:Reasonable Force

While initially being produced for video gaming applications, a new device that is purported to actually be able to read your brain has all kinds of other potential uses.

According to the above-linked AP article, the device, by Emotiv Systems, Inc., reads the brain’s electrical signals, allowing it to “detect emotions such as anger, excitement and tension, as well as facial expressions and cognitive actions like pushing and pulling objects.”

It will be interesting to see how accurate it is and what its response times are, but this device could conceivably be used for anything that can be interfaced through a computer.

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Courtesy of Dallas Theological Seminary

Follow these links for Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this lecture series.

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Back in April of 2005, I wrote about the need to be consistent with regard to embryonic stem cell research and in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Al Mohler recently highlighted a Times London piece reporting that over one million embryos have been destroyed in U.K. fertility clinics.

While this report is likely to spark controversy in Great Britain, the situation in the United States and many other nations is virtually the same. Human embryos are being produced, almost factory-like, and then routinely destroyed or indefinitely frozen.

This phenomenon might be described as an unintended complication of the IVF technology. Nevertheless, all involved in this technology are responsible for this vast human tragedy, intended or not.

Far too many evangelicals seem to turn a blind eye to this reality. While we celebrate the birth of a child and the gift of life, we cannot blind ourselves to the harsh and grotesque reality that this technology also means the destruction of human life.

Many evangelicals fail to see what many proponents of human embryonic stem cell research have noted — a glaring inconsistency in condemning the destruction of human embryos through stem cell research, while ignoring or dismissing the destruction of embryos in IVF clinics.

This prompts me to reprise what I feel to be the root cause of this horrifying reality (from my April ‘05 post linked above):

I suggest that the root of the problem is that, in all things, but certainly when it comes to having children, we have made our desires paramount over an older view that accepted conception as the province of God. Clearly I’m speaking primarily of believers here.

The modern Christian (or postmodern, if you will) determines when and if they will have children, and how many. Soon they will choose whether they will have a boy or a girl, if they’re not already. Soon after, they will determine in advance height, hair color, and whether they prefer athletic or musical aptitude.

If our career goals are incompatible with children we use birth control. If, when we’re ready, children are not forthcoming, we go to the fertility clinic. When we’re ready to stop having children we undergo surgery.

I’m not arguing against examinations and/or treatments to make sure all our parts are in working order, but beyond that I would suggest that we have lost the view of children as blessings bestowed upon us by God and view them, rather, as something to which we are entitled when we’re good and ready, and only in the quantities with which we’re comfortable.

This is one area in which we have adopted the world’s view of things without even blinking. When we begin to examine the extensions of our arguments against some of these more abominable practices, however, our error is brought to light.

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Boston.com reports on Romney going on the offensive at the Myrtle Beach debate tonight.

Romney, in danger of losing Michigan to McCain in next Tuesday’s vote, quickly went on the attack against the Arizona senator at a debate, noting McCain had said in Michigan on Wednesday that the people there should realize some lost jobs will never return.

“I know that there are some people who think, as Sen. McCain did, he said, you know, some jobs are leaving Michigan and they’re not coming back. I disagree. I’m going to fight for every single job, Michigan, South Carolina, every state in this country, we’re going to fight for jobs and make sure our future is bright,” said Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts whose family has deep ties to Michigan.

The word is that Romney has essentially yielded South Carolina and now targets Michigan as his best chance for a win early, so he raises the subject of the Michigan economy. But how, exactly, does the President of the United States fight for jobs in Michigan, or any other state? More to the point, what business would a President have doing so?

McCain is quick to respond in kind, however.

“There are some jobs that aren’t coming back to Michigan,” McCain said. “There are some jobs that won’t come back to South Carolina, but we’re going to take care of them. That’s our job, that’s our obligation,” McCain said. [emphasis mine]

As a conservative I shudder at the words, “we’re going to take care of them.”

No, Senator, it is most emphatically not your job to take care of people who lose their job, nor would it be should you become President. It’s even arguable whether that would be your role in your own state of Arizona, or whether economic development is the purview of the state legislature and executive.

These are supposed to be the conservative Presidential candidates!

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Caroline Glick, columnist for the Jerusalem Post, on the world reaction to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, writes:

Pakistan’s military dictator, President Pervez Musharraf will likely postpone elections for several months. And pushed by Zadawi and the media, the Bush administration will probably strongly object to his decision. Debate over whether or not Musharraf is destroying Pakistan by delaying the vote indefinitely will likely dominate international coverage of the country.

