Starship Asterisk*

Carole wrote:Sorry, guys. I'm a Christian, and I do not believe in the big bang theory. God created the heavens and the earth by speaking them into existence. No, it doesn't make logical sense. Yes, it takes faith to believe it. And I believe it. Just wanted you to know that you don't speak for me. It's not my story at all.

Anthony Barreiro wrote:I find fundamentalism equally unsatisfactory and frustrating regardless of the sacred text chosen as the foundation of belief, whether it be an ancient religious book or current scientific theory. The best religious perspectives have the advantage of taking mystery seriously and thus cultivating humility. The scientific method has the advantage of testing beliefs against observations and thus developing better models of reality. But we all crave greater certainty than the world provides, so we cling to our familiar and comfortable beliefs and attempt to silence those whose experience and beliefs are different than our own.

BMAONE23 wrote:

Steve62 wrote:Complete Science Fiction. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.
The Religion of Evolution requires belief in chance and time and life coming from nothing. Great faith, not science.
I do love seeing the photos of God's creation though in APOD.

It would seem to me that Belief in Big Bang and Belief in Biblical creation are basically the same thing, the belief in something from nothing. One ascribes it to a Supreme Being describing the possible order of occurances and the other describes the method that possible Supreme Being used to bring things together during the period of creation/big bang

Beyond wrote: Say... wasn't that a Yeti standing on the mountain top at the end It looked just a little too big to be a human.

leoneri wrote:

Beyond wrote:
Say... wasn't that a Yeti standing on the mountain top at the end It looked just a little too big to be a human.

looks like Darth Vader to me.. but what the heck is he doing there? trying to connect to the force?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaineering#History wrote:

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Bullock_Workman][size=135]Fannie Bullock Workman[/size][/url][b][color=#0000FF][size=135] made ascents into the Himalayas.[/size][/color][/b]

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• History of Mountaineering

. Though it is unknown whether his intention was to reach a summit, "Ötzi the Iceman" ascended at least 3,000 metres in the Alps about 5,300 years ago. His remains were found at that altitude, preserved in a glacier.

. The first recorded mountain ascent in the Common Era is Roman Emperor Hadrian's ascent of Etna (3,350 m) to see the sun rise in 121.

. Peter III of Aragon climbed Canigou in the Pyrenees in the last quarter of the 13th century.

. The first ascent of the Popocatépetl (5,426 m in Mexico) was reported in 1289 by members of a local tribe.

. The Italian poet Petrarch wrote that on April 26, 1336 he, together with his brother and two servants, climbed to the top of Mont Ventoux (1,909 m).

. The Rocciamelone (3,538 m) in the Italian Alps was climbed in 1358.

. In the late 15th/early 16th centuries, ascents were made of numerous high peaks in the Andes, for religious purposes by citizens of the Inca Empire and their subjects. They constructed platforms, houses & altars on many summits and carried out sacrifices, including human sacrifices. The highest peak they are known for certain to have climbed is Llullaillaco (6,739 m). They may also have ascended the highest peak in the Andes, Aconcagua (6,962 m) as a sacrifice victim has been found at over 5,000 m on this peak.

. In 1492 the ascent of Mont Aiguille was made by order of Charles VIII of France. The Humanists of the 16th century adopted a new attitude towards mountains, but the disturbed state of Europe nipped in the bud the nascent mountaineering of the Zurich school.

. Leonardo da Vinci climbed to a snow-field in the neighborhood of Monte Rosa and made scientific observations.

. In 1642 Darby Field made the first recorded ascent of Mount Washington, then known as Agiocochook, in New Hampshire.

. Richard Pococke and William Windham's historic visit to Chamonix was made in 1741, and set the trend for visiting glaciers.

. The first attempt to ascend Mont Blanc was made in 1775 by a party of natives. In 1786 Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat gained the summit for the first time. Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, the initiator of the first ascent followed next year.

. The Grossglockner was climbed in 1800, the Ortler in 1804, the Jungfrau in 1811, the Finsteraarhorn in 1812, and the Breithorn in 1813. Thereafter, tourists showed a tendency to climb, and the body of Alpine guides began to come into existence as a consequence.

. The British scientist, Sir John Herschel, makes an ascent in 1824 where on July 23 he carries out a barometric determination of the height of Mount Etna.

. Aconcagua (22,831 feet), the highest peak of the Andes was first climbed in 1897 and the Grand Teton (13,747 feet)in North America's Rocky Mountains was ascended in 1898.

. The Italian Duke of the Abruzzi in 1897 made the first ascent on Mount Saint Elias (18,009 feet) which stands at the boundary of Alaska and Canada and in 1906 successfully climbed Margherita in the Ruwenzori group (16,795 feet) in East Africa. In 1913, an American, Hudson Stuck ascended Mount McKinley (20,320 feet) in Alaska, the highest peak in North America.

. The Alpine Club was founded in London in 1857, and was soon imitated in most European countries. Edward Whymper's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 marked the close of the main period of Alpine conquest, the Golden age of alpinism, during which the craft of climbing was invented and "perfected", the body of professional guides formed and their traditions fixed.

. The Edelweiss Club Salzburg was founded in Salzburg in 1881, and had 3 members make the first ascent on two Eight-thousanders, Broad Peak (1957) and Dhaulagiri (1960).>>

nateman wrote:
Among these self replicating units of information called life the Earth's master of information itself is MAN. That makes MAN the most special thing we know of in the Universe so far. If there is any other master of information that does it better than MAN it will probably find us first if it has not done so already.

• WOMAN

Crass Novice wrote:I liked today's APOD except for the fact that Ms. Sheep forgot about the turtles.