Some Travel Photos

I have always enjoyed photography and try to take a camera with me wherever I travel, even if it is only my little point-n-shoot digital. Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite point-n-shoot photos with you. These first two were taken when I got to travel to the island of Terceira in the Azores on a business trip:
This next one is a sunset shot that I took in my front yard. Yea, it's not a travel photo, but it's one I like. I knew the light wouldn't hold for long and I didn't have time to set up my big camera and tripod, so I just grabbed the little camera and steadied it on the roof of my car.
These last two are from a cruise I went on last year. Once again I only took the little camera, mostly because if something happened to it I wouldn't be out too much money. But once again the little camera did OK. The moonlight photo was taken by holding the camera on the railing of the boat.

You don't need fancy equipment to take good photos, just open your eyes to the beauty of the world around you.

Pictures from home

Every human, every plant, every animal, everything we have ever known has come from one place: Earth. We argue over borders, fight over territory, and pollute the land, soil, water, and air. It is our only home. We think of it as limitless, with endless resources available for us. It is not. Earth is a lovely planet, but it is finite and fragile. To help illustrate this I have collected a series of images of our home -- from near to far. Each image has a link back to its source if you want more information on the picture.

The first image was taken from orbit by a satellite. What you are looking at is the ocean in the vicinity of the Bahamas. The Web site is "Earth As Art".

This next picture was also taken from Earth orbit by the crew of the International Space Station. Here you can see some of the curve of the planet.
Now we've moved out of Earth orbit. This picture was taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts during one of their orbits of the moon. What a lovely, blue world.
We continue to move out in space away from Earth. This image was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor. For more information about this image you can also read this article from the National Geographic News. The image you see here has been greatly enlarged - go to the Mars Global Surveyor link to see the actual image.
This last picture is part of the first family photo ever taken of the planets of our solar system. You are looking at home from 6.4 billion kilometers away. Earth is a pale, blue dot less than the size of a pixel. Click on the image to view the whole family.

Explorers wanted

Humans have been quite adventurous in the past. Our ancestors crossed vast continents, explored the wide oceans, braved ice and deserts as they expanded across the face of our home, Earth. Who knows how many lives were lost in this process, how many ships never returned, how many wagon trains never reached their destinations? Did this stop us? No, if it had we would not be where we are today.

But what about now? Since we’ve covered this planet, space must be our next destination. So why aren’t we doing more? Yes, I know, we’ve had a number of accidents and we’ve lost people and space ships. These are disasters that need to be examined so we can learn from our mistakes [and honor our lost heroes], but these should not be disasters that cause us to stop trying. Did our ancestors stop when a ship was lost, when a caravan did not survive? No, they kept trying and so should we.

The author, William Burrows, states in his book, “The Survival Imperative: Using Space to Protect Earth,” that the current generation “increasingly has no sense of joy of purposeful adventure.” We need to inspire them, instruct them, encourage them, and motivate them. If nothing else will get people moving, then they need to look at how MUCH money can be made out in space (after all money seems to be the only thing that so many people are interested in)! John S. Lewis states in “Mining the Sky”, “[L]et's consider the smallest known M-type asteroid, the near-Earth asteroid known as 3554 Amun (two kilometers in diameter): The iron and nickel in Amun have a market value of about $8,000 billion, the cobalt content adds another $6,000 billion, and the platinum-group metals add another $6,000 billion.” That comes to a total of $20,000 billion. Current estimates put the total number of asteroids above 1 km in diameter in the solar system to be between 1.1 and 1.9 million. You do the math. If that isn’t enough to create a ‘gold-rush’ type stampede, I don’t know what will.

Albert Einstein once wrote in a letter to his son, “Life is like a bicycle, you have to keep moving in order to keep your balance.” We [humanity] have stopped moving, we’re stagnate, overweight, out of shape, uninspired, and without a vision. We need people who are willing to brave the dangers and take us that next step. Heck, if I had the money to build a ship (or two), I’d be willing to go. I suspect that space travel could not be any more dangerous than a trip down the average interstate highway (Florida, California, or Chicago for example!).

One last thing to consider: If the dinosaurs had a space program they would still be here. Big rocks do fall out of the sky. We need to be somewhere else before the next extinction sized rock heads our way. Don’t think they are out there? Read this!

Peace on Earth

My last Blog included a list of some of the events and holidays taking place this month. Tomorrow is a very big holiday for millions of Christians – Christmas. If you are interested in some history on this holiday, the folks at How Stuff Works have an article on How Christmas Works .

Personally I’m a secular humanist. Never heard of one of us? I’m not surprised, there aren’t a lot of us around – at least compared to those who follow the major religions. Interested in what a secular humanist is? Wikipedia has a pretty good description of who we are, what we believe, and links to more info here .

Regardless of what religion you do or do not follow I want to wish each and every one of you a happy holidays. There is a line from a song that many sing this time of year: “Peace on Earth, good will towards everyone” [I changed that last word!]. My wish is that ‘peace on Earth’ could truly happen. Imagine how much we (I’m talking of humanity here) could do without wasting so much energy, time, money, lives, etc. on War? Do you think we can every ‘grow up’, open our eyes and realize that we all live on the same small, blue planet? Carl Sagan called our home a “pale, blue dot”. In case you missed my earlier post, go here to read an article about just how small our home is .

