When I stare up at the sky at night, through the smog and light pollution I see part of the vast cosmos laid out before me.

The insignificance of our lives becomes apparent when placed alongside the birth and death of stars and galaxies.

I discovered something last week, something I’d never seen advertised. Google Earth 4.2 introduced a Sky watching section that gives users a freedom to explore the cosmos with extraordinary detail. The majority of images probably come from ground telescopes, stitched together in a patchwork of very detailed imagery. There are many images from the Hubble telescope placed on top of these at the right distance and position that let you zoom right in to the spectacular views of the various nebulae captured by Hubble.

This tool provides a great tool for anyone interested in space to get access to the night sky without the need of an expensive telescope, and warm in the comfort of our houses.

I’m glad to see that some of the money earned by google is going to things that are for the good of the public.

The vastness, the sheer number of galaxies and the number of stars that must be in each one, and the possible planets circling those suns.

Are we a freak occurrence in a blink of the universal eye or is life not as rare as we imagine? How did the building blocks of life, the enzymes that form DNA come together in such a way as to mark the difference between that which is alive and that which is inanimate?

We might never find out.

Sometimes the hardest part of the journey is the descent.

As the world comes to the realisation that the global supply of oil is on a downward trend, the population will have to adapt to a changing context in which to live their lives. If the current rate of increase in the price of oil isn’t dramatically slowed, there might not be enough time to adapt.

I stress the word “might” because of recent advances in alternative fuels; things like new fast charge and release high capacity Lithium Ion batteries for electric cars, or Bio-Oil produced by genetically modified photosynthesising algae.

Increasing demand for oil in developing countries such as India and China are arguably the main cause of the spike in price, rather than market speculation as some suggest. This demand in a climate of stagnating supply is the key determining factor of price rises.

Therefore whatever solutions come about to shake our dependency on at least the finite fossil crude we pump out of the ground will have to meet these demands in order to maintain peace.

Many of the world’s cities, and many countries like Australia and the United States are built on the assumption that we will always have energy to run our trucks, cars, planes and ships. They are sprawling and lack the infrastructure to move people around, let alone cargo and produce without a cheap fuel source.

We face some great challenges in the coming decades. Our current existence, our comforts and norms are made fragile by our globalised world. The decisions made by those in power and everyone else will determine what the world will look like after we descend from peak oil, at the bottom of Mount Crude.

A well dressed man reaches into the garbage to pick out the daily news. Not the first time for him.

It is a man not afraid of the microscopic life that enters his body. Is he laughing in the face of danger? Or is the average trash can cleaner than we imagine?

Ode to bacteria

Bacteria,… you divide yourself in two then two to spread out far and wide.
So often do you multiply that mutating bugs come out and thrive.
Once bitten twice immune, once mutated could be your doom.

As the winds and rain roar around us the sounds of political chatter emanates from the T.V.

I listen on and off, with waning interest. The American political system is as tedious as I have ever seen. By the time they reach the actual election, I imagine most people have stopped listening to what the candidates have to say.

In fairness though, the system obviously does work when the push comes to shove. The voting turnout in the democratic primaries has been unseen for a long time. As the campaign moves from in-fighting and focuses on the Republican party, as it seems to be doing, there will be new interest generated in the ideas that each side has to offer.

What worries me is something seen not only in the United States, but all around the western world. That is the politics of fear; employing the fear of every-day citizens to consolidate power and to decay civil liberties.

What kind of threat is terrorism? It is hard to counter-act through conventional means, and it’s results can be catastrophic, but the chances of being hit are quite slim. The only threat worth sitting up and taking notice of, is that of nuclear weapons.

Will nuclear weapons fall into the hands of those who would use them indiscriminately? The bigger question is why are there still nuclear weapons? There have been no strong political voices, at least that I perceive, to spearhead the disarmament of the world’s nuclear weapons since the end of the cold war.

Mutually assured destruction only has it’s place as long as nuclear weapons stay in the hands of nation states. This can only last so long.

I fear for the world of tomorrow, not because of terrorists, who are a fleeting glimpse in the history of the planet, but because of the short sightedness of political leaders around the world.

disarm the nukes…

Photo care of ABC Australia -
here

To reconcile with the past, we need to know the full story of what has happened; both shame and honour.

It’s only through clear and unbiased reporting of events that we can hope to know the true nature of humanity in all it’s imperfect glory.

Understanding is the path to reconciliation.

On this ANZAC day, I not only remember the soldiers who died, but let my mind wander to dread. It is the sneaking suspicion lurking unwanted in the back of my mind that peace may be a pipe-dream. There are those in the world who are so far removed from reality that they will send people to their deaths not as a last resort, but as a first.

Where nationalism provides unity and security for a nation, would worldism provide peace for humanity? Before the technological age, this could be unimaginable, as the world is so physically large that differences in culture and attitudes will vary greatly across the various regions.

In the technological age, the distance between opposite sides of the globe can be shrunken to nothing, but will provide only a glimpse of the side of society that is physical. Perhaps it would bring humanity just close enough to allow a lasting peace.

In the end, I get back to the realisation, that the variety of this great planet is what allows us to know what it feels like to accept someone in all their difference, and respect them when they share the values of freedom we hold dear.

Today I remember those who fought for those values.