ideonexus

interweaving ideas

  • Carl Sagan Stars in Atomic Robo

    When you return to your unobservable but empirically determined dimension of origin–tell them Carl Sagan sent you! ~ Fictional Carl Sagan in Atomic Robo, Shadow from Beyond Time #4 I had previously covered a Carl Sagan cameo in the Atomic Robo comic book, where Sagan sends Dr. Atomic Robo Tesla to Mars with the Viking…

  • Tributes to Science in the Jefferson Library of Congress

    Of all the amazing cultural attractions on the Washington DC Mall this is by far the best kept secret. If you appreciate knowledge, Enlightenment values, and science, then you MUST spend an afternoon in this room, appreciating every nook and cranny. America’s Founders were very wise individuals with a strong appreciation for education and knowledge.…

  • The Death of David Hume

    I did not mind not existing before I was born, why should I mind not existing after I die? – David Hume David Hume (1711 – 1776) Credit: Scottish National Portrait Gallery On this day, 233 years ago, the philosopher David Hume, author of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, which rejected intelligent design in nature,…

  • Mount Roger’s Hike

    Sunset Near Mt.Rogers A little after the start of June, the Rhodedendrons are in bloom, and this section of the Appalachian Trail goes ablaze with purple if you get lucky. Wild ponies that inhabit this section of the trail keep the foliage low, so there are wide open spaces with great views all along the…

  • National Botanical Gardens

    Water Lily Updated this set with some additional photos. Botanical Gardens are great for revisiting, as they are perpetually changing throughout the year. Check out the complete flickr set here.

  • Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, Ocean City, Maryland

    Ekoi Human Skin Mask Thanks to Vicky, I’ve rediscovered a whole new realm of cool, awe-inspiring, fascination-evoking, wonder-inducing material with the Robert L. Ripley’s Believe It or Not cabinet-of-curiosities style collections of natural oddities, science facts, and anthropological anomalies1. The Ripley’s website is a great resource for daily fun facts, which I hope to start…

  • Appalachian Trail – Punchbowl Mountain to Spy Rock

    Spring Buds, Pedlar Lake 30 Miles over three days. 6,000 Foot Ascent on the second day. There’s a magnificience in the changing leaves that comes with the fall, but there’s also a sublime beauty in the sprinkles of green with the spring buds. Check out the complete flickr set here.

  • Denis Diderot’s Prescience

    “There are things I can’t force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.” – Denis Diderot Denis Diderot By Louis-Michel van Loo Humanities scholars tend to dismiss the Enlightenment, the period of time in Western thought that produced the American and French Constitutions and the…

  • Doctors Support Health Care Reform

    Symbol for the Medical Sciences Health Care is a science issue. Beyond the higher-purposes of discovery and enlightenment, science provides daily improvements to our quality of life through improved agriculture, technological conveniences, and a better understanding of our place in the Cosmos. A large part of this endeavor is the enhancing and extending our quality…

  • National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

    Taxonomy of Flight Walking around this fantastic collection of aircraft, I was immersed in thoughts of the Technium, the idea that technology is the seventh kingdom of life. The technodiversity surrounding me in the main hangar display was overwhelming. The technological adaptations for vertical flight, human-powered flight, jet propulsion, and numerous others are designed by…

  • Why It’s Called the “Dark Ages”

    Triumph of Christianity Tommaso Laureti Academics now refer to it as the “Middle Ages,” because the term “Dark Ages” is biased. It’s not considered politically correct to refer to this millennium-long period of Western Civilization as “Dark” because it suggests the culture of this period was culturally backward and characterized by ignorance. According to extreme…

  • Science Inspiring the Many Versions of Brainiac

    Brainiac by Alex Ross Copyright: DC Comics The 1938 version of Superman was stronger than human beings because his home world, Krypton, was larger than Earth. As a result, the Kryptonians had evolved adapted to survive a force of gravity many times that of the Earthlings. This was a popular idea at the time. H.G.…