I wish you all life, love, happiness, friendship, and hope. This life is what we make of it. I hope we can all try a little harder to make this a better world.

Peace

Inspiration

What inspires you: people, places, things? For myself, among other things, it’s quotations that other people have said over the centuries that inspire me. So, lacking inspiration for a topic this week, I’ve decided to list some of my favorite ones here. They are in no particular order, mostly just as I find them from where they are stashed – my bulletin board, stuck to the side of the fridge, taped to the filing cabinet, or filed in my PalmPilot.

This one might seem wrong at first, but you need to think about it:
"Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." - Isaac Asimov

Now here is one that you might have seen, it certainly fits the United States now [unfortunately]:
"Those who would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin

Here’s a couple I wish the entire planet would follow:
"Treat the Earth well: is was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children" - Indian proverb
"Fear less, hope more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours." - Swedish proverb

The source of this one may surprise you:
"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest-- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

Here are some very timely ones:
"Unfortunately, prejudice comes from education and family life and all the things that are praised by religious orthodoxy." - Sir Peter Ustinov
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B Anthony
"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself." - Richard Francis Burton
"The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Here’s one that I try hard to follow:
"I have made peace with myself somewhere between my ambitions and my limitations." - from the movie, Tea House of the August Moon

I’d like to think that this one is a good description of me:
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." - Theodore Roosevelt

Lastly, since I just quit my job, I guess this one is really me:
"I'd rather be a failure at something I enjoy than a success at something I hate." - George Burns

Do you have any favorite quotations or sayings?

Water Wars

There’s an old saying: “You never miss the water till the well runs dry.” Much of the world lives on less than 4 gallons of water a day. Here in the U.S. we use approximately 100 gallons of water per person per day. For statistical information and other excellent information about this issue please visit the World Water Council. I must admit I am shocked by how much we in the U.S. use. Check out this site for the statistics.

Have you heard about Orme, a town in Tennessee, that only has running water for three hours per day? Check out this news story. And it's not just there: South Florida could be next because of low river levels. Check out this news story.

It is way past time we started to treat this life-giving resource with respect. Here’s some ways you can reduce the amount of water you use EVERY day:

• Don’t let water drip from a faucet. A dripping faucet can waste 20 gallons per day. I’m not just talking about in your own home either: if you are in a public bathroom and a tap is dripping or running all you have to do is turn it off.
• Turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth. Guys, don’t run the water while you are shaving – just fill the sink bowl with about an inch of water to use to rinse your razor.
• Run the dishwasher or washing machine only when full. If you need to replace either of those appliances, look for the Energy Star label. Not only will you save electricity, but water too. Consider a front loading washing machine, they wash your clothes better, and use less water and soap in the process.
• Take shorter showers. Depending upon the type of shower head you have you are using between 5 to 10 gallons of water a minute.
• If the yard doesn’t need watering, don’t water it. Once or twice a week should be more than enough.
• If you have older, high water usage toilets take a plastic water bottle and fill it with water or sand. Place that in the tank of the toilet to reduce the amount of water you use every time you flush. When you can, replace the old toilets with low water use toilets. They work just as well and use much less water.
• Here are some excellent sites for many more suggestions: Water Conservation Tips, 100 Water Saving Tips, 25 Ways to Save Water at Home
  

What are the alternatives? Remember New Orleans after Katrina? Now imagine it has been weeks since you’ve had running water, you’re thirsty, dirty, your family needs fresh water. What would you do? Here’s a story from the BBC on the looming water crisis.

Yes, these are hard truths. But we all need to work NOW to prevent water wars from tearing humanity apart. Every gallon of water that we save is a gallon that does not get removed from our shrinking water supply.

One final statistic for you: 97.5% of all the water on Earth is salt water, which leaves only 2.5% as fresh water. Here’s where I got this information.

Pale Blue Dot

There may be a few folks who remember a scientist by the name of Carl Sagan. Back in 1980 he released the Cosmos series, a show that introduced the concepts of science to people in a way that almost anyone could understand. It was a great series, one that I enjoyed. If you were to view it now it may appear to be a bit dated on some topics, but his widow, Ann Druyan, re-released the show on DVD a while back (don't know when) and included some updated graphics and information. If you ever get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

I know that many people view science as a nasty, evil thing. It is not. It is what has brought us to where we are today (both good and bad). Do you enjoy artificial light at night? A scientist invented it. Do you every talk to someone who is far away over the telephone? A scientist invented it. What about television, microwave ovens, air conditioning (OK, a doctor created it, but medicine and science go hand in hand), the list goes on and on.

This is not to say that science is universally good. However, anything can be used for both good and evil. You can use a pen to write a love letter and use that same pen to stab someone. The choices we make determine the end result.

My concern is that so many people do not really think about most of the decisions (or maybe I should say opinions and beliefs) that they make. They follow along with "popular opinion" or what someone tells them they should believe. If you went to the doctor and they said you needed major surgery, wouldn't you get a second opinion? I'm trying to offer a second opinion on science to show that it has done good things and can continue to do good things. Please read this article posted at the American Institute of Physics.

As for the title of this blog, when the Voyager I spacecraft was beyond the orbit of Neptune its cameras were turned back in towards the sun and a portrait of our solar system was taken. Earth is only a tiny, blue dot, smaller than a pixel. Click here to view an article about it.

Thanks for listening.