NGC 4676 (the Mice Galaxies) are two spiral galaxies about 290 million light-years away. They are in the process of colliding and merging.
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This photograph was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2002. The size of this combined galaxy is 760,000 light years across. In the background of the Mice Galaxies, there are at least 3300 galaxies, at distances up to 13 billion light-years.
Have you ever heard Andreas Vollenweider play the harp? He's a notably innovative musician who I have followed for two decades.
Last night I listened to his awesome 2020 album, "Quiet Places." Here's a sample:
Just now, I'm listening to his Sept 2020 home concert. If you'd like to hear some extraordinary harp music, check it out.
The Atlantic is featuring an awesome collection of close-up photography. These are voted the favorites out of more than 6,500 entries.
I had seen this quote before and posted a cartoon on this idea, but tonight I heard Tristan Harris read this passage by Neil Postman (Amusing Ourselves to Death) toward the end of his discussion with Joe Rogan. It hits the nail on the head:
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism.
Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumble puppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists, who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny, “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.”
In 1984, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.
What an awesome photo from 2015. I hadn't seen this image until today: From NASA (and this article also includes an animation of there moon crossing): EPIC maintains a constant view of the fully illuminated Earth as it rotates, providing scientific observations of ozone, vegetation, cloud height and aerosols in…