Falcon Heavy

The Falcon Heavy rocket is slated to lift off on February 6th, 2018 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launchpad 39A. This is the same pad that Apollo and Space Shuttle both used. To top it off, literally, Elon Musk has placed his own Tesla Roadster atop the powerful rocket. If successful it will be the most powerful liquid fueled rocket in the world. The only other rocket to hold that title has been retired since the 70s.

It will be a sight to see as two boosters come roaring back to land at LZ1 and LZ2, followed by not two but four sonic booms. The center stage will land out at sea. The Tesla Roadster? It will continue on to Mars. Yep. Mars. Here’s hoping it doesn’t blow up but if it does, they will learn from it. The only good thing is that rapid deconstructions (explosions) are spectacular when it comes to rockets. A show and lessons learned, either way.

Atlanta Skyline from 35 Miles

A while back, I was turning onto a local highway at a rather busy intersection and I noticed something far off in the distance. It was a glint of light just above the horizon. It wasn’t a plane or an celestial object. It wasn’t something I’d noticed in all these years living in this area. I wondered what was north of us and would possibly cause this phenomenon.

Nah. It couldn’t be.

It has to be.

It is.

I was seeing the skyline of Atlanta from about 35 miles distant. Now this isn’t special so much as it’s the only spot in my hometown where this is possible at street level. I mean it’s a patch of road maybe 1/8th of a mile. You have to be in the right place at the right time. Conditions also need to be right. Atmospheric refraction plays a part too. I’ve noticed that some days it seems higher up and some days it’s hardly noticeable at all. So that’s interesting in itself.

I took it upon myself to try and confirm this hypothesis. I’ve tried multiple times to get a photo and all to no avail. Finally, I took a picture that, at first glance, seemed to have been another failure.

I took it and looked again on my computer really, really hard and though I saw something ever so faint. I went into “Enhance!” mode and managed to pull this out:

Yep! There it is. The tops of a couple of buildings in downtown ATL. Cool eh? Yeah, on a super clear day then the images would have been … better. What’s impressive is that anything came out of that at all. Here’s another look with a Google Earth overlay and the approximate same angle I’d see it from.

So, next time I hope I can get a clearer view but I’m just glad that I wasn’t seeing things.

Tribute to Apollo IV

The year was 1967. Earlier that year a fire had killed three astronauts. There was a degree of uncertainty perhaps and a degree of even more fierce determination. On November 9, 1967, NASA and the American people would get a win.

The Saturn V would fly for the first time. Even when it was all assembled and everything was checked and double checked, no one was still 100% sure what was going to happen when then engines ignited and the clock hit 0:00.

I’ve read accounts of people being in absolute shock and amazement from the power of this rocket. It dwarfed everything before and after it. No loss of crew or payload ever came at the hands of this machine. It was and still is the mightiest rocket to have ever been put into service. This is just a little tribute I put together.

The song is on my SoundCloud page and may beprone to changes because I honestly still want to tweak a couple of things with the audio. Getting all the voices to come through the pounding audio was hard enough. Thank goodness for modern day music editing!

NOTE: Some of the video clips are from Apollo 8. Not a whole lot of high quality footage from this first flight exists that I could find.

Put a candle out with “air”

What you will need:
Baking soda
White vinegar
Measuring cups
One or more candles
Lighter or matches
Stable flat surface
Tall pitcher or large glass
* Adult supervision

The Set Up

First, prepare the baking soda and vinegar. Measure out about 1/4 cup of baking soda and around 1/2 cup of vinegar (if you’re container is smaller use smaller amount to avoid a mess). Once you’ve done that, set them aside and you can light the candle.

Next, mix the baking soda and vinegar. Pour the baking soda in first and then slowly add the vinegar. This will help keep it from bubbling over. Once the reaction has settled down you’re ready to put the candle out.

The Experiment

Take the container and make a pouring motion directly above the flame as if you were pouring liquid onto it.

Note: Do not pour the liquid onto the flame.
It might take a little practice with your aim but the flame should go out. You’ll know when you’re close as it will usually flicker before going out. If it doesn’t then you can mix more baking soda and vinegar and try again. If you had trouble getting the flame to go out, the next section might help.

What’s Happening?

