So much light

4, yes. And here?

Each speck a galaxy, some nearly as old as the universe, hundreds of billions of them, all looking something like

Each galaxy containing billions of stars, and each star powered by fusion - the collision of atoms which produces just about everything.

Some of this we call light, and bless it with sight, and are defined by it.

Tiny Worlds

Behold Saturn in her absolute magnificence. There are much larger pictures available on the Internet, fans, than here. Seek them out if you need a new desktop.

Look just outside Saturn's brightest inner rings at 9:15 o'clock  - there is a white dot. That white dot is Earth, and that dot contains our entire species, now, then, and seemingly forever.

We regress, while we know such wonders await us.


Blame Republicans.

In search of color in space

Not my shot - I wish. I've been looking for the Northern Lights for years, but never caught a glimpse. I'm pretty far North, but not far enough. I might have to travel to Iceland one day to remedy this - seeing colors dance across the sky is the kind of religious experience I want to try.


That's the ISS streaking overhead, with 6 people on board living and working in space. And here's what the Northern Lights look like from the ISS:

As you can see, the Northern Lights are a thin band of radiation at the edge of space. This is actual solar matter that has slammed into Earth's magnetosphere and spiraled down towards the Poles, producing the lights as the solar matter strikes the highest portions of the atmosphere.

Magic!

Big Sis

Say hi to our big Sister, the Sun. And it is our Sister (or Brother if you like) and not our parent, as the Sun and the planets all formed from the same ginormous cloud of gas. The Sun took up most of that cloud, but every single planet, moon, comet and asteroid came from the same cloud. Even you, roundaboutly.

Like all "things" - stars and planets and you included - the Sun is the result of a series of reactions held in balance. In the case of a star, this balance is composed of the inward pressure of gravity, and the outward pressure of fusion. As such, the heart of a star is quite small compared to its overall size, thanks to this simple process:

Fusion. Just a couple of atoms bouncing off one another with enough energy (because of the inward pressure of gravity) and kabloom! Fusion, the heart of a star, and thus the heart of all life. Fusion releases enormous amounts of energy, and that energy is the star, and all its light, in all frequencies.

These frequencies are the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to microwaves to visible light - what we see - to ultraviolet, x-rays, and finally gamma rays. All seen here. Each frequency reveals different information, and thus astronomers use a variety of detection methods to learn not only about the sun, but everything.

We exist in a living miracle. It's pretty cool.

Come Together

There is magic, so you know. Click here to find out how.

Magic herbs 24/7. It's only natural.

Stuff in the Sky

Moonrise! Bright as a star. Fun fact to ponder - the light from the Moon is reflected light from the Sun. This light was created in the center of the Sun millions of years ago, finally escaped, streamed across space, hit the moon and bounced off, right into your eye. Where it bounces off again, but the energy is translated by your brain as... Moonlight.

The ISS, racing across the sky. There's six people up in there! Also, that sure looks like the Northern Lights, but I didn't see it with my eyes. So that's either a trick of light and clouds, or the Northern Lights can appear below my vision's threshold, but can show up on a longer exposure.

Moonset, an hour after an August Sunset. Fun project if you have a view of the Western horizon and some time - note how Moonset shifts over the year. You might be surprised!

All photos, once again, Redshirt Inc. Click for big! Prints available! I also can DJ weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.

Logs of logic

Choose wisely or not - it matters not. Only rather your choice, one way or another.

Wood or not. Yes or no, what or why, really or rather, here we are. Some kind of reason:

Proof that the Devil loves us.

If you only knew

Vader couldn't do the Force lightning, for obvious reasons. The same reason Vader was a slave to the Emperor - with but a thought, the Emperor could crush Vader's suit, killing him instantly. That's why he must obey his Master.

Screaming Trees

All things fade in time. You, me, Rome, Earth, the Sun, the Milky Way, the entire Universe, some trillion trillion years from now. Not my fault, nor my picture. Lovely though, is it not? The power of entropy?

An abandoned factory in Japan, nature reclaiming the space. As entropy is nature, all order will be deconstructed, torn down, eaten up, broken into pieces and spread all about. Entropy is the way of things. All our deeds are but acts holding back the tide, so ever briefly.

