I Don't Want To Be Homecoming Queen

The more friends, the better!

     For some, the internet is a foreign land that ought to be visited on occasion. For others (like me), the internet is an extension of their person. It's a place where they journal their lives, even if it is a filtered portrayal of their existence. The internet maintains connections between your past, present, allowing your future to be well-connected.
 
     The advantage to having many friends on sites such as Facebook is not just to feed the ego.

My morning ritual after seeing new Twitter followers

     Having a large database of people on your friends list provides you with almost immediate access to many facets of your life, from your coworkers to your old high school friends (or enemies). I can't tell you how fun it is looking at how much my high school classmates have changed...or not changed. So many baby pictures, laughs, and puppies!

Planning events through social sites can be much faster than snail mail. 

     Social activism is easier if you have a well-populated friends list. Those who support your posts can easily share with others. In fact, recent civil unrest in many regions around the world is attributed to people who shared political messages with large amounts of friends.

   
     Activist artists share their work online and can spread their messages with lightning speed. Talk about word of mouth in the digital age!

Periodic Table of Sorry, I've Got To Take This Call

 
I realized today that, throughout my academic career, I have not had to memorize the Periodic Table. Ever.

     Then I asked myself why such a big deal? After some thought, I came to the conclusion that, like most of my education as a child, we were encouraged to memorize, not learn. That pretty much sums up my K-12 experience. I got through so many classes simply by memorizing stuff and not actually internalizing the information into an intellectual experience (but there were some great teachers, too).  Looking at the Periodic Table, for example, I realize that science is a "feeling" - sort of how you feel when you calculate a math problem and know it's the right answer.
     Knowledge of science leads to more questions. Kids should be excited about hearing how we have Gas Giants and Terrestrial Planets all within our own solar system!  You can't just fly up to to Venus and say, "Hey, mind if I take a look around?" We've tried that already with rather crushing results.

...but maybe someday...

     After taking some eye-opening astronomy courses, I see the world more through the eyes of logic and science and it feels right, comfortable. I can really see tangible connections where they were not present before, especially in music and the arts, and even socially. I think it really takes understanding the greater connections here and beyond before a true understanding of what is right in front us occurs. Those frustrations of trying to figure out how big Jupiter is or what the atomic weight of bla bla bla may seem tedious, and really, in the specifics of things -- who cares?

     BUT, in the grand scheme, seeing WHY it matters knowing an atomic weight or the size of a planet somehow (for me, anyway) sort of humbles me and brings me to one of science's greatest messages: You don't know everything and you never will but keep trying, anyway!
     How truly small I feel, yet connected at the same time, to everyone and everything around me. I will never fathom how large a Gas Giant is or how far away the Orion Nebula really is (yet we can still see it with binoculars!!!). I really don't know if I've made any sense here, but I just needed to get that out.

~~~~~

If you'd like to learn more about astronomy, you can download Stellarium, an open-source planetarium. It's super fun to explore. 

Be in control of your own universe through Dan Dixon's Universe Sandbox. 

You control EVERYTHING and it's cool to shoot things at planets. 

You never know what you'll discover.