It's not feeling very springlike around here - stormy, wet with flash flood warnings, the odd tornado watch, but the grass is growing and greening, at last, and trees are budding.....so it must really be spring!
For winter's rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
~ Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)
Atalanta in Calydon (1865)
Neil deGrasse Tyson is the 21st century's version of the late Carl Sagan. A guy who has that rare talent of engaging, educating and entrancing an audience of people quite unversed in science and astrophysics, with never a hint of pomposity or talking down. He's obviously in love with his subject - the mark of greatness in any teacher or communicator.
He had some contact with Carl Sagan: (From Wiki):
For Astro fans: Dr. Tyson has Sun/Mercury and Venus in Libra.....his charming presentation style! Neptune/Jupiter in Scorpio, his dedication and passion for the subject. Moon somewhere in the first half of Cancer - his sensitivity to his audience. Saturn in Sagittarius, Mars in Gemini.
I came across this video yesterday. Watching it helps to wash away side-effects of the Santorums of this world. It's appropriate, too, for this day of equinox:
For winter's rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
~ Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)
Atalanta in Calydon (1865)
Neil deGrasse Tyson is the 21st century's version of the late Carl Sagan. A guy who has that rare talent of engaging, educating and entrancing an audience of people quite unversed in science and astrophysics, with never a hint of pomposity or talking down. He's obviously in love with his subject - the mark of greatness in any teacher or communicator.He had some contact with Carl Sagan: (From Wiki):
Astronomer Carl Sagan, who was a faculty member at Cornell University, tried to recruit Tyson to Cornell for undergraduate studies. During an interview with writer Daniel Simone, Tyson said, "Interestingly, when I applied to Cornell, my application dripped of my passion for the study and research of the Universe. Somehow the admissions office brought my application to the attention of the late Dr. Sagan, and he actually took the initiative and care to contact me. He was very inspirational and a most powerful influence. Dr. Sagan was as great as the universe, an effective mentor." But Tyson chose to attend Harvard University, where he majored in physics ...
For Astro fans: Dr. Tyson has Sun/Mercury and Venus in Libra.....his charming presentation style! Neptune/Jupiter in Scorpio, his dedication and passion for the subject. Moon somewhere in the first half of Cancer - his sensitivity to his audience. Saturn in Sagittarius, Mars in Gemini.
I came across this video yesterday. Watching it helps to wash away side-effects of the Santorums of this world. It's appropriate, too, for this day of equinox:
