that's funny, we just happened a few seconds ago

I love this article.  I've copied in its entirety in order to give full credit to Alexander Green for his writing.  This is not the first time I've used Mr. Green in my blog and probably not the last. I love his Spiritual Wealth column with its diversity of ideas. Please add your comments.

Saturday, February 13, 2010
Coming Of Age In the Milky Way by Alexander Green

Dear Reader,
Isaac Asimov once noted that the phrase that generally heralds new discoveries in science is not "Eureka!" but rather "That's funny..."This was certainly the case in 1967. Two radio engineers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, were working on satellite communications for Bell Laboratories when they were troubled by a persistent background noise - an unfocused, unrelenting hiss that made their experimental work impossible.No matter what they did, they couldn't get rid of it. Worse, it was coming from every point in the sky, day and night, through every season. It was some time before the two men realized they had stumbled on the edge of the visible universe, 90 billion trillion miles away. They were "seeing" the first photons - the most ancient light in the universe - though time and distance had converted them to microwaves, just as astrophysicist George Gamow had predicted two decades earlier.Inadvertently, Penzias and Wilson had made one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time.
Since time immemorial, human beings have gazed up at the night sky and wondered about our cosmic origins. We puzzled. We theorized. We created myths and stories. But we couldn't know because we didn't have the tools. Now we do.Today cosmological theories are tested - and either accepted or rejected - based on observations from powerful ground-based telescopes, containing vast mirrors, housed in observatories the size of giant warehouses, and planted on remote mountaintops. Scientists also use spectroscopes, satellites, radio telescopes, supercomputers, particle accelerators, and one rather spectacular space telescope (see surrounding photos) named after the pioneering astronomer who got the ball rolling.

 In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the distant fuzzy patches in his telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory were actually other galaxies, each composed of billions of stars. Even more astonishing, these galaxies are rapidly moving away from us - and each other.This eventually led to Hubble's Law: If the galaxies are receding then:Tomorrow they will be farther from us.

But yesterday they were closer to us.

And last year they were closer still.

At some point in the past, everything was piled together and squeezed into a tiny volume.Seven decades of observation and experimentation reveal that the universe kicked off with a titanic explosion approximately 13.7 billion years ago. That's an awfully tough thing to conceptualize and cosmologists have struggled to find ways to describe it in simple language. Three popular attempts are:The Big Bang was the explosion of space, not an explosion in space.
The Big Bang happened everywhere, not at one point in space.

Space is in the universe rather than the universe being in space.The time period is hard to wrap your mind around too, so astronomer Carl Sagan devised an ingenious illustration. He called it his "Cosmic Calendar." And it not only enlightens, but provides an object lesson in humility. Here's how it works ...Imagine that the 13.7 billion-year history of the universe is compressed into one calendar year. The Big Bang occurred in the very first second of January 1 and the current moment is the last second of the last minute of December 31. Using this compressed timescale, each month equals a little over one and quarter billion years. Each day represents 40 million years. Each second covers 500 years of history.The Milky Way coalesces in March. The sun and planets form in August. The first life - single celled - show up in September, the first multi-cellular organisms in November. The first vertebrates appear on December 17. Dinosaurs show up on Christmas Eve. (And become extinct on December 29.) Modern humans finally appear at 11:54 p.m. on December 31. And all of recorded history occupies the last ten seconds of the last minute of the last day of the year. The pyramids were built nine seconds ago. The Roman Empire fell three seconds ago. Columbus discovered America one second ago.Talk about putting things in perspective...

