December 25, 2018

Twitter's trends for me today are mostly Christmas-y.



But what's up with Isaac Newton? Ah:

87 comments:

tcrosse said...

Figs will never be the same.

rehajm said...

He had to share...

Ron said...

Also... Great White Sox second baseman, Nellie Fox!

Rory said...

Rickey Henderson. It's a terrific birthday team.

Sebastian said...

So, who was greater, Jesus or Isaac?

Considering that Jesus had an unfair advantage, I'm tempted to say Isaac.

hiawatha biscayne said...

Fox and Aparicio - the keystone combo.

Rabel said...

I wonder if there's a story behind Newton's right hand in that portrait. It looks like he may have been holding something which was then painted over.

tim maguire said...

Humorless atheists like to play up Isaac Newton day.

Fred Drinkwater said...

Galileo died January 1642.
Newton born December 1642.
I'll say "Why do I believe in reincarnation?" , Alex.

Greg Hlatky said...

Newton was not an atheist. Therefore he could not have been a good scientist. At least, that's what the Christophobic hate bigots say.

Otto said...

True to her atheism Ann has not wished her followers a Merry Christmas.
Yes Newton was a Christian along with the great mathematician Euler, (e to the ix).
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to all the commentators at this website.

Hagar said...

In Galileo's time they still did not have clocks, so their concept of "time" was quite different from ours.

Galileo realized that and made his own "clock" for measuring time as required for his experiments with acceleration and objects falling, or sliding on inclines, etc. It did not measure seconds (86,400/day), but made "clicks" at uniform intervals, so that he could determine the relationship with time, but not with any standard units recognized by his contemporaries.

Fernandinande said...

Humorless atheists like to play up Isaac Newton day.

Really? I'm a humorless atheist, as well as a half-assed physics guy who waded thru some of the Principia, and have never heard of "Isaac Newton day"; google returns about as many references to persons named "Isaac Newton Day", (1822 - 1901, etc) as it does to the famous guy, so I think your claim about humorless atheists is mostly false despite the fact that most members of the Royal Society are atheists.

Matt said...

Royal Society ripping off Degrasse Tyson, I believe. The unoriginal bastards.

Meh. He probably stole it from someone else.

Darrell said...

I wonder if there's a story behind Newton's right hand in that portrait. It looks like he may have been holding something which was then painted over.

He was smoking a blunt. Isaac liked the Weed.

tcrosse said...

I wonder if there's a story behind Newton's right hand in that portrait. It looks like he may have been holding something which was then painted over.

He's pointing to where the artist missed a spot.

Craig said...

Blogger Greg Hlatky said...
Newton was not an atheist. Therefore he could not have been a good scientist. At least, that's what the Christophobic hate bigots say.

---

You're an idiot.

traditionalguy said...

Newton spent most of his lifetime searching out the Hebrew scripture to discover the Great Day of the Lord’s return. In other words he was a fanatic believer in Jesus. Is that Christmacy enough?

Craig said...

Blogger Hagar said...
In Galileo's time they still did not have clocks, so their concept of "time" was quite different from ours.

---

Are all of you high?

Greg Hlatky said...

You're an idiot.

Really? You need to read what your self-satisfied anti-religious pals say.

Craig said...

Blogger SDaly said...
Yes, Newton was a deeply Christian man. To the extent that the Royal Society intended their tweet to be an insult to Christians (and they did), it was a spectacular fail.

12/25/18, 1:41 PM

---

Yes, all of you are high.

Craig said...

Blogger Greg Hlatky said...
You're an idiot.

Really? You need to read what your self-satisfied anti-religious pals say.

12/25/18, 1:40 PM

---

Of course: my self-satisfied anti-religious pals are always opining about religion in science five centuries ago. Nutcase.

Greg Hlatky said...

Bad scentists: Michael Faraday, Jamss Clark Maxwell, Gerhard Ertl, Henry Eyring.

Good scientists: Trofim Lysenko, Elena Ceaucescu.

Ken B said...

It's not true though. Newton was born on 25 December in the Julian calendar. We don’t use the Julian calendar. So not today, but in January.

Craig said...

