I think we would all do well to remember that without the Catholic church, much of the world's history and important cultural advancements would have been lost in the Dark Ages.
Without abbeys full of monks who spent years painstakingly reproducing not just religous texts but also the writings of many ancient philosophers and historians, much of that knowledge would have been lost forever.
Sure the church caused much of the strife during those times, but there was also no one else bothering to preserve important historical knowledge. Monarch during this time did not care about funding libraries, museums, centers for the arts and so on and so forth.
As someone who has a rather low opinion of the Catholic church in general even I can respect their role in preserving and advancing human culture during the Middle Ages. #vatican
@NorwoodIsMyHero: almost everything you've just said is stunningly wrong.
while there were monks reproducing mostly religious texts during the so called 'dark ages' it was the Muslims who preserved and then transfered (see for eg. Reconquista) this knowledge to Europe. The libraries of the Islamic world were the ones that 'saved' the knowledge of the greeks/romans, and gave us the number 0 (from India) among countless other things. #vatican
@goldfarb: No it's not. I'm not sure what historical references you're reading from but it sounds somewhere along the lines of something Zinn or other entirely anti-Western Civ writers would say. The truth is never so extreme as "stunningly wrong" in regards to this topic. #vatican
@NorwoodIsMyHero: I'm not much of a fan of Zinn so...
any reliable history of mathematics, optics/physics/astronomy, philosophy or the relations between Europe and the Muslim world between the 10th and 14th centuries will demonstrate what I've said above.
To claim that the Catholic church is responsible for preventing "much of the world's history and important cultural advancements" being "lost in the Dark Ages" is patently false.
to say that "no one else bothering to preserve important historical knowledge" is equally false - and reveals a simple ignorance of the facts. the 'dark ages' were only dark in Europe. #vatican
@NorwoodIsMyHero: It's not anti-Western, it's simple fact. Goldfarb is correct, the "Dark Ages" were dark in Europe, due largely to a plethora of barbaric customs, an astonishing degree of religious entitlement and a staggering lack of acceptance of demonstrable fact, driven largely by classic Christian xenophobia. Which appears to be alive and well here in the 21st century. #vatican
Oh yeah, the Vatican - specially the pope - is so taking a kindler, gentler, more active role in science and technological progress these days... #vatican
I don't want any reprobate aliens polluting God's chosen species with their otherworldly pagan nonsense. We must shun the tares from the stars with extreme conviction people. And you, my brothers and sisters, will help Jesus Our Lord and Savior to vanquish the foulness from the sky with all the available modern technologies God has granted us through man's intellect.
@SilverBlade2k: just to be the devil's advocate (ha): God made other creatures on earth which were not in God's image. Why could God not have done this elsewhere? #vatican
Am I wrong in assuming that the Vatican has these artifacts because they murdered their inventors for blasphemy, and hid them from the world? #vaticansecretstorehouse
@daweinst: yes, you are. but it's understandable. i mean, if only you were somehow connected to a vast, worldwide network of information where you could research things like historical facts, it would probably be weird for you to make such an assumption. but since such a thing is obviously out of the reach of the common internet-user, such mistakes are bound to occur. #vaticansecretstorehouse
As an astrophysicist I have to OF COURSE side with the telescopes. I have read a lot of misconceptions. These lasers are low powered (some ~ 25 W) they are not going to blow up satellites. All they can do is blind the cameras for less than a sec. over the USA. Also they are not used in every telescope. Only a few telescopes in the USA (Hawaii, AZ and in PR) have laser guided stars. A bigger problem is planes flying by but this is already taken care of by having direct communications with nearby airports and a person dedicated to staying outside the telescopes with a big red button that shuts down the laser when a plane gets close to it. We need these laser AO systems because without them we could not point at anything that is small or faint in the sky due to atmospheric turbulence. In conclusion "suck on it AirForce".
How hard is it for the Pentagon to look at a computer and see if there are any satellites in the area at a given time when the astronomers call and say yay or nay?
