In which Ann Althouse gets hammered

Ann Althouse decide to take up the cudgels for Rose Eveleth.  Defending this sexist, Feminist, coyote-ugly harridan when she tweeted a series of comments criticizing the shirt that one of the rocket scientists that just landed a spacecraft on an asteroid, Matt Taylor, wore.  She tweeted: "Thanks for ruining the cool comet landing for me asshole"

Right; that's what was in his mind when he put on his shirt: "I'm going to ruin Rose Eveleth - and every other feminist harridan's day - when I get interviewed for landing a spacecraft on a comet."

Althouse decided to throw in with this Feminist jerk by posting a critique of Glen Reynolds' comments, stating - among other things that fashion is more important than space travel.  I suppose that a mind that works that way explains why she voted  for Barack Obama. 

Here's the beginning of Reynolds' essay:

Better not to land a spaceship on a comet than let men wear sexist clothing.

So how are things going for feminism? Well, last week, some feminists took one of the great achievements of human history — landing a probe from Earth on a comet hundreds of millions of miles away — and made it all about the clothes.

Yes, that's right. After years of effort, the European Space Agency's lander Philaelanded on a comet 300 million miles away. At first, people were excited. Then some women noticed that one of the space scientists, Matt Taylor, was wearing a shirt, made for him by a female "close pal," featuring comic-book depictions of semi-naked women. And suddenly, the triumph of the comet landing was drowned out by shouts of feminist outrage about ... what people were wearing. It was one small shirt for a man, one giant leap backward for womankind.

What is it about women like this?  People who have never accomplished anything except manipulate words?  And the Althouse types, college professors, who - thanks to Jonathan Gruber - are now exposed to the entire country as elitist pigs who consider the American people "stupid."

The Hand of God

Gerard Vander Leun has written a wonderful essay about this, and the universe that God made along with you and me. And about the difference between "facts" and "truth."

Here's how he ends: (Excerpt:)

Do I, an exemplar of the most advanced culture in history, actually believe that this is the image, the manifestation, the fading photograph of the hand of God, the Supreme Being? Of course not. Not for a moment do I think that what I see in this image is that. I believe... no... I know for a fact that what I am seeing is merely gas and stars in a seemingly random arrangement shining in a narrow, very narrow, part of the spectrum so that, to my deeper mind and imagination, I pull together some vague shapes in the play of color on the void and relate it to what I have seen elsewhere, felt elsewhen -- and out of that produce a feeling, thought, in my mind that makes my eyes see what appears to be an impossible hand reaching across space long ago in exactly nowhere. It's a cosmic Rorschach image, a glowing gasblot somewhere in limitless space. That it is a 'hand' is impossible. It is even more impossible that it is even an image of a hand.

But that is not the most impossible thing about this image.

What is even more impossible than this utter impossibility is the fact that you see it too.

I know, from all the facts that I have learned, that if the Earth itself were positioned in relative space a few degrees this way or that, moving at a slightly different relative speed towards a slightly different point in the sky, with its local group of stars slightly tilted a bit this way or a bit that way, that the purely imaginary impression of this being a hand would disappear utterly. It might look like a dagger. It might look like a flower. It might look like nothing other than the random assortment of gas clouds that it most assuredly is. What it would not look like, given just a few minor (on the cosmic scale) variations is 'The Hand of God.'

And that's a stone cold fact. Note it. File it. Toss it to the top of the always rising mountain range of facts that we love to build as bulwarks against the dark.

But is it the truth?

Well, it is a true fact. But here's another.

After all the facts are filed, here I am and there you are. We're spinning about an immense ball of thermonuclear fire on the third stone out from the Sun. We're the end product, as of today, of a great chain of being stretching backwards in time for billions of years to a primordial spark that we do not know or understand. That spark created life here and began the long process to us. It began life that is -- as far as we know today for a fact -- the only life anywhere in the billions of light years we can see. (Yes, I know it is unlikely we are alone, but until we know differently for a fact, that's the fact.) We do not know the why of it all even though the persistence of the miracle whispers there must be a why. At the same time, it is highly likely that beings as limited as we obviously are will never know the why. The why is pretty much outside of science, barely within metaphysics, and above our evolution grade.

What we do know is that, because of how we are made and what we have become, through suffering, striving, effort and, yes, grace, that there are some six billion of us that can look at this strange image of gas and stars and somehow understand it as a hand. And that, at will, we can move our hands to write words such as these to reach across space and time and make others like us understand that although it looks like a hand it cannot possibly be one; that such a thing is utterly impossible.

If you don't think that's a miracle that surpasses all understanding, you simply don't have all the facts.

Hubble telescope takes stunning new nebula photo for 23rd birthday

Bill Whittle on a Virtuous People - "The Common Sense Resistance"

No Green Men Seen On Mars

Pictures of Mars

Where did it go?

NASA's dead six-ton satellite fell to Earth early Saturday morning, starting its fiery death plunge somewhere over the vast Pacific Ocean

The Very Large Telescope at work.

Starshine

The universe seems infinite ... stars whose light takes millions of years to reach our eyes ... yet God is both greater and more infinite ... totally beyond the comprehension of our human minds. The best we can do is make Him seem human … so God gave us his Son so that we could see an aspect of him with our limited human senses.

