Bay Of Rainbows (APOD 08 Feb 2008)

[emc]

Don't think I would learn much myself if I didn't make mistakes and/or say stupid things... Actually, there is no guarantee either way

[orin stepanek]

It is interesting and fun to ponder first hand conditions off of planet earth. And since we need orientation to a some point or set of points for mental security purposes ;>)... For example, our northern hemisphere is "up"... I am wondering... since the same side of the moon always faces earth and the moon orbits around the earth in one moon rotation... which end of the moon is up?

I always figured up is away from the planet you are on; wherever on the the surface you are. True Australia is called 'down under'; but if you are there and you look up; you're probaly looking at something in the sky.
Orin

[neufer]

I don't have a domain of competence (; though I did have two years of high school Latin in 1960-1).

I took some 8 years of Latin, fewer of Greek, back in the 50-60s, I certainly wouldn't call myself a latin literate ! Over the course of those studies we did learn by rote and recited, by heart, verses and prose alike, and many of those have remained engraved in our memories.

Well, in the end, we are both claiming that *IRIDUM* is proper Latin term for "of rainbows;" we just (perhaps) disagree on what is the proper term for nominative singular "rainbow." I claim that it should be *IRIS* and you (I believe) claim that it should be *IRIDIS* ; perhaps both (or neither) are true.
--------------------------
IRIS, n. [L. IRIS , *the goddess*, Gr. , , the rainbow]
LAPIDARY, n. [L. LAPIS , a stone.]
...............................
Lapis : stone
Lapidis : of stone
New Latin (or Neo-Latin) : http://tinyurl.com/3ax75z

Code: Select all

Lapis        Lapides
Lapidis      Lapidum
Lapidi       Lapidibus
Lapidem      Lapides
Lapis        Lapides
Lapide       Lapidibus

--------------------------

• New Latin (or Neo-Latin) is a post-medieval version of Latin, used approximately in the period 1600–1900 (from Wikipedia)
  .
  <<Classicists use the term "Neo-Latin" to describe the use of the Latin language for any purpose, scientific or literary, after the Renaissance (for which purpose they often use the date 1600), although, for example, the editors of I Tatti Renaissance Library call their Renaissance Latin language texts Neo-Latin as well. The end of the New Latin period is unspecified, but Latin as a regular vehicle of communicating ideas became rare after the first few decades of the 19th century, and by 1900 it survived primarily in International Scientific Vocabulary cladistics and systematics. The term "New Latin" came into widespread use towards the end of the 1890s among linguists and scientists. At the beginning of the period, Latin was a universal school subject, and indeed, the pre-eminent subject for elementary education in Western Europe and those places which shared its culture. All universities required Latin proficiency (obtained in local grammar schools) to obtain admittance as a student. New Latin was, at the beginning of this period, an international language used throughout Catholic and Protestant Europe, as well as in the colonies of the major European powers. As an auxiliary language to the local vernaculars, it appeared in a wide variety of documents, ecclesiastical, legal, diplomatic, academic, and scientific. While a text written in English, French, or Spanish at this time might be understood by a significant cross section of the learned, only a Latin text could be certain of finding someone to interpret it anywhere between Lisbon and Helsinki.
  
  Notable scientific works in New Latin written since 1600 include:
  
  *1600. De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus et de Magno Magnete Tellure by William Gilbert.
  *1609. Astronomia nova by Johannes Kepler.
  *1610. Sidereus Nuncius by Galileo Galilei.
  *1620. Novum Organum by Francis Bacon.[1]
  *1628. Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus by William Harvey. [2]
  *1659. Systema Saturnium by Christiaan Huygens.
  *1673. Horologium Oscillatorium by Christiaan Huygens. Also at Gallica.
  *1687. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton. [3]
  *1735. Systema Naturae by Carolus Linnaeus.
  *1737. Mechanica sive motus scientia analytice exposita by Leonhard Euler.
  *1738. Hydrodynamica, sive de viribus et motibus fluidorum commentarii by Daniel Bernoulli.
  *1753. Species Plantarum by Carolus Linnaeus.
  *1801. Disquisitiones Arithmeticae by Carl Gauss.
  *1810. Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen by Robert Brown.[4]
  *1840. Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.[5]
  
  Other notable works in Neo-Latin include:
  
  *1602. Cenodoxus, a play by Jacob Bidermann.
  *1621. Argenis, a novel by John Barclay
  *1625. De Jure Belli ac Pacis by Hugo Grotius. (Posner Collection facsimile; Gallica facsimile)
  *1642-1658. Elementa Philosophica by Thomas Hobbes.
  *1670. Tractatus Theologico-Politicus by Baruch Spinoza.
  *1725. Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Joseph Fux. An influential treatise on musical counterpoint.
  *1767. Apollo et Hyacinthus, intermezzo by Rufinus Widl (with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart).
  
