Starship Asterisk*

StarstruckKid wrote:
What's it got to do with astronomy?

1) Planet Earth exists in the same cosmos astronomy studies.
2) A better understanding of the life on this planet might just help with understanding any intelligence we might encounter on another one.
3) Broadening our experience of other humans opens the door to incorporating their world views into ours.
Who knows where the next great insight will come from?
4) I always think better about arcane stuff like astronomy if I occasionally turn off my brain and live in my body and emotions for a while.
5) If the APOD didn't usually evoke an emotional reaction, I doubt I'd look at it.
6) Didn't the aliens in "Close Encounters" communicate with music? How do we know they didn't expect us tor respond by dancing?
7) If we aren't studying astronomy for the benefit of humanity as a whole, who(m) are we doing it for?
8) I'd swear I saw stars in some of those eyes.

licketysplit wrote:I'm confused. What does this have to do with Astronomy??? I can see this as a modern art project or better yet, a scientific study of human behavior, but to label this as anything to do with astronomy is absurd. I kind of like my old-fashioned NASA, remember?

Joe Eaton wrote:
Thank you for making me cry pure tears of joy.

• ____ The Serenity Now
  
  Jerry Seinfeld: What--what is this salty discharge?
  
  Elaine: Oh my God. You're crying.
  
  Jerry: This is horrible! I care!

Joe Eaton wrote:
I wish so much that the world could understand that we are all truly One people, one human race.

• One tree of life actually:

http://tolweb.org/tree/learn/concepts/whatisphylogeny.html wrote:

<<The notion that all of life is genetically connected via a vast phylogenetic tree is one of the most romantic notions to come out of science. How wonderful to think of the common ancestor of humans and beetles. This organism most likely was some kind of a worm. At some point this ancestral worm species divided into two separate worm species, which then divided again and again, each division (or speciation) resulting in new, independently evolving lineages. Little did these worms know, those hundreds of million years ago, that some of their number would end up evolving into beetles, while their brothers and sisters would end up as humans or giraffes.

Organisms have evolved through the ages from ancestral forms into more derived forms. New lineages generally retain many of their ancestral features, which are then gradually modified and supplemented with novel traits that help them to better adjust to the environment they live in. Studying the phylogeny of organisms can help us explain similarities and differences among plants, animals, and microorganisms.>>

mexhunter wrote:Hi to all: This discussion is very funny.
And the dance, that also is part of the universe, near and familiar, but universe.

• If you're missing pictures of moons, stars, galaxies, other planets, eclipses, etc., please take a look at some of the recent submissions to APOD, and if you'd like the latest news on missions and other astronomy-related events, please visit the Communications Center. You can even vote for the Astronomy Picture of the Week, search for your favorite APOD (and discuss it), or simply browse APODs by date.

Moriarty wrote:Not astronomy related... so I concur that it doesn't belong it APOD.

beyond wrote:Planet Earth is also a part of space and is there-fore eligible for the same scrutiny given to any other part of space as the Apod staff decides.
Enjoy IT and the View while you still have it. Space is a very volatile place. Why do you think they make