UN to appoint Earth contact for aliens

This is no more surprising that having a comedian testify at a congressional hearing.

"When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination.”

Professor Richard Crowther, an expert in space law and governance at the UK Space Agency and who leads British delegations to the UN on such matters, said: “Othman is absolutely the nearest thing we have to a ‘take me to your leader’ person.”

Image of a "Black Hole"

Ring Galaxy

More on God's Creation

When we see God's work on Earth we rarely appreciate His majesty.  Our faith propels us to the past, at Jesus' birth and sacrifice.  But God created the universe and modern science reveals his majesty as no one in history has been able to perceive Him.  God's glory for those with eyes to see.

Image of the Sun

The incredible violence that takes place moment by moment on the Sun. And certain men actually believe that they are the supreme being in the universe, capable of destroying the earth. What incredible hubris.

More Images of God's Creation

Space station cooling system fails

According to NASA figures, without thermal controls the ISS's sun-facing side would roast at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 Celsius), while the outpost's dark side would plunge to some minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit (-157 Celsius).

A statement posted some years ago on NASA's website suggested: "There might be a comfortable spot somewhere in the middle of the Station, but searching for it wouldn't be much fun!"

As Galaxies Collide

God's Endless Creation ...

The Stars Like Dust

The Recent Muslim Contribution to Science and Technology.

From Powerline:

But let us not get lost in the mists of the distant past. The contemporary Muslim world has made its own contribution to civilization. It has given us the explosive vest. It has also given us the improvised explosive device. It has not ceased in its efforts to perfect the destructive power of these devices.

And to go along with these accomplishments it has given us new twists in the field of suicide bombing that have inflicted great damage on Muslims and infidels alike. Who needs NASA when you have this kind of material to work with?

Among those giving serious thought to NASA's mission in the age of Obama are Mona Charen and the editors of Investor's Business Daily. Only Sultan Knish, however, has revealed NASA's new plan for Muslims in outer space. Let those who would mock demonstrate their superficiality.

The NASA plan revealed by Sultan Knish comes in the form of a letter from NASA to President Obama. It includes five projects that will obviously do much to attract the Muslim world. Consider, for example, Project Two ("throw things on the Jews"):

While we have been making efforts to reach out to Muslim countries and engage them in purely peaceful space exploration, our preliminary finding is that their main interest in space is to get into space in order to, and I quote, "Throw Things Down on the Jews". And Muslim technological developments in rocketry and launch vehicles such as Saddam's Space Gun "Big Babylon" and Iran's nuclear weapons programs all have the common aim of "Throwing Things Down on the Jews".

We at NASA believe that the best way to interest Muslims in space is to convince them of its potential for "Throwing Things at the Jews", but in a way that benefits all of mankind, and doesn't lead to any loss of life. As you may possibly know (or would if you did something besides golf and spend money all day) Earth is at risk of one day being struck by an asteroid that could potentially wipe out all life on the planet.

Utilizing your brilliant suggestion that we "go land on an asteroid", we plan to send an automated vehicle to an asteroid and deposit an Israel flag on an asteroid that may one day hit Earth. We are confident that the Muslim world will immediately step up and join forces with us to develop long range weapons capable of hitting that asteroid. Particularly if we also leave a tape player on its surface blasting, "Hava Nagilla".

Not only will this provide Earth with a poorly aimed global defense network against falling rocks from the sky, but it will also hopefully prevent rockets from being fired at schools, instead of into space where they belong.

Then there's Project #4:

Project 4: Space Camel


The ability of camels to survive in a hostile environment is well known. Camels have survived deserts, Moroccan bazaars and owners who put them in beauty contests. Perhaps they can also survive the harsh rigors of space.


Because we no longer have a spacecraft (thanks for that by the way, because why would a space program need one of those anyway) and no way of getting one, we might as well try camels. Why camels? Because they meet both your major priorities, engaging the Muslim world, and using "Clean Energy". And there's nothing cleaner than a camel. At least nothing outside a cesspool or rotting sewage.


Our plan is simple. We're going to take a bunch of camels. Get very drunk. Stick the camels in a catapult, and scribble some arabic numerals in a notebook. Do some algebra, and invite Muslims to participate in this new wonderful race to space. Then we're going to let the camels fly.


Honestly we don't know where the camels will land. They might land in deserted areas. They might land on houses or people. They might land on the White House. They might land on the moon. We just don't know! That's because due to your budget cuts, we can no longer afford calculators. Instead we're going to have our Muslim colleagues do the math for us on an abacus. Their advanced knowledge of science will surely see us through.


And frankly if you're going to engage children with the wonders of space, nothing will do it half as well as a shrieking camel flying through the sky.

Sounds like part of the Obama plan.

Star Trails and Tajinastes

The sky is filled with star trails around the north celestial pole. A reflection of the Earth's daily rotation on its axis, star trails are familiar to photographers who fix their camera to a tripod and make long exposures of the night sky. But the imposing forms gazing skyward probably look strange to many denizens of Earth. Found on the Canary Island of Tenerife, they are red tajinastes, rare flowering plants that grow to a height of up to 3 meters.