Satellites, Artificial and Natural November 29, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, science.Tags: artificial satellites, orbits, satellite, solar system, space
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satellite
A satellite is a small or secondary body that revolves around a larger one in the solar system. There are both natural and artificial satellites, which revolve and rotate at different rates of speed. Consequently, they may be used to measure time on Earth and to determine extraterrestrial occurrences. In the future, time-measuring satellites will be used to aid space travel and to predict cosmic events.
Natural planetary satellites are classified according to either their composition or their type of orbit. Nearly 100 have thus far been observed and identified in our solar system, and a great deal is known about their size, composition, and other physical properties. Our moon is Earth’s only natural satellite; some planets have many such objects circling them.
Jupiter, for example, has 49 officially named satellites. The rotation of most natural satellites about their respective planets is west to east, the same as the rotation of their planets. Some outer satellites, however, rotate in the opposite direction.
Artificial satellites are human-made objects that typically orbit the Earth, gathering data that are used for a multitude of purposes. There are six main types:
- scientific research,
- weather,
- communications,
- navigation,
- Earth observing, and
- military.
Max Scheler November 21, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, history, science.Tags: context, Jewish family, phenomenological, philosophy, specific theory
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Max Scheler
Max Scheler was among the most prominent and widely discussed philosophers of the German-speaking world in the early decades of the 20th century.
Though Scheler did not explicitly outline a specific philosophy of time, the concept of “timelines” of life and being is important for his phenomenological and anthropological work and needs to be understood in the context of the general development of his thinking.
The Life
Born within a predominantly Jewish family background (his mother was orthodox Jewish, his father had converted from Protestantism to Judaism), Max Scheler developed an interest in Catholicism in his youth in Munich and formally became a member of the Catholic Church in 1899 at the age of 25.
After briefly studying medicine and psychology at the universities of Munich and Berlin, where he also studied under Wilhelm Dilthey and Georg Simmel, he changed to philosophy, which he continued to study in Jena.
Change of Seasons November 20, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, science.Tags: climate, hemisphere, polar, Seasons, temperatures, zones
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Change of Seasons
The Greek naturalist and mathematician Pythagoras, around 529 BCE, presciently believed the earth to be a sphere and divided it into five zones: two frigid areas, one at each pole; one torrid area at or near the equator; and two temperate areas, located between the equator and either of the poles. In this, Pythagoras was essentially correct.
As we now know, with the earth’s axis pointing toward Polaris, or the North Star, at a 23.5° angle from the perpendicular of its orbit, the sun’s rays strike the earth’s surface at various angles during its yearly revolution. The only area of the earth that receives direct rays from the sun is between 23.5° north latitude and 23.5° south latitude, known as the tropics, or the torrid zone.
These parallels are known as the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, respectively. The march of the sun’s direct rays between these two extremes sets up a seasonal variation within the tropics; that is, the rainy season and the dry season. It also tends to define the other climates of
the world.
Climate and Geography
According to the Koeppen climate classification, generally torrid or tropical climates include the tropical rainforest, the tropical savanna and the tropical monsoon, all of which have rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season in the tropics tends to follow the sun’s direct rays between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The direct rays bring about convection currents in the atmosphere from the heating of the earth’s surface, and as the heated air rises it cools.
Sedimentation November 19, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, science.Tags: characteristics, environments, giology, material, sedimentation
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sedimentation
In geology, sedimentation is the process of deposition of previously eroded and transported material (sediments), and it includes such processes as the separation of the rock particles from the source rock, their transportation to the site of deposition, the settling of the sediments in layers, and the diagenetic processes that occur until the sediment is lithified.
The processes involved occur on a geologic timescale that spans millions of years. It was the meticulous and systematic observation of the layers, or strata, of sedimentary rock that enabled 18th- and 19th-century scientists to appreciate the immense age of the planet.
Sediment is any material that settles to the bottom of a fluid. Sedimentation describes the motion of particles in suspension or molecules in solutions as a response to an external force, and it takes place when the energy of the transport agent decreases (e.g., when a river reaches the sea).
Water plays a major role in sedimentation in most areas, whereas wind is the main parameter in dry sedimentary environments such as deserts. Although sedimentation often takes place in minute reactions and quantities, its effects are magnified by time. Given sufficient time, the material accumulates layer upon layer in sedimentary basins after going through geological, physical, chemical, and biological processes.
Myth of Shangri-La November 17, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, science.Tags: novel, places, shambala, shangri-la, stories, tibetan
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Shangri-La
The search for paradise on earth has been a recurring theme in world mythology for thousands of years. People have always been drawn to the idea that there is a place where humans live in harmony with each other and nature and where the wisdom in the world is gathered for the benefit of all humanity. In paradise, the ravages of time are slowed or stopped, and peace is eternal.
Shangri-La is such a place. Shangri-La is a modern myth invented by James Hilton in his novel Lost Horizon, published in 1933. In the novel, a group of westerners are rescued from a plane crash in a remote valley.
The exact location is never pinpointed in the novel, but the flight had been heading northeast from Afghanistan when Hilton pictured it landing in the unexplored western region of Tibet, surrounded by the highest mountains in the world.
