Starship Asterisk*

NoelC wrote:

Roamin' Catholic wrote:
maybe I'm being overly-sensitive here

Yes, you are. Faith tells us not to worship objects.
Any material constructions Man has created are but dust...

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

<<The Buddhas of Bamiyan (Persian: بت های باميان - but hay-e bamiyan) were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters. Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The two most prominent statues were the giant standing Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni, identified by the different mudras performed, measuring 55 and 37 metres high respectively, the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world.

The Taliban government decreed that the statues, which had survived for over 1,500 years, were idolatrous. They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were "idols" (which are forbidden under Sharia law).

During the destruction, Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal lamented that, "this work of destruction is not as simple as people might think. You can't knock down the statues by shelling as both are carved into a cliff; they are firmly attached to the mountain." After one of the explosions failed to completely obliterate the face of one of the Buddhas, a rocket was launched which left a hole in the remains of the stone head.>>

Roamin' Catholic wrote:maybe I'm being overly-sensitive here

Roamin' Catholic wrote:It's a great photo, as are virtually all of the APOD shots, and I have to say in advance that I love the site, it's a wonderful resource.

However, and maybe I'm being overly-sensitive here, but putting up a picture of a ruined Catholic church on Christmas Eve... is that the smartest thing to do? Or does it imply a certain lack of respect for the holiday?

Let me explain... some of us APOD fans are actually (gasp) Christians, and worse yet, some are even (horrors) Catholics, so to us, the image of a ruined church is less picturesque than it is tragic. A suggestion: maybe in the future we could avoid images implying a triumph of science over religion on the big holy days, days that still retain a deeper meaning for those us who still have the faith?

Merry Christmas!

Chris Peterson wrote:I don't see how a ruined church is in any way disrespectful, or how it represents a triumph of science over religion, or even how it is tragic. If it represents anything, it is the triumph of time over everything, especially the ephemeral creations of Man.

[

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

• To everything there is a season,
  a time for every purpose under the sun.
  A time to be born and a time to die;
  a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
  a time to kill and a time to heal ...
  a time to weep and a time to laugh;
  a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
  a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
  a time to lose and a time to seek;
  a time to rend and a time to sew;
  a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
  a time to love and a time to hate;
  a time for war and a time for peace.
  
  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Roamin' Catholic wrote:
Some of us APOD fans are actually (gasp) Christians, and worse yet, some are even (horrors) Catholics,
so to us, the image of a ruined church is less picturesque than it is tragic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Ansgar wrote:

Apollo 15 picture of Ansgarius crater. Part of La Perouse crater is visible along the left margin, and half of Behaim crater at the bottom right. The selenographic coordinates of this image are 13° S, 79° E.

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<<Saint Ansgar, Anskar or Oscar, (September 8, 801 – February 3, 865*, in Bremen) was an Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen who became known as the "Apostle of the North". In in response to a 829 request from the Swedish king Björn, Ansgar was appointed missionary to Sweden. With an assistant, the friar Witmar, he preached and made converts for six months at Birka, on Lake Mälaren. They organized a small congregation there with the king's steward, Hergeir. Oscar spent another two years there (848-850), at the critical moment when a pagan reaction was threatened. In 854 Ansgar returned to Sweden for the new king Olof. On a Viking raid to Apuole in Courland, the Swedes prayed, and with God's help they plundered the Curonians.

Ansgar became the patron saint of Denmark and a crater on the Moon, Ansgarius, has been named for him. Ansgarius crater is located near the eastern limb of the Moon. When viewed from the Earth, the crater has a highly oval shape due to foreshortening, but the rim is actually nearly circular. The rim of Ansgarius is not significantly worn, and has a terraced interior surface. The southwest rim appears somewhat flattened rather than round, and intrudes into an older formation of which little remains except the western rim. There is an outward notch in the north-northeastern wall. The interior floor of Ansgarius is relatively flat, with only tiny craterlets to mark the surface.>>

Roamin' Catholic wrote:Let me explain... some of us APOD fans are actually (gasp) Christians, and worse yet, some are even (horrors) Catholics, so to us, the image of a ruined church is less picturesque than it is tragic. A suggestion: maybe in the future we could avoid images implying a triumph of science over religion on the big holy days, days that still retain a deeper meaning for those us who still have the faith?

Bo Jensen wrote:One thing more often not mentioned is the cause of the location of meteor showers. The Geminids, for example, have their radiant near Castor and Pollux. Why is it so? You seldom see anyone explain that. But isn't that because that's exacty the point of dirction of the Earth's path through the cosmos? Compare with the way you see snowflakes coming towards you when driwing a car.

Bo Jensen wrote:One thing more often not mentioned is the cause of the location of meteor showers. The Geminids, for example, have their radiant near Castor and Pollux. Why is it so? You seldom see anyone explain that. But isn't that because that's exacty the point of dirction of the Earth's path through the cosmos? Compare with the way you see snowflakes coming towards you when driwing a car.

owlice wrote:... So cold and still and silent; I can almost feel the bite of chill air in my nose and see my breath.