A few days ago I posted about how fallic the space program must be. Well, because of their small penis syndrome, they've launched countless things into orbit. Because of this we have seen some beautiful sights. Since it's the week of thanksgiving, maybe this will give you a little more reason to be thankful.
Some reasons to just contemplate how small we are in this universe. And how many sights we can now see because of science. Because of the sacrifices of a few.. and the brave. From the Pilgrims coming to America and sharing a meal before they took the land to the astronauts that lost their lives transcending to the greater beyond and pushing the space program.
Take a look at these and just wonder how much there is left to explore. How much beauty there can be out there in the universe that people only 50 years ago could not even see. We are indeed the luckiest of them. As I'm sure the next generation after ours and the one after them will also be equally as lucky to see sights we could barely even pretend to imagine how beautiful they will be.
When you're thinking of all the things you have to be thankful for, you should include the very simple one of life itself. From the view point of these pictures and the lack of known life we have discovered, it's even a wonder that we got off the ground as a species.
Will we be the only ones? Doubtful. I'm pretty sure out there in the cosmos of space there is life that we don't know of. Is it intelligent? Who knows. It's just something that we shouldn't take for granted.
And while it is the season to let past transgressions go, you should really consider how little or insignificant that fight is you had with your family. Or how petty the fight with your friend was that had you not speaking.
You should really just sit back and enjoy all that you have. There's far too many who have far too little in this world. And while we are very little, we are the only ones who can help each other.
Just looking at these pictures and realizing how small we are. We should just be thankful for the view point of actually feeling so tall and proud of ourselves. Simply put, you should be thankful and leave it at that.
On Sept. 10, 2009, NASA and industry engineers lit up the Utah sky with the initial full-scale, full-duration test firing of the first stage motor for the Ares I rocket. The 154-foot solid rocket motor produced heat two-thirds the temperature of the sun and its 12-foot-diameter cylinder delivered 3.6 million pounds of thrust.
Pardon this nerds fascination with space. I did live on the space coast of Florida for a good yar and some change. Whenever there was a space shuttle launch, I could hear it. I could see it, I could smell it.
There really was nothing like seeing a rocket ignite and fly into space. Going to Kennedy Space Center and seeing the distance that these things ranged from in terms of size was amazing.
NASA's Ares 1-X rocket lifts off from launch pad 39-b at the Kennedy Space Center October 28, 2009 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
These were something that you had to witness with your own eyes. The power... In Florida it is legal to buy fireworks. They have shops all over the place. I suppose the mentality is that you're not going to light much on fire anyway, so go ahead and start as many explosive things up as you want. But those would be peanuts to the actual shuttle launches. Check out this aerial pic of the shuttle Atlantis taking off on STS-115
Look at that thing go. Just zooming out of here like a bat out of hell. Pretty god damn amazing, really. Maybe it's just cause I dig science. Maybe it's cause I'm a nerd. But these shots are utterly amazing. When you get up close to these things or if you see it just taking off, you'll be surprised that man was ever able to just get the determination to tell gravity to fuck off and fly away.
On November 17th, Earth passes through the center of a meteor cloud numbered 1466 to produce the meteor shower known as the Leonids. This occurs every year, but this year in particular I've heard that it's supposed to be one of the better ones, with up to 500 meteor sitings per hour at the peak.
They claimed that the peak is specifically at 21:4 UT, which is unfortunate for those of us in North America, but we weren't completely left out. Around 1am we got that peak in Southern California and Monday Night/Tuesday Morning was the best time to witness these streaks of lights across our skies.
I was out there last night freezing my butt off and lost count on how many shooting stars saw. Many of which left huge streaks across the night sky for seconds after they flew by. It was really amazing and it was nice to get away from the light pollution that the city produces. But for shame, I had to miss the Big Bang Theory in order to be out there watching the night sky. My enjoyment of nerd circle jerking shows is not more powerful than my love at looking at the night sky and realizing how small and insignificant we all really are.