And this is a shame because the issue of elections in Pakistan is irrelevant when seen in the context of the current state that country - and it was irrelevant before Bhutto was murdered. Indeed, since she returned to Pakistan from exile in October, Bhutto herself served merely as a distraction. She focused international attention on her democratic rhetoric and away from the dangers that she was completely incompetent to handle - whether elected or not.

The Pakistan which Bhutto insisted she could save is a pro-jihadist nuclear-armed state. The Pakistani public, military and intelligence services stand in sympathy with al-Qaida and the Taliban. With the support of the public and the collusion of sectors of the military and intelligence services whose ranks they have seamlessly infiltrated, the Taliban and al-Qaida daily extend their control over more and more of the country.

US officials claim that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is secure and under the full control of the military. Yet given the Pakistani military’s sympathy for al-Qaida and the Taliban, it is irresponsible not to consider the possibility that at least some of the forces charged with securing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal have operational links to the jihadists.[emphasis mine.]

I’ve recently become a fan of Ms. Glick’s columns. Her writing is incisive and her candor makes me smile even as I grimace at the dire circumstances that she consistently calls attention to.

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Officials at Nepal’s state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday.

Okay, my headline betrays the amusement with which I originally intended to treat this Reuters story of airline personnel attempting to deal with their mechanical problems by sacrificing goats to the “Hindu sky god,” but it occurs to me that to laugh at this practice would be more appropriate for an atheist than a Christian such as myself.

After all, do I not pray before I travel? Am I not asking the God of heaven to watch over and protect me, not only on an airplane, but at all times and in all places? And it’s not as if they didn’t also fix the mechanical issue with the plane.

These officials believe, as I do, that there are unseen forces that affect the physical world we live in. They believe that these forces have their own purposes and that, by prayer or other form of appeal, we are able to interact with these forces and, if they give ear to our entreaty, to move them to stay their hand or change the course of things. And while today Christians pray in spirit and in truth, availing ourselves of the access we have been granted into the presence of the King of all Kings, in the times before Christ this same God demanded animal sacrifices for all manner of things.

So if I join with the atheist in mockery of this display of Hindu religion what am I really laughing at?

Rather than laugh at what, at first glance, seems foolish, I choose to take this opportunity to reflect on how foolish my faith appears to the world today, to be thankful that these Hindu people are able to place their faith in something they cannot see, and to pray that the God of heaven will lead them to faith in the only One who is worthy of it.

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Brett Stephens writes a Denier’s Confession at Opinion Journal, highlighting the alarmism of the self-appointed prophets of climate disaster.

I confess: I am prepared to acknowledge that the world has been and will be getting warmer thanks in some part to an increase in man-made atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. I acknowledge this in the same way I’m confident that the equatorial radius of Saturn is about 60,000 kilometers: not because I’ve measured it myself, but out of a deep reserve of faith in the methods of the scientific community, above all its reputation for transparency and open-mindedness.

But that faith is tested when leading climate scientists won’t share the data they use to estimate temperatures past and present and thus construct all-important trend lines. This was true of climatologist Michael Mann, who refused to disclose the algorithm behind his massively influential “hockey stick” graph, which purported to demonstrate a sharp uptick in global temperatures over the past century. (The accuracy of the graph was seriously discredited by Mr. McIntyre and his colleague Ross McKitrick.) This was true also of Phil Jones of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, who reportedly turned down one request for information with the remark, “Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it?”
…
I confess: Denial never solves anything. But neither does sensational and deceptive journalism.

Newsweek illustrates this point by its choice of cover art–a picture of the sun, where the surface temperature hovers around 6,000 degrees Celsius. Given that the consensus scientific estimate for average temperature increases over the next century is a comparatively modest 2.6 degrees, this would seem a rather Murdochian way of convincing readers about the gravity of the climate threat. On the inside pages is a photograph of a polar bear stranded on melting ice. But the caption that the bears are “at risk” belies clear evidence that the bear population has risen five-fold since the 1960s. Another series of photographs, of a huge Antarctic ice shelf that quickly disintegrated in 2002, suggests the imminence of doom. But why not also mention that temperatures at the South Pole have been going down for 50 years?

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Well, I’ve been getting all fired up about football season approaching and the opportunity to watch my somewhat revamped Carolina Panthers, particularly after their encouraging offensive performance against the New York Giants last week.

The first team’s performance against the Eagles tonight, however, has been dismal. At half-time it’s 24-3, Iggles.

Granted, it’s preseason. Still, whatever optimism I was feeling about the season is officially suspended until I see some more signs of life.

Bleah!

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‘We have broken speed of light’ - Telegraph

According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second.

However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.