Our end is inevitable. The only true questions are when and how. Probably asteroid, sometime in the future. But there's so many other options! Nuclear bombs, earthquakes, global warming, solar radiation, magnetic shift, name your apocalypse, and you'll find the likelihood is not insignificant. Ignore the possibility we do at our own peril. Life is fragile, we exist on the surface of a reality of harshness. Prepare yeself, mortal!

Soviet Strong

A few things: As long as there is scarcity of resources, Communism cannot work in the large scale. If there were no scarcity of resources (AKA Star Trek's "replicator" which takes elements then fabricates items on command - take heed of the development of the 3d printer. It's the beginning of the replicator), then pure Communism is a must. Everyone's equal in the scheme of things, there's no money, everyone's happy and their children are nurtured and healthy, education for all, entertainment for all, science for all: The Soviet future, one in which every single person is a sovietnik. Look it up. And enjoy these pictures.

I've got a ton of Soviet propaganda art on the old HD "Cloud" because I find it stunningly beautiful. The style of it. Gorgeous and inspiring and awesome now that the USSR is no longer an immanent threat to end the world.

This might be one of Galactus's heralds. Make no mistake: It was the Cold War that created NASA and got man on the moon in ten freaking years  - which is simply incredible. A staggering accomplishment that shall echo in history for as long as we have it. Since the fall of the USSR records reveal what many suspected of the Soviet space program: more duct tape and spit than fearsome space conqueroring machine. They had some smart folks (also some NAZI's just like the USA) and the power of the state behind them, and the Soviet space program accomplished great things - first satellite in space; first animal in space; first man in space; first woman in space. Remarkable stuff, but as soon as NASA was funded and the space race began in earnest, the Soviets could not keep up. Not enough bucks, you see. The crippling affects of the past 30 years had caught up to them. And so it was the space race that truly began the fall of the USSR and its empire. Yay, space! Because in truth the USSR was mostly awful, though with many positives. But still mostly awful and worth fighting. Yay, also, America!

Also too:

At last! It's time someone actually took the fight to the KKK and any other race based hate organization. In a tolerant society you've got to tolerate almost everyone, be they religious, atheist, man, woman, black, red, yellow, white, gay, straight, lame, hipster, uptight, etc. But the one person we as a society cannot tolerate is the intolerant. Those who would seek to limit the rights of others, for whatever reason. They are the enemies of tolerance and must be opposed wherever they rear their hoary heads, for they are poison upon the body Tolerance and if given enough sway can end it. So, tolerance for all! Except for the intolerant, who must be opposed vociferously and actively.

Ergo, go Black Panther! Fuck the CSA.

Happy Fall (Winter is Coming)

He eats rock and shits coal!

Why have people in a tank when the tank can run itself just fine without people? Also, it's got an attitude.

"To Serve and Protect" - rich people's assets, of course. Which includes prisoners - the "hip" labor force of the 21st century!

Why have people perform grunt tasks like hauling small Japanese women, when a robot can perform the same task for a fraction of the cost? Also, future Terminators should have cute bear or raccoon faces painted on their indestructible exoskeletons. Just for the lulz.

YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT "THE WAR OF JENKIN'S EAR"? PROCEED.

Substitute robots never get the proper respect.

Note these days well, meatsacks, the robots will take all of our jerbs soon enough. Leaving us countless hours for horseshoes and lemonade. Winter is coming for the species named "Man", and we are lucky enough to be here when it happens. It's going to be interesting to say the least!

They took our jerbs!

Just a sip

Surprisingly, water tornadoes don't suck up to much water. Who knew? Science, that's who. The cloud you see in a water vortex is condensation due to the extreme pressure/temperature difference within the vortex and without. It does kick up a lot of water on the outside of the funnel, and so too any poor water creature caught in the path - hence raining frogs. But just a sip of water upwards, as the tornado is a downward event.

