Cookies

Apparently there was some kind of ruling by the European Union.  So here is my semi-official notice to any readers across the oceans:  Google and Google Analytics may place cookies on your computers.  If you wish,you can certainly go to your Cookies folder and delete these after reading this or other blogs.  There should be some kind of official Google notice on this matter as well.  But this is a simple, mainly textual blog.   Any cookies would probably be related to ad-tracking.  Again, try and locate the "Cookies" folder on your particular computer and delete them if you do not want these on your machine.  Thank you.

Saving our World

To progress, we must regress.

Drop back to simpler technologies.

Human-powered vehicles,

sun-powered homes,

decentralized utilities.

Backwards is the new forwards.

We here in the US get it –

if only the other 90+ percent

of Earth's people

would get the same 'clue.'

Here is hoping they do,

and we keep getting it too.

• end

Times and Relatives passed

How fast it is all over,

How soon relatives are sent

to the great beyond out there,

The monies left all get spent.

Left with only memories,

happy times and love;

thought of past times please

oneself more than a treasure trove.

Routine reality binds one to all,

no ungainly, unusual windfall

to generate shame and a downfall.

Rest enjoyed at home, not in any mall.

Good memories of my mom and dad

remain long after the cash has fled.

They will always make my heart glad,

long after any inheritance has been bled.

• end

We Should Carry On

Here is hoping that the youth in this country and others get interested in space exploration, and carry the torch. Since the New Horizons probe reached Pluto, we have made it to every classical planet in our Solar System, in the space of 50 years. To bridge the time until humans make the outward journey to settle distant worlds, our younger generation must continue to explore. They can use telescopes and space probes to learn everything the can about our mighty Solar System. So that when the day arrives for distant astronauts to make outward journeys, they will know what to expect, and how to get where they are going.

One plan involves establishing a permanent base on the Moon. Three astronauts could get this started, landing in a huge crater with a beefed-up version of the old Lunar Lander. They could use an inflatable living module, (modeled on the Bigelow inflatable habs) anchored to the wall of a crater. More of these modules could be sent up later as add-ons. Meantime, the astronauts would get busy setting up a primitive mining camp. They would survey the area, search for useful ores, and work on smelting the ores and fashioning structural members for a meteor shield. This in addition to valuable astronomical observing and the like. Over the course of a decade or so, a large base could be established and re-supplied in this manner.

A regular, routine flight service to the Moon and back would have to be established, using expendable rockets, or perhaps a Moon Shuttle that would dock with the ISS, and then land on the Moon, and return. Fuel depots could be built near the Colony - but not too close. This could and should be an international effort. If a permanent budget allocation could be agreed upon, and set, for this endeavor, then the colony could be a reality. Humanity would then have a permanent foothold on the Moon. From there, they could erect larger spacecraft to go further out. Next stop, Mars.

This is worth doing for several reasons. The international co-operation it would generate. The resource availability. The new frontier aspect, where humanity could aspire to go further than the Earth, to go out and reach new vistas. Technologies would be developed that would have applications on Earth. The money spent would be a good investment, generating returns both tangible and intangible. Most of all, the youth of today and tomorrow would have something to look forward to besides ever-more-violent games and constant warfare. In my view, exploration beats extermination any day. Let's do it.

Thanks for reading.

Does Dr Who think in circles

Time is just an overarching term for moving forward, going on, a process unfolding. And if we try to go back, re-fold or go backwards, all we are really doing is starting another process that moves forward – the Arrow of Process. You can't undo that without re-initializing new process. Everything we do vibrates forward – to un-vibrate is impossible.

But nature and evolution have given us one great way to re-create the past: our long-term memories, where we can relive the past endlessly, however inaccurate. Of course there are artificial means, including journals, video documentaries, etc. But to actually counter the massive force of reality in all its manifestations and go back in time – no way. Stuff of fiction, period. 

YMMV.  Have a great weekend.