The neat thing about the Leonids is that there's actually two cycles going on...there's the yearly one, which is already pretty impressive, and then there's the 33-year cycle. The last time the 33-year shower took place was around the millennium. You think 500 meteors per hour is impressive? try forty thousand. Alas, we have another 20 years or so until the next one.
For North America, basically, anytime tonight between 1:00AM EST and sunrise you stand a good chance of seeing it. The rate is going to be on an average of one meteor every two to three minutes or twenty to thirty per hour; they'll be fairly bright.
We're only glancing the tail end of the cloud this year, but it should be brighter/ more frequent than in past years, though it's not as major a meteor shower event as, say, hundreds falling per minute, which happens about once a century from the Leonid Meteor Shower event.
And since They Might Be Giants was in town the last few days, let's let them fill you in on what a shooting star is actually...
A shooting star is not a star Is not a star at all A shooting star's a meteor That's heading for a fall
A shooting star is not a star Why does it shine so bright? The friction as it falls through air Produces heat and light
A shooting star or meteor Whichever name you like The minute it comes down to Earth It's called a meteorite
Meteor showers generally last for more than one night. Even if you can't see them at peak where you are, you'll be able to see some if you go out and keep your eyes open. Don't worry so much, if you didn't go outside last night, you should be able to go outside tonight as well and catch some really remarkable shooting stars fly across our universe.
Anyway, good luck to all, don't expect fireworks, and do consider trying again for the Geminids on the night of the 13th and 14th (Sunday/Monday) of December.
Today is Carl Sagan's birthday. Though he isn't alive anymore, it would have been his 75th. Over the weekend was Carl Sagan day. A day when we should celebrate science in all its forms. Even though he wont be celebrating his own birthday on this day, we should all be celebrating what he brought to you, more than likely when you were a young lad. This significant man showed us how insignificant we reall ya re in the universe.
Carl Sagan was a planetary astronomer and author who wrote to popularize science. But he went far beyond just telling us what’s going on in science in layman’s terms; he set out to connect the entire human existence, from our ancestral roots to our future expansion into space, to the entire universe as it is, to our understanding of it (in its various steps) and how it shaped our lives, to our relations with our world and each other.
A common theme in his writing is the vastness of the space, and the smallness, isolation, and fragility of our planet. Especially in light of his life during the Cold War, he wrote of the fragility of life and our chances of advancing as a civilization past the danger of blowing ourselves up. He wondered if every advanced civilization has to pass that “test” at one point or another.
That brings me to the next theme, his views on alien life. He was a proponent and pioneer of SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. Taking that it’s a statistical near-certainty that alien civilizations must exist, and the tremendous leap that humanity would make if/when it contacts one, he was driven to explore that possibility. His wonder, however, was tempered by a heavy skepticism of UFO accounts and lack of observed evidence of any other beings. When he died in 1996, we were just discovering the first planets outside our solar system. Now, there are about 400 of them confirmed. I only wish he were alive to see these discoveries!
According to him, our first contact with aliens would be the next of the Great Demotions he wrote about in Pale Blue Dot, a series of realizations of our cosmic insignificance in the face of new discoveries. That insignificance, that aloneness, is the basis of his call for love to one another since we're all we have on our island in the vast void.
He was behind the design of the plaques on the space probes Pioneer 10 and 11, and phonograph records on Voyager 1 and 2, which are now moving away from the Solar system and may serve as a galactic message in a bottle to be found by aliens.
Fun Fact: Sagan and NASA ran into a lot of flack in the late 60's and 70's about the gold plaques on pioneer 10-11 and Voyager 1-2. The former showed naked humans on it, which thousands of people complained to their congressmen over, due to NASA using public funding for sending obscenities to space. There was also feminists that wanted the woman to sport a more detailed vagina.
Also, one of the plaques showed Earth's solar system in relation to neighboring star systems. To give a general guide to where we are. A lot of the general public complained to congress that NASA shouldn't be showing our location to potentially invading aliens to find.. Good to see that we have evolved as a culture in the last few decades to the point that.. oh wait no, we haven't. People still complain and most likely sensationalist media will pick it up and make it a huge story.
