Starship Asterisk*

by **florid_snow** » Wed May 16, 2012 7:09 am

agulesin wrote:
florid_snow wrote:El Cielo Canarias is translated "Canary Skies" in the opening title. But the word "cielo" reminds me of the English word "ceiling" which has connotations of a roof, or enclosure. "Le ciel" is the French word for the sky. I know in English we can say either "the sky" or "the heavens" recalling our ancient (and current) mythological beliefs, but to say "the ceiling" to refer to the sky would probably draw funny looks.

Does anyone else think it's neat that language records our previous mistaken beliefs, and that the meaning can change and the silly belief discarded without changing the word? Getting the religious connotation out of the word "disaster" certainly hasn't been a disaster
Why is it that some people have to attack others beliefs at every opportunity? If you don't believe in certain things, don't try to prevent others or call them "silly". Never forget this: However "ancient" and "unfashionable" death may appear, no-one has managed to avoid it even in these days of technology and medicine...

Dude, the sky is not a ceiling. Such a belief is quite silly, but understandable. If you believe the moon lies just above the treetops, it will be forever out of reach.

Please, when you die and feel like you have left your body, and you hear that strange droning buzzing noise, and realize it is the end, remember it was an agnostic materialist like me who told you about the buzzing noise. Then remember I love you.

by **DavidLeodis** » Wed May 09, 2012 11:07 pm

In the explanation it states the video sequences were taken from Tenerife, which is one of the Canary Islands. However, in information brought up through the "MAGIC gamma-ray telescopes" link it states those telescopes are located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary island of La Palma. I'm thus

.

by **SuperJam** » Wed May 09, 2012 11:05 am

I love APOD and it is such a great website that I set it as my homepage.

I would love to echo the request of another user regarding days which have a video: please don't set it to autoplay upon the page load! Let us control starting the video please.

Thank you

by **Chris Peterson** » Tue May 08, 2012 10:57 pm

Evenstar wrote:I love APOD and will continue to use it but I would like to point out one inconsistency that I don't like. When there is a video like the current one, "The Light of Stars (2012 May 08) please do not automatically launch the video. I've used APOD as my browser home page now for years. I do not like it launching every time I open my browser. Iirc, this is the first time a video has automatically started playing. Please fix it so it doesn't.

Thank you.

In this case, it appears to be a poor decision on the part of the page designer. The embedded Vimeo player has "autoplay=1" set in the source; if changed to "autoplay=0" this behavior should go away. Perhaps one of the site admins can make that change, or pass it on to somebody who can.

by **Flase** » Tue May 08, 2012 10:48 pm

Back in the day it used to be bad form to have embedded midi files in a webpage. Nowadays, when embedded video saps the system resources, blows people's data caps and is harder to find amongst a number of tabs in the browser, it is considered acceptable to start them playing automatically, sometimes two or three tabs at the same time making a cacophony.

I wouldn't really do it to people.

by **Evenstar** » Tue May 08, 2012 10:41 pm

I love APOD and will continue to use it but I would like to point out one inconsistency that I don't like. When there is a video like the current one, "The Light of Stars (2012 May 08) please do not automatically launch the video. I've used APOD as my browser home page now for years. I do not like it launching every time I open my browser. Iirc, this is the first time a video has automatically started playing. Please fix it so it doesn't.

Thank you.

by **Microbe** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:25 pm

In future, no auto started video that also have audio - thanks.

by **Chris Peterson** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:07 pm

Boomer12k wrote:Not to be controversial, but some religious texts still have the sky as a "dome" over the Earth. That would be a flat Earth at that. There are many astronomical illusions based on perspective. Myth busted. Scientists can be just as dogmatic in their opinion. Anybody remember Fred Hoyle? Conclusions in Science can be wrong too...Ptolemy sure was. Hooray for Copernicus and Galileo.

