Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Out There...

122 AU's from Earth (that's 11 billion, 346 million miles) and traveling at 38,120 mph, or 635 miles per minute, Voyager 1 is the farthest man-made object from Earth. It's also on the verge of leaving our solar system and flying through interstellar space.

Think about it. Think about getting in your car and driving a mile and then imagine being able to travel 635 miles in a minute! No turns, no lights, no stop signs. Just open space. Then try and imagine just how far 11 billion miles is! Then realize that even at that distance our sun still has some influence!

Even though Voyager 1 isn't heading toward any particular star, at its current speed, it would take Voyager 1 73,775 years to reach Proxima Centauri, the closest star next to our sun. That's over 700 centuries!

There are two reasons I bring this up; 1) It gives you an idea how BIG our Universe really is (Hell, it gives you an idea of how big our Galaxy is!) and 2) It certainly explains why we haven't been visited by any ET's and probably never will be (barring any miracles from unknown super-advanced cultures). I've been pondering alien civilizations on other planets and, while certainly feasible, they probably aren't any more advanced than we are.

Bear with me here.

The Earth is 4.5 billion years old and this is how advanced we are now (if you want to call this "advanced"). Since the life of our star (the sun) is only about 10 billion years, it would have to take a planet that's at least 5 to 7 billion years old and for their advanced thinking culture to have been around for at least a billion years longer than we have to even have a shot at interstellar travel. It's possible BUT, due to the size of the Galaxy as mentioned above, it could still take millions of years, if not tens of millions, for any alien race to find us, contact us and reach us.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

I'm sure that I created quite a stir in my last post by stating that I don't believe in God. I just have to share this video, that's below, which explains the Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism. There are 15 parts or so and, I believe, all are on youtube. The guy did a great job putting the ten minute episodes together and made it entertaining but, man, does he talk fast. Listen close and pay attention.



I had to laugh when I saw that Victoria's Secret removed its Asian-inspired lingerie from its website because bloggers deemed it racist (bloggers, really?)! Picture below.
Apparently, this little outfit comes with a fan and chopsticks and certain bloggers got all up in arms that it depicts Asian women as sex-starved things that are just there for the enjoyment of males.

I don't think that's what it depicts. It's lingerie! Women wear it to turn their man on! Right? Am I missing something here? Of course, all bloggers that were complaining were, you guessed it, females. Nuff said!

For the record, the movies Lincoln and Wreck-It Ralph look real good.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

It's been a while....

    I noticed the other day that it's been almost two years since my last blog post. It went quick. A lot of stuff has happened in the two years since my last post about Wikileaks.
   
    Maybe you were beginning to think I was abducted by some shadowy covert operation, who tortured me for information for several months before I escaped and skirted death several times before outwitting my opponents and exposing them for the villains they really are!

    No, not even close.

    Chalk it up to a little laziness, a little bit of life and a little bit of Writing work that took up a bunch of time and then collapsed faster then a dying star (how fast do stars collapse into black holes? Info for another post!).

    I've decided to start writing more prose work and publish it as e-books through Amazon (Thanks, Tom!). If I can sell a short story through normal channels every now and then, so much the better. I'll keep everyone posted.

    Add to that my normal work schedule, trying to get to the gym three times a week and doing stuff around the house, I'm going to need to be organized about this. Right now, I'm looking at one post per week here so check back every week or so.

    I ran across this article last night. The Star Trek-like warp drive is more likely than scientists ever thought and that's good news. Our sun won't last forever. We need to be a space-faring race in order to survive and, who knows, maybe by being a space-faring race we'll actually realize what Star Trek has been trying to tell us for 40+ years; that human beings, regardless of race, can work together for the common good of all.

    Another interesting article I came across is this one. A scrap of ancient papyrus that mentions Jesus' wife. That's right, wife. I don't see what the big deal is. It makes sense that Jesus would have a wife. He was a human being with the same urges and needs that all human beings have. No, I don't believe that he was the literal Son of God. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure that "God" exists.

    Which brings me to another article I came across! A lot of good stuff happening on the Science front!

    I'm sure many people who read this post will be up-in-arms about my non-belief in God. In my mind, it just doesn't make sense. Yes, I still catch myself saying things like, "God bless" or "God only knows" but I chalk that up to my Catholic upbringing. Does my personal belief that "God" doesn't exist make me an evil person? Of course not. I'm still me. A nice guy with a wacky sense of humor with an affinity for comic books, British humor and cartoons.

    Talk to you soon.