Friday, January 18, 2013

QQC chapter 5

Quote: "Among the questions that attracted interest in that fanatically inquisitive age was one that had puzzled people for a very long time—namely, why ancient clamshells and other marine fossils were so often found on mountaintops. How on earth did they get there? Those who thought they had a solution fell into two opposing camps. One group, known as the Neptunists, was convinced that everything on Earth, including seashells in improbably lofty places, could be explained by rising and falling sea levels. They believed that mountains, hills, and other features were as old as the Earth itself, and were changed only when water sloshed over them during periods of global flooding. "

Question: When they say they "changed only when water sloshed over them during periods of global flooding" are they talking about erosion or are they talking about the changing of what is above sea level?

Comment: This topic is really interesting because it's something most people wonder about breifly, but don't put serious thought behind, and its cool that these two groups of people have such strong theories as to why it happens.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

QQC Chapter 4

Quote: "Halley was an exceptional figure. In the course of a long and productive career, he was a
sea captain, a cartographer, a professor of geometry at the University of Oxford, deputy
controller of the Royal Mint, astronomer royal, and inventor of the deep-sea diving bell. He
wrote authoritatively on magnetism, tides, and the motions of the planets, and fondly on the
effects of opium. He invented the weather  map and actuarial table, proposed methods for
working out the age of the Earth and its distance from the Sun, even devised a practical
method for keeping fish fresh out of season. The one thing he didn't do, interestingly enough,
was discover the comet that bears his name."

Question: "Where did he find the time to do all of this?"

Comment: It's interesting how he did all of these things but was mostly just honored by having a comet that he didn't discover be named after him. It's also interesting how most of the things he did connect to being a sea captain.