Origins

Comet Hyakutake, at its closest approach to Earth, inbound toward the sun, only 1/10 Astronomical Unit (9.3 million miles) from our home planet.

One of my interests is cosmology, the study of the origins of our Universe. Carl Sagan was the spokesperson for this study for a long time, but I would like to share a discovery of mine.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a leading astrophysicist, and the director of the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium. His fascinating presentation, Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution, examines the origin of the Universe, the origin of our planet Earth, and the origins of life.

The Universe came into being about 14.7 billion years ago. Even today, we have much to explore and much to learn. Looking at some of the images from the Hubble Space Telescope and robotic probes is one good way to learn about our Universe.

Everything on this Earth, ourselves included, is made up of a very limited number of elements. The early Universe was composed of mostly hydrogen and a little helium. Everything else, the oxygen, iron, calcium, and other elements in our bodies and on this round Earth were formed inside of stars and Supernovae.

But the elements made up of protons, neutrons and electrons are only a small portion of what makes up the Universe. All the "stuff" we know and can touch, and feel, and smell is called "baryonic matter". The other stuff, non-baryonic matter isn't something we fully understand yet, and it makes up 85% of the Universe. Go figure. Or just look up at the starry sky on a clear, cold, dark night and wonder.

In the Beginning ...

So here I was at the gym, on the elliptical, too impatient to watch commercials during the episode of Star Trek I was watching, probably due to my attention deficit disorder. So, I would channel surf and catch a few seconds of weather, or comedy, or election news. Today is a historic day. I'm sure of it. Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Election day. A day that will live in famy (the opposite of infamy).

They're doing the "exit polls" and most people are mostly concerned about the economy. Like 90% or so. Then there's the war in the Middle East, and some concern about terrorism. And I'm thinking about this, and having clever thoughts, or so I imagine, perhaps due to the free coffee from Starbucks, since I voted, and since Starbucks had a nice deal to give away coffee to everyone who voted. Thanks Starbucks.

When this blog gets famous, I'm gonna charge for plugs like that. But for now, this is my first post, and I got a cup of coffee already, so I kinda owe *them* if you know what I mean.

I think there are more blogs in the world than people, and I have never had a blog, so I'm thinking it's about time. And, there's the matter of all these thoughts. I have this urge to communicate, which mostly manifests itself as voices in my head. And they want to get out. Usually when I connect these thoughts to the mouth, somebody nearby wants to slap me, so I think I'll blog, and you can leave comments that slap.

There's lots I'd like to blog about. Nature, cosmology, psychology, beauty, humor, birds, photography, current events, politics. But I'll try to keep it short, because I have attention deficit disorder and it seems like when I begin to speak, others catch A.D.D. from me and wander off.

So, before you go, here's the thought for today. It's about the exit polls. Today most people are worried about the economy. I admit, it's hard to ignore the economy what with layoffs and foreclosures and big hypothetical bucks evaporating from retirement funds like a pile of chips in Las Vegas being scooped up with the big hook or rake or whatever.

But, I'm going to offer the hypothesis that it is short-sighted and stupid to select a leader based on fears over what is essentially a gambling addiction, playing the market ... the dot.com frenzy, or the housing bubble, or derivatives, or what-have-you. My hypothesis is that it would be long-sighted to select a leader based on issues of planetary health and the continuation of civilization. I'm always dismayed by breakdown in civil order, and I've seen it happen a few times during my lifetime. Unrest and mayhem followed after the assasination of Martin Luther King, Jr., after the Rodney King verdict, and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. At those times I was pushed back against a wall by events which suggested that just beneath the shiny Wall Street veneer of our society lies the missing link.


Let there be light.

November 4, 2008