Starship Asterisk*

Posted: **Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:10 pm**

Just Call me Luther, The APOD Editor's Anger Translater.....

Posted: **Fri Jan 18, 2013 6:48 pm**

Our conversation here has gotten me thinking about how we learn.

Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget observed and studied how his own children learned things, from infancy through adolescence, and came up with a widely influential theory of cognitive development. Essentially, at any given stage of development we have a cognitive schema, a model of how the world works. As we assimilate more and more facts and experiences into our model, we experience more and more inconsistencies and contradictions between our model and how the world actually works. At some point we reach a breaking point, and we need to accommodate our model to the world. We develop a new cognitive schema that overlays the old one, and this accommodation marks the beginning of a new stage of cognitive development.

A very simple example: if you show a young child two glasses of water, one tall and thin and the other short and wide, each holding the same amount of water, and you ask the child which glass has more water, the child will say the taller glass has more water. An older child will have developed a more sophisticated (perhaps I should use another adjective!) model that accommodates both height and width to intuitively calculate volume, and will correctly tell you that they both have the same volume of water.

On a much more sophisticated (sorry!) level, Copernicus and Kepler, Newton and Einstein ... .

If we remain curious, this dialectical process of assimilation of facts and experiences and accommodations of our models of the world can continue throughout the life span. I guess the key point I'm trying to make is that when we're asking "stupid questions" we may have an opportunity to make a quantum leap in our understanding. We're confronted by a new fact that we cannot understand in terms of our existing schema, and we haven't yet developed the new schema that will make sense of the situation. It's exactly when we're most confused and fumbling that we have the greatest possibility of making a lasting developmental step.

So please be kind to me when I ask "stupid questions".

Posted: **Fri Jan 18, 2013 7:41 pm**

Anthony Barreiro wrote:
Please be kind to me when I ask "stupid questions".
May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.

Hmmmm... was that final request supposed to be a question requiring a response

Posted: **Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:03 pm**

neufer wrote:
Anthony Barreiro wrote:
Please be kind to me when I ask "stupid questions".
May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.

Hmmmm... was that final request supposed to be a question requiring a response

Huh? I don't get it.

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:26 am**

Anthony Barreiro wrote:
Huh? I don't get it.

Q: May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free?

A: Certainly not!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna wrote:
<<Pollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature, with the title character's name becoming a popular term for someone with the same optimistic outlook. The novel's success brought the "Pollyanna principle" (along with the adjective "Pollyannaish" and the noun "Pollyannaism") into the language to describe someone who seems always to be able to find something to be "glad" about no matter what circumstances arise. It is sometimes used pejoratively, referring to someone whose optimism is excessive to the point of naïveté or refusing to accept the facts of an unfortunate situation. This pejorative use can be heard in the introduction of the 1930 George and Ira Gershwin song But Not For Me: "I never want to hear from any cheerful pollyannas/who tell me fate supplies a mate/that's all bananas.">>

Was that unkind?

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:28 pm**

neufer wrote:
Anthony Barreiro wrote:
Huh? I don't get it.

Q: May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free?

A: Certainly not!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna wrote:
<<Pollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature, with the title character's name becoming a popular term for someone with the same optimistic outlook. The novel's success brought the "Pollyanna principle" (along with the adjective "Pollyannaish" and the noun "Pollyannaism") into the language to describe someone who seems always to be able to find something to be "glad" about no matter what circumstances arise. It is sometimes used pejoratively, referring to someone whose optimism is excessive to the point of naïveté or refusing to accept the facts of an unfortunate situation. This pejorative use can be heard in the introduction of the 1930 George and Ira Gershwin song But Not For Me: "I never want to hear from any cheerful pollyannas/who tell me fate supplies a mate/that's all bananas.">>
Was that unkind?

