Thank-you Eartheart. Do you converse with the Thuban crowd?? There is an aspect of that Thuban stuff which is sort of cool -- but I have huge problems with it in its present form. Again, I am on the verge of just concentrating on Astronomy, Egyptology, Jesus-Studies, and Sacred Classical-Music. I'm sort of burned-out on the really crazy and upsetting stuff. In fact, if I had the money, I might just do Live Steam and Vintage Auto Racing. I'm very serious when I say that. On the other hand -- hanging-out with the Jesuits on Mt. Graham might be quite the educational experience -- but from what I hear -- the Jesuits don't like me. That could be a bad thing...
Here's something to think about. Everyone seems to want Term-Limits for Politicians -- but what about Term-Limits for Brain-Surgeons?? What about all the powerful people (and other than people) in Washington D.C. -- who never leave???? Do we NOT want experienced politicians -- who know what the hell they are doing??? I'm really not kidding when I speak of combining the Best Aspects of the City-States, the United Nations, and the Moon!!! How are the Popes REALLY selected??? Why do they not retire when they have to be wheeled around, and when they have a difficult time staying awake and coherent?? I mean no disrespect here. I simply wish for this world and solar system to be run by the truly Best and Brightest -- who make the best decisions for humanity. Do you see my point??
Where has the Lord placed each and every one of us?? If we try to better ourselves -- are we rebelling against God?? What is the Will of God?? What is the Law of God?? What was the Pre-Human Law of God?? What was the Law of God to Adam and Eve?? Did the Ten-Commandments predate Exodus 20?? What was the Pre-Human Liturgy?? I keep looking for a Timeless Law and Liturgy. I really wish to be Traditional -- yet History and Tradition seem to present me with a MESS!!! Why is this?? Do the Implications and Ramifications of the Tower of Babel Incident have something to do with this confusion?? I'm faced with a situation where nothing is ever really right -- and where nothing ever really resolves. Is this a nasty series of accidents -- or is it by DESIGN?? Does the Lord lay strong Human Leadership low by raising them up -- and then destroying them -- in a cyclical fashion?? I mean no disrespect. I really don't. I'm simply trying to understand why Earth is not Heaven -- and why Mankind seems to be viewed as being Damaged-Goods and as being Sinful-Human-Flesh. I keep sensing an Ancient and Ugly Multiracial Conflict or Galactic Civil War Among Soul-Relatives. My insides never stop churning. I never have peace. Is trying to make things better considered a treasonous act?? Has a Verdict Been Rendered Against Humanity Which Shall Never Be Rescinded?? Should I just shut-up and suffer???
Is the Law of God the Word of God -- or 'Every Word That Procedeth Out of the Mouth of God'?? If so, then is the Word of God limited to the 66 Books of the Biblical Canon?? Is the Character of the Old Testament God similar to the Character of the God of the Roman Catholic Church?? Both seem to be rather harsh. Jesus seems quite different. Jesus seems to be quite different than that which is presented in the Pauline Epistles and the Book of Revelation. What's really going on here?? Again, all of this seems like an endless round of madness -- with theological arguments which never resolve. I tired of this mess -- and turned to the Positive Gospel According to Peale and Schuller. Unfortunately, this opened-up a whole new Can of Worms. I can understand why a lot of people abandon religion completely. I don't think they are really Atheists. I just think that they don't want to deal with the Problems and Absurdities. It's a nasty job -- but some of us have to do it. Or do we??? Here is a man who spent a lifetime dealing with Theological Issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBjkZ5WzBfc This conversation is not fast-paced, but it contains a lot of extremely useful theological information. I attended his classes for years. Studying the leading SDA theologians (throughout the history of the SDA church) might be a VERY interesting study for those disciplined enough to properly do this. I think the Jesuits know what I'm talking about. I guess I'm sort of a Non-Practicing Renegade Ecumenical Seventh-Day Anglican. Do you see my point??? I didn't think so.
Shouldn't all Protestants be careful students and observers of the Roman Catholic Church??? Shouldn't Protestants think about what changes might make the Roman Catholic Church acceptable to them??? At what point does one call off the dogs??? Some of my answers to these questions are found within this thread -- yet this process deeply frightens me. The problem I seem to be having is information overload and disorientation. I'd like the world to be somewhat simple, stable, and trouble-free -- yet the reality is just the opposite -- and my efforts to resolve the madness lead me into ever greater perplexity, complexity, and uncertainty. This could ultimately result in a Breakdown, Shutdown, and Lockup -- which is why I continue to be very wary about Waking-Up the General-Public. This Info-War thing could get VERY nasty.
