This is the frist post of StarGlider29a, nicknamed GlidingStars. It will be the vehicle by which I publish findings on all things Astronomicalogical; a phrase which mingles the modern science and the ancient art of observing the sky, which was used for signs, for seasons, for times, and for edification and enlightenment.

I will provide as many sources as I can. Check them. Most images will be created using commonly found software, including OpenSource warez such as Celestia, Stellarium, commercial warez such as Starry Night, web-based visualizers, and a little software ditty I wrote by myself for myself. Not as accurate as the others, but well-suited to big picture and esoteric controls of time and periodicity.

In closing, I am an Aerospace Engineer, an author, a Christian (Shi'ite Baptist if you must know), and am looking for the slender crescent where science and ancient art intertwine. There is little of it, but what there is can be critical to our understanding of both. If you are wondering what I mean, consider this... two of my daily surfs include Physorg.com AND  grahamhancock.com. On one side of the spectrum, I've read Feynman, Hawking, Kip Thorne, Harm Buning, conversed face-to-face with 5 astronauts, but have also studied the astrological data of the Bible, dabbled in the spiritual journeys of Matthew Pallamary, and have a habit of checking the spiritual facts/doing the spiritual math where I can, approximating where I cannot.

I have hypotheses which are beyond my means to test, but maybe someone can. I have theories that lack data, but maybe we can find more. I have many, many suspicions, and a precious few "beliefs." My best friends range from true believers to wizened skeptics. I've heard it all. I'm somewhere in between.

There are many wonderful things to see, if you know at what you are looking. Carl Sagan was half right, John the Revelator may have been the other half. Let's see where this takes us. In short, what I plan to show you will teeter on the edges of sanity, fantasy, fact-asy, Divine Order, sublime coincidence, thresholds of probability, and raw chaos. I expect almost NO ONE of you to agree with me. I certainly expect NO TWO of you to agree with each other. But let's see what we see. See what we can discover... about the Universe, the Heavens, and ourselves. I use Occam's Razor until it can't cut any further. After that, we are on our own.

PS: Since you are too polite to ask, and since I don't believe a word of it, I'll tell you... I was born just minutes into Cancer, on a solstice, a Wiccan holiday... I'm told I'm a Moon Child, a Cusp. Those who know me would agree. I just offer the cusp of Twins and Cancer as an excuse for having 3 of me inside this shell. If they can agree, then maybe we can, too.

Peace, love, and understanding*,





StarGlider29a

*What's so funny?