Oh, thanks for the clarification. Sometimes a gentle tease is the best way to bring something taken for granted into sharper focus. I've become so accustomed to my signature line that I've stopped seeing it. Now I get the joke. "May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free," is a hope and a statement of aspiration and intention to do what I can to help make it so. It comes from the buddhist metta bhavana, the cultivation of loving kindness meditation. While one does hope to ease suffering and to create conditions for happiness, the first benefit of the meditation is in helping the individual get in the habit of responding to every situation with kindness, more so than expecting to have any immediate effect in the world.

"Metta Bhavana: the development of loving-kindness

"Metta is almost impossible to translate adequately, but refers to strong, even passionate, feelings of love, friendliness, and compassion towards all life - feelings felt equally towards all, and completely free from emotional self interest or grasping. It is sometimes referred to as 'universal loving-kindness'. It is a fundamental attitude of positivity and love that will express itself spontaneously and appropriately in action: as compassion towards the suffering, joy at others' good fortune, help where help is needed, generosity towards the needy, and so on.

"Summary of the five stages of the practice:

"- Begin as for the Mindfulness of Breathing, checking your overall energy, emotions, and mental activity, acknowledging these as your starting point.

"1 As you become more fully aware of yourself, develop a response of friendliness, interest, and kindness towards yourself, wishing yourself "happiness and the causes of happiness, freedom from suffering and the causes of suffering, growth and development". One approach is to repeat a suitable sentence to yourself over and over, listening for the resonances in your heart. Another way is to remember a time when you felt this way, and feed that memory with awareness, thereby bringing it into life in the present. Another is to imaginatively give yourself a gift - a flower, jewel, or flame, symbolising self-metta.

"2 Move the focus of your awareness onto a good friend and work creatively to contact, develop, and deepen metta towards them, using similar methods to stage 1. Avoid choosing someone for whom you feel sexual or parental feelings.

"3 Bring to mind a 'neutral' person, someone for whom you have no clear like or dislike. Look for ways to contact metta for them and then develop and deepen it. This may mean 'bringing them to life' in your mind, reflecting on what you have most deeply in common, or simply taking an imaginative interest in them.

"4 Turn your attention to a 'difficult' person. Experience how you actually feel towards them, and try to cultivate a fresh and more mettaful response, perhaps looking for a deeper understanding of them.

"5 Lastly, bring to mind all four people and develop metta equally towards all of them. Broaden out to include those around you, in the local area, the country, the world - other forms of life - all life. Develop strong, impartial, universal metta towards all life.

"- To end, as in the Mindfulness of Breathing, relax your effort, and gradually expand your awareness outwards slowly and sensitively."

From "Resource Pack 2 for newcomers to Triratna Centres: introduction to Meditation, Buddhism, and ceremonies"
http://www.fwbo-news.org/resources/Trir ... _texts.pdf

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:28 am**

Anthony wrote:May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.

Amen to that! Aloha.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:47 am**

: [b][color=#0000FF][size=125]Electron micrograph of an Ebola virus virion[/size][/color][/b]

Beyond wrote:
Anthony wrote:
May all beings be happy,
peaceful, and free.
Amen to that! Aloha.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:16 am**

neufer wrote:
[b][color=#0000FF][size=125]Electron micrograph of an Ebola virus virion[/size][/color][/b]
Beyond wrote:
Anthony wrote:
May all beings be happy,
peaceful, and free.
Amen to that! Aloha.

I'm not even going to ask! No-sir-ree bob, I'm not even going to ask.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:25 am**

Beyond, Ebola's pretty interesting. Not nice, but interesting. You might like the thriller The Hot Zone. Ebola practically in neufer's backyard; scary (but interesting!) stuff.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:39 am**

owlice wrote:Beyond, Ebola's pretty interesting. Not nice, but interesting. You might like the thriller The Hot Zone. Ebola practically in neufer's backyard; scary (but interesting!) stuff.

NAH! I've got enough things bugging me.

Practically in neufer's backyard huh? Looks like not too far from your back yard either.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:35 pm**

Beyond wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
owlice wrote:
Beyond, Ebola's pretty interesting. Not nice, but interesting. You might like the thriller The Hot Zone. Ebola practically in neufer's backyard; scary (but interesting!) stuff.
NAH! I've got enough things bugging me.

