Abstract
Beliefs
Conscious
Discovery
Einstein
Flux
Gravity
Heisenberg
Infinity
Joules
Kinetic
Light-speed
Measurement
Newtonian
Observers
Photons
Quarks
Relativity
Saturation
Transending
Uncertainity
Virtual
Waves
Xenous
Yields
Zion
Archive for April, 2007
8 Apr
SPEED and the exchange of information
Understanding the physical universe and the laws that govern it, is a noble endeavor. As we apply our latest technology to look further and further into space, attempting to locate life somewhere else in the universe, I wonder if our limited funds might better be spent in other more beneficial areas of scientific discovery, such as, developing a space drive capable of producing tremendous continuous power without the need for massive amounts of fuel. The not-so-new ion propulsion drive is a good start.
I was asked if we should spend more money (or continue to spend money) on the search for life beyond our system. Although this endeavor is fun on many levels, and even possibly enlightening, the information obtained is virtually irrelevant data. We could never communicate in real time – not with today’s technology, and we could never visit them. Radio messages are merely different frequencies of light, therefore they are restricted by the speed limit of the universe, a limit that Albert Einstein made us painfully aware of, the speed of light. Even if we could travel at one-tenth the speed of light (that’s one million, one hundred and sixteen thousand miles per hour [1,116,000 mph]), it would take us hundreds and hundreds of years to get there, if they are even there now. As we view distant galaxies, we are seeing what it was like many hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago, not the way it is today.
The speed of light is approximately eleven million one hundred sixty thousand miles per hour. In order to obtain this speed we are shown by Einstein’s equations that it would require an infinite amount of energy to reach that threshold. Even a fool knows there is no such thing as an infinite amount of energy. Finding a way around this delima seems to me to be the most important engineering problem we face today.
Therefore, all the money we spend on bigger and bigger telescopes to view even further into space, could better be spent finding a way around this speed limit. I think we should take a fresh look, with new minds, void of preconceptions, at the exchange of information over vast distances. I feel that once we are able to move data over vast distances at speeds greater than that of light, we might have a really good chance of understanding how we might traverse those vast distances physically.
3 Apr
A New Begining
Having endured nine months within an organic liquid containment sack, my first breaths of the alien atmosphere were laboriously drawn within the confines of a military hospital. Most of the patients had experienced, either directly or indirectly, injuries incurred in the wars that raged far beyond the sodium-chloride laden waters to the east and to the west. I was there for another reason, a "Birth".For some time prior to the "Birth", I underwent very specific genetic engineering governed by an evolutionary process whose orgin has long baffeled the many diverse members of my species. I was growing, cell by cell by cell, as specific codes produced the necessary external body parts and internal organs that would be required to survive on this hostile planet.
2 Apr
First Draft……….
"Spectacular…..isn’t it?" These are the first words I’d say when walking someone new out onto the deck of the cabin. Seeing Lake Superior from this vantage point makes it hard to believe this is not one of the great oceans of the world. A few minutes up a winding gravel road, an old logging road actually, puts you atop a mountain where an A-frame cabin waits quietly in the woods. On entering the cabin you notice a glass wall looking out on to a raised deck. Sliding one of the glass panels aside, you step out and see Lake Superior as you have never seen Her before. Four hundred feet below and about a half mile away, Mother Earth presents you with a panoramic view the likes of which you would be hard pressed to duplicate.
"Let’s sit over here Michael.", Deb said without taking her eyes off the lake. "This view…..it’s everything you said it was…..and more."
We are looking south-east across the width of Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes, and the largest body of fresh water on the Earth. When you see this view for the first time you are forced to suspend thinking, for a moment anyway. Because of the tremendous depth of the lake, not the deepest on Earth, that’s Lake Bacall in Russia, the cold blue water looks so inviting it almost quenches your thirst. I have found over time that it didn’t matter what time of day it was, nor even what the weather was like. When I step out on to the deck I am always captivated by the view being presented.
"Can we smoke some pot, and…..do ya have any beer?"
"Yes!", I quickly replied. "But of course." I think she likes the cabin. I know she likes the view. "Here’s the pipe…..do you need a lighter?"
"No. I’ve got one here." Deb began digging her hands into the pockets of her cut-offs, and cut-off they were. When she walked ahead of me I could see the firm tan cheeks of her beautiful bottom.
"Here it is!", she exclaimed like a child having found a long lost toy. I watched her tug on her hands while dancing in place. Then, removing her hands from those small pockets, she turned to face me. "See!"
Watching this beautiful woman, not so innocently standing before me, created an image that burned itself into my mine, creating a pleasant addition to my permanent memory. Side stepping myself back to reality, I handed her the pipe, and a jar of pot.
……….to be continued Sailor April 1st, 2007
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