The active ingredient in vinegar is acetic acid (5% usually). It’s this acid that reacts with the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). The reaction, as you can see, can be pretty vigorous. The byproducts of the reaction are sodium acetate, water and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the one we’re interested in because it is what puts the fire out.
Carbon dioxide is heavier than the surrounding air and this allows us to trap it in a tall container and pour it onto the flame as if pouring a liquid. The carbon dioxide gas deprives the candle of oxygen and extinguishes the flame.

Beaker Freaks Out! — I promise this won’t happen!

Extra Credit

Try putting out multiple candles at once. Can you think of another way to cut off the oxygen supply to the candle using the materials on hand? Remember to ask your parents for help!

All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind. – Martin H. Fischer

* Remember, safety first! Children should have adult supervision when doing this.

He’s a nifty video showing it in action

Spot The Station

I was recently asked by a local magazine The Kitchen Draw to write an article about science and/or space. I wrote two articles and the space one won out. It’s about how to spot the International Space Station. I couldn’t find it on the site as it was print only but I figured I’d post what I wrote here because why not eh? So, without further ado.

Did you know that you can see the International Space Station with the unaided eye? In fact you might have seen it and not even realized it. Let’s start off with what we’re looking at in the first place.

What is the International Space Station?

The ISS is the largest man made structure ever built in space. If you were to lay it on a football field it would extend beyond the boundary lines. It measures some 350ft long and weighs in at over 100 tons. There are currently 6 crew on board but when shuttle was flying, there were as many as 13 on board. Construction on the station was completed in 2011 as the space shuttle went into retirement and it took 12 years to complete.
The purpose of the space station is multifaceted in that we want to know how to build things in space, live in space and conduct science in space. The effects of micro-gravity on the human body aren’t entirely understood and zero-g experiments on Earth are nearly impossible to conduct.

ISS

Ok, so, where is it?

It’s in space! OK, more specifically it’s in low earth orbit at an altitude of around 350km (220mi). The average speed of station is around 28000kmh (17,500mph). If that sounds fast, that’s because it is fast. Any slower and it would fall right back to Earth!
The first thing you need to know is when to look. Here’s a site I use which allows you to set up email notifications: spotthestation.nasa.gov.

The trick with looking for the ISS is that you can only see it with the naked eye in the morning or in the evening. The reason is that during the height of the day it’s just too bright to see the station. In the middle of the night the station will be in Earth’s shadow. Morning and evening is when you’re catching it in between these two extremes.

Now that you know when too look, you need to know where. Personally, I prefer evening viewing as I’m just not a morning person. The site will give you the option for either or both times of day. When you get a notification it might look confusing but it’s really quite easy once you get the hang of it. The diagram on this page will help to get you oriented but at the very least so long as you which direction to look (i.e. Northwest at 6:52pm) then you’re in pretty good shape.

So what are you looking for anyway?

It will initially appear as a slow moving dot and might even look like a plane. This is why you might have seen it and not realized what it was. The thing is, you won’t hear any sound and you won’t see any blinking lights.

What’s in it for me?

As much as I’d like to say it’ll be this massive object with solar panels bulging out and astronauts hanging off of it; it isn’t.

Wait, there is more! Despite it not appearing as more than a bright, fast moving dot, you have to remind yourself there are people inside that dot. They’re passing nearly directly over your head at many times the speed of a bullet. They’re studying everything from material science to medicine to planetary science.

To me that’s awesome enough but there’s one more thing station will do if viewed in the evening; it will pass into Earth’s shadow. It’s quite a sight to see as the white dot slowly takes on a yellow tint, then orange, and finally a deep red before being eclipsed by our home planet.

The take away, for me, is a deeper understanding of our place in the Universe. The ISS is a sort of beacon of humanity and what we can accomplish when we work together. As it is now, the International Space Station is our single outpost in space and will be for some time. Why not take a few minutes of a warm summer evening and gaze upward? It’s a subtle event but it’s worth your time. I’ll never forget the first time I said “Wow… There it is!”

Keep this in mind; This is what you’re seeing

Please watch this video. Set screen to full. Set to the highest resolution your internet can handle and turn it up. You won’t regret it.

Science. The Real Why… For Me

I love science but I am not a scientist. I’m not one of those cliché guys/gals that just says they like science because nerds and geeks are the “in” thing. I was well into it before that. I will say that I do like that movement and hope it lasts. The reason, for me, runs very deep. I will explain.

