*Or even the Friday after that, which is the one the crazies are worried about.
Yesterday was the first Thursday of the month, and the topic for U of T's Astronomy public lecture was debunking the apocalypse. Anticipating a large turnout, they moved the lecture from the McLennan building to the new-since-my-time Bahen Centre. They were right to do so; by the time we got there, the room was packed and we had trouble finding seats. They even had an overflow room.
First of all: so the Mayan long-form calendar is coming to an end. Big deal. When our calendars come to an end, we don't freak out; we put up a new calendar. I'm sure the ancient Maya figured that, at the end of 5000 years, somebody would get around to making a new one.
You can see more debunking at www.2012hoax.org. I strongly suggest you read the first page at least, which explains why it is so important to debunk this crap. Think of the children, people!
The talk was excellent, and I found myself making notes for future lessons based on some of the topics (using Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation to show that the force of gravity between us and Sagittarius A** is less than that between us and the Moon! Earth's magnetic field won't disappear during pole reversal -- which will take about a thousand years anyway! That it would take a Mars-sized object to come past and cause a physical flip of the axis**! Also stuff for the optics unit.
It seems that the apocalypse is a very useful teaching tool.
Anyway, after the hot chocolate (with real, add-your-own-marshmallows***) and cupcakes, the DC and I made our way back over to the McLennan labs to see the telescopes. We had no luck with the night sky this time either, but I remembered my tripod and got some better night shots of the cityscape.
We also went up to look at the large telescopes. There wa quite a lot of people queuing to look at... nothing, actually, since there were so many clouds. Next time I'll check the weather forecast first.
The next public talk is in February. You should go! They have hot chocolate! And after all, we will still be here. Might as well learn something.
UPDATE: NASA has done the timey-wimey thing in reverse; they've posted this "Why the World Didn't End Yesterday" video a week early.
More pix by clicking on the name below and scrolling:
*The black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. And that's not a typo; '*' is part of the name.
**"At which point," Lepo said, "you'll have other things to worry about."
***Do not underestimate how much better real marshmallows make powdered hot chocolate. Or any hot chocolate, for that matter.****
****It is possible that I am easy to please.
Yesterday was the first Thursday of the month, and the topic for U of T's Astronomy public lecture was debunking the apocalypse. Anticipating a large turnout, they moved the lecture from the McLennan building to the new-since-my-time Bahen Centre. They were right to do so; by the time we got there, the room was packed and we had trouble finding seats. They even had an overflow room.
First of all: so the Mayan long-form calendar is coming to an end. Big deal. When our calendars come to an end, we don't freak out; we put up a new calendar. I'm sure the ancient Maya figured that, at the end of 5000 years, somebody would get around to making a new one.
You can see more debunking at www.2012hoax.org. I strongly suggest you read the first page at least, which explains why it is so important to debunk this crap. Think of the children, people!
The talk was excellent, and I found myself making notes for future lessons based on some of the topics (using Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation to show that the force of gravity between us and Sagittarius A** is less than that between us and the Moon! Earth's magnetic field won't disappear during pole reversal -- which will take about a thousand years anyway! That it would take a Mars-sized object to come past and cause a physical flip of the axis**! Also stuff for the optics unit.
It seems that the apocalypse is a very useful teaching tool.
Anyway, after the hot chocolate (with real, add-your-own-marshmallows***) and cupcakes, the DC and I made our way back over to the McLennan labs to see the telescopes. We had no luck with the night sky this time either, but I remembered my tripod and got some better night shots of the cityscape.
We also went up to look at the large telescopes. There wa quite a lot of people queuing to look at... nothing, actually, since there were so many clouds. Next time I'll check the weather forecast first.
The next public talk is in February. You should go! They have hot chocolate! And after all, we will still be here. Might as well learn something.
UPDATE: NASA has done the timey-wimey thing in reverse; they've posted this "Why the World Didn't End Yesterday" video a week early.
More pix by clicking on the name below and scrolling:
 |
| From Rambling Through Toronto |
*The black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. And that's not a typo; '*' is part of the name.
**"At which point," Lepo said, "you'll have other things to worry about."
***Do not underestimate how much better real marshmallows make powdered hot chocolate. Or any hot chocolate, for that matter.****
****It is possible that I am easy to please.
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