I'm going to rewatch 'Avatar' tonight -- while imagining the context to be within this solar system -- and imagining that there really is an Avatar Program. I guess I'm doing that with nearly all of the sci-fi I watch. I don't really know how to properly proceed with my Political and Theological Science-Fiction. I'm finding that I am posting less and less of what I REALLY think about everything -- because my true thoughts are too radical and difficult to express. I don't think I'm crazy -- but it wouldn't surprise me if I actually go crazy prior to leaving this present container. I am preparing for that possibility -- and I truly do not wish to pull others along with me if that does indeed occur. How do I get to 'checkmate' with all deliberate speed?? I feel as if I am so near -- yet so very far -- from accomplishing whatever it is that I am supposed to be doing. I still don't know what this is Really all about -- and I feel as if I am getting my butt kicked big-time. I mean-well -- yet I seem to be clueless and powerless. BTW -- you wouldn't believe what a nice place I'm working in!!!
As a child, I enjoyed attending the lectures of Phillip Knox regarding Astronomy and Religion. Here is an old inspirational book titled 'Wonder Worlds' which he wrote. http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Worlds-Knox-Phillip-L/dp/B003IM3JW8 The following is some Vatican related astronomical stuff!!
The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, aka the VATT, is a 1.8 meter Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared. It is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. It is situated on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona, and it achieved 'first light', the first starlight to pass through the telescope onto a detector, in 1993. It is operated by the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, in partnership with The University of Arizona.
The heart of the telescope is an f/1.0 honeycombed construction, borosilicate primary mirror. The mirror was manufactured at The University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory[1], which pioneered both the spin-casting and the stressed-lap polishing techniques which are being used for telescope mirrors that include the 6.5 meter aperture MMT and Magellan telescopes and the two 8.4 meter mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope. The VATT's mirror is unusually 'fast', f/1, which means that its focal distance is equal to its diameter. Because it has such a short focal length, a Gregorian design could be employed which uses a concave secondary mirror at a point beyond the primary focus; this allows unusually sharp focusing across the field of view.
The unusual optical design and novel mirror fabrication techniques mean that both the primary and secondary mirrors are among the most exact surfaces ever made for a ground-based telescope. In addition, the skies above Mount Graham are among the most clear, steady, and dark in the continental North America. Seeing of better than one arc-second even without adaptive optics can be achieved on a regular basis.
Optical System -- Aplanatic Gregorian f/9
Focal Length -- 16.48 m
Primary Mirror -- f/1.0, Diameter 1.83 m
Secondary Mirror -- f/0.9, Diameter 0.38 m (Focus Control: 0.1 micrometre)
Field of View -- 72 mm (15')
Scale -- 12.52 "/mm
Image Quality -- 0.1 ' - 6.8 "
Mount -- Alt-Az + Derotator
Given its excellent optical qualities, the telescope has been used primarily for imaging and photometric work, in which it regularly outperforms much larger telescopes located elsewhere. Among the notable results from this telescope have been the discovery of MACHOs in the Andromeda Galaxy; the validation of the Stromvil photometric filter system; evidence for how the shape and dimensions of galaxies have changed over the age of the universe; discovery of the first binary 'Vesta chip' asteroid; and the characterization and classification by visible colors of some 100 Trans-Neptunian objects, most of them fainter than magnitude 21.
The government of the Vatican City State supports the Vatican Observatory staff and regular research costs, but the cost to build and maintain the VATT itself has come from private donors. The major donors supporting the construction of the telescope were Fred and Alice P. Lennon and Thomas J. Bannan. Benefactors to the Vatican Observatory Foundation[2] continue to support the operating costs of the Alice P. Lennon telescope and its attached Thomas J. Bannan astrophysics facility.
Check out the site for the 'Vatican Observatory'! http://www.vaticanobservatory.org/ Here is the wiki entry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Observatory
The Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana) is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in the Roman College of Rome, it now has headquarters and laboratory at the summer residence of the Pope in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and an observatory at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States.[1]
The Director of the Observatory is Fr. José Gabriel Funes an Argentinian Jesuit. Many distinguished scholars have worked at the Observatory. In 2008, the Templeton Prize was awarded to cosmologist Fr. Michał Heller, a Vatican Observatory Adjunct Scholar. In 2010, the George Van Biesbroeck Prize was awarded to former observatory director, the American Jesuit, Fr. George Coyne.[2]
The Church has had long-standing interests in astronomy, due to the astronomical basis of the calendar by which holy days and Easter are determined. For instance, the Gregorian Calendar, promulgated in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, was developed by the Jesuit mathematician Christoph Clavius at the Collegio Romano from astronomical data.
