moon Archives - Keith Shields

Apollo11

If you are an Apollo 11 nerd like me, you will want to check out a new website created by Ben Feist, a Canadian “software developer and spaceflight data visualization researcher working with NASA.”[1] The site called, “The First Landing on the Moon, Apollo 11, Real-Time Mission Experience,” is a treasure chest of audio clips, photos,…

Ambition

It may be a surprise to hear a Baby-Boomer analysing his own ambition and the ambition of the rest of his demographic cohort. Put a group of us together and you will always have more “horsepower” than people in the room. Yet, we have not always been very good at introspection. We have traditionally left…

Plan Like a Raven

Many will know of my fascination with crows, ravens, and other members of the Corvidae family. This group of birds also includes the jays, magpies, and whisky jacks (grey jays). I have previously described (blog posts here and here and my favourite here) the great intelligence of these birds (specifically the Corvus moneduloides or New Caledonian crow) and…

Animal Intelligence

I am fascinated by the intelligence of animals. On the farm where I grew up, we often had Border Collie dogs who were intelligent working dogs. They were exceptional herders and one dog was capable of finding the milk cows in the field and herding them into the barnyard on his own. Our daughter and…

Venus, Mars, Regulus, and Jupiter Are Alright Tonight

Starship 21ZNA9 A good friend of mine Studies the stars Venus and Mars Are alright tonight “Venus and Mars” lyrics by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney; published by MPL Communications, Inc. This morning, as I went for my before-sunrise-run, I was greeted by three planets and a bright star, in the eastern sky. The four…

Blue Moon

Remember all of those things that you do “once in a blue moon?” Well get ready for a flurry of activity. Friday, July 31, marks the appearance of a blue moon. No, you will not see a change in hue; the moon will still look the same colour. A blue moon is “an additional full…

Avian Einsteins

You may already know of my interest in crows, jays, and other intelligent bird species. (If not, you can catch up by reading previous blog posts.) Today I want to share with you another interesting study that suggests that crows have the ability to teach other crows to avoid dangerous human individuals. Researchers at the University…

Follow-up to Observation

As a follow-up to Saturday’s blog entitled “Observation,” I offer the following quotes related to science and observation. The first two are equally true although in tension with each other. [Those] who have an excessive faith in their theories or in their ideas are not only poorly disposed to make discoveries, but they also make…

Observation

Because I have studied science most of my life, some people will confide with me that they wish they had studied more science. I usually tell them that it is never too late to start. The convenient thing about science is that one can begin studying at any time. Science, at its core, starts with…

Courage

Sigmund Brouwer wrote the book Who Made the Moon* with a few purposes in mind. One stated purpose is found at location 1394 of the Kindle version of the book: Many scientists do, . . . . serve in their churches as well as in their laboratories . . . . I hope this book…