Earth Day 2011

Earth Day was celebrated on 4/21.  Perhaps you did not notice it.  NASA made a celebration of it.  Oh, does that seem odd?  Why should  a government agency celebrate an obvious left wing type of pseudo holiday?  The answer is pretty simple.  Looking at Earth has been one of the jobs of NASA.

One of the science things to do on the International Space Station (ISS) is to take pictures of the Earth.  By the way there are lots of science experiments going on in the ISS.  Crew Earth Observations (CEO) has been on of the mainstay activities on the Station since Expedition 1.  Windows in the Zveda module have been used by both Astronauts and Cosmonauts to gaze at the Earth below.  Its through these windows that Astronauts have taken a hand operated digital camera and taken pictures on our planet's features.  Regular featurres as well as disatster areas.  Now days the astronauts can make use of the Cupola which is a domed window module (think Millennium Falcon from Star Wars).

This taking pictures of the Earth deal stunned the World back in Christmas 1968 when NASA showed the following photo on TV:

This is Earth Rise.  NASA being a scientific, outward looking program made one of the most astonishing discoveries in the known universe, Earth.  This photo gives an answer to the World what explorers and politicians and philosophers have questioned over centuries, what does the Earth look like and where are we?

Astronomy today, can only conclude that Earth is indeed part of the cosmos.  Earth is one among many thousand planets out there.  It cohabitates in a universe with stars, black holes, pulsars, nebulae, asteroids, comets, radiation, neutrinos, dark matter, dark energy, .....etc...etc.  And it happens to be the only planet known to have life.

We are one one life boat floating through a galaxy and a universe.  I will take us years, no, centuries to make Mars a thriving community of humans.  Even if we do get Mars up and running will we take care of it any better than we have Earth?  Let's look up for a while, and contemplate what we need to do to keep our life boat afloat.  It's only all of civilization that's at stake.

Why Is Discrimination Is Still Around?

When you think of social injustices its hard not to think of why these injustices are still around in the United States.  Consider that some people are living to one hundred years of age.  If you look back a hundred years ago, it was a really different world.  What was it like back then, who would remember such a world, and what does it mean for young people wanting to change the world?

1911 was a year that doesn't get mentioned in the history books as anything important happening.  In-spite of the history books, the women's suffrage movement was going strong, there was a revolution in Mexico, and Europe was preparing for World War I.  Jim Crow laws were in effect for a while and it would be many years before they were ended.  Domestic abuse was not even a concept let alone a concern until the 1970's.  So, women did not have the vote, segregation was enforced, and domestic violence was unchecked.  Yes, it was a different world.

Many social injustice issues that involve discrimination of some type or another were part of the social fabric of society back in 1911.  If that seems like a long time ago and if you wonder who would remember that, consider that in the age estimates of 2008 there were living 5,721,768 who were 85 years or older in the Untied States (as queried in American Fact Finder of US Census Bureau).  That's more people than were in the State of Colorado in 2010 (see Census 2010).  Well that answers the question of who would remember, a whole state's worth of people.

So fare you can see that the permanence of social injustice is linked to the survivability of the population.  The more elderly we have, the more their values have a voice in our lives.  With the elderly living longer, the younger generations have a harder time to change the world than did their grandparents and great grandparents did when they were young.  Not only do the younger generations have to contend with family members but also Congress.  The average age in Congress is 55 to 60 years.  60 years ago was 1951.  They have grown up in a United States with Jim Crow and domestic violence.  So, it's coming down to a generational struggle.

In attempting to answer the question why is discrimination still around, we've looked at what has been happening in a person's lifetime in the United States that has perpetuated discrimination and other social injustices.  I feel that the older generations do not put a priority on social injustices.  They rather put a priority on their pocket books.  To get rid of discrimination and other social injustices legislatures need to make them a priority.  Not only that but personal responsibility needs to happen.  People need to respect one another regardless of any differences.  I'm afraid that real change can only come by generational change.  As younger generations get into more and more power as time goes on, they will impose their values on society.  I hope its for the better.

Crash - an explaination

Crash is a set of three word pics that I put together.  I comprises of three different scopes but all the same theme.  That theme is to overcome distress.

Breaking Bondage describes the personal distress.  If you have ever been controlled you can relate to this.  Is based on personal experience.  If you are being controlled I suggest you plan for your freedom.  After I took my freedom back I had to start over.  It was a scary and enlightening time.  I learned much about myself, stuff I had forgotten being in bondage.

