Home» Astronomy

Comment on the Nature of Science

Posted by Michael Gold - December 5, 2018 - Astronomy, College, Culture, Education, Gold Academy, Homeschooling, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Science, Technology

Measuring the Angle of the Sun Above the Horizon

Posted by Michael Gold - December 27, 2017 - Astronomy, Education, Homeschooling, Mathematics, Physics, Science

Field Notes on Logic and Context 11-4-16

Posted by Michael Gold - December 5, 2016 - Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Child Development, College, Culture, Education, Homeschooling, Language, Logic, Parenting, Philosophy, Physics, Science, Statistics

Field Notes on Word Problems 11-15-16

Posted by Michael Gold - December 2, 2016 - Astronomy, Chemistry, College, Economics, Education, Homeschooling, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Science

Be Aristotelian, Not Platonic

Posted by Michael Gold - March 30, 2016 - Art, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Child Development, Economics, Education, History, Homeschooling, Logic, Philosophy, Physics, Science

An idea key to science and successful life — and good education — happens from about 1:24 to 1:56, in this video excerpt from the 1996 movie Infinity, about the great physicist Richard Feynman. “You got to look at the bird. You got to listen to the bird. You got to try to understand what […]

Etymology of “Second” (I.E., One-sixtieth of a Minute)

Posted by Michael Gold - February 23, 2016 - Astronomy, Language, Mathematics, Words

The interesting etymology of “minute” and “second.” I learned about “second” from Calculus Made Easy by Thompson. The word “second” came from the Latin “secunda pars minuta,” meaning “second diminished part.” ”one-sixtieth of a minute of degree,” also “sixtieth part of a minute of time,” late 14c. in geometry, from Old French seconde, from Medieval […]

Understanding: an Example

Posted by Michael Gold - June 24, 2015 - Astronomy, Culture, Education, Homeschooling, Logic, Philosophy, Physics, Science

Most people are merely told that the earth goes around the sun. Their “knowledge” is ungrounded in evidence and lacking in reasoning. They could give you no evidence for the idea, nor derive, from the evidence of the senses, how we know such an idea. They lack any understanding of the idea. They are trained […]

More Against “Man-made Global Warming”

Posted by Michael Gold - August 30, 2011 - Astronomy, Physics, Science

In “CERN: ‘Climate models will need to be substantially revised’, ” Andrew Orlowski (Science, 25th August 2011 10:42 GMT) writes: CERN’s 8,000 scientists may not be able to find the hypothetical Higgs boson, but they have made an important contribution to climate physics, prompting climate models to be revised. The first results from the lab’s […]

Life in Space

Posted by Michael Gold - August 31, 2009 - Astronomy, Biology, Science

In “Building block of life found on comet” (Tue Aug 18, 2009, 9:37am EDT), Steve Gorman writes: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The amino acid glycine, a fundamental building block of proteins, has been found in a comet for the first time, bolstering the theory that raw ingredients of life arrived on Earth from outer space, […]

Celestial Happenings

Posted by Michael Gold - February 23, 2009 - Announcements, Astronomy

In “Cosmic Coincidence,” Spaceweather.com says in a newsletter alert (as forwarded to me by a stargazer): COSMIC COINCIDENCE: What are the odds? On Tuesday, Feb. 24th, Saturn and Comet Lulin will converge in the constellation Leo only 2 degrees apart. At the same time, Comet Lulin will be making its closest approach to Earth–the comet […]

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