The Nativity Fast begins this Friday, and so it’s time for another ‘lenten’ internet break. I’m looking forward to an extended time of quiet and peace as the holidays approach. I’ll still be periodically checking my e-mail and feeds, but I won’t be blogging. I’ll likely be back sometime between Christmas and Theophany (January 6th).
So, while I’m at it: Happy Thanksgiving, Chanukkah, Christmas and New Year! I’ll see you all in six to seven weeks.
I’m going offline until after the New Year, and I’m looking forward to an extended time of quiet and peace as the holidays approach. So, from the cats and myself: Happy Thanksgiving, Chanukkah, Christmas and New Year! We’ll see you in 2009.
addendum to yesterday’s post:
Hannah made it exactly two minutes into the transport systems of plants and animals before she had to stop – talk of blood and veins and tissue fluid was making her woozy. I assured her, repeatedly, that she doesn’t need to conquer this now. She’s only in ninth grade, we’ll just give Biology a try in another year or so.
And with that, we move on to astronomy.
After reading about the Milky Way and other galaxies, she wanted to know how we had images of the Milky Way galaxy if we’re *inside* of it. I didn’t know the answer, but Dr. Google helped out…
How Can We See the Milky Way If We Are Inside It?
Instead, we only get pictures in which we see the structure of the Milky Way edge-on, from inside of it. Examples of these pictures in many different wavelengths of light can be found here. Each picture is a panoramic photo – if you want an idea of what we really see, imagine taking each picture and wrapping it in a big circle around you. The photographer has simply chosen to "cut" and "unfold" this circle such that the Galactic Center (the brightest part of the Milky Way) is in the picture’s center. This might give the illusion that we are looking at an edge-on picture of the Milky Way from the outside, but in reality we are not – the left and right edges of this picture simply represent material in the Milky Way that is located in the opposite direction of the Galactic Center from our point of view, and since we ourselves are pretty close to the edge of the Milky Way, there isn’t much to see in this direction.
Well there you go. Consider yourselves informed.
Just a point of clarification: while this post is prompted by some comments I received recently, I hope no one takes this too personally. Think of it as a friendly public service announcement. Like NBC used to do: The more you knoooooooow…
Anyway, I think Babs said it best:
When you go over to your mother’s house and she cooks you the most amazing meal, do you say “You’re a great cook” or do you say, “Wow, you must have great cookware”?Try it the next time you go visit her and she’s poured over her craft for hours only to hear that someone gives the pan credit. Let’s see if she invites you inspect her cast iron skillet with the broad side of your head.
(PS. If I had a better word processor I’d write the next best seller.)
You should really read the whole post, because she’s found some great examples of how skill, not equipment, is what makes for a great photograph.
Of course I was thrilled when I got a newer, nicer camera to replace my old point-and-shoot. A nicer camera helps me to better capture what I want to see in the way that I want to see it. A nicer camera offers greater flexibility for adjusting aperture, ISO and shutter speed. But a nicer camera does not help me to take better pictures.
So if you like my stuff, that’s great. Tell me so. Just don’t tell me it’s because of my Nikon.
