www.jackstargazer.com/scripts0SG1037.html

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

APOD Robot wrote:Of course, in the north the days continue to grow shorter, the Sun marching lower in the sky as winter approaches.

God-blithe bedfellow of Glenr
steps to her divine sanctuary
with brightness; then descends the good
light of grey-clad Máni

Skúli Þórsteinsson

emc wrote:
The Singing Sun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo wrote:

Apollo with a kithara: Musei Capitolini, Rome

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Apollo and Marsyas by Palma il Giovane

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<<Hermes was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. The story is told in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. His mother, Maia, had been secretly impregnated by Zeus. Maia wrapped the infant in blankets but Hermes escaped while she was asleep. Hermes ran to Thessaly, where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant Hermes stole a number of his cows and took them to a cave in the woods near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow's intestines and the tortoise shell and made the first lyre. Apollo complained to Maia that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo's claim. Zeus intervened and, claiming to have seen the events, sided with Apollo. Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and offered to allow exchange of the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo became a master of the lyre.

Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the kithara, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and caused [Midas's ears] to become the ears of a donkey.

Apollo has ominous aspects aside from his plague-bringing, death-dealing arrows: Marsyas was a satyr who challenged Apollo to a contest of music. He had found an aulos on the ground, tossed away after being invented by Athena because it made her cheeks puffy. The contest was judged by the Muses. After they each performed, both were deemed equal until Apollo decreed they play and sing at the same time. As Apollo played the lyre, this was easy to do. Marsyas could not do this as he only knew how to use the flute and could not sing at the same time. Apollo was declared the winner because of this. Apollo flayed Marsyas alive in a cave near Celaenae in Phrygia for his hubris to challenge a god. He then nailed Marsyas' shaggy skin to a nearby pine-tree. Marsyas' blood turned into the river Marsyas.

Another variation is that Apollo played his instrument (the lyre) upside down. Marsyas could not do this with his instrument (the flute), and so Apollo hung him from a tree and flayed him alive. Apollo also had a lyre-playing contest with Cinyras, his son, who committed suicide when he lost.>>

NoelC wrote:The caption of the APOD seems to imply all the light at this set of wavelengths is from iron emissions.

Isn't some of the light getting through the filter also simply wideband radiation due to the extreme temperatures? For example the bright parts at the bases of the magnetic loops.

Ann wrote:Is the Sun fun? Much?

Oh Sun, I
am glad you're in the sky.
But as for you in iron
I'd rather look at a lion.

http://www.calbo.dk/htm/the_ireland_project.htm wrote:

The League of Imaginary Scientists dressed all in WHITE.

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Lots and lots of [b][color=#FFBF00]YELLOW kelp[/color][/b] and Leonard in the left top corner.

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The [b][color=#FFBF00]YELLOW bushes[/color][/b] were almost the only other colour besides green.

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The Dogfish is a member of the Catshark family..... It sounds really funny but it is true.

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mpharo wrote:
The sun looks like it was covered in bronze.