Science is not some mystical subject. It’s not some unobtainable understanding for the layman. It isn’t for the elite few with lots of money, luck or both. Science, unlike Justice, is not blind. It is, or can be, all seeing and best of all it is one simple word: understanding. You see you don’t have to have degrees and PhDs to get it. It’s true that science and it’s inner workings require a lot of discipline to know and understand but fundamentally it does not. I’ll explain.

To know

As I said, it’s about understanding. Here’s an example:

How does the Sun work? If you’re not sure that’s ok. If you’re an astrophysicist then I should hope you’d know. The thing is, it’s simple to explain how it works. That is, you can tell the average citizen how it works and you’ll see the light bulb go off in their head. Pun.

I won’t leave you hanging so here’s a rough explanation:

So the Sun works on a basic principle; nuclear fusion. It’s some 75% hydrogen, 24% helium and 1% other stuff. The intense (26,000,000F) heat and pressure are perfect conditions for hydrogen atoms to fuse into a heavier helium atom. To simplify this a little, imagine that hydrogen weighs 1 and you add another 1 to it. You might expect the helium to come out as weighing 2 but it doesn’t. It weighs a little less. So what happened? That mass it lost was converted into energy. That energy is the heat and light we feel and see everyday. The fusion process is in harmonious balance with the gravitational forces that would otherwise cause the Sun to collapse in on itself.

See? It’s pretty a pretty simple concept. Yes, it’s way way more complex on a deeper level but that’s plenty easy for anyone to understand.

Lifting The Veil Of Uncertainty

The thing is, people have to be willing to learn this stuff. Some people are extremely narrow in their views and some view science as irrelevant. That is a dangerous position to take. Why? Our world is more and more dependent on technology. We cannot let the advancement of science and technology take a back seat to primitive tendencies that humans have an amazing knack for.

Ok, so the real why. I’m at that point you see. It’s not about “I know this and you don’t so neener neener!” No, absolutely not. If anyone boasts on their intellectual superiority then they’re no better than the very people that I loathe. Science gives you a broad view on the world. It gives you a broad view on every single thing in the Universe. You don’t look at a person and think “they are different/inferior to me…” you think “they are different and that’s fascinating…” With the idea and concept of science, your view becomes unbiased.

You suddenly realize that you’re comprised of particles; that make up atoms; that make up molecules; that make up organic compounds; that form cells; that form our bodies to start living in a town; in a county; in a state; in a country; on a continent; on a planet; in a solar system; in a galaxy; in a galactic cluster; in a super cluster in the Universe. While we’re each unique, we’re also so very, very tiny. I mean VERY tiny. It’s humbling and it opens ones eyes to the reality of the world beyond literal imagination. It’s so big and vast that one might argue “Why bother anyway?” The answer is “Why not?” If we stop now, then the human race is done for. If we want to progress as a species (yes, that’s right, people from ALL walks of life) then we must progress towards a grander understanding.

The Elusive Utopian Dream

I know, it’s a fools dream. I tend to believe that most people are good at heart and maybe they do stupid things under pressure of a small number not so good people. Even the people that aren’t so good would probably benefit from just a basic understanding of why “knowing” is important. That’s what science is; to know. It’s the understanding of the natural world of which we are all a part of. There’s no escaping it. If you’re reading this, you’re a part of something really big, even if you’re just a tiny piece of the puzzle.

It’s our duty as human beings to try and be kinder to each other and for that matter the Earth upon which we live. It can be scary to stray from old and comfortable ideas but we’re all in this together whether we like it or not. Degrading someone because they’re different does not advance our species in any way imaginable. The same goes for putting yourself on a pedestal above others.

Where Do We Go From Here?

All of this was spurred on by reading comments/tweets on the web regarding young children that were either of a certain ethnicity or had a disorder. The most vile stuff spewed forth from the fingertips of these people. Stuff that, if they had to say in person, they’d never be able to do. The ‘man behind the curtain’ effect gives people an increased audacity. Don’t even GET me started on cyber bullying. I’ll stop there for now. This was just a big late night rant but I firmly stand behind this reasoning. I don’t ‘believe’ or ‘think’ that an understanding of the natural world would be enlightening to our species; I know it would be.

As always, keep looking up.