The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled “instantaneously” between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

I’m not sure exactly what this would mean, but it sounds pretty cool to a sci-fi geek. If what they claim is true (and if I understand what I’m reading), the only thing that has actually gone faster than light to this point is… well, light.

But that’s a start!

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Presided over by Bishop Tiny Muskens, of Breda in the Netherlands, according to WorldNetDaily.

Catholic churches in the Netherlands should use the name Allah for God to ease tensions between Muslims and Christians, says a Dutch bishop.

Actually, sir, that won’t ease tensions at all because, regardless of what word is used, the god of the Muslims is not the God of the Bible. This Catholic Bishop would no doubt be right at home with the Episcopalian one who claims she is both Christian and Muslim.

You can just feel the love.

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From an email to supporters (from an Op-ed in USA TODAY):

By Jim DeMint

We do not need the Senate immigration bill to secure the border.

Congress has already passed laws authorizing border security, but the Homeland Security Department has failed to fully implement them. The administration already has the authority to build hundreds of miles of border fencing, hire and train 6,000 border patrol agents (bringing the total number of agents to 18,000), end catch and release and create a national employment verification database. Essentially, all of the security benchmarks in the current Senate bill are already law.

Unfortunately, proponents of this bill would have us believe that none of these security measures can be implemented unless we pass a bill that grants amnesty to 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants. In short, security is being held hostage in return for amnesty.

What’s worse is that backers of this bill are hoping Americans have a short memory.

In 1986, the government was trying to figure out how to deal with a porous southern border and roughly 3million illegal aliens who resided in America as a result.

It was decided that granting amnesty was acceptable as long as the border was made secure and immigration laws on the books were enforced.

Looking back, we see that amnesty was granted, but the border was never secured.

Now here we are, more than two decades later, with a new generation of Washington politicians pushing a similar proposal but expecting different results. Only this time, the illegal population has skyrocketed and unsecured borders pose a far graver national security threat in an age of terrorism.

This is a completely backward approach. Common sense demands that we put first things first. That means shelving amnesty proposals and making national security our first priority. Before we address the problem of the illegal population, we need to prove to the American people that we will keep our word.

Those who support this bill tell us we must pass it because the status quo is unacceptable. True. Millions of illegal aliens and a dysfunctional immigration system have created huge problems for our nation. But the most pervasive problem now is the 20-plus years of broken promises to secure the border and enforce our immigration laws. Americans agree this status quo must be rejected, and we must enforce our laws.

It is time for our government to do right by America. It’s past time to right the wrong of 1986. Only then will we have the credibility to address the problem of the current illegal population.

As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice …

Help keep conservative leadership in the US Senate. Click here to donate to Senator Jim DeMint’s campaign.

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FrontPage magazine.com :: The Other D-Day by Victor Davis Hanson

What can we learn, then, on this anniversary of the Normandy campaign?

By any historical measure, our forefathers committed as many strategic and tactical blunders as we have in Afghanistan and Iraq — but lost tens of thousands more Americans as a result of such errors. We worry about emboldening Iran by going into Iraq; the Normandy generation fretted about empowering a colossal Soviet Union.

Of course, World War II was an all-out fight for our very existence in a way many believe the war against terror that began on September 11, 2001, is not. Even more would doubt al Qaeda jihadists in Iraq pose the same threat to civilization as the Wehrmacht did in Europe.

Nevertheless, the Normandy campaign reminds us that war is by nature horrific, fraught with foolish error — and only won by the side that commits the least number of mistakes. Our grandfathers knew that. So they pressed on as best they could, convinced they needn’t be perfect, only good enough, to win.

The American lesson of D-Day and its aftermath was how to overcome occasional abject stupidity while never giving up in the face of an utterly savage enemy. We need to remember that now more than ever.

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Forty years after the Six Day War that resulted in Israeli control of Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, Honest Reporting provides an informative look at the events that precipitated what some erroneously view as a Jewish incursion against Palestinian land.

For starters, the land in question was controlled by Egypt and Jordan, neither of which were being called on at the time to relinquish the territory for a Palestinian state, even by the Palestinians themselves.

Second, Israel conducted its famous lightning strike on Egypt’s air force in response to a clear build-up for war on the part of its neighbors who were unequivocally dedicated to her destruction.

On May 18, the UN caved in to Egyptian demands that the UN Emergency Force withdraw from the Sinai peninsula. Days later, on May 23, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, which cut off Israel’s only southern port in Eilat from international shipping. Closing off the international waterway was an act of war.