Bad readers around here: Greg Hlatky, SDaly, Hagar

Good readers: Me

Man, making up lists to congratulate myself is fun. Thanks for the idea, Bad Reader Greg!

Earnest Prole said...

Figs will never be the same.

Here’s the tricky part.

Two-eyed Jack said...

Isaiah, Ch 9, Wycliffe Bible:

6 Forsothe a litil child is borun to vs, and a sone is youun to vs, and prinsehod is maad on his schuldre; and his name schal be clepid Wondurful, A counselour, God, Strong, A fadir of the world to comynge, A prince of pees.
7 His empire schal be multiplied, and noon ende schal be of his pees; he schal sitte on the seete of Dauid, and on the rewme of hym, that he conferme it, and make stronge in doom and riytfulnesse, fro hennus forth and til in to with outen ende. The feruent loue of the Lord of oostis schal make this.

Two-eyed Jack said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Two-eyed Jack said...

Isaiah, Ch 9, The Great Bible:

6 For vnto vs a chylde is borne, & vnto vs a sonne is geuen. Upon hys shoulder doth the kyngdome lye, and he is called wt hys awne name: wonderfull. The geuer of councell, the myghtye God, the euerlasting father, the prince of peace,
7 he shall make no ende to encrease the kyngdome & peace, & shall syt vpon the seate of Dauid & in his kyngdome, to set vp the same, & to stablish it wt equyte and ryghteousnesse, from hence forth for euermore. Thys shall the gelousy of the Lorde of Hostes brynge to passe.

Two-eyed Jack said...

So score 2 of the top 10 for Wycliffe and 2 for The Great Bible.

chickelit said...

Henry: Why'd you have to go and mention Henry Eyring? He's a "hot button" issue in the politics of science.

Me: Why's that?

Henry: Well, he was a Mormon you know. He gave up his seat at Princeton to move back to Utah to run things.

Me: Does that even matter?

Henry: Of course not. But Eyring was one of those—along with Gilbert Lewis—who should have won the Nobel Prize...but didn't.

Me: You're not saying that his religion had something to do with why he didn't win?

Henry: I'm not not saying that. But you do know that he's related to Mitt Romney?

Conversations with Henry

Michael McNeil said...

They had clocks prior to Galileo, they just weren't very good clocks — because it was Galileo himself who invented the pendulum as a way for clocks to keep good time.

Hagar said...

They had sundials, water clocks, and clocks that more or less kept time by the hours of the day, but nothing like our clocks ruling our mechanical contraptions - and now certainly our electronic devices! - and lives by the split seconds.

Iirc Galileo invented something that improved the time function of the pendulum, but not the pendulum itself.

Tommy Duncan said...

Newton, Galileo and Euler are all dead white guys who would have been nothing without white privilege. History starts anew each day.

Mr. Groovington said...

Blogger Craig said...
Bad readers around here: Greg Hlatky, SDaly, Hagar

Good readers: Me

Man, making up lists to congratulate myself is fun. Thanks for the idea, Bad Reader Greg!

--------

Nicely done

Rusty said...

Didn't Galileo use his resting pulse to time the swing of a pendulum?
So yes. While there where hour glasses, candles and water clocks we had not yet accurately divided and hour into regular minutes or minuets into accurate seconds. And we wouldn't with any great deal of accuracy until the 18th century with the development of the chronometer.

chickelit said...

What about Muslim contributions to physics?

Rabel said...

"True to her atheism Ann has not wished her followers a Merry Christmas."

Wrong.

Rabel said...

For Craig.

narciso said...

the carlos slims times (I named it after its proprietor) is pitching Hezbollah on Christmas eve,

fivewheels said...

Top trending topic for me right now is: "#MerryChirstmas" [sic] with 26K tweets.

Pretty much the state of our union.

J. Farmer said...

Isaac Newton was undoubtedly Christian, though his beliefs would have been rather unorthodox at the time. Newton was an occultist and believed strongly that ancient texts had hidden messages within them that required decoding. He was particularly fascinated with the apocalyptic elements of the Bible (e.g. Book of Daniel, Revelations).

Interestingly, when Michael H. Hart published his book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, he placed Newton at number 2 on the list, just behind Mohammad and just in front of Jesus. You can see Hart's complete list here, and a complete copy of the entire book here.

