All Experts Redux: Constellation Patterns in the Sky Random Or Real?

                        Some Fall constellations in Constellation Finder program

Question: Looking at the night sky and using my Constellation Finder, I am absolutely amazed at the degree of similarity between the star patterns and the objects they represent. I mean, the Big Dipper clearly looks like a dipper, no?  Isn't there more here than just random patterns?

Answer: I will give you that the Big Dipper really does have the shape and appearance of a dipper, but this is merely an optical illusion.

What you’re actually seeing is separate stars at wildly different distances simply appearing as one ensemble or pattern by coincidence of time and location. At vastly different epochs the appearance will change, i.e.  100,000 yrs. from now.

Further, the Big Dipper is not actually an official constellation; it is an asterism (a recognizable star pattern) within the larger constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear).

If you look closely you can see the Big Dipper planted in the Bear's 'tail' at the left end.

My general point here is that any and all such projections and patterns in the end amount to purely imaginary extrapolations from random groups of stars. No actual or absolute pattern conforming to any 'Big Dipper' (or Ursa Major) exists, only as it appears to a certain sub-group of humans at a given time. Indeed, the ancient Chinese saw no 'dipper' at all - but rather a cart to carry their bureaucrats!

You can think of any or all of these as a kind of cosmic 'Rorschach' - the sort of ink blot that psychologists used to show their patients to see if they "perceived" any evident patterns. The blots were such that no two people were likely to see the exact same pattern, since each person came to the observation with a different background, perceptual selection bias and so forth.

 In the end, humans just have a penchant - in their brains – to create or impose patterns. They can see "faces" in the clouds in the sky, or figures of mythological beings in the stars- and project their own meaning and interpretations onto them.

This has nothing to do with any objective findings or facts that reside in the objects themselves. Which is to say that it's no more likely plausible an actual 'Big Dipper' exists in the night sky as a Big Bear. In the end, yes we are talking about nothing more than random patterns.

'Little' Holman Jenkins Jr. Cracks Up - Confusing Comcast-MSNOW With FOX News

 

"Little" (in mind) Holman Jenkins Jr. (he whose bellowing twaddle dwarfs his actual mental range), again can't help himself as he bellows in his barks in his latest WSJ op-ed screed (Happy Days Again For TV News?) that:

"Comcast did one shrewd thing. In previously getting rid of CNBC and MSNBC, it wisely stripped the NBC brand from the disreputable liberal propaganda channel (renamed MSNOW) while leaving its name on the business channel."

Adding:

"Of course, in better days Comcast never would have let its brand be devalued by MSNBC in the first place."

Seriously, you demented twit? How about FOX News, currently gaslighting Americans before their very eyes, i.e. regarding the 'pristine' reflecting pool, and Trump never falling asleep on the job despite all the evidence, i.e.

But this is all part of little Holman's shtick which he's now been doing so often he can no longer distinguish reality from psychotic fantasy even when he isn't binging on magic mushrooms.   And as for stark, open propaganda Holman himself takes the cake. Among the most grievous deliberately denying in one nutso column from 2020 ('Disinfecting Journalistic Ethics', WSJ, May 6, p. A13)  that Dotard ever stated people ought to consider 'disinfectant' (injecting it) to cure Covid. Holman yapped:

It was a reporter in the audience who asked an accompanying official, 'The President mentioned the idea of cleaners, like bleach and isopropyl alcohol.  There's no scenario then that that could be injected into a person is there?

But the little liar probably never counted on savvy readers going back and checking the actual news segments, e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9kWsUwTcj8


How many different ways can that be interpreted anyway?  Is a "reporter" asking a leading question or is Trump popping off on his own?  Oh wait, it gets even more choice. To further obscure the issue Jenkins writes:

"The Poynter Institute's PolitiFact website kindly summarized:  'The briefing transcript shows that Trump did not say people should inject themselves with bleach or alcohol. He was asking officials whether they could be used in potential cures."