His most famous work is the TV series Cosmos, in 13 one-hour parts. It’s on Hulu and Netflix streaming. In each episode he goes over a different aspect of the universe, how we came to learn about it, how it has effected us, and what it means for our civilization. It's a really poetic work, filled with an amazing feeling of wonder and awe.
If Cosmos was about our history, the book Pale Blue Dot is largely seen as its sequel, and deals with our place and future in space. It can be best summarized by this video.
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is about rational scientific thinking as our "cure" to our history of superstition, pseudoscience, and belief in the supernatural. It stresses skeptical thinking and education as a defense against getting bamboozled into injustice. The other main theme is the right mix of wonder and skepticism needed to advance science, but keep it honest.
His last book, billions and billions, written while he was dying of cancer, is much more about Sagan's personal opinions and reflections on life in general. It's a good read if you want to learn more about his general view and outlook that he hints at through all his books and articles.
I’m sure most of you that have read the above books would agree with me that they are beautiful works of profound wisdom and insight, and I dare say, should be required reading for anybody who would consider themselves a complete person.
The biggest blow from his death is that I feel no one has taken up the reigns of his roll after he is gone. Richard Dawkins sort of does but he doesn't have the temperance or compassion of Sagan. I guess there's Bill Nye, but he's more of a child educator than an intellectual. I just hope someone can fill that void soon and get a respectable voice for rationality back in the public sphere.
If you have the time, the 13 one hour series "Cosmos" is really breathtaking and mind expanding to watch. If you have Netflix Istant, "Cosmos" is on there. So if you're connected via Xbox or your digital cable provider, you have no excuse. If you don't have those options, "Cosmos" is also available on the internet for free on Hulu.
Viewing that series, you have to really be sad for one simple reason. In all this time, nobody can really fulfill Sagan's role as science popularizer. COSMOS really was a breakthrough for amny children to the wonder of science and natural history. I like Dawkins and I feel he has that certain "wonder" aspect to him but he unfortunately rubs many the wrong way. While I agree with him on religious view points, at least Sagan didn't push that agenda all that much.
Then again, Sagan rubbed many of his colleagues the wrong way. Many felt he was lauded for what was sub-standard work in his field. What many of them did no realize is that Sagan made science accessible to everybody not just fellow scientist. I think that's why our generation loves him so much.
It is historically known that Sagan smoked a lot of weed. But this shouldn't be any reason why you should discredit him by any means. If anything, you should also watch COSMOS high. You'll get a different experience from it. Then again, weed is too small for watching cosmos. You need mushrooms or something bigger. This is based on scientific research just as Mr. Sagan would have wanted it.
Before you consider him just some pot head, remember that up until about 100 years ago 90% of humanity thought that disease was caused by evil spirits. Sagan was able to transcend the idea that space is something us normal people can understand and grasp. For that reason alone, Carl Sagan is about as close as one person can come to completely justifying the existence of the human species. Even if he couldn't cut a pie for shit.
If you were lucky enough to catch the movie The Day After there was a debate afterwards in which Carl Sagan was a part, along with Robert McNamara, Henry Kissinger, William Buckley Jr, and a few others. Worth watching for any Sagan fan and any person who wants to see his passion on the topic of Nuclear Weapons. Part 2 is below, which looks like it is the real start of the debate.
It really is tragic that he died of cancer. I wonder what he would say to the latest achievements we have reached in space exploration. The vast wonders of space travel and the launching of the rovers that are now exploring the planets that he talked about in his Cosmos series.
Today would be a good day to start your exploration into the universe. Not only will be a great way to learn about everything around you, but it'll also teach you a lot about us as people and how we can better treat each other, the planet and the universe around us. With that I leave you again with this one clip.. which should be the only clip you ever need about Carl Sagan.