If You Could See.... describes the social distress.  There are many things that need to get fixed in society.  The world is becoming more populous and modern, and adjustments have to be made.  It covers violence, education, health care, medical inadequacies, and how we think of intelligence.  These are obviously passions of mine.  We are much more that what we've been told we were in the 20th century.

DOOM! covers the big picture.  Its states different scientific findings that can spell the destruction of the human race.  These destructive forces are not man made but are all natural disasters.  A Gamma Ray Burst eminates from a supernova.  Think of it as a massive laser that can destroy all life on planet Earth.  Asteroid impacts have been discussed in recent history.  You may know about them already.  But the right size asteroid can wipe out all life on Earth.  The Yosemite Caldera Eruption is a future event on Earth that has the potential to kill many people and animals in the United States.  The Great End refers to a newer theory based on the expansion of the Universe as observed by Edwin Hubble in 1929.  It states that the Universe will come to a point of expansions that molecules and atoms will not be able to maintain their integrity.  Thus we will be torn apart.  At any rate this word pic paints the picture that our time, the human time, is limited.

I feel that these word pics give some perspective on life.  There is more to life than just ourselves, yet if we are not free how can we help?  I write these as an exercise of intuition and analytical thinking.  I don't deem myself a poet so I've been reluctant to call these poems.  They do help me stretch my creative writing skills and word usage.

Respecting Life

In our materialist society, life is often disregarded.  We are entrenched in our own lives and care little about the life of anyone else.  This is a path of self destruction.  We should work at regarding all life.

In the recent tsunami tragedy in Japan we have seen over the internet some images of people and animals who became stranded and in need of rescue.  One particular heartbreaking image was of a dog trying to care for another dog.  Even in such touching scenes, I came across comments to the effect of "but its just a dog".  Tonight I heard reports of rescuers who have rescued a dog off a pile floating debris in the Pacific Ocean.  In other similar rescues, I've seen where some have questioned why were money and resources wasted on such a feat.  What is your life worth?  Is it worth going to work, eat, sleep day after day to one day die by any number of known diseases or any of the unknown diseases without a caring about another life form?  A character like Ebenezer Scrooge would think in such a way.  Someone who hoards money and resources for their own comfort would also think in such a way.  Some may think that rescuing an animal when humans are in danger is irresponsible.  This is not the case in rescuing efforts.  In rescuing efforts you rescue what you can when you find it because your racing against time.  There is an old spanish proverb that says a bird in hand is worth more than a thousand flying.  You cannot rescue what you cannot detect.  Why not spend some resources on rescuing life, any life, that is in danger?  Were only going to spend it on something else of lesser importance.


What does it say about us if we disregard life that needs help?  Astronomers, space explorers, and space biology scientists have not found conclusive evidence of life on any other planet than Earth.  There are also extinctions of species documented in our history.  Should we take for granted the life that surrounds us on our fair planet?  If there is life on other planets, of which I am hopeful, then we should consider how unique life on this planet is.  We have conquered the Earth.  We are its masters.  We have responsibility to the planet and all its life.  If they are extinguished we have no one to blame but ourselves.  This is our legacy from the great explorers and the technology innovators.  We can alter the weather, but like toddlers trying to be gentle we crush and bumble around having little control over our weight.  We also have learned to create environments like the International Space Station.  If we disregard life and our other responsibilities we are stupid.  We are stupid because we have let the very thing that allows us to live die.  We must regard life for the very simple reason that it helps our very existence.

Respecting life is more than just respecting life.  We eat an enormous amount of meat, beef in particular.  In a New York Times article, Mark Bittman describes how meat factories use many resources and are detrimental to the environment.  There is also a health concern with the eating of factory breed meat.  The Mayo Clinic's Dr. Martha Grogan notes that grass fed beef is leaner than the corn fed factory meat.  The reason why we have these factory style cattle farms is that they produce a lot of beef compared to traditional farming.  With the concern of cholesterol and fats giving us heart disease, the corn fed beef has a bad effect on human beings.  The reason for the need to that volume of beef is the demand for it from the public.  So the large demand of one food type makes for bad health and bad environment.  This is bad and its our fault.  We have to fix it.  If people stopped eating so much meat dinners and started to incorporate all vegetable meals, then the demand for meat will drop.  Then we could go for the more nutritional beef as a delicacy rather than as a staple.  One way I have been able to make easy vegan dishes is to substitute meat with some beans, it happens to be cheaper too.  Respect for cattle will result in respect for ourselves.  Its about resources and its about priorities.

In view of the bigger picture we really need to change our attitude towards animals and all life on Earth.  We are only flying through this space-time on a rock flying through the universe on an unknown trajectory.  Life, its all we got.  Let's respect it.