But this deliberate shading of language is all part of Holman's  time -tested gaslighting shtick: to shave words and meanings around the edge to make the lies appear to be facts. Then assume few of his readers will check his trwaddle. He also did it when he claimed in a Mar. 22-23 WSJ column ( 'CBS Kicks The UFO Habit', p. A13)  the Nimitz pilots were actually chasing actually chasing a 46' Chinese drone, not a genuine UFO (seen by Cmdr. David Frav0r as an incredibly high velocity craft), e.g. his House testimony  - given under oath (unlike Jenkins' blabbery):

Video Navy commander David Fravor gives detailed description of his encounter with a UAP

Jenkins Jr. then claimed the 60 Minutes original report on the Nimitz UAP sightings, i.e.

Navy pilots describe encounters with UFOs

 was "retracted" by CBS’  60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker:

 “who states plainly the Pentagon did little to dispel speculation these images taken with night vision equipment were not UFOs but ship’s log identification as drones. At the time and the Navy suspected they came from a Hong Kong flagged freighter sailing nearby."

All of which blather was totally exploded when Ret. Cmdr. David Fravor testified about the incident before Congress (and under oath) in July, 2023. Proving again Jenkins is a consummate liar, spinner and troll.

 We may never know what brand of MJ munchies Holman was snacking on when he wrote this drivel, or indeed what Jenkins insists about the ship’s logs being changed has any valence in the real of non-FOX reality.  We do know Holman is an intentional falsifier and twister of facts almost as bad as his master Trump.  

My point is this his referring to MSNOW as a  "disreputable liberal propaganda channel" is so far in the pot-kettle -black domain that it essentially loses aby meaning without his own and FOX News propaganda volume - which is about 1 million times as large. 

 At least on MSNOW one can get cold hard facts such as:

- The frequency and locations of Trump's proposed ICE detention centers

- The facts surrounding the cold-blooded ICE killings of both   Alex Pretti and Renee earlier this year. I.e. the slaying of Pretti,

All of this was covered up by FOX News and sanitized almost to the point of non-existence by Jenkins Jr. and his WSJ op-ed trolls (Kim Strassel, Dan Henninger)

- The actual size of the 'No Kings protests that were mis represented by FOX.

- The actual facts of how Trump's tampering with the D.C. Reflecting pool led to the algae infestation, not "vandals".

No, if one is looking for shameless and disreputable propagandists and gaslight fiends, one need look no further than Holman Jenkins Jr. and the cabal of paid liars at FOX News.

See Also:

Here's A Clue: Having the Most Popular Propaganda Cable Network Is Nothing To Brag About.

And:

Thom Hartmann

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Media | Republicans

The Dark Side of Politics: The GOP's MAGA Lie Machine

by Thom Hartmann | June 18, 2024 - 5:42am | permalink

— from The Hartmann Report

Hitler’s brilliant propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, famously told the Fuhrer, “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.” Donald Trump and the MAGA faction of the Republican Party have taken Goebbels’ advice to heart, and it’s going to make this fall’s election one like we’ve never seen before.

Already they’ve been lying so often and so effectively that nearly all Republicans, and majorities or near-majorities of Americans, believe:

— the GOP lie that we’re in a recession (we’re in better shape, in most ways, than any time since the 1960s and inflation last month was zero while Ronald Reagan never got it below 4.1% in his entire eight years);
— Republican lies about crime being up (it’s down dramatically since Trump);
— their lies that “Democrats want elective abortion up to the moment of birth” (none have ever said that);
— Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump by “voter fraud”;
— GOP lies that the southern border is “wide open”;
— the Republican lie that Social Security is on the verge of bankruptcy and must be saved by privatization or benefits cuts;
— their vicious lie that queer people are pedophiles targeting America’s schoolchildren; and
— their NRA lie that more and more deadly guns will keep our kids safe.

» article continues...

And:

'NO KINGS' Protests = Diminishing Returns? WSJ's Kim Strassel Needs To Watch Those News Clips Again

And:

Holman Jenkins Harps On Dem "Lawfare" - But Will He Now Admit Trump Is Putin's Pet Monkey To Fracture NATO?