You know the drill, I toss together a bunch of words for a silly picture. You laugh and get some insight on something insignificant and then carry on with your day while I add another padding to my blog count. Woooo hooo, One a day!
In any event, here's today. Journey into Space fun!
Oh the innocence of space back in the early days of space exploration. I guess the idea is sound, build a space elevator. Why not. I mean, it's not like there isn't a lot of things to do in space, right? Usually when you build a bridge or an easier method to get somewhere, you'd have something to actually do on the other side. Not in this case, no sir! You get up there and then what? You have no air, you're going to get hit by an asteroid and you'll more than likely face space invaders.
What's funny about this picture is that it's in Williamsburg, Virginia. I mean, I've visited there and there was nothing there. In fact, it had to deal with more coal mines than anything else. So I guess it's only fitting that a place booked up with poor economy and a bunch of elevators that go deep into the ground would be all for an elevator that goes to space.
But then you have to remember that it would not be good to build a space elevator that far up on the map. Don't you have to build an elevator into space at the equator? And who wants that? It's only the shitty countries that are on the equator and you'd soon be mugged before you ever get on the thing and press the top floor.
I'm not much of an elevator person either. Can we just make it a space escalator? That way I can stand but not have to move. I don't think I'd be up for walking up the stairs and in the event that the elevator breaks down, at least you can walk up the escalator steps like they were stairs to get back down.
It's Easter, hope you hid the fuck'n eggs cause I hear the Big J-man is coming back today and he does not like eggs. Don't you know that's how they came up with this whole hiding the egg stuff. Jesus just hated them. Something about eggs smelling in the desert. They're just no good. Not even making them into some sort of egg salad would help. Have you ever tried to have mayo in that heat? The stuff turns nasty.
Enough about Easter. It's dead to me. After a couple of years where my birthday landed on this festive day of hiding the eggs and mixing my birthday gifts with rabbits and shit like that, I'm done with this spring thang'.
Though at least when my birthday landed on Easter I was sure that then, and only then people wouldn't forget my birthday. Any reader of this upstanding blog would pay notice that this past week held my birthday. It has become clear that my family doesn't read my blog. I suppose that's both a good and bad thing. Good in the sense that they don't hear me shit talk them every so often. Bad in that THEY CAN'T REMEMBER MY GOD DAMN BIRTHDAY!
Not a single phone call, not one. Neither of my sisters, one of which I actually ran across on the day of, said a god damn thing. So my siblings don't know I exist and one doesn't know I know they exist. Interesting. I came to realize that my grandparents calendar was still set to March. So perhaps I should give them a pass on being a bit annoyed that they couldn't remember it. Then I'm reminded on how much I was passed over by them and that pass gets revoked.
I can tell you one thing for sure, besides a lack of phone call of well wishes it also leads to a lack of gifts in the present pile. You recall that old saying about if you want something done right, do it yourself. I've come to realize it all too well.
Some folks would think that it's silly to buy yourself a gift. Even sillier to wrap it. Well, I did just that. One of my favorite gifts I gave to myself was a knife. The Global G-2 Japanese knife. When you absolutely have to slice something right, this is the bad boy to get.
It's a thing of beauty. If it weren't a knife I would be tempted to make sweet, sweet love to it. But then I'd have a ton of slashes on myself so I'll pass on that. Perhaps there's a metaphor in there. Something about trimming the fat from my life. If you don't want to be apart of it, that's fine with me. I'm not expecting a big party or anything. A simple "Hey, Happy Birthday" would have been awesome.
But even that is tough for some so I guess it's time to cut some dead weight loose. Speaking of knives and cutting, I'll transition to something completely differnet and completely similar. A Space Ghost episode. One in which Thom York of Radiohead and Bjork of the Sugarcubes show up in.
Since it's Easter and I'm done writing and I want to actually enjoy this day, I'll leave you with this master piece of a Space Ghost episode.
Take a minute to press play and the continue reading.
It looks like the Phoenix is not going to be arising from the ashes of Mars. NASA officials declared an end to the six month mission at Mars' North Pole. In much the same way that the Phoenix sent its last message, let's take a moment of silence to honor the robot.