In the 18th century, the Papacy actively supported astronomy, establishing the Observatory of the Roman College in 1774. In 1789-1787, the Specola Vaticana in the Tower of the Winds within the Vatican was established under the direction of Msgr. Filippo Luigi Gilii (1756-1821). When Msgr. Gilii died, the Specola was closed down, as inconvenient to students in the city, and with the dome of St. Peter's obstructing its view. Its instruments were transferred to the College Observatory. A third facility, the Observatory of the Capitol, was operated from 1827 to 1870.
Father Angelo Secchi SJ relocated the College Observatory to the top of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola a Campo Marzio (Church of St. Ignatius in Rome). However, when Father Secchi died in 1878, there was grave tension between the Holy See and the government of Italy. The Observatory was renamed Regio Osservatorio al Collegio Romano ("Royal Observatory at the Roman College"), and remained in operation as such till 1923.
It was reopened in the 1930s, by which time the smoke and sky-glow of the city made it impossible to conduct useful observations in Rome.[1] The Observatory relocated to Castel Gandolfo, which is 25 kilometres (16 mi) southeast of Rome. By 1961, the same problems now existed at Castel Gandolfo. The Observatory then established the Vatican Observatory Research Group, with offices at the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.[1]
In 1993, VORG completed the 1.8 metres (71 in) Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, which is at Mount Graham near Safford, Arizona.
The Observatory's headquarters remained in Italy at Castel Gandolfo. In early 2008, the Vatican announced that as part of a general reconstruction of the Papal residence, the Observatory would be relocated to a former convent a mile away from the castle, while its former space would be used to provide more room for the reception of diplomatic visitors. There was some commentary that the Observatory was being shut down or cut back, but in fact the Observatory staff welcomed the move[citation needed] . The old quarters in the castle were cramped and very poorly laid out for the Observatory's use. The research activities of VORG in Arizona continue unaffected.
See also
Catholic Church and science#Vatican Observatory
Archaeoastronomy
Guy Consolmagno
George Coyne
José Gabriel Funes
Michał Heller
Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action
References
Sabino Maffeo: The Vatican Observatory. In the Service of Nine Popes, Vatican Observatory Publications, 2001.
1.^ a b c Johnson, George (2009-06-22). "Vatican’s Celestial Eye, Seeking Not Angels but Data". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
2.^ Dennis Sadowski (2010-01-04). "American Astronomical Society honors former Vatican Observatory head". Catholic News Service. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
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Here's something to think about. Everyone seems to want Term-Limits for Politicians -- but what about Term-Limits for Brain-Surgeons?? What about all the powerful people (and other than people) in Washington D.C. -- who never leave???? Do we NOT want experienced politicians -- who know what the hell they are doing??? I'm really not kidding when I speak of combining the Best Aspects of the City-States, the United Nations, and the Moon!!! How are the Popes REALLY selected??? Why do they not retire when they have to be wheeled around, and when they have a difficult time staying awake and coherent?? I mean no disrespect here. I simply wish for this world and solar system to be run by the truly Best and Brightest -- who make the best decisions for humanity. Do you see my point??
Where has the Lord placed each and every one of us?? If we try to better ourselves -- are we rebelling against God?? What is the Will of God?? What is the Law of God?? What was the Pre-Human Law of God?? What was the Law of God to Adam and Eve?? Did the Ten-Commandments predate Exodus 20?? What was the Pre-Human Liturgy?? I keep looking for a Timeless Law and Liturgy. I really wish to be Traditional -- yet History and Tradition seem to present me with a MESS!!! Why is this?? Do the Implications and Ramifications of the Tower of Babel Incident have something to do with this confusion?? I'm faced with a situation where nothing is ever really right -- and where nothing ever really resolves. Is this a nasty series of accidents -- or is it by DESIGN?? Does the Lord lay strong Human Leadership low by raising them up -- and then destroying them -- in a cyclical fashion?? I mean no disrespect. I really don't. I'm simply trying to understand why Earth is not Heaven -- and why Mankind seems to be viewed as being Damaged-Goods and as being Sinful-Human-Flesh. I keep sensing an Ancient and Ugly Multiracial Conflict or Galactic Civil War Among Soul-Relatives. My insides never stop churning. I never have peace. Is trying to make things better considered a treasonous act?? Has a Verdict Been Rendered Against Humanity Which Shall Never Be Rescinded?? Should I just shut-up and suffer???