Mark said...

Interestingly, when Michael H. Hart published his book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, he placed Newton at number 2 on the list, just behind Mohammad and just in front of Jesus.

Interestingly, when I look up this Hart guy that J. Farmer promotes, I find this --
"Michael H. Hart is an American astrophysicist and author, most notably of The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. He has described himself as a white separatist and is active in white separatist causes."

chillblaine said...

this is my best video. like or subscribe.

El Yeti Loco Viene!

J. Farmer said...

@Mark:

Interestingly, when I look up this Hart guy that J. Farmer promotes, I find this --
"Michael H. Hart is an American astrophysicist and author, most notably of The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. He has described himself as a white separatist and is active in white separatist causes."


That is certainly true. For those interested, you can hear Hart's proposal for dividing the US into separate ethno states at an American Renaissance conference here.

narciso said...

oh, that's not trending:

https://www.foxnews.com/world/mastermind-of-backpacker-beheadings-arrested-moroccan-officials-say

narciso said...

narratives overrule the truth:

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/12/watergate-revisited-a-footnote.php

narciso said...

Sadly this is happening in the west, where bel hadj and the ineffective un backed govt is in control

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1063602/tripoli-terror-attack-libya-suicide-bomb-explosion-foreign-office

Narayanan said...

Is Royal Society doing fake news.
Ken B said...
It's not true though. Newton was born on 25 December in the Julian calendar. We don’t use the Julian calendar. So not today, but in January.

Michael K said...

Merry Christmas to all.

I still read some posts and scan comments for good links.

Wishing all a good new year.

Mark said...

Newton was born on 25 December in the Julian calendar. We don’t use the Julian calendar.

It's another papist plot against science.

Lydia said...

Oh, dear, what would the folks at the Royal Society make of this -- "The first Christian Zionist?":

The world famous 17th-century scientist Isaac Newton, who discovered gravity and revolutionarized mankind's understanding of physics, may also have been the first Christian Zionist, secret writings have revealed.

A new exhibition [in 2007] at the Hebrew University's Jewish National and University Library, Newton's Secrets, which display original writings, drawings, and maps dating back 300 years, reveal startling views held by Newton, which stray far from the scientifically pure image traditionally associated with him. ...

"Many Christians thought Jews would all convert to Christianity and that Jerusalem would rebuilt spiritually. Newton has more respect for the Jews, and thought they would return physically," Snobelen [the curator] [said]. ...

Newton thought the rebuilding of Jerusalem would take place in the late 19th century, and that the Temple would be rebuilt in the 20th or 21st century, Snobelen added. "History has kind of caught up with his predictions," Snobelen said, adding: "If Newton discussed how to put satellites in space and a man on the moon, why should he be wrong about this?"

Newton's radical Protestant theology and belief that a Jewish return to Israel was linked with the return of the Christian deity, Jesus, made him one of the first ever Christian Evangelical-style figures in history, Snobelen said.

JackWayne said...

Where’s Buwaya?

narciso said...

Hey Michael k how have you been?

narciso said...

Re other matters:

https://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/2018/12/on-mattis.html?m=1

chuck said...

Merry Christmas all.

JackWayne said...

Exactly, Narciso! Personally, I don’t like people who have “fabulous” nicknames. Mattis was OK. When I look at the list of SecDefs, he’s about middle of the pack. There are some real losers in there.

narciso said...

The warrior monk, was prone to be provocative re the deir er zour encounter, which could have escalated quickly, into a shooting war with the Russians

BUMBLE BEE said...

Michael K. been out to chicagoboyz. Nice place you got there. Feliz Navidad all.

Michael McNeil said...

Didn't Galileo use his resting pulse to time the swing of a pendulum?

Indeed he did. No doubt Galileo had to make allowances for his pulse racing with excitement at the time of discovery, because he was the first person in history to notice that — whether it swings with a high amplitude or low — pendulum of the same length swing with the same period.

RK said...

Isaac Newton was born January 4, 1643 according to the Interwebs.

Paco Wové said...

"the scientifically pure image traditionally associated with him" by people who know absolutely nothing about Newton other than that he had something to do with an apple.

