Mascons, Reading
Okay, if that last blog turned your idea of gravity inside-out or upside-down, let me reverse the process. Look up mascons, or "Mass Concentrations (Astronomy)" or "Gravity Anomoly" or "Lunar Prospector" in Wikipedia on the internet. It turns out that gravity is not homogenous. That is, when flying low over large bodies, like the moon, we should not treat them as if they had something like a "center of gravity." There is no such thing as a "center of gravity." There are a handful of mass concentrations in the crust of the moon that shift gravity to the point of causing low-orbiting satellites to shift and, eventually, crash.
So we should, like Einstein suggested, view gravity like a sloping well, a warping of space-time. Things are just more attracted to other high-mass things, even when they are only part of something else. I suspect "The Oregon Vortex," in Gold Hill, Oregon, is one of those anomolies.
Moving on to reading. In the last few weeks, I also read the following books:
"Icons of Evolution, Science or Myth?," by Jonathan Wells. Non-fiction. Rating - A. This book is very well documented. It explains the major "evidences" which have been used in the past to "prove" the theory of Evolution (i.e. Macro-Evolution, that every living thing evolved from the same single source). And it explains how they are not valid evidence of Evolution. Yes, some of them were deliberate hoaxes, some of them are no longer considered as precursors to modern living animals, and some of them are just artists depictions of what believers in Evolution by natural selection would like to have been the case. This book does not say "natural selection" is wrong --- it is not wrong. This book does not say that evolution or biological change within groups of like kinds of animals does not happen --- change does happen. What this book documents, very carefully, is the history and lack of validity of the few arguments and evidences for Evolution with a capital "E": Evolution which crosses the boundary from one kind of animal or plant to another.
"Living Witness," by Jane Haddam. Fiction. Rating - B. This supermarket paperback murder mystery, does an excellent job of portraying the arguments, concerns and irrationality of people on both sides of the Creation/Evolution debate. The research for the book was well done. And no, the murders had nothing to do with evolution or creation.
"Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit," by Nahoko Uehashi, 1996. Translation 2008 by Cathy Hirano. Illustrations 2008 by Yuko Shimizu. Fiction. Rating - A. Written at a Young-Adult level, this book is very entertaining. It is a story about a wandering bodyguard for hire who happens to be a woman in what appears to be feudal Japan or China. It is beautifully printed and illustrated.
"The Girl Who Could Fly," by Victoria Forester. Fiction. Rating - A. Written at a young-Young-Adult level, this book is very amusing. The dialog makes you smile to read it. And everything turns out well in the end. The blurb on the front cover says: "It's the oddest/sweetest mix of 'Little House on the Prairie' and 'X-Men.' I was smiling the whole time (except for the part where I cried) ... Prepare to have your heart warmed. --- Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga." And that pretty well sums it up.
"The Battle of the Labyrinth," by Rick Riordan. Fiction. Rating - C+. Yes, I know, this is not the first book of the series, but I'm about 10 levels down the library waiting list for "The Lightning Thief." This appears to be written for adolescent boys. There is a lot of action, and it is chock-full of NPC's, or Non-Player-Characters. In the parlance of computer gaming, Non-Player-Characters are computer controlled characters who are usually only there as fodder to be slain, to provide help to the players, and/or to provide eye-candy to keep the player's interest. Because of that, I was strongly reminded of a Hardy-Boys book I read many years ago. The characters are definitely deeper than paper-dolls, but not half the depth of the main characters in the Harry Potter series. But even though I think there are too many characters, and too many unbelievably convenient escapes, I will probably go ahead and read more of the series.
Read Well,
Logan
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