Conclusions are wrong in science all the time. That's a good thing. What make science different from just about every other way of thinking (not just religious) is that it actively seeks to disprove its conclusions. And it succeeds, with the result that what we know about things gets just a little bit closer to the truth. Most knowledge systems start with conclusions and then do everything they can to support them, which often includes tortuous and distorted reasoning. Not so science.

by **Boomer12k** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:02 pm

Not to be controversial, but some religious texts still have the sky as a "dome" over the Earth. That would be a flat Earth at that. There are many astronomical illusions based on perspective. Myth busted. Scientists can be just as dogmatic in their opinion. Anybody remember Fred Hoyle? Conclusions in Science can be wrong too...Ptolemy sure was. Hooray for Copernicus and Galileo.

Keep an open mind.

:---(===) *

by **Chris Peterson** » Tue May 08, 2012 5:39 pm

carolh wrote:I have had APOD as my home page for some time but today I am changing that. The music for today's video (very loud and I personally found it annoying) took over my computer. Even if I muted the video, every time I changed pages it started playing again and I was unable to find where it was playing so unable to turn it off or even mute it. I have moved my home page to another site. I'll just check in from time to time to see your interesting pictures. Bye.

It's a page with a video on it, so you can expect it to play when loaded. Such behavior is very common. Autoplay is defined by the content creator, not generally the page with the embedded media.

If you like APOD as your default browser page, just disable it for today. Otherwise, don't let your hard drive hit your backside on the way out.

by **carolh** » Tue May 08, 2012 4:51 pm

I have had APOD as my home page for some time but today I am changing that. The music for today's video (very loud and I personally found it annoying) took over my computer. Even if I muted the video, every time I changed pages it started playing again and I was unable to find where it was playing so unable to turn it off or even mute it. I have moved my home page to another site. I'll just check in from time to time to see your interesting pictures. Bye.

by **Fundit Pundit** » Tue May 08, 2012 4:39 pm

What a cool video. I like so much about it - the scenery, the techniques , the expertise.....obviously a labor of love. I think my favorite scene is the rippley moon rise at about 1:15. Excellent work! Bravo!

by **neufer** » Tue May 08, 2012 3:48 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:
FloridaMike wrote:
@Flash: WHADAYA mean telling people that "bad stars" don't cause disasters? Can you prove they don't?
If you're a civilization within a few tens of light years of a star that decides to supernova, "disaster" takes on a very literal meaning!

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/entert ... -meltdowns

by **Chris Peterson** » Tue May 08, 2012 3:42 pm

FloridaMike wrote:@Flash: WHADAYA mean telling people that "bad stars" don't cause disasters? Can you prove they don't? ;)

If you're a civilization within a few tens of light years of a star that decides to supernova, "disaster" takes on a very literal meaning!

by **FloridaMike** » Tue May 08, 2012 2:56 pm

Word origins have aways intruged me. This is especcially true when the words no longer convey the literal meaning of the original term.

@Chris: The Basque language reference you cited is a charm, thanks for that.
@Flash: WHADAYA mean telling people that "bad stars" don't cause disasters? Can you prove they don't?

by **Chris Peterson** » Tue May 08, 2012 2:46 pm

agulesin wrote:
florid_snow wrote:El Cielo Canarias is translated "Canary Skies" in the opening title. But the word "cielo" reminds me of the English word "ceiling" which has connotations of a roof, or enclosure. "Le ciel" is the French word for the sky. I know in English we can say either "the sky" or "the heavens" recalling our ancient (and current) mythological beliefs, but to say "the ceiling" to refer to the sky would probably draw funny looks.

Does anyone else think it's neat that language records our previous mistaken beliefs, and that the meaning can change and the silly belief discarded without changing the word? Getting the religious connotation out of the word "disaster" certainly hasn't been a disaster :)
Why is it that some people have to attack others beliefs at every opportunity? If you don't believe in certain things, don't try to prevent others or call them "silly". Never forget this: However "ancient" and "unfashionable" death may appear, no-one has managed to avoid it even in these days of technology and medicine...

His point was an interesting and valid one, and the question appropriate to this forum. We do see elements of our mythology (a word we use to describe beliefs we used to have, but no longer do) in language.

