For Your Viewing Pleasure

So I'm still on this Celestia craze...

I figured out (actually a friend did) that you can split the screen vertically. Then you rotate one of the screens and puff - a stereo image. I have posted three pretty good images on here. Just cross your eyes and try to get the two images to line up into one center image. At first it may be blurry, but just kinda "work at it" - I don't know how to give proper instructions here... If you have ever seen those "Magic Eye" books you will know how to do it. If not (like Matt G), well, too bad.

I especially like the one with just all the stars...its pretty sweet! Click on the pictures to get a larger view.

Where No Man Has Gone Before...

Yes, that is a quote from Star Trek. Yes, I have watched Star Trek. Yes, it can be good some of the time (the old ones suck, but the Next Generation isnt bad). We all have had dreams of going to outerspace and exploring around (Come on! Don't deny it!). Well, I have at least. Space has always fascinated me. Mostly it was because of the size of everything. The planets are huge, stars are even huger and galaxies...

Another thing that has also always amazed me are the distances. Everything is so unbelievably far apart. Did you know that the closest star to the earth is 24,689,699,200,000 miles away (2.4 lightyears)? That is a long way away and that is the closest. The whole Milky Way galaxy is 529,064,983,000,000,000 miles across (90,000 light years)? It takes light 90,000 years to go from one side of the Milky Way to the other! Those distances are unfathomable.

There are over 200 billion stars in the Milky Way. That is a big number. Though we can't really know this for sure, it is estimated that there are over 50 billion other galaxies out there in "space". That is fifty billion other Milky Way size galaxies. That would be 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars (1x10^22). Thats a lot of "big balls of gas burning billions of miles away."

What got me into this stuff again was a program that I stumbled upon called Celestia. It is a free program that lets you view the universe in a 3d world (uh...I mean...universe). You can go anywhere and see anything. It has all the stars in the Milky Way and a few hundred other galaxies, but that is enough to keep you busy for a lifetime. You can look at our solar system and go see Pluto (its pretty boring looking though). Its just an awsome program that everyone should download. It helps you to get a sense of just how big this universe is.

When I think about this stuff, I just can't help but be drawn back to God. Who is this God who created so much? The scale of all this is unfathomable to us...yet God holds it all in the palm of His hand. Think of that - the palm of His hand.

Psa 8:3-4 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, (4) what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

What are we? Insignificant. But thats just it. We're not insignifcant. God, in all His glory and all His power and all His unfathomable might, thinks about us. But He doesnt just think of us - He cares for each of us personally. He truly and deeply loves us, more than we will ever know. God, who has a name for all 1x10^22 stars (Psalm 147:4), actually cares about our lives. He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place; to take on our sin and give us His righteousness. The almighty, all knowing, all holy God of the universe, sent His own Son to take our place, recieving the full measure of God's just punishment of sin, but giving us life. The maker of the Universe died for us. He came down from his throne above the stars and walked on this little, insignificant place we call Earth to save these little insignificant, sinful things called humans; things that h ated Him and even killed Him. Who is this God?

Mat 8:23-27 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. (24) And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. (25) And they went and woke him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." (26) And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. (27) And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"

Thank you God for your very Self. I praise you, first, because of who you are. You are the almighty, uncontended Lord of the Universe. I am awed by you. Second, I praise you for what you have done. Thank you for giving us your Son. Thank you for being mindful of us...little insignificant humans, completely undeserving of You.

Lord thank you.

Methane from Trees?!

The forgotten methane source from PhysOrg.com

In the last few years, more and more research has focused on the biosphere; particularly, on how gases which influence the climate are exchanged between the biosphere and atmosphere. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics have now carefully analysed which organic gases are emitted from plants. They made the surprising discovery that plants release methane, a greenhouse gas - and this goes against all previous assumptions.

[...]

The Evolution of the Spoon

This is taken from my response to the random question section of my profile. I could not fit my answer in the space provided, so I will give the answer in full here.

Do you believe that forks are evolved from spoons?
Yes, it would seem to be consistent with the theory of evolution by natural selection. The spoon by itself would not be very useful at stabbing and picking up things, but would instead have to just scoop. Therefore, because "poking" would help the spoon reproduce, it would slowly, over millions of years undoubtedly evolve more prong-like appendages to better "poke" things. Of course the transition species between the spoon and the fork would be the spork, a mixture of both the fork and the spoon. Eventually the spork would evolve into a fork and then a complete dining set (table, chairs, placemats, plates, bowls, all necessary silverware, glasses, pretty vase with flowers and a four course meal) within the next 246 millions years (give or take a couple hundred thousand years or so).

See here for an extremely interesting article about the spork and it's amazing history!