And:

Holman Jenkins Loses It Again On UFOs - Claims Nimitz Pilots Were Really Chasing 46' Long "Chinese Drones"

And:

WSJ's Holman Jenkins Jr. Tries To Blame "FBI Charlie Kirk Sideshow" On Dems? WTF Is This Loon Smoking?

An Introduction To The Basic Equations Of Elementary Astrophysics

                     Webb Telescope image containing hundreds of galaxies

 The fundamental equations of astrophysics, embody its primary principles and are the steppingstone to mastering advanced courses. The equations that comprise the basic inputs into stellar properties are generally covered first. Most students of  physics are already familiar with the gas pressure: P= nkT.  But in astrophysics (i.e. applied to stars) there is also the even more important  radiation pressure:

P _R = aT⁴/ 3

where a is the radiation density constant which is equal to:  7.55 x 10 ^-16 Jm^-3 K^-4 and T is the absolute temperature (in K degrees).  The equation above is valid only if the material is in thermodynamic equilibrium (i.e. the distribution of radiation is that of a black body). This is generally true, but some exceptions do exist.

In dealing with stars, energy considerations also arise. In particular, the thermal and gravitational energy of a star are very closely related.  In a perfect gas, the total thermal energy is found by multiplying the number of particles N by the degrees of freedom, f, possessed by each particle. The thermal energy per unit volume is then: ½Nf kT.

The number of degrees of freedom f is also related to the ratio of specific heats (g) of the material by:

g         = (f + 2) / f

where g is the ratio of the specific heat at constant pressure to the specific heat at constant volume:

g  =  C _p / C _v

Using the equation for a perfect gas and introducing the thermal energy per kg, U, we find:

U = P/ (g   - 1) r

Bear in mind the material inside a star is highly ionized and in physics a fully ionized gas or plasma is mono-atomic, for which g = 5/3.

Using the previous equation for U in conjunction with the virial theorem, it can be shown that for a star with g = 5/3:

2U + W  = 0

where U is the thermal energy for the whole star and W is the gravitational energy such that:

W  =  - G ò _o ^R   M(r) dM(r) / r = - GM²/ 2R

But note the potential energy, V = 2W = - GM²/ R

This can be put into an even more useful form based on the kinetic theory of gases, for which:

P = r v²/ 3

And: -  W  =  3  ò PdV = 3 ò  (P/r) dm

Whence:

   3 ò(P/r) dm    =  3 òv²dm/ 3  =  m v²   = 2 K

Where K denotes the (gravitational) kinetic energy, which is also expressed:

K = GM²/R

Then in terms of the gravitational energy, W:

-  W  =  2K   or  2K + W  = 0

But: W= - GM²/ 2R  so: K = -W/ 2 = GM²/ R

Which checks out.  We are left with these conclusions:

1) 2K + W  = 0 applies to any spherical system in equilibrium where K is the gas kinetic energy and also the gravitational kinetic energy. (K = 3/2(g - 1)U). As we saw before for the internal energy:

U = P/ (g   - 1) r  so:  P/r  = U (g   - 1) 

Then:

 3 ò (P/r) dm =  3 ò U (5/3   - 1) dm = 2 K

2) The binding or total energy of a star E_T is then:

 E_T  = K + V  = GM²/ 2R  + (- GM²/ R) = - GM²/ 2R

Or: E_T  =  W/ 2 = -K

Thus, the total energy of a star is negative and equal to half the gravitational potential energy or the negative of the gas kinetic (or gravitational kinetic).   From the preceding we see that if for some reason E_T  decreases, then K increases but W decreases (e.g. the sphere must contract).

Problem for the budding astrophysicist:

For a uniform sphere with a polytropic index n = 0 for uniform density, show that:

 V = -6/5 (GM²/R). 