The rock that stopped my world (for a few hours at least)

Friday was like any other day for me at work. Everyone was glad weekend was approaching and around 4pm I’d started to wind my day and week down. This usually means finishing up any minor projects that might have gotten overlooked during the week. It could include polishing up a larger project or just getting a project to a good stopping point.

Everything was going as planned and as 4:30 rolled around I had started thinking about what the evening would hold for me. I had originally planned to help a friend assemble a bed from Ikea. That was put on hold though. I was also invited to go to a concert / help a friend celebrate a birthday. From here on out I’ll post events in a chronological suspense thriller type fashion.

4:35 – The Burning

I had to pee for lack of a better term and as I attempted to go I noticed a burning sensation with some mild shooting pains. Nothing terribly alarming I thought. Maybe I was just dehydrated? I’m prone to not drinking enough water anyway. So I get a large cup of water and proceed to down it. It wasn’t 5 minutes later the urge to urinate had come back. Again, burning and more shooting pains. I still wasn’t alarmed but I was very annoyed.

4:45 – The Pain

Around this time I felt like I had gas pains creeping in. I felt as if I needed to use the bathroom in more ways than just #1. I took care of that and hoped that it would ease the cramped feeling I’d started to get. Alas it did not.

4:50 – Decision Time

I go back to my desk and see it’s 10 till 5:00. At this point the burning is burning and the pain has really set in on my left side. It’s getting worse by the second and I made an alarming realization; this had to be a kidney stone.

Anyone who’s had one will testify as to just how mind numbingly excruciating they can be. Now I had one when I was 19 and it required a visit to the ER. Since that time I’d actually passed a couple without any pain at all. Suddenly I’m at work and I’m faced with this stark realization of being at least 25 minutes from a hospital. I knew time was not on my side.

I grabbed my keys and left without telling anyone so much as “bye”. I’m now in a slight panic as I headed to my truck. The pain is now really setting in and I’m frantically trying to figure out my best option. Do I go to the nearby med center? Can they even administer something strong enough for THIS kind of pain? Do I attempt to go up the interstate to Henry Medical center? Do I drive to Griffin and go to Spalding Regional Hospital? I didn’t want to lollygag and hang around to make that decision.

4:55 – In Route

I jumped into my truck and left work and took Hwy 155 to Griffin. My thinking was that was the least crowded way to go and that route would take me to the side of town where the hospital was located. I called my wife and explained to her I was in a lot of pain and that “I’m dying” and was headed to the ER. Mind you, I wasn’t dying. I felt like I was and felt like I’d rather be dead.

I think she was upset that I was even attempting to drive and in hindsight it was dumb but also I knew that time was of the very essence and that minutes would make the difference. I had to make this drive to the hospital despite the borderline gut wrenching pain.

Half my trip was spent arguing if the hospital was the way to go or a medical center. I kept saying that hopefully I’d get moved ahead of people with less serious ailments. I was an optimist even in one of my darkest moments, so that counts for something right? Thankfully all the back and forth kept my mind off of the pain just enough to get me to the hospital.

5:15 – Checking In #AtTheHospitalLOL

From here on in, time was blurring together for me so I’ll try to be accurate as possible. I walked into the ER and noticed on a few people which was a relief. I asked the lady if this was the ER and she directed me to fill out a form. I wrote as fast as I could and the reason for the visit was “I think I have a kidney stone!” I handed the form in and pleaded my case that I was in a lot of pain. They said I’d be called shortly. I had to keep it together and it was getting increasingly difficult.

5:25 – Triage

A nurse called me back for vitals and asked calmly what I was in for. In my contorted and twisted body position I calmly replied “Pretty sure I have a kidney stone”. Followed by “so here I am, hurting, just need some help, yep, need to get seen…” I was yammering on about how bad it hurt when she asked about pain on the 1-10 scale. This scale is funny because docs use it a lot. I’ve been asked a few times and the thing is, pain is such an arbitrary thing from person to person. Most of the time I just pick an arbitrary number. This is one of the two times in my life that I can say with absolute assuredness that it was a 10 of the highest magnitude. I was later asked about pain and asked if I could answer “11”.