Practically in neufer's backyard huh? Looks like not too far from your back yard either.

: [color=#0000FF]Casey Schuler(Kevin Spacey): [i]How many brain cells did I kill?[/i] Sam Daniels(Dustin Hoffman): [i]How many? About a billion.[/i] Casey Schuler: [i]Oh, now I'm only as smart as you.[/i] Sam Daniels: [i]What can we give him to kill his sense of humor?[/i][/color]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reston_virus wrote:
<<Reston virus (abbreviated RESTV) was first described in 1990 as a new "strain" of Ebola virus, a result of mutation from Ebola virus. Reston virus is named after Reston, Virginia, US, where the virus was first discovered.

RESTV was discovered in crab-eating macaques from Hazleton Laboratories (now Covance) in 1989. This attracted significant media attention due to the proximity of Reston to the Washington, DC metro area, and the lethality of a closely related virus, Ebola virus (EBOV). Despite its status as a level-4 organism, Reston virus is non-pathogenic to humans however hazardous to monkeys; the perception of its lethality was confounded due to the monkey's coinfection with Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV).

The physical building in which the outbreak occurred was demolished on 30 May 1995 and a new building constructed in its place. This facility, which is part of the Isaac Newton Square office park, at 1946 Isaac Newton Sq W, became a KinderCare, then became a Mulberry Child Care.>>

http://www.kindercare.com/our-centers/reston/va/303031/ wrote:
Isaac Newton Square KinderCare
Sol Livingston, Center Director
1946 Isaac Newton Square W, Reston, VA 20190

Isaac Newton Square KinderCare encompasses all that a quality early childhood program should be–a stimulating environment, a creative and professional staff, and strong partnership with parents that are warm, supportive and interested in their children’s development. - Sol Livingston, Center Director

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_to_Think_That_I_Saw_It_on_Mulberry_Street wrote:
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is a book written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss and Robert Carington, first published in 1937. It was Seuss's first children's book, originally titled "A Story That No One Can Beat," the manuscript was rejected by over 43 publishing companies but was eventually published by Vanguard Press. Seuss has stated that he nearly burned the manuscript before its publication after being rejected by so many publishers.

The story follows a boy named Marco, who describes the sights and sounds of imaginary people and vehicles traveling along Mulberry Street in an elaborate fantasy story he dreams up to tell to his father at the end of his walk, but decides instead to simply tell him what he actually saw.

Marco was named after Marco McClintock, the son of the author's editor, Marshall "Mike" McClintock, and Helene McClintock, to whom the book is dedicated. Marco returned as a character in McElligot's Pool.

Mulberry Street is the name of a street (42.102224°N 72.578119°W) in Springfield, Massachusetts, only one mile southwest of Dr. Seuss's boyhood home on Fairfield Street, and inspired both the book's story and name.

The Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Lookin' Out My Back Door" was partly inspired by the book.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:03 pm**

Hmm... there seems to be part of a quote of me that i didn't wrote. But i don't mind. Creedence Clearwater Revival has some goood stuff

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:42 pm**

Beyond wrote:
Hmm... there seems to be part of a quote of me that i didn't wrote.
But i don't mind. Creedence Clearwater Revival has some goood stuff

Artistic license. (Besides, you had enough things bugging you [e.g., ebola, etc.].)

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:28 pm**

neufer wrote:
[b][color=#0000FF][size=125]Electron micrograph of an Ebola virus virion[/size][/color][/b]
Beyond wrote:
Anthony wrote:
May all beings be happy,
peaceful, and free.
Amen to that! Aloha.

If the question is "should the Ebola virus also be happy, peaceful, and free?" obviously the answer is "no."

One could quibble about whether a virus is a living being or not. But what about mosquitoes who carry disease? They are unambiguously alive. Should we allow them to live freely and kill people? No. And what about the entirely innocent carrot I put in my soup last night? The carrot is a living being, and I killed and ate it. The carrot was harvested before it flowered and went to seed, so it didn't even have a chance to reproduce.