(It reminded me of a bit of trivia about the Basque language, which has no relatives, and is so old that its word for "ceiling" literally means "the roof of the cave".)

by **flash** » Tue May 08, 2012 1:55 pm

agulesin wrote:
Why is it that some people have to attack others beliefs at every opportunity? If you don't believe in certain things, don't try to prevent others or call them "silly". Never forget this: However "ancient" and "unfashionable" death may appear, no-one has managed to avoid it even in these days of technology and medicine...

The difference between belief and knowledge is subtle yet distinct: Contrary to popular belief, opinions can be incorrect: If it is your opinion that 2+2=5 then I have no trouble calling your belief silly. And I am not being mean. The purpose of education is to sway beliefs toward the truth. The scientific method provides us with the ability to test beliefs, allowing us to move from belief toward knowledge. We have brains to allow us to make judgments. Judging the expounded beliefs of others is not a bad thing. And "silly" is not the worst thing that a belief could be called. Get over it.

by **agulesin** » Tue May 08, 2012 1:27 pm

florid_snow wrote:El Cielo Canarias is translated "Canary Skies" in the opening title. But the word "cielo" reminds me of the English word "ceiling" which has connotations of a roof, or enclosure. "Le ciel" is the French word for the sky. I know in English we can say either "the sky" or "the heavens" recalling our ancient (and current) mythological beliefs, but to say "the ceiling" to refer to the sky would probably draw funny looks.

Does anyone else think it's neat that language records our previous mistaken beliefs, and that the meaning can change and the silly belief discarded without changing the word? Getting the religious connotation out of the word "disaster" certainly hasn't been a disaster

Why is it that some people have to attack others beliefs at every opportunity? If you don't believe in certain things, don't try to prevent others or call them "silly". Never forget this: However "ancient" and "unfashionable" death may appear, no-one has managed to avoid it even in these days of technology and medicine...

by **agulesin** » Tue May 08, 2012 1:19 pm

Anyone looking for an English version of his web page: http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... e%20mi.htm

Next on my shopping list, a set of rails and camera crane. don't worry, I could never compete...

by **neufer** » Tue May 08, 2012 12:54 pm

florid_snow wrote:
El Cielo Canarias is translated "Canary Skies" in the opening title. But the word "cielo" reminds me of the English word "ceiling" which has connotations of a roof, or enclosure. "Le ciel" is the French word for the sky. I know in English we can say either "the sky" or "the heavens" recalling our ancient (and current) mythological beliefs, but to say "the ceiling" to refer to the sky would probably draw funny looks.

Does anyone else think it's neat that language records our previous mistaken beliefs, and that the meaning can change and the silly belief discarded without changing the word?

Wester's wrote:
Ceiling [OF. celle, fr. L. cella; akin to celare to hide, and E. hell, helm, conceal. Cf. Hall.]
The covering which overlays the inner roof of a building, or the timbers which form the top of a room.
.....................................................
Cellar [OE. celer, OF. celier, F. celier, fr. L. cellarium a receptacle for food, pantry. See Cell.] A room or rooms under a building, and usually below the surface of the ground, where provisions and other stores are kept.
.....................................................
Sky [OE. skie a cloud, Icel. sk; akin to Sw. & Dan. sky; cf. AS. sca, scwa, shadow, Icel. skuggi; probably from the same root as E. scum. &root. See Scum, and cf. Hide skin, Obscure.]

by **geckzilla** » Tue May 08, 2012 11:13 am

Uwe wrote: Still my question: Why can't I receive the videos? I'm located in Germany, using Firefox 9 with Flash 11. Someone got an idea what's going wrong? Please.
Thank you.

The latest version of Firefox is 12. So you're a few versions behind. Try updating. Otherwise, try going directly to this URL: http://vimeo.com/37752523

by **Moonlady** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:51 am

Very well done! It is too short!!! I want more!

by **Uwe** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:22 am

Still my question: Why can't I receive the videos? I'm located in Germany, using Firefox 9 with Flash 11. Someone got an idea what's going wrong? Please.
Thank you.

by **owlice** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:08 am

Thanks, Czerno2.

by **Czerno2** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:00 am

I think the legend has a typo - t's observatorio del Teide - not de Tiede, dear webmaster please review !
And of course, remove this at the same time if possible.

Starship Asterisk*

APOD: The Light of Stars (2012 May 08)

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