  Latin in this period came to be regarded as a medium for "serious" and learned expression; this view left little room for the use of Latin as a literary medium, for poetry, or for creative fiction (outside of translations made by ethnographers and folklorists). One of the last writers of any significant literary reputation to have written a large body of purely literary work in Latin was John Milton, better known for his English poetry. However, some lighter pieces were produced in Neo-Latin, for instance Johannes Kepler's scientific fantasy Somnium (1634) and Ludvig Holberg's satire Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum (1741).>>

[emc]

Expounding on UP...

WHAT'S UP? - Or as my daughter likes to say, "wuzup"... Is this a mental or directional question? Why do we throw this question out so casually to people we see? Perhaps it is because we want to make certain that, like ourselves, no one else knows the answer either. This is possibly the most complicated question perplexing mankind (womankind is far more likely to know)

The MENTAL 'UP' is a constant variable and can easily be any thought available to the human mind at any instant and regarding any circumstance. The 'up' you may be currently processing in your mind would be relative to your life experience and resulting notion regarding the meaning and existence of 'up'. Were it not for your reading this meandering message, your 'up' could be any thought or combination of thoughts within the capacity of your uniquely developed brain. You could be relating to anything from your past, present or future, depending on your state of mind at the moment you realize you are thinking about something.

The DIRECTIONAL 'UP' can be anything in any direction from any given point in the universe. Were it not for your pre-existing notion of where 'up' is, relative to where YOU are, 'up' could very well be in any direction at the initial instant you realize you are conscious, such as, when you wake up... during your wake up... after you fall down... Pointed example> Imagine your self, in a familiar surrounding, leisurely free-floating and slowly spinning and tumbling in a weightless condition, like a spaceman or spacewoman. You will probably have selected the familiar surrounding you are in right now as your reference for 'up'. Now change the reference for 'up' from the surrounding to your relaxed and weightless body... Now your familiar surrounding is spinning and tumbling! Kind of like the planet you live on and this meandering thought...

[Czerno]

N: I claim that it should be *IRIS* and you (I believe) claim that it should be *IRIDIS*...

Oh, my goodness, of course we agree it is nominative Iris, genitive Iridis, (feminine) : Iris, a divine messenger, flower or rainbow...

The only gripe I had with your account was about your speculating that "irium" or "iridium" could serve as the plural genitive, albeit "new" latin.

I'm off this off-topic now and vaguely sorry of this 'outing', kind of...

Regards

[marion ballantyne]

[quote="geonuc"]I've read that it is because the crust is thicker on the far side, allowing less mare volcanism after an impact occurs. Why it is thicker on that side, I'm less sure. The differential crust thickness is a result of tidal forces, particularly when the moon formed.[/quote
Thanks Geonuc,
Came up with this. Mare's predomination on the nearside. This has great bearing on our theory of how the moon's surface terrain came into being, for it implies that the processes involved could not have been entirely internal in nature. Earths presence must have played a role.
Marion

[neufer]

Expounding on UP...

WHAT'S UP? - Or as my daughter likes to say, "wuzup"... Is this a mental or directional question? Why do we throw this question out so casually to people we see? Perhaps it is because we want to make certain that, like ourselves, no one else knows the answer either. This is possibly the most complicated question perplexing mankind (womankind is far more likely to know)

Charles Dickens » "Going into Society" (1858)

"Halloa!" I says to the young man, "What's up!" He rubs his eyebrows
with his toes, and he says, "I can't imagine, Mr. Magsman"--which he
never could imagine nothin, and was monotonous company.
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
H.G. Wells » The Invisible Man (1897)
.
"What's up?" said the Mariner, concerned.
----------------------------------------
H.G. Wells » The First Men in the Moon (1901)
.
Four windows were open in order that the gravitation of the moon might act upon all the substances in our sphere. I found I was no longer floating freely in space, but that my feet were resting on the glass in the direction of the moon. The blankets and cases of provisions were also creeping slowly down the glass, and presently came to rest so as to block out a portion of the view. It seemed to me, of course, that I looked "down" when I looked at the moon. On earth "down" means earthward, the way things fall, and "up" the reverse direction. Now the pull of gravitation was towards the moon, and for all I knew to the contrary our earth was overhead. And, of course, when all the Cavorite blinds were closed, "down" was towards the centre of our sphere, and " up " towards its outer wall. It was curiously unlike earthly experience, too, to have the light coming up to one. On earth light falls from above, or comes slanting down sideways, but here it came from beneath our feet, and to see our shadows we had to look up.
----------------------------------------
<<H. G. Wells is a lunar crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, behind the northeastern limb. It lies to the south of the Millikan crater, and to the northeast of Cantor crater. Just to the southeast is the smaller Tesla crater. This large formation is most notable for the extremely battered state of its outer rim. Little or nothing remains of the original rim, so completely has it been eroded and incised by smaller craters. As a result the crater floor is now surrounded by a ring of irregular peaks and worn crater valleys. This rugged surroundings intrudes only part way into the interior, while the remaining floor is relatively level and in some places gently rolling. The interior is marked only by a multitude of tiny craterlets.>>
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
James Joyce » A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).

He drank another cup of hot tea and Fleming said:

-- What's up? Have you a pain or what's up with you?

-- I don't know, Stephen said.
----------------------------------------------------
James Joyce » Ulysses (1922) Episode 8, The Lestrygonians
http://www.robotwisdom.com/jaj/ulysses/index.html

<<Here at the low point of his day, Bloom's memories dwell on the
disasters of his past. He drops the paper 'throwaway' off O'Connell
bridge. He meets an old girlfriend, Josie Breen, whose husband is making
a spectacle of himself over a prank postcard that reads, mysteriously,
"UP". The recurring motif of pins echoes the Lestrygonians'
cannibal-teeth in Homer.

-- Woke me up in the night, she said. Dream he had, a nightmare.

. Indiges.

. -- Said the ace of spades was walking up the stairs.

. -- The ace of spades! Mr Bloom said.

. She took a folded postcard from her handbag.

. -- Read that, she said. He got it this morning.

. -- What is it? Mr Bloom asked, taking the card. U.P.?

. -- U.P: up, she said. Someone taking a rise out of him. It's a
great shame for them whoever he is.

. -- Indeed it is, Mr Bloom said.

. She took back the card, sighing.

. -- And now he's going round to Mr Menton's office. He's going to
take an action for ten thousand pounds, he
. says.

She folded the card into her untidy bag and snapped the catch.

. Same blue serge dress she had two years ago, the nap bleaching.
Seen its best days. Wispish hair over her ears.
. And that dowdy toque: three old grapes to take the harm out of it.
Shabby genteel. She used to be a tasty
. dresser. Lines round her mouth. Only a year or so older than Molly.

. See the eye that woman gave her, passing. Cruel. The unfair sex.

. He looked still at her, holding back behind his look his
discontent. Pungent mockturtle oxtail mulligatawny. I'm hungry too.
Flakes of pastry on the gusset of her dress: daub of sugary flour stuck
to her cheek. Rhubarb tart with liberal fillings, rich fruit interior.
Josie Powell that was. In Luke Doyle's long ago, Dolphin's Barn, the
charades.

. U.p: up.

. Change the subject.
--------------------------------------

[emc]

How high is up anyway? (sorry Art, couldn't help myself...)

I have heard it is twice as far as halfway up. (Actually I heard that from a shuttle technician before he became a shuttle technician!)

I also believe that if you are traveling faster than the speed of light... well... never mind... I expect you better concentrate on what's UP in front you!

[apodman]

I'm glad I only asked.

I was dissuaded from taking Latin in HS way back in that time frame you mention since my sister claimed to have had her brain melted by a former priest who spoke "church Latin" and taught from a book written in "classical Latin". "Church" Latin possibly isn't even a real term and I'm guessing it refers to new or neo- Latin.

Anyway, thanks for answering my question. Now I can sleep at night knowing that IRIDUM is still the accepted form.

[apodman]

Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair where I sit:
There isn't any other stair quite like it.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top:
So this is the stair where I always stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up, and isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery, it isn't in the town:
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
"It isn't really anywhere! It's somewhere else instead!"

(A A Milne)

[rollovermikey]

Has anyone else noticed that the crater pattern inside the Mare somewhat resemble the constellation of Orion?