Category Archives: notes

April 22: international Earth Day, not today?

Today, April 22, Earth Day is celebrated mainly in the US. The day originates in the early 70s as a public demonstration of popular political support for an environmental agenda and was organized for the first time in 1970. The day’s date is somewhat arbitrary but approximates Arbor Day. Equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated in most countries on the day that the sun passes the equator and night has equal length as day. The vernal equinox (or spring equinox) marks the beginning of astronomical spring. It occurs around 20 March in the Northern Hemisphere, and around 23 September in the Southern Hemisphere.

With science taking the role of religion as the leading guide in Truth and the Enlightment of Mankind the celebration of the beginning of Spring has only folkloristic meaning. And with a global environment being under threat of the uncontrolled and gratuitous dumping of industrial waste, today’s Earth Day is of greater importance than the equinoctial celebration. Allow a minute of your time and breathe in some information on the beauty and diversity of the planet at the links below.

Links:
World Wildlife Foundation (WWF)
National Audubon Society
The Nature Conservancy
National Arbor Day Foundation
United Nations Environment Program
Earth Day – US Government Portal

Another look at Vega

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Dean Peterson from the Stony Brook Astron Group published a paper in Nature on the calibrator star Vega. He was able to show convincingly that Vega is, contrary to what was thought so far, a rapidly rotating star that is visible at a 5 degree pole-on angle. His paper Vega is a rapidly rotating star was published in Volume 440 of Nature, 13 April 2006.

11-16 April, 2006 – Milad un Nabi: Birthday of the Prophet (pbuh)

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Part of the Muslim community will celebrate the birthday of the prophet Muhammed, according to tradition on 12th of Rabi’-ul-Awwal of the lunar calendar, which in 2006 falls on April 11 for Sunni and April 16 for Shia. While some believers see the Mawlid or Milad (Arabic has no written vowels) as a modern addition to Islam, the tradition found its origin in the 13th century, others will commemorate the birth of the ‘Arab Jesus’ extensively.

Little factual is known from primary sources about the birth of Muhammed. The first account of his birth is a biography of ibn Ishaq. Ibn Ishaq wrote his biography about one hundred years afterMuhammed’s death, and his work we only know through quotes of two other historians who lived another hundred years later. Ibn Ishaq wrote his biography under the auspicien of the Abassid caliph of Baghdad Mansur, therefor the biography may be regarded as a predominantly Sunni document.

Resources:
– Wikipedia – Islam

Massachusetts House approves Health Care for All Act

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The Massachusetts Legislature has passed with overwhelming majority a new bill that obliges all inhabitants of the state to get a health care insurance plan.

The Jurist website of the School of Law at the University of Pittsburgh features a brief explanation of new bill.

The full Text of Bill (House, No. 4850) is published on the Massachusetts government portal.

The advocate group Health Care for All has been leading the charge for this new bill. While the concerned conservatives of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation are more concerned with their own bank account than with the state of the public’s health.

The New England Economic Partnership is a non-partisan think-thank for the New England region. The [public@mindxp.com / mindxp] Boston Globe – Rally â€™round the â€¦ employer assessment features news and information for the Boston region.