Take the potential energy to be:

W=  3/ (n – 5) (GM²/ R )

 

Mensa Angle Geometry Problem Solution

 

Redrawn with highlighted circles, angles

Solution:

Reconstruct the geometry as shown in the diagram above, which includes the more detailed information given below. Then draw a line from the center of each circle to the nearest  45 ^o  vertex AND to either point of tangency with the triangle (A/B, a/b).   These lines and the sides of the triangle make right triangles with angles: 22.5 ^o , 67.5 ^o, 90 ^o  (22.5 ^o  is the 45 ^o  vertex  bisected.)

Therefore, the intercepted minor arcs between the points where the circle touches the triangle (at AB and ab) equal 135 ^o (67.5^o + 67.5 ^o).  

Now, draw a diameter through the center of each circle to the point of tangency with the circle's hypotenuse.  Let these diameters be AC and ac. Since they are perpendicular to the same line they are perpendicular to each other.  The measure of arcs AC and ac are both  180 ^o  so: BC = bc = AC - AB = ac - ab =

180 ^o -   135 ^o  =  45 ^o 

Now, draw a line between the centers of both circles. It passes through the point of tangency between both circles (X), which is also the vertex of <x. Note the line joining the centers of both circles intersects parallel lines AC and ac. By the alternate angle theorem, the pairs of alternate interior angles (u and v) are congruent. Hence, u + v = 180 ^o .

Note BOX and boX are both isosceles triangles. Let the interior angles of BOX be: t,  v + 45 ^o , and t. Let the interior angles of triangle boX be: s,  u + 45 ^o , and s.

We have:

 t+ v + 45 ^o  + t = 180 ^o ® 2t  + v  = 135 ^o 

s+ u + 45 ^o  + s = 180 ^o ® 2s  + u  = 135 ^o 

Adding both equations together yields:

2t + 2s + v + u =   270 ^o 

Substitute  180 ^o for v + u:   2t + 2s + 180 ^o  =   270 ^o 

Then:  2t + 2s =  90 ^o  ® t  + s  = 45 ^o 

Since the line connecting the centers of the circles (O and o) is straight:

t + x + s =  180 ^o

Substituting 45 ^o for t + s:    45 ^o + x =  180 ^o  

Then:  x =  180 ^o  - 45 ^o  = 135 ^o     

WSJ Guest Contributor Exposes The Mirage Of "Trump Accounts" (Money Taxed Coming In & Going Out)

 

"I make my money the easy way with crypto, the rest of you can take your chances!'

                         Trump meme coin - has already cost investors $3.8b

“The problem we Americans now face — one that citizens of modern nations have faced in various parts of the world for centuries — is that our government, having been seized and now run by psychopathic predators, has become predatory itself rather than protective.- Thom Hartman, Predators Always Need Prey, smirkingchimp.com

Five months ago I warned, in a blog post about Trumpers trying to create incentives for more young people to have kids : 

"Those specialized, tax-deferred, long-term Trump 530A investment accounts ("Trump accounts") for children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028- won't help . Created under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, these accounts provide a $1,000 initial Treasury-funded deposit, invested in stocks to build wealth."

But what I didn't know then, and only learned recently in a WSJ piece from Adam Michel -the Director of Tax Policy Studies at Cato Institute- is that these misbegotten accounts are unlikely to build wealth even in the long term. Why? Double taxation.

As Mr. Michel puts it:

"My 1-year-old son qualifies for a Trump Account, and I’ve opened it to claim the $1,000 government deposit. But I won’t be putting any of my personal after-tax wages in it, and neither should most parents. Normal investments get taxed twice. You pay taxes when you earn the money as wages, and then any profit you make on the investment gets taxed again at the lower capital-gains rate. Nearly every tax-advantaged investment account—401(k)s and individual retirement accounts, 529 plans for education—eliminates either the wage tax on the way in or the capital-gains tax on the way out.

A traditional IRA lets you make pretax contributions and taxes the withdrawals. A Roth IRA flips it.  The result is similar: tax the money going in or tax it going out. Trump accounts do both. The accounts accept after tax dollars from parents and other authorized individuals, but when the child turns 18, they convert to the traditional IRA for retirement.