Imagine you were a sailor some 10,000 years ago, in a small craft of handmade design, and you came upon a waterspout. Angry Gods, right? And that's where science precisely sets us free - what was once mysterious and full of evil portent can be explained naturally. Anything and everything can be explained rationally if the eye of science is turned upon it. Eventually. And it is confidence in this process - science - which sets us free from all prior dogma and belief. This belief - in the scientific process - is our salvation. Ramen!

#Occupy Jupiter

It's true. Jupiter is far bigger than all the other planets put together. Its system of moons and smaller moons and more little tiny moons is its own planetary system. For you see, Jupiter could have been a star. Just a bit more mass, a little more spinning, and fusion would have lit. But alas, not enough gas, Jupiter was kicked out of Stellar U and now must walk among we, the discarded. But as a King, Boss Hogg of Sol's System.

And this is the chain of our existence. Dig it: From quarks and electrons, joining to form atoms, atoms joining to form molecules, molecules joining to form complex bonds, and based on their composition, we have our world and everything in it - rock, water, air, tree, you, me, even your pee. Complex groupings of molecular bonds.

Now, above you and me is space, vast and full of everything. Great, gigantic clouds of hydrogen light years long start to spin, perhaps disturbed by a nearby nova, and in the spinning the denser material falls towards the center of the spiral in ever increasing mass, causing ever greater heat, so on and such until there is a new joining, a new bond: Fusion. And fusion produces pretty much all of the energy you see around you. That makes you up. Energy and matter is our reality.

But fusion is not the end, for when the supernova collapses it can go one of two ways: A neutron star - a tripped out ball of neutrons (no atoms) spinning so fast yet so regularly they can be used as interstellar clocks. No bigger than Manhattan, they are denser than our entire solar system.

OR, a Black Hole.

Which is the ultimate break with this reality of ours - for everything goes in, the BH can get bigger or smaller, quieter or more active, like a "thing", but all of the energy and matter that falls in to it appears gone, into nothingness - for there is no such thing as a Black Hole, just its effects on gravity. The so called "Singularity" at the center of a Black Hole is just a placeholder word, since no one has any real idea. Our physics says it is of zero space yet infinite mass, which is absurd. You can't measure it directly, since it is literally a hole - everything falls through. And so either our mathematical theories are wrong, or we just don't have a clue. Yet. Science will find a way, eventually.

So, from electron to Black Hole and everything in between - this is our reality from start to end and swirls so large and endless around us, be of good cheer, for you are here, in this amazing grace, able to appreciate it. From time to time. Ramen.

Additional riffs on perspective

Perspective is gained naturally through all of life. One could not grow from a baby to child to lad to young man, raising hell, without several substantial changes in perspective. For instance, food no longer comes from boobies, but the kitchen. This is a rather dramatic shift!

Our scale of existence, once you can even gleam a comprehension, is vast beyond mind. Smaller too. Above is a series of actual stars and their sizes relative to one another. Note the change in scale from 3 to 4. Now you can see why Sol is tagged as a "dwarf star". A yellow dwarf. Bigger than many other stars (the really small ones, like Wolf 359

Never forget.), but no big kid on campus either. Least of all the brown dwarf stars, the dull runts who barely glow and are just tads bigger than Jupiter. But cheer up, little guys, you'll last till the end of time, for it is better to fade away than to burn out. And that's a current law of astronomy - mass of the star is directly correlated to their age and longevity, since size is essentially food source for the fusion engine powering all stars. Big stars burn hot and fast than go bang in nova, seeding the universe with heavier elements.

And thus the conclusion of this foray into perspective - we are stardust, man. Just about everything in us was forged in the furnace of fusion and its destruction in mighty explosion. The iron in your blood was made in and delivered from a giant star exploding, spreading matter to the 360 directions. Joining with vast hydrogen and helium clouds, these heavy metals then settled into a new star, with planets, and aye, even life. Carbon. Oxygen. Nitrogen. Gold. Everything important to us came to use directly from a star's destruction.

