There are at least two other packages with Python bindings that allow ephimerides calculations.
1) PyEphem http://rhodesmill.org/pyephem/ 2) Pyraphttp://www.astron.nl/casacore/trunk/pyrap/docs/ (This needs a very big casacore c++ library and thus a pain to compile, but can give second level accuracy if you use updated IERS tables). As to the ancient's (Greek/Roman) nature philosophy. We still use some of it today, especially in the fields of mathematics, mechanics and observational astronomy, but their understanding of biology and especially the human body was entirely incorrect. Western/Islamic medicine largely followed Hippocrates for nearly 2000 years (although the ideas are originally from Indian Ayurveda) and some of the methods had some merit, but overall the treatments were often worse than the disease, for example George Washinton was almost certainly killed by his doctors. Only with the application of the scientific method to medicine after the enlightenment have we started to make any real progress. The most important of which is blind trials in which a treatment needs to show to be better than a placebo. One of the most important things that modern medicine has shown is that a placebo can have a real effect and cure people. Some people do get better after you give them a sugar pill or its equivalent. As humans we're also very good at seeing correlation and causation when none might exist. Matt Parker has a very entertaining talk about this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf5OrthVRPA Cheers, Adriaan Renting P.S. I had an uncle who died of cancer 2 years ago who was a firm believer in all kinds of non-mainstream cures and tried all kinds of alternative cures from accupuncture to yoga to Gc-MAF. In the end the only results I saw were that these people got many 10.000s euros from him and he died very disillusioned and poor as these were not covered by his health insurance. I learned a lot about magazines like "What doctors don't tell you" - which use the images of people in white labcoats to sell you things that doctors don't tell you about because they are known to be ineffective or even bad for you. I understand that a lot of people have a problem with authority and/or look for alternatives if mainstream medicine can't help them. And sometimes the methods seem to work and those are the stories you hear, as the other people end up like my uncle, who's not here any more to tell his story. Don't end up like my uncle. >>> > Fully recognizing that most of what you wrote was tongue-in-cheek, I > just want to say that regardless of the wonders of modern medicine, it's > a pity they learn so little about successful medicines other than their > own. In other academic scientific disciplines such as physics and > chemistry it's not uncommon to see history of science courses in the > curriculum. But not in medicine. I learned what I know about ancient > Greek science from a university physics professor, though I doubt he > would ever have guessed that one of his students would someday breathe > new life into that ancient science by attempting to ressurrect it. The > great ancients were no less endowed with intelligence than we are, they > simply directed it to different ends. > > > Rick Johnson wrote, on Sunday, April 09, 2017 9:00 PM >> >> On Sunday, April 9, 2017 at 8:52:44 PM UTC-5, Deborah Swanson wrote: >> > PS. I've been using medical astrology to look ahead at my medical >> > condition for years in advance. And being off by a day or >> so doesn't >> > matter that much when you're looking at trends over the course of >> > years and decades. I also have a little software widget to >> look at the >> > planetary data in graphical chart form at any particular >> second, also >> > based on sweph, which has been quite astoundingly accurate in >> > following the rather complex kaleidoscope of my symptoms >> > during the course of a day. (Though it doesn't do you a bit >> > of good if you forget to look! Which is my entire >> > motivation to get it encoded and available with a few >> > clicks.) And it is quite useful to know in advance what >> > will be happening when, and most importantly when it will >> > stop. Knowledge is power! >> >> It's simply amazing what technology can do these days. And >> with medical diagnosis now just a few clicks away, someone >> really should tell those medical students to stop wasting >> time and money at university. >> >> > Caveat. This kind of precision and accuracy is only found >> > in the specific forms of astrology which relate to pure physical >> > phenomena, and most of what you see these days masquerading as >> > astrology is pure hooey, almost entirely invented on a >> large scale in >> > the Middle Ages and flowered in the Renaissance. >> >> Whadda coinicidence, as did alchemy! >> >> > By pure physical phenomena, which is the only phenomena >> > that is at least debatably influenced by physical planetary >> forces, I >> > mean things like the moon's tides, sunspots, plant and >> animal activity >> > throughout the year, and supremely, the inner workings of the human >> > body, the first wholly Western medicine devised by the >> ancient Greeks. >> > (The ancient Greek physicians are an excellent fallback if >> > modern medicine is failing you - if you can find enough >> > that remains today of their art.) >> >> Yeah, just uh, be sure to avoid te hemlock, mmmkay? ;-) >> >> -- >> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > Adriaan Renting | Email: rent...@astron.nl Software Engineer Radio Observatory ASTRON | Phone: +31 521 595 100 (797 direct) P.O. Box 2 | GSM: +31 6 24 25 17 28 NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo | FAX: +31 521 595 101 The Netherlands | Web: http://www.astron.nl/~renting/ -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
