November 30, 2009
We’ve all seen it. 
The beautiful fantasy landscape of some distant planet sporting several large moons. But…is it feasible in reality?
Recently I was watching yet another Discovery channel show about what the Earth would be like without the moon. The answer was scary and pretty desolate. The reason is because of the tides and how they “stir up” our oceans.
So, knowing that the rotation of the moon around the planet causes a rise in tides on the moon side and on the exact opposite side, what happens when you have two or more moons? What would happen if they had different orbital rates (ie 24 hours and 38.2 hours?). How would the wave paths conflict? Would life still be possible, or just wildly different than what we know?
This is a pretty important question while we are searching for life on other planets. Anything that would have a profound effect on the life cycle of a planet has to be considered.
On an aside, these fantasy images often show the moons as very large. Obviously some of that can be achieved via atmospheric lensing (ever see the moon low on the horizon looking as big as a basketball and red as a pumpkin?), but how close can a moon be before gravity pulls it into said planet?
November 4, 2009
So I watched this show on History Channel talking about how there are worldwide accounts that could potentially be alien interactions. For instance, golden “airplanes” found in Mayan tombs, the Nazca Lines, stories in the Bible describing “angels” who with the nimbus around their heads could have been aliens in space suits. Cave paintings of humanoid creatures, again with circular “helmets.”
Frankly, I’m fascinated. Not saying I’m ready to put on my tinfoil cap to keep out the alien brain scanners, but it’s definitely an interesting idea. Our galaxy alone is estimated to have approximately 400 BILLION stars. I’ve also read recent articles where Earth-like planets are much more common than previously thought. Evolution is a numbers game…and with numbers like that it’s highly unlikely that we are alone in the universe.
Given the rate that human knowledge is progressing ( at my college graduation the speaker claimed that the whole of human knowledge was doubling every 3 years…and that was 7 years ago), I think it’s entirely possible and likely that we will achieve meaningful space travel within the next 200 years. If an alien race was able to achieve “warp drives,” then the distance from star to star would easily become moot.
In defense of playing devil’s advocate, if there are 400 billion stars in our galaxy, then the likelihood that an alien race would pick our planet to visit goes down. In which case the likelihood would probably depend on proximity ( seems logical that aliens would explore their immediate neighborhood first ).
November 4, 2009
The same side of the Moon always faces Earth. There are meteor scars ALL over the surface. So if the Moon is relatively close to the Earth and the same side has always faced us, how did all those meteorites hit the Earth-facing side? The Earth would’ve been in the path of collision. Did the Moon actually get pushed (rotated) by the force of the collision? Were these lateral hits coming in shallowly from the side? (In which case, the craters should show a dust plume wide on one side and narrow on the other rather than a round dust pattern).
Wikipedia says that the Moon had a faster rotation that slowed around 2 billion years ago, so I guess it’s possible that the craters were created then. So are there any more recent craters? If there are, the question stands – how did the craters on the moon get on the near side with the Earth blocking the collision path?
I’m sure someone has the answer to this…I just didn’t see it. 
Here’s what Wikipedia says about the Moon
Other Interesting Reading:
The Origins Of The Man In The Moon on Space.com
November 4, 2009
Tom and I were talking the other day about evolution and how wars were effective means of controlling the population in Europe (and for that matter Stalin in Russia ). So here is my thought: What if the group consciousness gave rise to Hitler and other dictators who then led the population into massive wars?
There are several parts to this (admittedly way out in left field) theory. First, would the group conciousness be responsible for shaping an existing susceptible individual into a sociopathic dictator? Second, is it possible, that similar to frogs whose sex is determined by environmental chemicals and constraints, that the individual was shaped in the womb by some currently unrealized energy / pheromone / aura?
I would assume that the catalyst would be pressure for resources: food, water, wood, homes, etc.
Part of the formulation for this theory comes from reading about magick (in the pagan, spell-casting sense). The premise is the conscious manipulation of the group subconscious to bring oneself <insert desire here>. Supposing that the group consciousness exists ( my social psychologist friend Jennifer Ratcliff says there are studies into it, so I assume there is at least some scientific basis for the idea), what would be the evolutionary purpose? What would it be used for? Population control could be as good an answer as any.
Thoughts?
November 4, 2009
We watch a LOT of science shows. Discover, History Channel, Nova Science Now, The Universe…..my 5 year old already knows most of her planets. A while back I watched a show on Discover about how Noah’s flood really happened. Now, I saw a previous show that postulated the Noah’s Ark story was a ripoff of a dude named Gilgamesh who was the moral of a story about the Euphrates flooding. It always struck me as lame.
Well, a geologist also thought it was lame too – largely because the flood story was found in at least 15 cultures in diverse areas. She set about proving that the Noah’s flood story was actually the result of a tsunami caused by a volcano collapsing into the Mediterranean. Radar around the volcano and around the various shorelines show softer earth where it was dumped or where the tsunami scraped the shoreline. Pretty cool, huh?
More and more we are finding out that the stories and “myths” we always attributed to superstition and/or ignorance were actually events that happened. So…it got me wondering. If the Noah’s Ark story could be true, why couldn’t the Red Sea parting also be true?
Interestingly enough, I went to Wikipedia for an article to give some background for those who don’t know the story ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Red_Sea) . Apparently they think the crossing may not have been at what we call the “Red Sea” today, but a swampy place called the “Reed Sea”. Already this is sounding more plausible than the traditional tale we are accustomed to. And it also lists a volcano erupting as the cause for multiple tsunamis that would have caused flooding. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thera#Speculation_on_an_Exodus_Connection
<Disclaimer: I am NOT at all religious. I’m hovering somewhere between Agnostic and Atheist. So this isn’t some attempt to justify Bible-thumping. >
I am not a geologist. I’m just a science show nut with a wandering mind. So I’m putting this question out there in the hopes that someone with some actual knowledge will a) get interested and figure it out b) know the answer and share it with the rest of us. So please, speculate: What kind of geological event could have caused the Red Sea to temporarily recede? Is there any proof that it did, in fact recede? (Think radar scans, disturbed earth, rocks in places they shouldn’t be, pieces of unfortunate Egyptian armor at the bottom of the sea in a cluster). A meteor? Earthquake? Tsunami? A sinkhole? A volcano? If the Thera eruption wasn’t the cause of the receding sea, then what was?
The beautiful fantasy landscape of some distant planet sporting several large moons. But…is it feasible in reality?
8 Reasons Why Marijuana Should Be Legalized
<Disclaimer: I do not smoke marijuana. Nor would I even if it was legal. >
Today I came across a video on YouTube about LEAP, which is an organization of law enforcement officials who want to legalize certain drugs. Now, the commentary was provided by Fox News, which in general makes me twitch – Fox News is typically full of fear-mongering, uneducated, crackpots ( let me tell you how I really feel about Fox News…hehe ). But…in this case they had a point, though maybe not for the reasons you would expect. Here is my take on why marijuana should be legal.
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