Starship Asterisk*

geckzilla wrote:farting out the sun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver wrote:
<<Denver City was founded in November 1858 as a mining town during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in western Kansas Territory.[11] That summer, a group of gold prospectors from Lawrence, Kansas, arrived and established Montana City on the banks of the South Platte River. This was the first settlement in what was later to become the city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however, and was abandoned in favor of Auraria (named after the gold-mining town of Auraria, Georgia) and St. Charles City by the summer of 1859. On November 22, 1858, General William Larimer, a land speculator from eastern Kansas, placed cottonwood logs to stake a claim on the hill overlooking the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek, across the creek from the existing mining settlement of Auraria. Larimer named the town site Denver City to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver. Larimer hoped that the town's name would help make it the county seat of Arapaho County, but unknown to him Governor Denver had already resigned from office.>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_International_Airport wrote:
<<Denver International Airport (IATA: DEN, ICAO: KDEN, FAA LID: DEN), often called DIA, is, by land size at 53 square miles (140 km2), the largest international airport in the United States, and the third largest international airport in the world. Runway 16R/34L is the longest public use runway in the United States.

In February 2008, construction of an on-site, two-megawatt solar energy system began. The single-axis tracking system should provide 3.5 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year and spare the environment of more than five million pounds of carbon emissions annually. The system will generate the equivalent of half the energy needs for the underground trains that move people between concourses.

Conspiracy theories

There are several conspiracy theories relating to the airport's design and construction. Murals painted in the baggage claim area have been claimed to contain themes referring to future military oppression and a one-world government. However, the artist, Leo Tanguma, said the murals, entitled "In Peace and Harmony With Nature" and "The Children of the World Dream of Peace," depict man-made environmental destruction and genocide along with humanity coming together to heal nature and live in peace. In the mid-1990s, Philip Schneider gave lectures about highly secretive government information concerning "deep underground military bases" that were constructed by the United States government, and said that one of these bases exists about two miles underneath the Denver International Airport. Author Alex Christopher claimed to have worked in the tunnels under the airport, and described what appeared to be vast holding areas for prisoners, strange nausea-inducing electromagnetic forces, and caverns big enough to drive trucks through, presumably to be filled with helpless political prisoners.

Conspiracists have pointed to unusual words cut into the floor as being Satanic, Masonic, or just some impenetrable secret code of the New World Order: Cochetopa, Sisnaajini, and the baffling Dzit Dit Gaii. These words are actually Navajo terms for geographical sites in Colorado. The words, Braaksma and Villarreal, are actually the names of Carolyn Braaksma and Mark Villarreal, artists who worked on the airport’s sculptures and paintings.

There is a dedication marker in the airport inscribed with the square and compasses of the Freemasons, along with listing the involvement of the two Grand Lodges of Freemasonry in Colorado, and mounted over a time capsule sealed during the dedication of the airport. The Freemasons participated in laying the “capstone” (the last, finishing stone) of the airport project. Conspiracists claim that this is a futuristic “keypad” with some unknown purpose.>>

orin stepanek wrote:I think it's a geat picture. 8)
Orin

emc wrote:"...So WE are the ONE coming and going and being helpfully dragged along at nearly 515,000 MPH as the sun takes us around the galaxy. ..."

Star*Hopper wrote:

emc wrote:"...So WE are the ONE coming and going and being helpfully dragged along at nearly 515,000 MPH as the sun takes us around the galaxy. ..."

Actually that's 447,000 mi/hr (719,000 km/hr) - ( http://calgary.rasc.ca/howfast.htm ).
But who's splitting hairs over a paltry 68,234.11281 miles per hour!?

~S*H

Star*Hopper wrote:

orin stepanek wrote:I think it's a geat picture. 8)
Orin

No argument there. But the point is, while APOD might concomitantly stand for "Awesome" (which rampant mis- and over-use disgusts me) Picture Of the Day, or "Amazing..." (also non-fitting in this case) - here it means "Astronomy". Or is supposed to. And a simple interjection of phrase into a caption doesn't make it so, in my opinion.

Just sayin'....

~S*H

emc wrote:Interestingly there are other estimates...
...
Guess we really aren't certain