Is the Law of God the Word of God -- or 'Every Word That Procedeth Out of the Mouth of God'?? If so, then is the Word of God limited to the 66 Books of the Biblical Canon?? Is the Character of the Old Testament God similar to the Character of the God of the Roman Catholic Church?? Both seem to be rather harsh. Jesus seems quite different. Jesus seems to be quite different than that which is presented in the Pauline Epistles and the Book of Revelation. What's really going on here?? Again, all of this seems like an endless round of madness -- with theological arguments which never resolve. I tired of this mess -- and turned to the Positive Gospel According to Peale and Schuller. Unfortunately, this opened-up a whole new Can of Worms. I can understand why a lot of people abandon religion completely. I don't think they are really Atheists. I just think that they don't want to deal with the Problems and Absurdities. It's a nasty job -- but some of us have to do it. Or do we??? Here is a man who spent a lifetime dealing with Theological Issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBjkZ5WzBfc This conversation is not fast-paced, but it contains a lot of extremely useful theological information. I attended his classes for years. Studying the leading SDA theologians (throughout the history of the SDA church) might be a VERY interesting study for those disciplined enough to properly do this. I think the Jesuits know what I'm talking about. I guess I'm sort of a Non-Practicing Renegade Ecumenical Seventh-Day Anglican. Do you see my point??? I didn't think so.
Shouldn't all Protestants be careful students and observers of the Roman Catholic Church??? Shouldn't Protestants think about what changes might make the Roman Catholic Church acceptable to them??? At what point does one call off the dogs??? Some of my answers to these questions are found within this thread -- yet this process deeply frightens me. The problem I seem to be having is information overload and disorientation. I'd like the world to be somewhat simple, stable, and trouble-free -- yet the reality is just the opposite -- and my efforts to resolve the madness lead me into ever greater perplexity, complexity, and uncertainty. This could ultimately result in a Breakdown, Shutdown, and Lockup -- which is why I continue to be very wary about Waking-Up the General-Public. This Info-War thing could get VERY nasty.
I'm going to rewatch 'Avatar' tonight -- while imagining the context to be within this solar system -- and imagining that there really is an Avatar Program. I guess I'm doing that with nearly all of the sci-fi I watch. I don't really know how to properly proceed with my Political and Theological Science-Fiction. I'm finding that I am posting less and less of what I REALLY think about everything -- because my true thoughts are too radical and difficult to express. I don't think I'm crazy -- but it wouldn't surprise me if I actually go crazy prior to leaving this present container. I am preparing for that possibility -- and I truly do not wish to pull others along with me if that does indeed occur. How do I get to 'checkmate' with all deliberate speed?? I feel as if I am so near -- yet so very far -- from accomplishing whatever it is that I am supposed to be doing. I still don't know what this is Really all about -- and I feel as if I am getting my butt kicked big-time. I mean-well -- yet I seem to be clueless and powerless. BTW -- you wouldn't believe what a nice place I'm working in!!!
As a child, I enjoyed attending the lectures of Phillip Knox regarding Astronomy and Religion. Here is an old inspirational book titled 'Wonder Worlds' which he wrote. http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Worlds-Knox-Phillip-L/dp/B003IM3JW8 The following is some Vatican related astronomical stuff!!
The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, aka the VATT, is a 1.8 meter Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared. It is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. It is situated on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona, and it achieved 'first light', the first starlight to pass through the telescope onto a detector, in 1993. It is operated by the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, in partnership with The University of Arizona.
The heart of the telescope is an f/1.0 honeycombed construction, borosilicate primary mirror. The mirror was manufactured at The University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory[1], which pioneered both the spin-casting and the stressed-lap polishing techniques which are being used for telescope mirrors that include the 6.5 meter aperture MMT and Magellan telescopes and the two 8.4 meter mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope. The VATT's mirror is unusually 'fast', f/1, which means that its focal distance is equal to its diameter. Because it has such a short focal length, a Gregorian design could be employed which uses a concave secondary mirror at a point beyond the primary focus; this allows unusually sharp focusing across the field of view.
The unusual optical design and novel mirror fabrication techniques mean that both the primary and secondary mirrors are among the most exact surfaces ever made for a ground-based telescope. In addition, the skies above Mount Graham are among the most clear, steady, and dark in the continental North America. Seeing of better than one arc-second even without adaptive optics can be achieved on a regular basis.