On June 3, 100,000 Egyptians were massed in the Sinai, and another 110,000 ready for deployment. By the time Israel launched its first strikes against the Egyptian air force on June 5, some 200 Egyptian tanks were massed opposite Eilat and 60,000 Jordanian soldiers under Egyptian command were deployed along Israel’s eastern borders. Although the war is named after Israel’s lightning success, Egypt’s casus belli took place in May. [Source: Six Day War quiz]

Frankly, faced with Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weaponry, it gives me some comfort knowing that Israel is there. Unlike the United States, which could be prevented from taking appropriate action by its appeasement wing, the Jewish state simply cannot afford to allow such capability in the hands of her unhinged enemies. Hopefully, we will not make her go it alone.

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I’m pretty excited about this breakthrough by researcher Marin Soljacic at MIT. He and his team have devised a method to transmit power wirelessly that should enable homes of the near future to forgo the usual sockets and cables that have become so essential to powering the myriad of devices we depend on everyday.

From an MIT press release:

Imagine a future in which wireless power transfer is feasible: cell phones, household robots, mp3 players, laptop computers, and other portable electronics capable of charging themselves without ever being plugged in, freeing us from that final, ubiquitous power wire. Some of these devices might not even need their bulky batteries to operate. A team from MIT’s Department of Physics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) has experimentally demonstrated an important step toward accomplishing this vision of the future. The team members are Andre Kurs, Aristeidis Karalis, Robert Moffatt, Prof. Peter Fisher, and Prof. John Joannopoulos (Francis Wright Davis Chair and Director of ISN), led by Prof. Marin Soljačić. Realizing their recent theoretical prediction, they were able to light a 60W light-bulb from a power source seven feet (more than 2 meters) away; there was no physical connection between the source and the appliance. The MIT team refers to their concept as “WiTricity” (as in Wireless Electricity). The work will be reported in the June 7 issue of Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science.

Think about it… wireless power! Awesome.

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I recently used the website Congress.org to write my representatives to let them know what I think of the legislation being drafted by Sen. Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Byrd (D-WV) to revoke the authorization for the war in Iraq. I’m reprinting the response I received almost immediately from Senator Jim DeMint’s office. It’s essentially a standard position paper, but worth reading.

Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to revoking congressional authorization for war in Iraq and to creating pre conditions or artificial timetables for withdrawal . I appreciate hearing from you.

When members of Congress from both parties voted overwhelmingly to authorize action in Iraq , we made a sacred commitment to see this war through to completion. Our troops must not be forced to pay for the equivocation of politicians looking to cut and run when the going gets tough. We must continue to fully support our troops in the field and continue to fund the essential mission they are completing.

Some have referred to Iraq as another Vietnam , yet they somehow miss the most important lesson of that war: when politicians abdicate duty in order to fight a war of political expediency, there are no winners.

We must unequivocally reject the defeatist attitude articulated by DNC chairman Howard Dean t hat this war is ” unwinnable ,” and instead commit to our troops, our country , and the world that victory is the only acceptable outcome in Iraq .

We must continue to set realistic milestones, not arbitrary dates, to measure the progress that is being made. For those who would say that the tone of the current debate is a healthy exercise in democracy , let me be clear. Debate over the strategy for victory is welcome , destructive second-guessing of the mission our troops are currently engaged in , without a viable alternative, is not.

Despite the rhetoric of those who would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, measurable progress is being made: ratification of a constitution, free elections, the training of Iraqi police and military forces , and the building of domestic institutions for a society to succeed.

As freedom and democracy march on in Iraq , I am encouraged by the recent actions of Prime Minister Maliki to confront the Shia militias and Sunni insurgents.

As we recall yet another milestone - no major terrorist attack on U .S. soil since Sept. 11 - we are reminded that the war in Iraq is part of a much larger struggle. The terrorists clearly understand what many in the Democratic leadership do not seem to grasp: this war in Iraq will determine who will be on the offensive in this new century - the forces of freedom and democracy or the minions of tyranny, fear and terror.

My meetings with Iraq ’s political leadership have given me confidence they will embrace the opportunities being given to them. They will make mistakes, just as we have through the years, but they will never give in.

In all of this, we must in no way minimize the sacrifices made by our brave men and women in uniform and their families. I visited Iraq twice and saw the cost first hand. It broke my heart as I flew out of Iraq aboard a cargo plane with five flag-draped caskets - sons and daughters, parents and spouses who had paid the ultimate price. However, I also remember what one sergeant said as we ate lunch together in Baghdad . He had just lost a friend and he told me: “Don’t let my buddy’s blood be in vain. We have given too much to turn back; I’ll stay here as long as it takes.” This soldier will never give in. And I am committed to do everything in my power to support the troops and their mission in this critical push for victory.

