wonder

I wonder : Why do most republicans refuse to acknowledge the advances of science? It just occurred to me, well, not just; but within the last year this phenomenon has gobsmacked me. According to mainly Evangelical GOP'ers there is no global warming, dinosaurs either did not exist, or existed at the same time as early man, there is no environmental impact on anything we as a people do and they, accept "intelligent design". Now quickly, I should say I do not agree with ID, but I do comprehend the religious rights refusal to even acknowledge empirical data. Note, I said I comprehend, not understand. Simply put, if an issue presents empirical date, it must be proven or observed, and most religious tenants are neither; ergo an easy cannon to ignore by those consumed by religious zealotry. To believe the polar ice caps are melting because it is within earth's life cycle, or is natural is to ignore thousands of years of empirical, proven and observable data. This fear of science is so bizarre to me considering how accepting we are of science based everyday conveniences, like flying. I do not believe that ALL republicans, or ALL Evangelical republicans wear blinders, just the loudest one's.

This is Henrietta, named after Henrietta Swan Leavitt (July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921). While working at the Harvard College Observatory cataloging the brightness of variable stars from photographic plates, Henrietta discovered the pattern of luminosity in stars. Her discovery, later recognized as the 'Period-luminosity relationship' She published her findings in 1908 showing that there is a simple relationship between the brightness of the variable and their periods of brightness. This relationship provided an important yardstick for measuring distances in the Universe. Two other notables about Henrietta; she was deaf, and, women were not even allowed to use telescopes at the time.

Anyway, my Henrietta is a Meade etx125 ec Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope sans UHTC or SmartFinder. Small enough to be pretty mobile but with a 1900mm focal length and a 127mm apeture, we do just fine. Great for photography day or night.

This is Demi in her cab. Demi has been with me since 2002 and she is a great roomy. She has a small hand-held telescope from Discovery Channel around her neck but you can't see it. She is sitting in the back seat of my trunk right now because her cab is in my sisters garage. She is seat belted in so she is safe.