This is incredibly stupid. It's not like the Air Force can stop observatories in other countries from using lasers. Also, if the satellites are that easily blinded (something I'm skeptical of), they're now making sure that everyone is aware of that via the Streisand effect.
If the American taxpayer made the observatories pay for a new mission-critical, multi-million dollar satellite every time they damaged one, I don't think observatories would be too eager to randomly fire lasers at the heavens.
@ACoBildo: Is it really that hard to coordinate with them? I mean come on. It seems the military just likes to make the most menial task complicated. There must be a 5 page manual on how to properly wipe one's ass.
Honestly, if our technology is capable of shooting a satellite out of orbit WITH A MISSILE, then I'm sure that lasers can't be all that hard to navigate.
@ACoBildo: If the American taxpayer made the Air Force accept the responsibility for the risk of putting expensive hardware into secret orbits, I don't think they would be stonewalling when observatories give them the courtesy of letting them know they're going to be firing a laser into space at such-and-such location at such-and-such time.
@DH405: Actually they're pretty frakin huge odds, considering how often a laser would be shot up. These things cost millions of dollars, and you just wanna go PEW PEW and hope you miss? Not happenin. Point 2, These things are so incredibly important do you really wanna risk anything possibly messing up the optics? Consider how detailed a military satellite probably is. You don't wanna mess with that.
@Coulterboy: hmmm... if that is true, then it is a good thing that only law-abiding US citizens concerned with our military's well-being have access to low power lasers.
11/12/09
Without abbeys full of monks who spent years painstakingly reproducing not just religous texts but also the writings of many ancient philosophers and historians, much of that knowledge would have been lost forever.
Sure the church caused much of the strife during those times, but there was also no one else bothering to preserve important historical knowledge. Monarch during this time did not care about funding libraries, museums, centers for the arts and so on and so forth.
As someone who has a rather low opinion of the Catholic church in general even I can respect their role in preserving and advancing human culture during the Middle Ages. #vatican
11/12/09
while there were monks reproducing mostly religious texts during the so called 'dark ages' it was the Muslims who preserved and then transfered (see for eg. Reconquista) this knowledge to Europe. The libraries of the Islamic world were the ones that 'saved' the knowledge of the greeks/romans, and gave us the number 0 (from India) among countless other things. #vatican
11/12/09
11/12/09
any reliable history of mathematics, optics/physics/astronomy, philosophy or the relations between Europe and the Muslim world between the 10th and 14th centuries will demonstrate what I've said above.
To claim that the Catholic church is responsible for preventing "much of the world's history and important cultural advancements" being "lost in the Dark Ages" is patently false.
to say that "no one else bothering to preserve important historical knowledge" is equally false - and reveals a simple ignorance of the facts. the 'dark ages' were only dark in Europe. #vatican
11/12/09
11/11/09
Oh yeah, the Vatican - specially the pope - is so taking a kindler, gentler, more active role in science and technological progress these days... #vatican
11/11/09
Maybe aliens were the ones who made Mary pregnant, without the loss of virginity O.o #vatican
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
Also, that picture is funny as hell. #vatican
11/11/09
Shuuunnnnnnnnnnn-ah #vatican
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
@SilverBlade2k: #vatican
11/11/09
@Kaiser-Machead: Father! #vatican
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
10/15/09
a planiterium is huge, theatrically large.
this is an orrery. #vaticansecretstorehouse
10/15/09
PS: Next time feel free to tag a correction with #rosafuzuckedup
10/15/09
10/15/09
10/15/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
$3 laser holder:
[www.rainydaymagazine.com]
Laser in use, no planes down:
[www.rainydaymagazine.com]
10/14/09
(Yes, I'm in the U.S. Air Force)
10/14/09
(Yes, I'm a civilian...)
10/14/09
Honestly, if our technology is capable of shooting a satellite out of orbit WITH A MISSILE, then I'm sure that lasers can't be all that hard to navigate.
10/14/09
(Yes, I am an American taxpayer)
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09