I was done with triage and sent back to my seat to wait. At that time my wife and two sons had showed up. The ER was the last place I wanted my kids to hang out in and honestly I didn’t want my kids seeing me like that. Here’s dad, this guy we look up to, to be strong and courageous and he’s nearly in the fetal position. I gave them a hug and said I was hurting but did my best to put on a happy face. She decided she’d take them to her moms house only a mile or so away. I said goodbye and now I waited

5:30 – The waiting

It was at this point that I was out of thing to keep my mind preoccupied. I could only sit and wait. Sitting was amusingly hard to do. I was nearly sitting on the side of my head, it felt like. Strangely enough standing up seemed to alleviate the pain slightly. My wife had made it back a few minutes later and I was complaining that it seemed like more people were leaving than were going in. I was angry at everything at that point but the pain kept me from lashing out. Nearly half an hour would roll by before I asked the receptionist ( is that right? ) about the wait time. She told me that the person in front of me had waited almost an hour and a half. Wow, I was going to die (ok I wasn’t but seriously I felt like I was!).

I pleaded my case that I didn’t mind waiting but that I would much rather do it in less pain. She told me to ask the nurses if they could help. I was desperate and didn’t care what kind of fool I might have looked like. I knocked on the door to triage and asked if they could help me in any way. They said I was about to be called. At that point I saw the door open and heard my name. Finally, one step closer to relief and an answer. I had only assumed kidney stone and was 97% sure but the other 3% lingered on my mind.

6:00 – The Room

I walked into my room and was left there alone much to my dismay but I was happy to at least have my own room. I attempted to lie down but couldn’t sit still long enough. Also, my wife had stepped out to make a phone call so she hadn’t come back with me. I felt quiet lonely and wanted to see her face as seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. She finally came back and said she’d called another medical center when she overhead the wait time. I think perhaps they saw the shape I was in and bumped me up and I’m very grateful for that. The condition I was in constituted an actual emergency. While not life threatening, the pain is just about second to none.

6:15 – Shot in the arm

A couple of nurses walked in and started to ask questions. I kept as calm as I could while answering. I was injecting questions about an IV and getting the pain reduced, nonstop. The head nurse said he was on it. He put the IV in and the doc walked in and ordered the medicine; Zofran for nausea and Dilaudid for pain. The nurse stepped out to get the medicine, which they understandably keep locked up. I told him to run, no, fly. They were doing their best.

I had to wait a few more minutes for the nurse to come back and in that time I had started to unravel a bit. I was moaning in pain at this point and honestly I didn’t have a care in the world about how I appeared to anyone. Nausea had settled in an I felt like I was on the verge of passing out. Not a moment later the nurse walks in and goes right to administering the Zofran. Next the pain medication.

6:20 – We have liftoff

As the dilaudid is being injected into my arm I felt this intense rush come over me. It was a sense of flying right out of my bed and this intense “whoooosh” feeling swept over me. It was intense and I even said “whoaaaaaa” to which the nurse said yeah, that’ll pass in minute or so. I was almost instantaneously transported from a world of pain into a world of serenity. While the medicine did not 100% rid the pain, it went from a 10 to around a manageable 3-4. I felt human again.

6:30 – The Hulk That Never Was

Shortly after that a radiologist popped in and said a CT scan had been ordered to look for a stone. Wow, this was fast. The last time I had a stone I had to drink that stuff that cleared your bowels out (ew!) and get injected with dye. That was well after the fact also. This was much easier and faster. I got wheeled around the annals of the hospital and felt quite good I must say. I was my old self, joking and bantering on about nonsense. The scan took 2-3 minutes and I was whisked by to my room to await results. The next hour or so passed fairly uneventfully save for urinating into a bottle which felt like it took an act of congress to approve.

I was secretly hoping for a gamma radiation accident so I could go all Hulk up in there. Well, ok, I know that’s not possible but still, the idea was entertaining!

7:45 – The Return

After giving a urine sample, much to my dismay, the pain seemed to creep back up and steadily intensified. Seriously? I was doped up and the pain was already coming back? I hit the call button and they asked if I needed anything. I said the pain had returned and they said they’d be in shortly. I was now moaning again and was quite upset. How could I go from feeling good and loopy back into this pain? I think what happened was after I urinated, the stone began to move again since my bladder was empty. That’s my logic and I’m sticking to it.

Oh yeah, I should also mention that the doc had popped in and confirmed the stone at nearly 6mm. That’s a HUGE stone, well, huge for me.

