[syn]finity:

I'm an accepting kind of person. I generally allow people to think what they want, believe what they want and (pretty much) say what they want, within reason. But occasionally an opinion is so far-fetched, insulting or incorrect that it debases human intelligence (all human intelligence, not just mine). And then I feel I must speak up. One such 'opinion' is the belief in a 'flat' Earth. Although this topic has a substantial history (see for example Christine Garwood's Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea ), it has so far not been publicly contested in any great depth. Even Phil Plait, author of the ever-popular  Bad Astronomy Blog , declined to give such a preposterous proposition any real air-time. And I don't blame him. It really is the most absurd idea. But it should be denounced, for any number of reasons. The basic premise of the 'flat-Earth' protagonists is that ancient cultures were right, the Earth is flat , a circular disk bo...

A few days ago I looked at the date of Christmas and how this is probably tied up with ancient astronomers' observations of the skies. Today, I'd like to look at another 'astronomical' event that we associate with Christmas - the Star of Bethlehem. Could the description in Matthew's gospel be telling us something astronomical? The story of how the three wise men followed this 'star' to the newborn King of the Jews is a common part of the Christmas celebrations. Today, we stick a star on top of our Christmas trees, we attach copious amounts of tinsel to small children in school nativity plays and sing about this 'Star of Wonder'. Perhaps the Star of Bethlehem was a miracle sent to announce the coming of Christ. Perhaps it's just a story (or propaganda) that grew in the telling. But perhaps it was a natural astronomical event that happened by coincidence around the time of Christ's birth? You can see how such an event could easily bec...

I've said this many times before, but astronomy effects our daily lives in ways of which we're often unaware. For example, you may be surprised to find that the date of Christmas is almost certainly down to our ancient forebears' astronomical endeavours. Imagine you’re a prehistoric farmer. You would have little understanding of what we today call science. But you would almost certainly know a lot about the motion of the Sun, Moon, stars and planets around the sky. In fact, these motions would be very important to you. Why? Because they mark the passage of the seasons and the seasons dictate what sustenance is available to humankind. Your survival depends on them. If you want your crops to grow, your livestock to survive, your hunt to be a success, you need a good knowledge of where you are in the yearly cycle of life. And it is the skies which give you that knowledge. So, here's the science bit (as people annoyingly say!). In the morning, the Sun rises in the ...

You all know there's some minor (though understandable) differences between British and American spelling. For example, we have 'colour' for 'color', 'favour' for 'favor' and 'harbour' for 'habor'. We have 'centre' for 'center', 'fibre' for 'fiber' and 'litre' for 'liter'. And so on. These don't usually cause us any problems, especially since they are normally pronounced the same (although with differences in accent, which is an entirely different subject!). But, British spelling idiosyncrasies go far beyond these simple examples, and never more so than in our emotive and quaint place names. British place name spelling is about as intuitive as the 'many worlds' interpretation of quantum mechanics - for the non-scientists among you, that means 'not at all'. Actually, it's not the spelling that's odd (they usually retain a perfectly logical spelling based ...

What are you doing in a band? Are you there just to have a laugh with your mates, to get girls (or boys), for the machismo, or just so you can brag down the pub? Or do you have real aspirations, like fame and fortune (as if)? Well, it doesn't matter why you're doing it. You don't need a reason. Whatever makes you happy (or gets you through the night) is just fine. But being in a band costs money (and time). You have to shell out for kit, a rehearsal room maybe, getting to/from gigs, not to mention the huge cost of professionally recording your music, printing flyers, manufacturing CDs - the list goes on and on. But, again, if you're happy spending your hard-earned cash like this, you don't need to justify it to anyone. I don't know about you, but spending money like that is fine by me. No, the biggest arse-ache isn't the time and the money, it's the ranks of shysters trying to rip you off, left, right and center. Hey, give us 700 quid and we'll k...