MythTickle by Justin Thompson for April 11, 2014

By the way, kids, don’t try this at home. It’s extremely dangerous to stare directly at a solar eclipse, even if you’re wearing a welder’s helmet!

Don’t you just love the beauty of math? And Karma has sorta got it all right. But Merlin is kinda deflationary (not the Beatles’ fault)….

Boody, I feel the same way about Saturn’s rings. They are so delicate, so bright, so detailed, and yet all that beauty persists! How do they seem to defy logic? We just don’t know. We have some guesses at explanation, but not any good enough. Add to that, Saturn’s north pole has a persistent spinning hexagon shape in the clouds many times bigger than the Earth. Yes, a six-sided storm. (Google Saturn hexagon).Personally, I take all this (and so much more) as proof this universe didn’t “just happen.” It’s not a rigorous proof; just proof enough to convince me.

Great stuff, Justin!Especially like the shadow effect on the M.T. logo.

Eclipses are nothing. The chances of The Beatles forming together, now THAT could have nearly been an impossibility.

“An undevout astronomer is mad.” – Edward Young.“Would it not be strange if a universe without purpose accidentally created humans who are so obsessed with purpose?” – Sir John Templeton

Justin, I love the subtle detail in the coloring. You can see how the shadow passes over them.

We can work it out….

Even atheists must make a “leap of faith” to come to the conclusion that “science”, “math”, and “logic” are the only sources of proof..Ever love someone or something? Why? Because you trusted your heart not just your head.

For the believer in any system, no proof is needed. For the unbeliever in that system, no proof is sufficient.Anything that is unprovable is in essence… a theory. One may subscribe to a certain theory, but that does not make it fact to everyone.

I just want to keep science taught in science class. You can teach what the different religions say in a philosophy class. They are two different subjects.

You are arguing about word definitions. “Theory” can mean many things other than the strict term used in science.

Attempting to use science to prove or disprove religion is like dancing to prove architecture; it’s just the wrong tool. (My apologies to Mr. Costello.)The Bible says things like “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”, “The humble shall be lifted up.”, “Love your enemy.”, and “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”All these things run counter to “logic” because “[God’s] thoughts are not [our] thoughts.”So then, if you refuse to see anything except through the filters of Science and Logic, then you have already made the profoundly religious decision to refuse to see God (or love, or beauty). To see these, one must use their heart.

Actually, it IS a coincidence. And it doesn’t always work. In about 40% of central solar eclipses, the Moon is a bit too far away from the Earth to completely cover the Sun, and we have an annular eclipse, where a ring of light is left around the visible disk of the Sun (and this is not the same thing as a partial eclipse). It’s called an annular eclipse.Further: in the distant, geological past, the Moon was closer to us than it is now, and looked considerably bigger than the Sun. In the distant future, it will look smaller, and will look smaller.But the coincidence is amazing enough, isn’t it?—DJ in NJ

Yeah, funny.