8:15 – The Calm After The Storm

For whatever reason, around this time, the pain suddenly dropped off. I didn’t know why but didn’t care. I went from 9-10 to a sudden 0 on the pain scale. I wasn’t sure if the medicine had a second wind or if the stone actually made it to the bladder. I was just glad the pain was gone, for now that is. The nurse came back in and said she had pain meds to give. I wasn’t in pain anymore but in my mind it could return at any time. She gave me another dose of the dilaudid and once again, I was off to the Moon. Now I was nearly 100% carefree and painfree.

8:45 – Kthxbai!

The doctor came in and said they were releasing me and gave me all the info I needed for a follow up with a urologist. I said that’s great and all but lets talk about this pain. I said these exact words to her, “Give me the strongest medicine for pain that you’re legally allowed to give.” She laughed and said not to worry, it was strong. Ok, good. See, I don’t want to end up back in the ER at 10pm or 3AM.

9:00 – Home Sweet Home

I was finally home and was able to see my two boys and they were so glad I wasn’t dead. Ha! Hey, me too for that matter. Thus ended my drama but the drama for my wife getting my medicine had only begun. Over the next three hours she would have gone to three pharmacies only to find that no one in Griffin had Percocet-10. She had to go to McDonough (20 miles away) and only then did she find out the prescription was NOT signed. Damn! Percocet is highly controlled and you must have a hard copy signed by the doctor to get it. It’s strong stuff for sure. She had to come BACK to Griffin then go BACK to McDonough but alas was able to finally get it filled. Thank you my love! The story isn’t quite done though.

12:20 – Who’s Our Special Guest Tonight?

indiana-jones-boulder-chase-scenes-1980s-80s1 — Run!!!

I was waiting up for Jen to get home with the medicine and figured I’d be better off sleeping. I wasn’t hurting so I better make the most of it. One last task for the night was to pee again. I felt a sudden strong urge to do so. I had been given a strainer to catch a stone but left it in the car. Oops! An empty coke bottle would do and believe me it wouldn’t be the first (nor probably last) time I’d peed in a bottle. So I walk in, assume the position and went to take care of business. I can only describe the sensation I felt by referring you to the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. You know, where Indy is running for his life from the giant boulder. Yes, that boulder was rolling down on the inside of me. That little bastard rolled right out and into the bottle. *plunk*

Wait, what? Did I just pass this stone? That fast? I held up the bottle in disbelief. Sure as hell, there it was; the rock that stopped everything for a few hours. This thing had me on my head in pain. I wanted to murder it and burn it. All I could do was stare in amazement and this sudden relief swept over me. That was it. It was done. I’d thrown the ring into the fires of Mount Doom. It was only moments later that Jen walked in, with my medicine. She asked if I was in pain, to which I didn’t reply but only showed her the stone. We were both amazed.

The actual culprit. Penny is for size reference.

She said “Well, take one of the pain pills anyway because I went through hell to get them.” No argument here my dear. Though I was still more than medicated enough from the hospital. I would sleep very nicely on this night now that I had that little devil out of me.

Thus ended the weirdest Friday I’ve ever had. I’m glad I didn’t go to put together a bed and so very glad I chose not to go out that night. Although I was stricken with it well before any of that would have happened. I was just glad the evening unfolded the way it did because it could have been worse for sure.

I’m now the proud father of a rock.

ALL THE SLOW MOTION

Ok I have a love affair with something… it’s not another woman; not chocolate; not a beefed up truck with boat in tow either. It’s high speed cameras and the footage they gather. Always been fascinated by it because it allows a glimpse into a world that is unknown to us.

Now I have nowhere near the money to buy one of the fancy high speed cams. You know you can’t afford it if the price isn’t even mentioned on the website. By the way, just list the damn price anyway. I’m looking right at you Vision Research. I digress.

So I went and bought the cheapest thing I could find that shot actual high speed. It’s a Casio Exilim and while the photos and such are mediocre, the real magic lies in the 240fps mode. It also does 480fps but at a very low resolution. At any rate I’ve compiled some footage and I’ll post my latest video here. I’ll post more in the future but this is a nice little start. The fire and the wine are my favorite ones. Music is by yours truly as well. 🙂

httpvh://youtu.be/aVWuJfnB2_4

Aliens are not here; not proven at least

Ok, this one is kind of fun. Aliens. Where are they? I mean they’re here right? Not so fast. Lets get this science lesson out of the way right here and now.