As an amateur astronomer, I know many are skeptical of Big Bang cosmology. And that's a good thing in one sense. Our knowledge only grows through continual, methodical doubting. Few of us doubt our own conclusions, however, so science rewards and honors those men and women who correct their colleagues' inaccurate conclusions. Only those theories supported by evidence and experimentation - and able to withstand the most rigorous attacks by opponents - ultimately survive.The Big Bang model has lasted more than 70 years - and the evidence keeps mounting. (For an excellent overview, I recommend Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by particle physicist Simon Singh, the best and most readable book I've found on the subject.)Yet some reject the theory on religious grounds. Most Western faiths have made their peace with it, however. The scientific account of our origins has already been accepted by reformed Judaism, the Roman Catholic Church, and most mainstream Protestant denominations. And there is still plenty here for the theologically inclined to chew on. What caused the Big Bang? Why are the physical constants just right to allow galaxies, planets and, ultimately, conscious life? Where do the physical laws come from? If they aren't of divine providence, how can they be explained? Why is nature shadowed by a mathematical reality? In short, why do theoretical physics work?Even the most materialist scientists have to have faith in the rational intelligibility of the universe. Otherwise what's the point of the scientific enterprise?As Carl Sagan wrote in "The Demon-Haunted World," "Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual."
After many thousands of years, we are privileged to be part of the first generation to have a rational, coherent and elegant explanation of the origin of everything we see in the night sky. Surely this is one of the grandest achievements of the human intellect and spirit. Explanations of our origins strike a deep chord in most of us. We've always had an intense need to feel connected to something larger than ourselves. Now we know that we are - and in the most profound way. Our cosmic history also generates a deep sense of reverence while deflating our conceits. We live on a beautiful planet, bountiful with life. But it is also a cosmic speck, orbiting a humdrum star in the far suburbs of a common galaxy, afloat in a vast ocean of nearly empty space, in a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
Yet we should feel some pride and astonishment, too. It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years to make the stars and planets, but more than ten billion years to make human beings.As physicist Paul Davies writes in "The Goldilocks Enigma," "Somehow the universe has engineered, not just its own awareness, but also its own comprehension. Mindless, blundering atoms have conspired to make not just life, but understanding. The evolving cosmos has spawned beings who are able not merely to watch the show, but to unravel the plot." In short, we are living relics of ancient history, intimately tied to the cosmos, composed of wandering stardust. We are the way the universe thinks about itself.Astronomers, physicists and cosmologists often rhapsodize about the scale, the majesty, the harmony and elegance of the universe. Yet, in truth, they are only discovering what the poets have known all along:We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time... -
 T.S. Eliott
Alex

FOXNews.com - Wilson Bentley's Pioneering Snowflake Photography - Slide 1 of 21

FOXNews.com - Wilson Bentley's Pioneering Snowflake Photography - Slide 1 of 21

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View from the beach

This was my view as I sat on the beach in St. Maarten.  Was it really just a couple of months ago?  In many ways it seems like long ago, and yet in others, life as whizzed by almost in a blur of events since last October when I was in St. Maarten. 
I'm grateful to have this picture as my wallpaper as my view on my laptop.  Seeing this picture is what's prompting me to write.  I sat at my desk today watching this view on the computer, and I wanted to feel that warmth of sunshine again especially after our many days of rain.
Looking at the picture, I know that this is the place where I put to rest the last of Bill's ashes. Right there I sat on one of those rocks where the beach, rock and water all come together.  I realized that no one knows this nor was anyone there with me. As I very much wanted this place to be known and remembered by all those who ever loved Bill, I'm including this picture with today's blog.
I can hear the music coming from a beachfront karoke bar that drifted up to where I sat on the rock by the water's edge.  I can see the moon-lit sky reflected in the warm waters. I can hear the soft waves on the shore and feel the gentle and balmy breezes softly caress.  This is where I sprinkled my few remaining ashes of Bill, into those warm, clear soft blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. I had left ashes in several other the various places I've visited this past year.   Some of his ashes have been spread and/or are blowing in the wind in Sedona, AZ, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and now too, the Caribbean Sea....all warm places.  He'd like that. 
We had our family gathering in Charleston, SC, just this past weekend as we finally celebrated our Christmas in January together, as well as coming for a gathering to greet and celebrate the newest member of the Budan family, one-week-old baby Michael Frederick Budan, Jr., pictured here with his very proud papa, Mike.

Seems right to combine in this same message of saying good by to Bill, who was so devoted to his family all his life, with the saying hello to a brand new generation through another picture.

The kids mentioned that they still had some of Bill's ashes and were planning to have those added to a special edition of fireworks made up especially so that we can shoot them in the air this 4th of July.  Yes, Bill will like that too.

Isn't it interesting what they can do these days, and isn't it especially surprising that I have children to find out about and plan these things? I am grateful.