Hubble and NASA aside, Galileo would have hated 2009

Long experience has taught me this about the status of mankind with regard to matters requiring thought: the less people know and understand about them, the more positively they attempt to argue concerning them, while on the other hand to know and understand a multitude of things renders men cautious in passing judgment upon anything new."

via kottke, with more Galileo and links to other kewl things rennaissance-y