Adding:

"That means any gains, along with the original $1,000, are taxed at withdrawal as ordinary income rather than at the lower capital gains rate. (Which would have been applied if the investment weren’t in a Trump account.) Instead you pay taxes on the front end and the high rate on the back end – no deductions, no capital gains rate, no flexibility."

Mr. Michel then goes on to advise that if you plan to invest after tax money for your children "a 529 plan is the better plan for education savings."

Of course, because the 529 is a rational plan, not a grifter's bait and switch. I mean what more can you want given a sensible option for which money goes in after tax and qualified withdrawals are tax free? Besides which, as Michel points out, the 529s have been made even better by recent rules changes, i.e. by allowing up to $35,000 to be rolled over into a Roth IRA.  The plus? The child's funds are liberated from the education restrictions.

Michel advises that the Trump accounts can be "fixed", but that assumes the deranged, grifting lunatic sitting in the Oval Office is ok with that happening. I doubt it. Trump, to remind readers, is only out for grifting for the benefit of his own odious clan as even a recent WSJ editorial notes, e.g.

The Trump Family and ‘Honest Graft’ - WSJ

So no one should buy into any codswallop pertaining to "change" for anything Dotard has incepted, and that includes finally returning the reflecting pool to what it was before the orange fungus turned it into a swamp.

See Also:

Trump busted for self-dealing as MAGA says enough! Ari reports the receipts

And:

Donald Trump

Trump Enrichment Syndrome

by John Feffer | July 2, 2026 - 4:58am | permalink

— from Foreign Policy In Focus

The Trump administration concluded a recent mineral deal with Kazakhstan that, not surprisingly, enriches not only Trump’s own family but that of his secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick. Trump’s two eldest sons, part owners of Dominari Securities, are set to profit from the Kazakh tungsten deal. So is Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment firm run by Lutnick’s two sons.

As The New York Times pointed out in its investigation of the scheme, “Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration that has few precedents in American history.”

» article continues...

And:

Economic Policy

AI Abundance: the Clarity Act and the Stablcoin Wars

by Ellen Brown | July 1, 2026 - 4:34am | permalink

As Americans prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, few are paying attention to a bill moving through Congress that could seriously impinge on our financial independence.

The Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, H.R. 4766, is slated to make privately issued stablecoins a major component of the U.S. monetary system. Supporters see stablecoins as a way to strengthen the dollar’s global role while creating a vast new market for U.S. Treasury securities. Critics see the rise of programmable private money that can be monitored, frozen, or restricted by its issuers. Banks fear the loss of the deposits that are essential to advancing affordable credit. What appears to be a debate about digital tokens has thus become a battle over the future of banking itself and finance.

» article continues...

And:

Donors were misled by Trump-backed Freedom 250, House Democrats allege - The Washington Post

Excerpt:

Some donors who intended to give money to a bipartisan effort to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary were, instead, steered to a White House-backed initiative under false pretenses, House Democrats allege in a report released Thursday morning, citing whistleblower interviews and newly obtained documents.

The donors meant to give money to America250, a congressionally chartered initiative to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial, according to Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee. They instead were given routing and account numbers that directed their funds to Freedom 250, which President Donald Trump established last year to organize anniversary events,

And:

Trump Made $1 Billion on Crypto Deals While His Fans Lost a Fortune - WSJ

Excerpt:

Morten Christensen made a big bet on digital tokens sold by the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial last year, hoping that a surge in value might be enough to help him retire.

Instead, the value of those tokens tanked. While Christensen and many like him lost big, the president made a fortune, netting $800 million from that crypto project, according to a financial disclosure he filed this week. It has been clear for some time that Trump's forays into the crypto world have been lucrative, earning him some $1.4 billion last year.  This underscored the different reality Trump is living in compared to many of the investors who embraced digital assets alongside him. 

While Trump raked in cash by issuing new assets, World Liberty tokens, and meme coins, those who bought them at high prices had to suffer as their value went belly up. Political followers and crypto true believers who bought into the Trump brand were left holding the bag.