Asteroid has a moon

Asteroids getting close to earth is no news... In fact, many little asteroids strike the earth and our atmosphere just burn much of it up.

But a huge one can destroy dinosaurs in the past and can destroy everything on earth here today.

It looks like none of the big ones are coming yet but this one "2004 BL86" is coming pretty close. But the news item is that it has a little moon of its own. See here.

Having a little moon is some status isn't it. Our fellow inner planets Venus and Mercury do not have one. Well you know the Earth has one. Saturn and Jupiter have 60+. Even the little demoted planet Pluto has 5. Even Mars has 2. And even if Venus has one and someone live there, they will NOT able to see it because of that thick cloud of death (greenhouse effect is real, my friend).

Now where do moons come from (especially our own moon)? There is actually not a written-in-stone solid answer. There are just theories like it is knocked out from earth or earth's gravity caught it. See here for 5 theories.

Look folks, it is gravity at work. That makes things fly around. It's the same (somewhat mysterious) force that keeps you on the ground.

Now this reminds me of a classic video game called Asteroids. In reality, even if you are at the Asteroid belt, asteroids would be quite sparse that you are not so likely to be surrounded by it. ooh hyperwarp! That's such great sci-fi idea. but you may get blown up in the process.

Now unless an asteroid destroys your town or land on your head, most of us (except astronomy enthusiasts) don't really care. We can barely see ANY object in the sky except the moon as we live in dense light and fog polluted cities. So go ahead gravity do your thing to push/pull, destroy stars and stuff while scientists continue to make a living to connect you to that Standard Model somehow. We other earthlings take gravity for granted and continue to just mind our own business here with our feet on the ground.

Will one day an asteroid come by so close that our earth's gravity pull it as moon #2? now THAT would be interesting.

Boy did not go to Heaven

Oh, so the boy behind "The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven" admitted he actually didn't go to heaven.

See here.

So the book's profit isn't going to the kid... the names are used without permission. How horrible is this "Christian" publisher.

This is slap at the Christian faith... after infamous failed prediction of Christ's second coming, etc.

Now waita minute, although the boy did not go to heaven, does it actually disapprove heaven? Like, in a bar, someone bragged about going to a fancy restaurant but actually couldn't afford and didn't go.. does that prove the fancy restaurant does not exist?

Even if he insisted he went to heaven... is that a proof? That could be easily explained by a dream, hallucination etc.

I know somebody who really really hoped to see their dead relatives... I hope they are not in despair... cause one boy's account is not sufficient for proof or disproof.

Faith... requires no proof otherwise it is called "science"?

I really am sorry for the boy... paralyzed... Drive safely... put that seatbelt and car seat on.

Now that Bible is really full of hope! Oh Jesus healed a blind man! Oh Jesus cast that demon out (so many demons out there?) Oh Jesus healed paralyzed man! Oh Jesus fed thousands! Don't I wish he is still around. 40 days is not that long a stay? If He is still around we can ask him directly what Heaven is like. He actually didn't say too much about it in the Bible.

Thanks to the boy for being so honest.

Why didn't Obama go?

This is quite remarkable... world leaders join hand-in-hand... united in outrage against the Charlie Hebdo attack.

But more remarkable is President Obama didn't show up. Nor the Vice President nor the Secretary of State.

That little known ambassador just isn't high ranking enough.

Now, just why didn't he go? No one seems to know... is it not enough advance notice to get arrangement to Paris? Does he think it isn't so important to go? Did he play golf at somebody's wedding?

This is going to be in the history books.

Did he not go on purpose or by mistake?

Is he going to say Je suis désolé to the president of France?

What about leaders of the east? Did China send somebody? Did Japan send somebody? Are anyone outraged that the east didn't send their top leaders?

Now, 12 people dead is a lot... but here in Chicago, this many deaths by gun shots can probably be achieved in about 2 days.

Who is there to march hand-in-hand against violence right here? (Yea there were probably some but unfortunately most people who showed up are much lower profile that they don't matter)

Violence in France

Bam! Violence on journalism in France... you don't hear much terrorist activities in there until recently...

Why would someone violently shoot with that AK-47? The answer is right there: "Allahu Akbar", Arabic for "God is great". Of course, the nature of this "God" here is a never settling question.

I am not sure exactly what satire Charlie Hebdo wrote to offend these people... obviously it is extremely offensive to them.

One must think. Gosh why do these people do such violent acts! This is because of their education, their beliefs. But before you blast their beliefs look at what are in your children books.

Remember David vs Goliath? Goliath is big and everyone is scared and this little David had the courage and God is with him therefore he wins. See 1 Samuel 17.

What do you teach your kids? If you have faith in the almighty God there is nothing to be afraid of, even the mighty Goliath.

Um, this is exactly what the terrorists think! This is exactly what caused most mayhem in this world.... too many times.

Most people just remember this much and never even look closely. This (little) David is actually a mighty impossibly incredible kid not just a regular little sheep-looking kid. He can even kill a lion and a bear.

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.

Your children book probably does not include the detail of chopping Goliath's head off.

51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

If this is any old TV/movie/story you would think man what is this author writing! We are talking about a kid to kill lion and bear and defeat a huge guy and chop his head off, but it is the Bible you know. (Then why the heck does he need to run away from his own son Absalom?).

Please, journalists, watch what you write.

Sunday School teachers... are you telling the whole story to the kids? (You probably should hide the violent parts to prevent nightmares but you should read it yourself)

Violence beget more violence. This is a vicious cycle.

Searching this blog

This is weird. I see a Blogspot search bar at the top of the page of this blog (if you are not running the mobile view). But apparently not everyone has it. Not sure where this get turned on or not.

Now blogspot is customizable... I can add a search box gadget! Easy to do. Click click done.

It somewhat works. Type in something and it will do some search. However, it is not finding everything! Gotta be some indexing issue or something.

But look, you can actually search by appending parameter in URL: /search?q=search text. For example: http://josephmak2007.blogspot.com/search?q=Barbie.

That gave me the right search results.

Thanks Google for providing a channel for me to post things... but I appreciate if you fix your search gadget.

Now that's a sophisticated New Year note

Apple co-founder Steve Woz wrote a very interesting new year note:

Happy New Year from the New Zealand waters. May each of us find the things we need in life, and the things we enjoy, and good friendship in 2015.

2015 is mathematically sound. 20 is 4*5 and 15 is 3*5. 2015 is 5*13*31. 13 and 31 are reversed digit prime numbers. In binary 2015 is 11111011111, a palindrome. 2015 is also 3737 in base 8 (octal) and 37 is the most special number of all in my opinion. For one thing, it's the best age. For another, it's the first irregular prime number! best to all, wOZ”

See http://www.cultofmac.com/307568/woz-wishes-us-mathematically-sound-new-year/ for full article.

Now that's a lot of observation about the number 2015. Oh, just what is a regular or irregular prime number? Wow, looking it up revealing I actually don't know much about prime numbers (I thought I know a thing or two). (See here for instance).

So this year starts with bad news... Shanghai stampede, more violence in Chicago, 2-year-old-shooting-mom, etc.

I hope you have a mathematically sound and safe and happy new year.