Science!

This is the Milky Way:

Here you are and most of everything you can see in the night sky

So there you have it. That’s us tucked away in a tiny corner of that galaxy. What is a galaxy? Ok, more science so strap in. Here goes…

We live on Earth, which orbits a star we call the Sun. Our entire solar system is a few billion miles across. Pretty damn big but paltry compared to the big stuff. So our solar system is what is orbiting the center of the milky way. Now, Earth goes around the Sun once every 365 days. Our Sun orbits the galactic center once every 250,000,000 years (give or take. I mean really, what’s million years here or there). So in comparison, our solar system is a spec of dust. The galaxy we live in is some 100,000 light years across. That’s the distance light travels in ONE Earth calendar year. It’s around 10,000,000,000,000km. So to get the distance across the galaxy, add six more 0s to that number for a whopping 10,000,000,000,000,000,000km across. Ten quadrillion kilometers (or 6 quadrillion miles). Yes. It’s a very very big place. Even so it’s tiny compared to the Universe. We’re done with that stuff for now. We’ll focus on the local area around Earth.

Tinfoil hats at the ready!

Aliens, right? They’re here, right? Ok, like I said before – hold the phone. Think about this. The nearest star to us is 25 TRILLION miles away. Traversing interstellar space would be a mind boggling feat. We can’t even begin to comprehend the technologies that would have to be employed for such a journey. The space craft would be massive, supporting generations of their species perhaps. It’d also move very fast I imagine. So that’s why the stories of bizarre lights and little zippy dots caught on camera really make me roll my eyes. Think about it.

A vastly superior species shows up and they flit around in the sky at break neck speeds then disappear. Uh, no. Hell no. I’ve traveled trillions of miles at the very least – I’m going to land and get shit done. It doesn’t make any sense at all. Ok, people that are abducted right, that’s a good one. They recollect the entire story and what one thing is missing? The evidence is missing. The actual physical evidence isn’t there. NDT (Neil deGrasse Tyson) said it best “take an ash tray!”. His point was that ANYTHING on a ship capable of interstellar travel would be worth looking at. Where is this stuff? Oh it doesn’t exist. Just like the aliens that took them in the first place. Moving along to my final peeve. Aliens were here long ago and vanished.

We’re awesome, screw this place and screw YOU!

So, yeah, they were here a long time ago and left. In the process of leaving they also took every single bit of their technology with them. Oh but they were nice enough to leave us stone carvings the vaguely depict that technology. Gee, thanks, asses. By the way, thanks for scaring the shit out of everyone with your damned outdated calendar. Looking at you, Mayans.

Get on with it…

So that leaves me with this final note: I believe life exists elsewhere. Mathematically speaking it just has to be true. Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon and Oxygen are extremely abundant in the Universe. We just happen to be made of those elements (minus the helium because that’s just for silly voices, duh).

Nope, nope, nope! — LALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU

So in a Universe chock full o’ ingredients with hundreds of billions of stars JUST in our galaxy, we’d be fools to assume we’re special enough to be alone. We are special as I think everything is special in its own way. We’re amazing because we actually CAN understand the Universe if we open our minds to it. That’s the real trick though. Some people refuse to let that knowledge in or deny it.

I’m not saying you can’t have faith and all. Sure, have it and let it better your life and those around you. Just don’t suppress information. Don’t feel you’re better or above someone else because your belief is better. Just be a nice person, ok? Also, don’t deny that the study of the natural world is a good thing. Of course it can be a double edged sword as can anything but most scientists have one common goal: to know.

Aliens might one day show up. I can’t know that and no one can but I have a feeling we’ll HEAR them before we see them. Even then, they won’t be talking to US but to themselves. The profound thing is that if we listen in on a civilization that’s even 100 years more advanced than we are, imagine the implications of that. Us + 100 years of advancement. It’s exciting and a little scary to think about. I’m optimistic that we’ll hear or observe something that indicates life elsewhere in the Universe but I think you can feel safe that the men in black won’t show up to zap your brain and make you forget the whole thing.

MSL Commentary + Simulation

A couple of nights ago MSL made a perfect landing that would be the envy of any gymnast. I thought it might be fun to pair up the commentary video with the simulation that Eyes on the Solar System provided. So here’s that video. The sim video was my first take and I might be able to do a better job with that but I was just excited to get it out to see.