Bah. A load of humbug.

P.S. Merry Christmas all.

narciso said...

Here lies the confusion:

https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/calendrical-confusion-or-just-when-did-newton-die/

sinz52 said...

There's an interesting story about Newton and Edmond Halley (he whom the comet is named for).

The Royal Society had already put a lot of money into funding the publication of another science book, and they either didn't or couldn't fund Newton's Principia Mathematica.

Edmond Halley encouraged Newton to write Principia and ended up paying for its publication out of his own pocket.

Otherwise, much of Newton's work might never have been published.

JPS said...

narciso, thanks for that. I should read CDR Salamander more often.

Jack Wayne,

"Personally, I don’t like people who have “fabulous” nicknames."

What's wrong with "Chaos"?

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all. Our host and the commenters here make up one of the last remaining groups of people with whom I have any interest in discussing current events. This group includes people well to my left, and a different flavor of right than my own, with whom I consistently disagree; but whether we largely agree or not, thank you.

Michael McNeil said...

Newton was born on 25 December in the Julian calendar. We don’t use the Julian calendar. So not today, but in January.

We do use the Julian calendar. After the Gregorian calendar was promulgated in 1582 — and ten days got chopped out of that year (just enough to bring the equinox back to March 21, its calendrical date in the year 325 A.D., the year of the Nicene Council) — scholars did not go back and renumber all previous years in accordance with the new calendric system.

Rather, it's still true that all years prior to 1582 A.D. — including all years “B.C.” (“Before Caesar”: that is, even before the Julian calendar was promulgated in 45 B.C. “Before Christ”) — are still Julian calendar years.

The confusion with regard to Britain and certain other countries is due to the fact that they did not update their calendars when Pope Gregory XIII made his original proclamation in 1582, but delayed for (sometimes many) years — the U.K.'s official calendar, for instance, did not become Gregorian until 1752 (due to the Calendar Act of 1750) — and thus it's necessary for dates between 1582 and (e.g.) 1752 in the U.K., to be distinguished by “Old Style” (Julian) and “New Style” (Gregorian) designations.

F said...

If you look very closely, it appears he is pointing with his right hand at an iPhone. That's appropriate.

chillblaine said...

my ten year old twitter account, so meticulous, is now banned. like, for real, all of you, get the fuck behind this guy. yep. one million abortions per year. how the fuck do you sleep at night? ok. also fuck you, fuck Meade, fuck Ann. Truly. Let's sit on the fence and while away the time like everything is bitchen'. It Ain't Bitchen, everyone is in darkness. I get this everywhere. EVERYWHERE. The Saints are the penniless and the un-noticed. The cursed are right here. so fuckoof

JackWayne said...

JPS, Chiefs Have Arrived On Scene seems appropriate. I read that he apparently considered the Mad Dog appellation as a media event. But I never read before tonight that he rejected the nickname. Kind of wish-washy?

chillblaine said...

ha ha what a weird guy, BUT. FOR REAL. I should have died on July 7. What were you doing on this day. I was being noticed by my Source. So, every day is a gift, and every single one of you miserable FUCKS, including Ann the Ridiculous Old Cunt, and Meade the Please Don't Tread, Plese don Judge, FUCK YOU FOREVER.

naw, i'm good, i am good, on the real. but fam start to trim your mother fucking sails.

later.

JPS said...

Jack Wayne,

Colonel Has Another Outstanding Solution. The YouTube clip where he dismissed Mad dog as a press invention, and gives the backstory, is worth watching.

narciso said...

Well that escalated quickly, you know what carp doesn't get touched, pro Islamist propaganda anti conservative invective Sam's for anti Christian invective.

eddie willers said...

Hey Dr. K.!

Hope you had a great Christmas and drop in more often.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Interestingly, when Michael H. Hart published his book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, he placed Newton at number 2 on the list, just behind Mohammad and just in front of Jesus. You can see Hart's complete list here, and a complete copy of the entire book here.

12/25/18, 4:22 PM

I think that's about right. It drives fundamentalist atheists insane when I say that Jesus of Nazareth was the most influential person who ever lived, but I don't see how you can deny that, no matter what you may believe about Christianity.