Tell my cousin Johnny5, that I lived a good life.
Phoenix sent its last message Nov. 2, before a lack of power caused it to go to sleep, permanently, it now appears.
The craft survived nearly three months longer than its expected 90-day mission but was finally done in by plunging temperatures with the approach of the Martian winter and the effects of an arctic dust storm that coated the lander's solar panels.
"We are ceasing operations and declaring an end to the mission," Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein said Monday.
Other spacecraft orbiting Mars will continue to listen for messages for the next few weeks, Goldstein said, but he held out little hope that Phoenix would be heard from again.
Pronouncing the $475 million mission a success, Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said the end should be an occasion for celebration rather than disappointment.
I lived on the Space Coast for a short time and I loved the space program and being around it. Sure it cost a lot of money. On the flip side it does provide us some amazing technology in the form of pens that can write upside down and a new perspective on how we view ourselves. Not to mention satalites. How many uses do we have for them now? It seems I can't even watch tv without using something resulted from space travel. But for the most part, you people don't care about any of that. Space, to you, is a boring place.
Perhaps if the rover was like the lovable Wall-E character from Pixar's film maybe you would give more of a damn about space exploration. Hell, it's close to having a personality since it's always on Twitter. In either case, here's what this tool of science would say if he had a final word to say
If you are reading this, then my mission is probably over.
This final entry is one that I asked be posted after my mission team announces they’ve lost contact with me. Today is that day and I must say good-bye, but I do it in triumph and not in grief.
As I’ve said before, there’s no other place I’d rather be than here. My mission lasted five months instead of three, and I’m content knowing that I worked hard and accomplished great things during that time. My work here is done, but I leave behind a legacy of images and data.
In that sense, you haven’t heard the end of me. Scientists will be releasing findings based on my data for months, possibly years, to come and today’s children will read of my discoveries in their textbooks. Engineers will use my experience during landing and surface operations to aid in designing future robotic missions.
But for now, it’s time for me to hunker down and brave what will be a long and cold autumn and winter. Temperatures should reach -199F (-128C) and a polar cap of carbon dioxide ice will envelop me in an icy tomb.
Seasons on Mars last about twice as long as seasons on Earth, so if you’re wondering when the next Martian spring in the northern hemisphere begins, it’s one Earth-year away—October 27, 2009. The next Martian summer solstice, when maximum sunlight would hit my solar arrays, falls on May 13, 2010.
That’s a long time away. And it’s one of the reasons there isn’t much hope that I’ll ever contact home again.
For my mission teams on Earth, I bid a special farewell and thank you. For the thousands of you who joined me on this journey with your correspondence, I will miss you dearly. I hope you’ll look to my kindred robotic explorers as they seek to further humankind’s quest to learn and understand our place in the universe. The rovers, Spirit and Opportunity (@MarsRovers), are still operating in their sun belt locations closer to the Martian equator; Cassini (@CassiniSaturn) is sailing around Saturn and its rings; and the Mars Science Laboratory (@MarsScienceLab)—the biggest rover ever built for launch to another planet—is being carefully pieced together for launch next year.
My mission team has promised to update my Twitter feed as more of my science discoveries are announced. If I’m lucky, perhaps one of the orbiters will snap a photo of me when spring comes around.
So long Earth. I’ll be here to greet the next explorers to arrive, be they robot or human.
And when that tragic news sets in and you rest easy thinking that we at least have the Spirit Rover.. think again. It's also looking like it's about to die. Perhaps we're missing what is really happening to all these rovers on Mars.
Once was a writer, tho, you see words to your left, so I guess I'm still that to some degree.
You can find my scribbles and mind ranting on this and various other places as a means to keep the creative, satirical and costco talk muscles worked out.
Was once apart of the tv industry, but I'm sure the NDA's are still in effect so let's move on from that. Now I spend my time slinging beer and keeping a building in one piece.
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