Funny how the simple assumption of a flat earth at the center of the universe requires a much more complex model to represent the observable motions of the planets. And yet our concept of time (months of the year) is based on perceived motion of the sun against the firmament (the stars.) Greek philosophers postulated the earth was spherical in the fifth century BC, and Hellenistic astronomers proved the earth was round, and established the its circumference in Egypt in the third century BC. (Per Wikipedia) Copernicus was excommunicated by the Pope in the 1500's (roughly a thousand years after the earth was first thought to be spherical) for such an outlandish lie as simple, heliocentric motion of the earth and planets. In actuality, whether the sun orbits the earth or vice versa, is ambiguous in physics: they orbit each other. But the sun is by far the more massive, so it moves far less in its orbit than the earth does. But all the bodies in the solar system orbit the center of mass of all the other bodies in the solar system, including the sun. Bobby told Lucy: "The world ain't round Drops off sharp at the edge of town Lucy, you know the world must be flat 'Cause when people leave town, they never come back" Writer/s: HANK DEVITO, PATRICK ALGER Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Where did you get this stuff about Copernicus? His work,"De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" was published after his death in 1543 which was 21 years before Galileo was born. He was never excommunicated because you cannot excommunicate a dead person. Rather here is what Wikipedia had to say about Copernicus and his work's acceptance. "In 1533, Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter delivered a series of lectures in Rome outlining Copernicus's theory. Pope Clement VII and several Catholic cardinals heard the lectures and were interested in the theory. On 1 November 1536, Cardinal Nikolaus von Schönberg, Archbishop of Capua, wrote to Copernicus from Rome: Some years ago word reached me concerning your proficiency, of which everybody constantly spoke. At that time I began to have a very high regard for you... For I had learned that you had not merely mastered the discoveries of the ancient astronomers uncommonly well but had also formulated a new cosmology. In it you maintain that the earth moves; that the sun occupies the lowest, and thus the central, place in the universe... Therefore with the utmost earnestness I entreat you, most learned sir, unless I inconvenience you, to communicate this discovery of yours to scholars, and at the earliest possible moment to send me your writings on the sphere of the universe together with the tables and whatever else you have that is relevant to this subject ...[57]" So Copernicus was actually encouraged by the Catholic Church to publish his work. His opposition, according to Wikipedia, came from Protestants, most importantly, John Calvin and Melanchthon, a collabator of Martin Luther.
woops... Galileo, not Copernicus, was banned and banished (not excommunicated) from the Catholic Church in 1633, for his teaching & defending Copernicus' (and others?) opinion that the Earth orbits the Sun (per Copernicus' theory,) in conflict with scripture as interpreted by the Church at the time.) Galileo was the first to use telescopic observations of the moons of Jupiter clearly not obeying an earth-centered motion, along with the phases of Venus, supporting the Copernicus' heliocentric theory. I turns out that non-earth-centered theories for the movement of "wandering stars" (planets, comets, etc.) were also developed by Indian and early Islamic scholars, well before Copernicus.
Rick, we all definitely agree that the world revolves around wether or not you get us a LOT of video and pictures of Big Boy in and around Nampa.
Partially correct. Galileo was tried before the Italian Inquisition which was different from the Spanish Inquisition which has earned all the notoriety. But it was not for teaching the theory of heliocentricity. In fact, many in the Catholic Church's hierarchy agreed with the theory including Pope Urban who was a friend of Galileo. Galileo's trouble with the church began with a debate he had with the academic big shots who championed geocentricity. Things were going pretty well for Galileo until the academics brought up a Bible verse. The verse was Joshua 10:13 which states, "And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, Until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day." (KJV) So the question was posed to Galileo to explain how this could happen if the sun did not revolve around the earth. It became a "gotcha" moment for Galileo who, impetuously, blurted out that the scriptures had to be wrong. To say this did not go well with the Catholic Church or even more so with Protestants is why he was tried for heresy. Galileo would probably be better off if he stuck with astronomy and physics as his venturing into theology was a disaster. Still his punishment wasn't too bad. He was given house arrest at a villa with staff, to include a secretary, and was permitted to continue his work in astronomy and physics. He continued to believe in heliocentricity but apparently never was able to reconcile it with Joshua 10:16. The transcript of his trial is still available in the Vatican archives for historians.
