Observations From Hadleyville: PTOLEMY

Saturday, March 10, 2012

PTOLEMY

For all you "everybody thought the Earth was flat prior to Columbus," people.

“The earth, in relation to the distance of the fixed stars, has no appreciable size and must be treated as a mathematical point.”

Ptolemy, The Almagest circa. 150 ad

1 comment:

Eric said...: And Eratosthenes (276 BC– 195 BC) made a halfway decent measurement of the circumference (see Wikpedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_geodesy).; March 10, 2012 at 4:10 PM

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WORDS OF WISDOM FOR WRITERS

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don't learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends.

I am sure it has been done with less, but you should be prepared to write and throw away a million words of finished material. By finished, I mean completed, done, ready to submit, and written as well as you know how at the time you wrote it.
-Jerry Pournelle

WHAT'S THIS HADLEYVILLE THING?

Those of you familiar with Mark Twain’s works might recognize my blog title. As Samuel Clemons grew older, he became increasingly disillusioned with humanity. Towards the end he began referring to the Damned Human Race; employing the secular and religious epithet at one stroke.

I find I’ve not reached that level of despair myself. I still believe in redemption and I still see signs of nobility even among we fallen, damned creatures. So, I could not bring myself to call this blog “On the Damned Human Race.” I do however, resonate with another of Clemmons stories; “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.” And viola, there you have it. “Observations From Hadleyville.”