A nova, a smallish explosion of the outer layers of the star, and not its complete destruction. Thus the iron and other heavier elements are not dispersed. Supernova, on the other hand, result in the annihilation of the giant star  (in the star size chart above, stars in 5 and above, the bigger the star, the more awesome the destruction, of course.), and the dispersal of just about everything in it. Over the millennia, these overlapping paths of debris accumulated into you and me and everything you see, touch, or know. We are the stars, man, and they still speak inside of us. Through us. We are, as it has been said, a way for the universe to know itself.

Far out, right? Perspective.

Payback at the Country Home for the Aged

Karma's gonna get ya, if you believe karma to be nothing more than the consequences of cause and effect. Endless cause and effect. On the largest of scales, great sweeps of galaxies, this is true - every action has an opposite and equal reaction. On the smallest scales, atoms give off or absorb energy in an endless cycle of redistribution. And it's also true on the human scale, in a person's very heart. Your actions, even your thoughts, will have consequences in one form or another. It is these consequences which will be your karma.

Such as, perhaps, losing a bet? Boobscarves!

The Light

We're related to trees, right? As all living things, whether they be animal, plant, or lowly bacteria, are related - just a question of how far back. Plants have gender, have sex, so to speak, reproduce, breathe, drink, eat, sleep, bleed, grow old and die, just like us.

We can't live without sunlight. And not just for the practical reasons, like vitamin D and the psychological effects of lack of light - and yet still not just for all the food and animals we depend on that need light too. But even deeper - we're drawn towards the light at a level so basic as to be chemical.

We are made of light, of energy: E=MC2. And verily, most of the elements that compose our bodies - that compose all of life - were forged directly in a star. We are literally star stuff, as is just about everything on this planet, including the planet itself.

And so - THEORY! - I believe we are subconsciously drawn towards light from the very fabric of our being, and not just at a psychological level (though there's surely that), but at an atomic level. Our atoms came from light, and to light they will one day return, but till then, they yearn. As we yearn.

Also, it feels so good!

You Are What You Eat

Would you like a tall glass of "Just Corn Syrup"? If you drink any soda, you do. Enjoy! Of course, in this new age of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", after slurping down a big tasty cup of "Just Corn Syrup", you get:

Mmm... Super Tangy! And don't let "Man v. Wild" fool you - you can't drink piss. But you could sure eat this:

It wouldn't be pleasant, most likely quite painful, and probably not very delicious. But you could eat it! Leading to:

Mostly organic!

Many folks have wondered about the meaning of life. Maybe you have. Well, it's arguably to make poop. Now, snigger if you will, but seriously, that's what life does: It consumes some materials (materials = energy as E=Mc2) and than excretes others after using the material for sustenance. Life is an energy processing machine, taking one thing and turning it into another - and that's how the Universe evolves. Deep, huh? Deep doodoo.

Also, this is how you can train your kids to pick up after the dog:

A real product!

Why? Bear

No idea where this came from - make up your own tale. No doubt some crazy desert hippy redneck artist drunk got bored once and blam: Why? Bear. The bear asks a great question though - Why?

I posit this is THE question that defines humanity, as apart from the other animals. It even separates us from each other - the more you explore the question "Why", the more in depth you explore your existence. And that leads to wisdom. Without the "why", or a dearth of it, you are left with a dumb automaton who trudges through life in rote misery.

"How" would be next on the list of questions, another important, defining question, but one we share with many other animals. Birds figure out lots of things, and figuring out "how" is the only way possible.

What, where and when are all spatial questions, and I'd argue everything alive has some grasp of them and their answers.

"Why" is the only question, perhaps, without an answer, since the answer almost always dwells in the subjective. And how can anything subjective be a true answer, so dependent is it on the person answering?

I have two answers to the question "Why", but I can make no claim they are correct.

1. Because life is a chemical reaction that is part of a larger cosmological process of energy transference from the Big Bang.

2. Why not?

Lightning in a bottle

Fun facts to know and share: Once struck by lightning, your odds of getting struck again go way, way up. It's as if lightning forever after locks onto you.

Did you know lightning bolts can also start from the ground and meet another bolt in the sky?

Did you know lightning is made of plasma? And that plasma is the most common state of matter in the solar system? And yet, it's only found on Earth in lightning - briefly - and from scientists. Another way we are like gods (Zeus).