At any rate, Merry Christmas Althousians. I hope you all had a lovely holiday. I did. I am still adjusting to my newly married status - one reason I have not been around much the past few months.

Michael McNeil said...

What about Muslim contributions to physics?

While Aristotle wrote something about what he called physics, the fact is that — beyond astronomy — physics was pretty much nonexistent until Galileo, too, invented the science, in his work on the Two New Sciences (1638).

Guildofcannonballs said...

I know people who disagree that it was possible Jesus lived. Remove all divinity and they still say no way not possible. Their relatives were rich morticians, for better or worse.

I asked what in history has been more confirmed than that Jesus the man existed and they both said things too stupid for my brain to allow itse!f to remember.

Similarly, Althouse exists: and repeatedly is ergo asked to become our savior for reasons revolving around neither Jesus nor ourselves being capable of non-Althouse focused savior.

She has cause to !augh.

Opposite also. Big Universe after all.

narciso said...

Certainly he would be recorded in the census in the time of quirinus during the reign of Augustus, but it is the consequence of what that reality means that matters.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Con law ought incorporate some acknowledgement America as founded wasn't typical, and many of the ideas (not original but created/designed to be implemented in a unique way such as feasibly existed in the later 18th century) are still close to the opposite of China 2020.

Tommy Friedman if he bad the power would lead us all intoHellish starvation knowing his exemp wereearned generations ago as yours ought have been were your ancestors not deplorable.

narciso said...

You might require 1/100 of every con law professor, eho believe that way.

narciso said...

In other news:


https://mobile.twitter.com/ELINTNews/status/1077727030043725825

narciso said...


Where to begin:

https://m.jpost.com/Opinion/A-break-in-Saudi-and-Turkish-relations-could-intensify-MbS-Bibi-bromance-575385

Fritz said...

J. Farmer said...
Isaac Newton was undoubtedly Christian, though his beliefs would have been rather unorthodox at the time. Newton was an occultist and believed strongly that ancient texts had hidden messages within them that required decoding. He was particularly fascinated with the apocalyptic elements of the Bible (e.g. Book of Daniel, Revelations).


He may also have been suffering from mercury and other heavy metal poisoning due to his alchemical studies. He was one of those guys who thought you could turn lead into gold...

Jaq said...

Their highly advanced skills and knowledge of everything is boon for the users.

I wish I had knowledge of everything! Then again, I probably don’t.

Fernandinande said...

He may also have been suffering from mercury and other heavy metal poisoning due to his alchemical studies. He was one of those guys who thought you could turn lead into gold...

Newton wrote more about his nutty superstitions than he wrote about physics or math.

Treatise on Revelation (Section 1)

The nature of the serpent being no more changed by one Decree than that of the bow by the other. Tis agreed that Eve was deceived by the Devil & that the Serpent was only a symbol of the Deceiver{;} [Now to make the sign really punished for the crime of the thing signified is absurd & therefore [the curs of the Serpent must be understood really of the Devil only & be spoken of the serpent] tis not to {be} understood that the serpent] & therefore to make the serpent really metamorphised & condemned to creep on his belly & eat dust because the Devil had offended is to punish one thing for anothers fault & make the signe suffer in a litteral sense for the crime of the thing signified which is absurd & unagreeable to the nature & design of Parables.

Etc.

sinz52 said...

I don't understand the insistence by many atheists that Jesus never existed.

Why is it so hard to believe that a young rabbi named Jesus, the son of an unwed mother named Mary, went around preaching and was eventually executed?

There were all kinds of prophets wandering around Judea at the time, preaching whatever came into their heads. John the Baptist, for one.

In fact, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (which didn't get accepted as Biblical canon by the First Council of Nicaea) tells the fascinating story of Jesus as a young boy. It's too bad that most Christians have never read it. It really makes Jesus as a person seem more real.

Whether Jesus was *the son of God* is the part that is open to question. The Jews and the Muslims don't think so.

narciso said...

But that is the most important part as CS Lewis, otherwise hes just another prophet.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I don't know what Newton's right hand was doing, but his left hand was obviously making a sign of the Illuminati.