The Antikythera Mechanism

Found in 1900 near Crete, the Antikythera mechanism is a 2,000 year old mechanical calculator used to calculate astronomical positions. The exact purpose of the device is unknown, but the journal Nature speculates that it could have been used to determine when Olympic Games would start.

The device is made up of at least 30 precision gears. It's technology appears equivalent with 18th century clock making. It can track the movements of the Sun, Moon, as well as Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn.

Work continues on analysis of the device which keeps surprising researchers with its complexity and sophistication for something so ancient.

You can read more about the Antikythera mechanism at Nature.

Nature has also produced a video which you can stream from here.

What kind of liberal am I?

Thanks to TUIBGuy.com.

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

Bjorn on the radio

C.L. Hanson, of Letters From A Broad blog, and author of Exmormon is visiting her family in Minnesota. I had a chance to interview her for Atheists Talk, the weekly radio show by Minnesota Atheists. Check it out if you want to know more about the book, and about Mormonism. You can download the show from here: http://mnatheists.org/content/view/154/1/

Sickeningly sweet engagement photos

Here is Bjorn and Jeannette on a rock. How cute! We met with our wedding photographer for an engagement photo session for an hour at the Rose Garden in Minneapolis. It's a familiar place, as it's where I soiled my knee proposing this hair-brained idea of marriage. So, we trotted back, and posed, and hugged, and posed and kissed. If you like her work, consider giving Melisa Peters' a call at 612-860-0304 or email. She's professional, experienced, reasonable, and looks like she does this sort of thing for fun, not for the money.
For more classy photographs, click here.

Test your surround cuteness

Thanks a lot, boingboing.

Anti-Evolution Note Left on Neighbor's Car

While Jeannette and I, the friendly neighborhood atheists, were out at the library for a Minnesota Atheists board meeting, our next door neighbors must have had a party. When we came home, there were more cars then usual parked along the side of the little rode which passes in front of everyone's garage. Some people were parked in front of a "No Parking" sign.

Later that night, our door bell rings, and our neighbor is frantic, wondering if we left a note on one of her friend's cars. The note went something like this:

"Apparently "Evolution" didn't give you the ability to read a "No Parking" sign. Not only are you out there insulting everyone's religious beliefs, but you're blocking traffic."

We'd be the last people to use evolution to insult someone. We haven't found out who the unfriendly neighbors are yet, but we have some ideas.

Engagement photos coming soon

Melisa Peters met up with Jeannette and I in the Rose Garden in Minneapolis to shoot many photos for free! (as in beer) Of course, it comes as part of the package for her to shoot our wedding as well. She was dedicated and interested in getting things right. You can tell she does this for fun. We look forward to seeing her on the 8th. It's so nice to have pictures of the two of us together, which we're usually missing, because we're taking pictures of each other.