Optical System -- Aplanatic Gregorian f/9
Focal Length -- 16.48 m
Primary Mirror -- f/1.0, Diameter 1.83 m
Secondary Mirror -- f/0.9, Diameter 0.38 m (Focus Control: 0.1 micrometre)
Field of View -- 72 mm (15')
Scale -- 12.52 "/mm
Image Quality -- 0.1 ' - 6.8 "
Mount -- Alt-Az + Derotator
Given its excellent optical qualities, the telescope has been used primarily for imaging and photometric work, in which it regularly outperforms much larger telescopes located elsewhere. Among the notable results from this telescope have been the discovery of MACHOs in the Andromeda Galaxy; the validation of the Stromvil photometric filter system; evidence for how the shape and dimensions of galaxies have changed over the age of the universe; discovery of the first binary 'Vesta chip' asteroid; and the characterization and classification by visible colors of some 100 Trans-Neptunian objects, most of them fainter than magnitude 21.
The government of the Vatican City State supports the Vatican Observatory staff and regular research costs, but the cost to build and maintain the VATT itself has come from private donors. The major donors supporting the construction of the telescope were Fred and Alice P. Lennon and Thomas J. Bannan. Benefactors to the Vatican Observatory Foundation[2] continue to support the operating costs of the Alice P. Lennon telescope and its attached Thomas J. Bannan astrophysics facility.
The Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana) is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in the Roman College of Rome, it now has headquarters and laboratory at the summer residence of the Pope in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and an observatory at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States.[1]
The Director of the Observatory is Fr. José Gabriel Funes an Argentinian Jesuit. Many distinguished scholars have worked at the Observatory. In 2008, the Templeton Prize was awarded to cosmologist Fr. Michał Heller, a Vatican Observatory Adjunct Scholar. In 2010, the George Van Biesbroeck Prize was awarded to former observatory director, the American Jesuit, Fr. George Coyne.[2]
The Church has had long-standing interests in astronomy, due to the astronomical basis of the calendar by which holy days and Easter are determined. For instance, the Gregorian Calendar, promulgated in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, was developed by the Jesuit mathematician Christoph Clavius at the Collegio Romano from astronomical data.
In the 18th century, the Papacy actively supported astronomy, establishing the Observatory of the Roman College in 1774. In 1789-1787, the Specola Vaticana in the Tower of the Winds within the Vatican was established under the direction of Msgr. Filippo Luigi Gilii (1756-1821). When Msgr. Gilii died, the Specola was closed down, as inconvenient to students in the city, and with the dome of St. Peter's obstructing its view. Its instruments were transferred to the College Observatory. A third facility, the Observatory of the Capitol, was operated from 1827 to 1870.
Father Angelo Secchi SJ relocated the College Observatory to the top of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola a Campo Marzio (Church of St. Ignatius in Rome). However, when Father Secchi died in 1878, there was grave tension between the Holy See and the government of Italy. The Observatory was renamed Regio Osservatorio al Collegio Romano ("Royal Observatory at the Roman College"), and remained in operation as such till 1923.
It was reopened in the 1930s, by which time the smoke and sky-glow of the city made it impossible to conduct useful observations in Rome.[1] The Observatory relocated to Castel Gandolfo, which is 25 kilometres (16 mi) southeast of Rome. By 1961, the same problems now existed at Castel Gandolfo. The Observatory then established the Vatican Observatory Research Group, with offices at the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.[1]
In 1993, VORG completed the 1.8 metres (71 in) Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, which is at Mount Graham near Safford, Arizona.
The Observatory's headquarters remained in Italy at Castel Gandolfo. In early 2008, the Vatican announced that as part of a general reconstruction of the Papal residence, the Observatory would be relocated to a former convent a mile away from the castle, while its former space would be used to provide more room for the reception of diplomatic visitors. There was some commentary that the Observatory was being shut down or cut back, but in fact the Observatory staff welcomed the move[citation needed] . The old quarters in the castle were cramped and very poorly laid out for the Observatory's use. The research activities of VORG in Arizona continue unaffected.
See also
Catholic Church and science#Vatican Observatory
Archaeoastronomy
Guy Consolmagno
George Coyne
José Gabriel Funes
Michał Heller
Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action
References
Sabino Maffeo: The Vatican Observatory. In the Service of Nine Popes, Vatican Observatory Publications, 2001.
1.^ a b c Johnson, George (2009-06-22). "Vatican’s Celestial Eye, Seeking Not Angels but Data". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
2.^ Dennis Sadowski (2010-01-04). "American Astronomical Society honors former Vatican Observatory head". Catholic News Service. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