Wowwa, hold on here. This isn't about anything here but trains. I have a hat and on it is embroidered "Holy Shi*" That describes my reaction to some of the above. I can't put a like on anything about Coppernastic or whatever his name is. I'm not here to talk about someone's fantasy theory. Screw that! I'm here to talk about trains. A specific layout in mind. Geez guys, get off your soap boxes and get back on mine. Take it to face book and not on my worthless entry there. Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Union Pacific and it's Steam Program. I would have liked to seen the Challenger, Northern and The Big Boy all making tours to entertain their customers and us foamers/railfans. Instead they sent the Challenger a DD40X and other assorted stuff away. I can only hope the guys and gals who inherited her and or took her, will get her back up and dancing once again. But on who's tracks..???. Harrumph, harrumph!! Trains guys and gals not some historic bullshi*... !!!!! Trains! Later all.
It's possible they will cancel this trip. Taking a wait and see attitude. As to the layout, the point of this discussion. Not much. For about a week before the eagle landed. I had things to do around the house, a granddaughters concert to go to and last minute organization of my work/tool shed. It's been raining here almost every day making it tough to get outside. I get tired of water trickling down my back and elsewhere. We shall see how my camera is acting. If it's acting out/up then you won't see many pictures from me. Thanks to both of you for staying on track with your comments.
Oh Point 353. I'm striking out here. Looks like you picked on another brand I'm not to happy with. Both Atlas and Bachmann have come along ways since the early days of production. A beginner can build a layout and for awhile be happy with it. It's been my early learning years that soured me on those two name brands. However, when you look at my layout you will see Atlas Code 80 flex track. You can scratch your head on that one. I do. Kato Unitrack is amazing but it is still sectional track. Another one of those things that rubs me the wrong way. But, you will find it on my layout and I say that with a smile. My favorite diesels that run around the layout are Atlas. Wish they were Kato. Even so Kato isn't as well detailed out as I'd like to see them. The early versions lacked details on the truck frames. Easy to solve but just one more thing a modeler has to deal with. It's all good. it all works. And everything that has come along will teach you ore about the hobby. Got to eat my dessert and go take a nap. Later all.
For me it would a 1000 mile round trip, just for a glimpse of that beast. If I could even see it through the hordes of (often thoughtlessly rude) foamers.
The rude foamers is exactly what I'm concerned about. I don't get around that well. I don't know the Union Pacific tracks as in hot spots. Nor do I have favorite spots to watch trains. I think I already said that. When it comes to Barstow, Ca. Cajon Pass, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Timoteo Canyon and Banning Pass on down into Indio are all places I could find my way around. And potentially avoid the foamers. Well, I'm a foamer so I'd have to say the Rude Ones. I recently got shoved by a fellow shopper in one of the stores here. He apologized saying he isn't as good on his feet as he used to be. Think I can relate. So I helped him up to the cashier. With his permission of course. I wrote the incident off as an honest oops. Thinking, except for the Grace of the Big Guy, go I. Just a update to let you know I'm still kicking, butting heads, working on the layout when I can and doing my best to enjoy life. Later All !! You are probably wondering about the layout. On hold at the moment. Why? Never mind. To long a story for her and now. However, I can tell you. My granddaughter did a splendid job at her school concert. Two solos, well done. On the other hand. Shopping whether it's for groceries or hardware for the layout, Christmas gifts are all taking their toll on me. I'm tired.pooped, exhausted. My eyes, you know vision is playing games with me again. Aiiyiiyii !!
Nice update Rick. Hang in there and enjoy those concerts and such moments as much as you can A lot of us are right there with ya on the rude people these days.
Not that I want to get side tracked here but rudeness has taken on a whole another dimension. I was trying to order something from Optum, prescription and the computer automated answering system hung up on me. Birthdate, last four of the SS# and etc. Give me an agent, service representative I begged. I don't talk to computers. When you provide said information it doesn't carry forward. You get to do it all over again. The same thing happened when I called Century Link, Shell, Synchrony Bank and so on. At Optum, once I got through to something other then a computer. The lady who I believe speaks very little English, didn't understand my question, she hung up on me. I turned rude in response to rude. Rudeness begets rudeness. What I'm real tired of is they want to tell you what to do and you have to answer their questions which doesn't get the job done and misses the point, object of the subject matter all together. That's why I love my layout. Plug it in. That's important. Turn the power supply on. Works better that way. Turn the transistor rheostat or DCC supply on, to desired settings and control. Believe it or not you have trains are running. No rudeness going on. More on the trains later!
I've dropped a few F-Bombs to a so called 'computer' representative inquiry. I am sure the computer didn't understand my response. but I told it off anyways !!!
Years ago I recall seeing a photo of a horde of foamers trying to get photos of the last run of some locomotive. One guy at the very back of the crowd had a perfect view, though, because he had brought along a stepladder.
