Geologic Change

"I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down."
-song lyrics, Carole King

When Charles Darwin was a naturalist, scientists were just starting to think in "geologic" time of million and later billions of years. Prior to that "church" time held sway with the idea that theh Earth was created ex-nihilo (out of nothing) by God for Adam about 4004 BC. It was a classic battle of Church vs Science and it would be nice to say that science won. Geologic time is the modern standard but there is still a very active Creationist movement that still believes the earth is only 6000 years old.

But a century after Darwin a funny thing happened. Science became closed minded and refused to accept any claim of "catestrophic" events- insisting only upon gradual change. But one geologist thought otherwise. In the Eastern half of Washington state is the channeled scablands, a region with valleys, ripples, potholes and other features not consistent with gradual river action nor glaciers. Geologist J Harlen Bretz hypothesized that a giant lake, created by melting glaciers after the last ice age, burst open and emptied in one massize flood creating the scablands. His fellow geologists thought he was nuts and a debate raged for over 30 years. Finally he as vindicated in the 1970's as being right and awarded the Penrose Medal in 1979, the highest honor in Earth Science.

Another example of fast change is the volcano Paricutin in Mexico. In 1943 a farmer noticed a glowing crack in his corn field. Within a week there was a volcanic cone 5 stories tall. By the end of a year the volcano was over 1o00 feet high and had destroyed several nearby villages.

In 2005 a volcano in Ethiopia created a 35 mile long crack in the earth in just as few days. If the crack continues to grow towards the Ethiopian Sea, one day we may witness an amazing flood as the Indian Ocean pours into this new rift.

Bottom Line

Many of us are fooled into thinking that change is something that occurs slowly. But a house fire can go from a spark to raging in just a minute with the right (wrong?) materials. A tornado or earthquake can strike without warning. There is no way to avoid these disasters but you can prepare for the aftermath with backup plans and offsite storage.

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Light Pollution

When you are put into the [Total Perspective] Vortex you are given just one momentary glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and somewhere in it a tiny little mark, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot, which says, "You are here." - the ultimate torture device described in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

From yesterday's Astronomy Picture of the Day (one of my favorite web sites):

How many stars can you see? Through next week, the GLOBE at Night project invites people from all over the world to go outside at night, look up, and see! Specifically, people are invited to go out an hour after sunset and look for the constellation Orion toward the west. Rather than count Orion's stars directly,
however, the GLOBE at Night website has made things easier by providing several star charts to which you can compare your view of Orion. Possible matches extend from a bright sky where only a few Orion stars are visible, to a very dark sky where over 100 Orion stars are visible. ... By participating in this easy and fun activity, you are helping humanity to better understand how light pollution is changing across the Earth.

BOTTOM LINE

Star gazing is one of the great blessings in life and can help give a sense of perspective on how much bigger the universe is than the momentary problems we face.

Stop and Smell the Roses

“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?”-Benjamin Franklin

Snopes.com describes a social experiment conducted by the Washington Post newspaper. On a cold morning of January 12, 2007, thousands of commuters of the L’Enfant Plaza subway station passed a non-descript man playing a violin for tips. He played for 45 minutes and collected $32.17 from 27 people. Only seven people stopped and listened for a while.

What the commuters did not know what that this incognito “beggar” was really Joshua Bell, a world famous violinist. The violin he played is worth 3.5 million dollars. The pieces he played were some of the most difficult ever written for violin.

And yet only seven people stopped to listen. Only one person recognized him.

Other studies have also shown that we perceive what we except to perceive. In one study the same wine was offered free to restaurant customers if they promised to evaluate it. To half the diners the wine was given a fancy labeled from a Napa Valley winery. The other half saw a label from a local “unknown” winery. The participants rated the wine with the “famous” label quite favorably; the “unknown” label received lower ratings.

In another taste test, blindfolded official wine tasters rated some $10 bottles high while giving low marks to $100 bottles. When the blindfolds came off the officials were shocked and insisted that there must be some mistake or trick. “Everyone knows” the pricier bottles are better.

Bottom Line

Are you too busy to stop and appreciate beauty in life? Are you blinded by expectations and oblivious to many of life’s wonders? Would you “recognize the talent in an unexpected context?”