Life always involves death. Acknowledging this truth doesn't diminish the value, for oneself and others, of cultivating kindness in thought and action. I have a long way to go before I will be challenged by excessive empathy for carrots, mosquitoes, or viruses. At this point I'm working on responding more empathically and kindly to humans, other mammals, and birds. The aspiration to extend empathy and kindness universally is a practical help to me in this regard, at least for the time being.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:43 pm**

Anthony Barreiro wrote:One could quibble about whether a virus is a living being or not. But what about mosquitoes who carry disease? They are unambiguously alive. Should we allow them to live freely and kill people? No. And what about the entirely innocent carrot I put in my soup last night? The carrot is a living being, and I killed and ate it.

A carrot is living, but it certainly isn't a "being", a term that implies some degree of self-awareness. I doubt you'll find many people who consider carrots to be self-aware.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:13 pm**

Chris Peterson wrote:
Anthony Barreiro wrote:One could quibble about whether a virus is a living being or not. But what about mosquitoes who carry disease? They are unambiguously alive. Should we allow them to live freely and kill people? No. And what about the entirely innocent carrot I put in my soup last night? The carrot is a living being, and I killed and ate it.
A carrot is living, but it certainly isn't a "being", a term that implies some degree of self-awareness. I doubt you'll find many people who consider carrots to be self-aware.

Here's one:

http://books.google.com/books/about/The ... OrV71X3AoC

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:38 pm**

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Flames cannot burn it nor bullets kill it

Anthony Barreiro wrote:
Chris Peterson wrote:
Anthony Barreiro wrote:
One could quibble about whether a virus is a living being or not. But what about mosquitoes who carry disease? They are unambiguously alive. Should we allow them to live freely and kill people? No. And what about the entirely innocent carrot I put in my soup last night? The carrot is a living being, and I killed and ate it.
A carrot is living, but it certainly isn't a "being", a term that implies some degree of self-awareness. I doubt you'll find many people who consider carrots to be self-aware.
http://books.google.com/books/about/The ... OrV71X3AoC

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:53 pm**

neufer wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Flames cannot burn it nor bullets kill it
Chris Peterson wrote: A carrot is living, but it certainly isn't a "being", a term that implies some degree of self-awareness. I doubt you'll find many people who consider carrots to be self-aware.

Dr. Neuendorffer, it is impossible to keep a straight face while discussing the intelligence of plants with you. Did you just happen to remember this cinematic masterpiece, or do you have a fiendishly sophisticated search algorithm?

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:17 pm**

neufer wrote:
Beyond wrote:
Hmm... there seems to be part of a quote of me that i didn't wrote.
But i don't mind. Creedence Clearwater Revival has some goood stuff
Artistic license. (Besides, you had enough things bugging you [e.g., ebola, etc.].)

Artistic license, eh

Ok Dr. Neuendorffer. So... how long have you been a practicing Doc Art

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:21 pm**

Anthony Barreiro wrote:Dr. Neuendorffer, it is impossible to keep a straight face while discussing the intelligence of plants with you. Did you just happen to remember this cinematic masterpiece, or do you have a fiendishly sophisticated search algorithm?

I'm afraid Art has reached that point in his life where sometimes the only things he can remember are ancient cinematic masterpieces...

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:56 pm**

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Anthony Barreiro wrote:
Dr. Neuendorffer, it is impossible to keep a straight face while discussing the intelligence of plants with you. Did you just happen to remember this cinematic masterpiece, or do you have a fiendishly sophisticated search algorithm?

I use my dictorobitary, or as you on Earth put it, Anthony, the language computer.

Chris Peterson wrote:
I'm afraid Art has reached that point in his life where sometimes the only things he can remember are ancient cinematic masterpieces...

You're a headstrong young man, Chris.

Posted: **Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:10 pm**

By the way this picture shows wonderful colors... may be I cannot fully understand its scientific meaning, but touches my heart!

Starship Asterisk*

APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

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Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)

Re: APOD: Cas A: Optical and X ray (2013 Jan 17)