Monday, January 31, 2011
We're only alone if we stop looking for others
More and more planets are being discovered.. NASA images are going back in time. If you’re amazed with space and time, it’s an amazing moment to be alive on the planet earth.. even if you’re not, you’re being hurled into a vast unknown.. A time when doubt is abundant and answers are not. This is the future. And the future is now.
DISCOVER MAGAZINE is reporting that scientists are taking a very active role in trying to answer one of the many age old questions: Is there anybody out there..?
Discover reports,
"We still have no idea whether any planet beyond Earth harbors life, but that could soon change too: Scientists are increasingly optimistic that they will find evidence of biological activity on an alien planet within the next few years. In collaboration with the Thirty Meter Telescope and the National Science Foundation, DISCOVER invited four top researchers in the field to discuss how that extraordinary discovery might unfold"
…In a vast land of galaxies and who knows what else, the thought that we are alone seems foolish. Now what the other versions of the “us” would be is cause for …concern.
Double rainbow! ... strike that. Double solar flare.
NASA cameras had a front row view to an amazing scene in space, as solar flares erupted two sides of the sun at the same time..
NASA placed images of the solar eruption on its website with some context behind in. NASA wrote,
"This still (below) from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) caught the action in freeze-frame splendor when the Sun popped off two events at once on Jan. 28, 2011. A filament on the left side became unstable and erupted, while an M-1 flare (mid-sized) and a Coronal Mass Ejection on the right blasted into space. The movie (above), taken Jan. 26-28, 2011, shows several other flashes and bursts from the active region on the right as well. Neither event is headed towards Earth"
Perhaps the last sentence in their press release is the most reassuring. Neither eruption is poised to strike the little blue planet..
At least not these eruptions.
Speculation has abounded for years that we are going to go into a period of dramatic solar activity—activity that could potentially hit a high point in 2012, according to experts that have been quoted in stories over the past several months.
These two flares, perhaps more than anything, are warning shots and messages of the sun’s power.
NASA also placed a six-second video on their website of the solar activity.
While the solar flares that were visible to the world didn’t sear the world, the images are seared into the memory of all who watch the sky and wonder, one day, if that massive ball of light will turn on the planet it warms..
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Who, or what, is out there?
No matter the threat or vision of space and time gone mad, enjoy your rest. And hopefully you get some.. Goodnight world.
It's going to be a long week
While I am not a typical ‘run to the store to get bread and milk!’ excitable kind of guy, the latest weather forecasts coming out from various model runs are giving me cause for concern.. A major winter storm, with blizzard conditions possible in many areas, and an nasty ice storm in others, is forcing me to evaluate and .. perhaps get to the store for a 2 to 3 day haul of food. Just in case.
It may be good to do if you’re in any of the areas tonight on this National Weather Service warning map in the blue or pink colors…Which is a vast and expansive part of the United States of America.
An interesting perspective from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: He writes that Tunisia and Egypt are the first countries experiencing a 'food revolution'..
He writes,
The surge in global food prices since the summer – since Ben Bernanke signalled a fresh dollar blitz, as it happens – is not the underlying cause of Arab revolt, any more than bad harvests in 1788 were the cause of the French Revolution.
Yet they are the trigger, and have set off a vicious circle. Vulnerable governments are scrambling to lock up world supplies of grain while they can. Algeria bought 800,000 tonnes of wheat last week, and Indonesia has ordered 800,000 tonnes of rice, both greatly exceeding their normal pace of purchases. Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Bangladesh, are trying to secure extra grain supplies
An interesting perspective from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: He writes that Tunisia and Egypt are the first countries experiencing a 'food revolution'..
You know the big storm that is set to impact 100 million Americans in time for Groundhog Day?
Well, news just got worse.. it could end up being a significant ice storms in a lot of places by Wednesday.. With a half inch to an inch of set set to fall after several inches of snow, it may potentially be chaos by Wednesday morning .. I was hoping for a pure snowstorm if anything.. an ice storm is surely not something anyone wants to experience.
While Shaq doesn't play for the Lakers anymore...
After today it appears he also doesn’t play for the Celtics..