Tea at Trianon: Everything About Stargazing

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Everything About Stargazing

From Thrillist:

The stars are aligning, so to speak. Spring is the optimal time to get back outside and look up at the stars on the regular. On top of that, most of our favorite activities have been taken away by social distancing and widespread stay-at-home orders. You might as well give stargazing a go since all the bars are closed. Stargazing is a bit of a weird hobby to pick up in many ways. At once, it can seem like the barrier to entry is nothing at all and way too much to handle. All you have to do is step outside and tilt your head back. Now, you’re stargazing. But, also, what the hell are you looking at? How could you ever learn enough to get a grasp on what's going on up there? We asked Suresh Sreenivasan, who leads the beginner’s program at the Minnesota Astronomical Society (MAS), what you should know to start enjoying the cosmos from your backyard. (Read more.)