Thank you again for expressing your support. I stand with you in support of the President and our troops. As this 110th Congress continues its work in earnest, join me in prayer for our troops who are far from home protecting our families from future terrorist attacks, and let us renew our commitment to victory.

Sincerely,

Jim DeMint
United States Senator

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The horrifying murders of thirty-three students and faculty at Virginia Tech have been followed by the chilling media blitz that has put the killer’s name and face, complete with action poses, on every newspaper and television network in America. He has achieved the kind of notoriety and attention that others are going to desire to have, and I would be very surprised if his approach isn’t emulated by some in the near future.

He aided in the coverage of his own story by providing promotional materials, essentially a press packet, to NBC, who are now obligingly making him a star. This is sickeningly reminiscent of the Robert DeNiro movie “15 Minutes,” in which the killers videotape their crimes with the hope of selling it to the media.

If you watch pro football you may have been watching a game during which a fan, most likely a drunk one, jumps from the stands onto the field and runs around, until they are either corralled by security or get knocked into next week by a player (my preference). You may be aware that this has occurred, but I dare say you’ve never actually seen it. This is because the NFL seems to have an agreement with the networks that they will not reward such attention-seekers with airtime. While such an event is taking place, the cameras will be everywhere BUT on the perpetrator. As much as we would sometimes like to see what’s happening, I think this is a wise policy.

Most of the country probably want answers about the shootings, including information about the killer. I’m sure it’s tough to know precisely where to draw the line between providing the public with relevant information and sensationalizing the lived-out fantasies of would-be killers and glory-seekers everywhere.

I think it’s pretty clear in this instance that wherever that line is, it was not only crossed, it was leaped over and left way behind.

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Diabetics cured by stem-cell treatment, trumpets the headline.

This article, in the U.K.’s Times Online, only requires a marginally attentive reader to get to the second paragraph to note the type of cells used in this treatment.

Diabetics using stem-cell therapy have been able to stop taking insulin injections for the first time, after their bodies started to produce the hormone naturally again.

In a breakthrough trial, 15 young patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes were given drugs to suppress their immune systems followed by transfusions of stem cells drawn from their own blood. [emphasis, of course, mine.]

Nevertheless, the Times later makes a claim supported nowhere in this article, but commonly touted, that the real promise lies in embryonic stem cell research if only it weren’t being stymied.

Previous studies have suggested that stem-cell therapies offer huge potential to treat a variety of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease. A study by British scientists in November also reported that stem-cell injections could repair organ damage in heart attack victims.

But research using the most versatile kind of stem cells — those acquired from human embryos — is currently opposed by powerful critics, including President Bush.

As has been noted before, all President Bush has done is prevent federal funding of embryonic stem cell research beyond the embryonic stem cell lines that had already been created. There is no ban on such research, though I certainly wouldn’t oppose it.

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I received this from Rebecca:

Please comment on the revival going on among the Messianic Jews who are being filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized in the name of Jesus according to Acts 2:38, as well as Matthew 28:19; being the NAME of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (which are titles) is Jesus. There is no other name given among men whereby we MUST be saved.

Thank you for your comments.

Well, Rebecca, to the extent that such a revival is taking place, I would praise God for His faithfulness and mercy. I haven’t fully hammered out my eschatology yet, but I am pretty firmly in the camp of those who believe that Israel is still a distinct people to whom God will fulfill His promises (and is fulfilling to some extent today). Romans 11 speaks unquestionably that the olive branches that were broken off that we might be grafted in will be themselves grafted back into the very tree from which they were cut.

I further believe that literal Jerusalem will be the seat of a literal, Earthly kingdom with Christ as its head for a literal thousand years. Even though the present political state of Israel is a secular nation, I view her as David viewed Saul (not a direct parallel, but hopefully you take my meaning). Though presently in disobedience, God’s warning to bless rather than curse His people is still to be heeded. Israel is the anointed of God. I am saved today because God saw fit to harden her heart that Christ’s Gospel might be taken to the Gentiles.

Therefore it is a tremendous cause for joy when one of Abraham’s physical children becomes his spiritual child as well.

I hope I’ve addressed your topic satisfactorily. God bless.

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NGC 1672, visible from the Southern Hemisphere, is seen almost face on and shows regions of intense star formation. The greatest concentrations of star formation are found in the so-called starburst regions near the ends of the galaxy’s strong galactic bar. NGC 1672 is a prototypical barred spiral galaxy and differs from normal spiral galaxies in that the spiral arms do not twist all the way into the centre. Instead, they are attached to the two ends of a straight bar of stars enclosing the nucleus.

I love this stuff.

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