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THE CREATOR IS A BEETLE (OR A STAR)

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80-beetles

The evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane Is famous for having repeatedly said that “the Creator must have an inordinate fondness for beetles, for the simple reason that there are just so many varieties of beetles on Earth.” (He also noted that the Creator also was “endowed with a passion for  stars” – again, because there are just so darn many of them.)

Stephen Jay Gould added to this by noting:

“God is most likely to take trouble over reproducing his own image, and his 400,000 attempts at the perfect beetle contrast with his slipshod creation of man. When we meet the Almighty face to face he will resemble a beetle (or a star).”

The Coleoptera /koʊliːˈɒptərə/ order of insects is commonly called beetles. The word “coleoptera” is from the Greek κολεός,koleos, meaning “sheath”; and πτερόν, pteron, meaning “wing”, thus “sheathed wing. The Coleoptera include more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known types of animal life-forms. About 40% of all described insect species are beetles (about 400,000 species), and new species are discovered frequently. Some estimates put the total number of species, described and undescribed, at as high as 100 million, but a figure of one million is more widely accepted.   ————–

stars

According to astronomers, there are probably more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable Universe, stretching out

into a region of space 13.8 billion light-years away from us in all directions. And so, if you multiply the number of stars in our galaxy by the number of galaxies in the Universe, you get approximately 1024 stars. That’s a 1 followed by twenty-four zeros.  That’s a septillion stars. But there could be more than that.

It’s been calculated that the observable Universe is a bubble of space 47 billion years in all directions. This is a minimum value, the Universe could be much bigger – it’s just that we can’t ever detect those stars because they’re outside the observable Universe. It’s even possible that the Universe is infinite, stretching on forever, with an infinite amount of stars. So add a couple more zeros. Maybe an infinite number of zeroes.  That’s a lot of stars in the Universe.

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/102630/how-many-stars-are-there-in-the-universe/#ixzz2uK83T2IZ

...and other stuff, LIVES

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

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The public library system is one of the best ideas ever created to ensure a free, egalitarian society. 

“In 1731, Benjamin Franklin and his friends, sometimes called “the Junto”, operated the Library Company of Philadelphia partly as a means to settle arguments and partly as a means to advance themselves through sharing information. Franklin’s subscription library allowed members to buy “shares” and combined funds were used to buy more books; in return, members could borrow books and use the library. Today, the Library Company continues to exist as a nonprofit, independent research library.

Recently, a general change in attitude regarding libraries has become apparent, especially in younger generations. Students now enter college with a much different idea regarding libraries and how to go about finding information they need. A study of around 2,000 American college students showed that 93% felt that finding information online “made more sense” than going to the actual library. Furthermore, 83% stated they were frequently unable to get the information they needed due to library hours and another 75% said they just didn’t have time to go to the library.

This study follows a trend found elsewhere in the nation during this current economic recession. More people are relying on their public libraries during tough economic times. It really underscores the importance of public libraries, especially when the economy declines and unemployment rises.” The study looked to measure the increases in six categories from June 2008 until November 2008 in comparison to previous years. The categories considered were attendance (patron visits), circulation (material checkouts), virtual visits, reference transactions, percent of time public Internet computers are in use, and number of public internet computer users. The percent increases from the previous year are as follows:

  • Attendance (patron visits): 7.5%
  • Circulation (material checkouts): 11.22%
  • Virtual visits (such as to a library Web page): 20.21%
  • Reference transactions: 4.41%
  • Percent of time public Internet computers are in use: 9.74%
  • Number of public Internet computer users: 13.77%.

As can be seen from this data, all aspects of library use have significantly increased compared to the previous year.

Unfortunately, as library usage grows during a recession, the ability to fund public libraries declines.

(Source:  Wikipedia.org)