Shangri-La is an isolated community that has a lamasery (a monastery for Tibetan lamas) headed by a 200-year-old Capuchin lama. Time is slowed significantly in Shangri-La, making life spans of more than 200 years common. The lamasery is a repository for all human knowledge and cultural treasures, gathered for posterity when the outside world self-destructs.
Senescence November 16, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, science.Tags: biology, cells, DNA, Senescence
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Senescence
Senescence, or aging, is a biological term deriving from the Latin root word senex (“old man” or “old age”) and refers to the period following the development phase of a living organism, during which various processes cause it to age, deteriorate, and die.
The period of senescence begins when an organism reaches sexual maturity and ends with the organism’s death. For humans, senescence begins at about age 28 and ends at about age 85 under optimal living conditions.
The length of senescence is in large part genetically determined and is species-specific, correlating closely with the average life expectancy for any given species, with longer-lived species having a more prolonged period of senescence.
One theory of aging states that this innate aging process is caused by the release of highly reactive molecules called “free radicals,” which arise from the processes of normal metabolism as well as from such external sources as chemical exposure, sunlight, smoking, or other environmental damage.
Over time, these unstable compounds interact and bind with other molecules in the organism, gradually and cumulatively causing irreversible harm to cellular DNA, mitochondria, and cell membranes.
Shinto November 15, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, science.Tags: ancient japanese, japan, japanese, shinto, the legends, traditions
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shinto
Shinto is the indigenous Japanese religion, based on the belief in divinities called Kami, reverence of ancestors, and a combination of ritual purification and food offerings. Kami can best be described as impersonal manifestations of power.
They have no shape of their own but can be summoned into vessels (often trees, banners, long stones) or be communicated with through a medium (often young women called Miko). Usually living in a world of their own, Kami can visit the human world at certain seasons. If cared for through the fulfillment of proper rituals and offerings, then they can bring material blessings to this world.
If offended, for example, by pollution brought about by blood, dirt, or death, they might curse the offenders, thus bringing disease, disaster, or famine to the culprits. Shinto¯ faith does not hold a unified concept of time. Instead, its myths present two different understandings of time and space.
There is no historical founder and no set of holy scriptures that define the content and practice of this faith. But two Japanese classics, Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, written in 712) and Nihon shoki (Chronicles of Japan, 720) contain the myths central to Shinto up to the present day.
Georg Simmel (1858–1918) November 14, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, history, science.Tags: Georg Simmel, mechanistic concept, Philosophy of Money, sociologist
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Georg Simmel
The pioneering German sociologist Georg Simmel spent most of his life as a private scholar, sustained by a small inheritance.
Although he was permitted to lecture after receiving his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Berlin in 1881, his Jewish origins sufficed to deny him an academic chair until 1914, when he was offered a professorship at the University of Strasbourg.
A penetrating thinker and brilliant essayist, Simmel is best known for his Philosophie des Geldes (Philosophy of Money, 1907); Einleitung in die Moralwissenschaft (Introduction to Moral Philosophy, 1893); and Soziologie (Sociology, 1908).
In his last work, Lebensanschauung (Life Views), Simmel broaches the issue of time in order to explicate his concept of life, which was of central relevance for all his work after 1908.
Original Sin November 13, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, science.Tags: Adam and Eve, Augustine, Orthodox Christianity, sinful
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Original sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that all people have a general condition of sinfulness from birth inherited from the first humans—Adam and Eve—that separates humans from God. Original sin is also called hereditary sin, birth sin, ancestral sin, and person sin.
The term original sin applies to both the first sin and to the inherited nature of sin found in each human. Genesis chapter 3 describes the first sin of Adam and Eve, the first humans. Initially, Adam and Eve lived in a state of immortality and in close communion with God.
The humans disobeyed God when the serpent deceived them into eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, a tree from which God had told them not to eat. By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve discovered the capacity to know and do evil; thus, they developed a sinful nature.
This capital transgression condemned the first humans as well as the human race to a life of sin that ends in death. As a consequence of the first sin, everyone born afterward inherits this sinful nature, thus corrupting the human race. This first sin is often referred to as “The Fall.”
Singularities November 12, 2011
Posted by nellysiska in girls, science, universe.Tags: grand unified theory, gravity, john michell, Singularities, spacetime curvature, time dilation
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Singularities
Singularities are points in spacetime that have infinite density and temperature. At these points, the known laws of physics break down or contradict each other. Singularities are found in three places: at the beginning of the big bang, at the end of the hypothetical big crunch, and at the centers of black holes.
The singularity at the big bang is mathematically defined as the beginning of time, or “t = 0.” Alternatively, singularities may be defined as points of infinite tidal gravity and chaotic spacetime curvature, or as being made of quantum foam, the bubbly substance governed by probability that constitutes space at the quantum level.
Infinities usually identify an error or problem with a physical theory, so these definitions cannot properly describe singularities. The search for a complete grand unified theory was initiated because of this breakdown of physics.
Singularities warp the fabric of spacetime more than any other known phenomenon. Time slows to stopping at the event horizon of a black hole and ceases to have any meaning at the singularity itself.
