Flying On The Fringe

On June 28, 2016, Omar Almaini and his team from the University of Nottingham released the final images of what they call the Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) performed over an area of sky about four times the size of a full moon. The scientists observed 250,000 galaxies in this region of the sky, in the direction of the constellation Cetus the Whale. Several hundred of these galaxies are so distant that the light we perceive is from the first billion years after the Big Bang.

The team says its goal has been to learn about the formation of galaxies and track their evolution over the past 13 billion years. (From earthsky.com by Daniela Breitman)

Did you get that folks? In just one area of the sky they observed 250,000 galaxies. Don’t fry your brain, but think about what that means for the entire observable universe if we could move the telescope and observe the universe in a complete sphere around our planet.

Earth scientists believe our planet is just over 4.5 billion years old. Life first appeared on earth at about the 3.8 billion year mark. The genus homo appeared approximately 2.5 million years ago, and homo sapiens (that’s us as we know us today) about 200 thousand years ago. It took less than a billion years for life to develop on a new planet, and about 1.3 billion years for that life to evolve sentience.

If the Sol system happens to be a younger-than-average star system, (there is building evidence that it is), then it would be entirely plausible to think that somewhere out there, a planet has an intelligent species far more developed than we are. At the very least, who in their right mind could believe earth would be the only planet in the universe with intelligent life?

The biggest problem, and one that still has our best and brightest minds completely baffled, is that even if we could discern intelligent life (we don’t yet have the technology to do that), we might never be able to communicate effectively, let alone go there and meet them. Most astrophysicists believe travel to distant planets will likely never be possible, at least within the physical lifetime of a single person.

For the foreseeable future, it is only through the free range of the science fiction mind that human beings will travel the galaxy and meet all manor of exotic sentient life.

Live long and dream big.

Today the planet of Blitzgan, and to some extent the entire solar system orbiting the star we call Endira, took a giant step toward freedom and self-determination. The first-ever Planetary Senate will be seated in the capitol of Ardan. Durgess will also be represented, as most of the populace on that planet are remnants of the revolutionaries. For the time being, the Senate will meet in an undisclosed underground bunker for their protection, and because there are few large buildings above ground left intact.

We have a great deal of building to do, both physical and political.

When President Dadra garnered control of what remained of our planet’s war-beleaguered government, he promised to institute planet-wide elections. He took control the same way hundreds of governments leaders did before him—by force. The only difference between Dadra and his predecessors was what he promised. Needless to say, I was skeptical in the extreme.

However, I am becoming more of a believer. Dadra wasted no time in calling for planetary elections. Multiple candidates competed for the available Senate seats, each promising to carry out “the will of the people.” I can only hope they will live up their promises as the President seems to be doing.

It is sad that some of our citizens, unaccustomed to such a freedom, reacted with riots and acts of individual violence. Dadra used the military to enforce security at the polls and to ensure that the elections succeeded. Not a single civilian was killed by the actions of the military. That in itself is unique and praise-worthy.

So, unilaterally and with no authority whatsoever, I am declaring today, 16 Julyn 6248 Freedom Day. Perhaps the idea will catch on and at some time in the future, when ensuring the mere survival of our system becomes less pressing, the Senate will pick up on the idea and make it an official holiday.

Rejoice, my dear citizens, friends, and even those of you who were formerly my enemies. Today a new era of hope begins for the citizens of the Endira system.

Pika RN2378,Editor, The Blitzgan Newscom

I may be late joining the party, but I just discovered a fascinating new project on CNET. Six months ago CNET launched a project in which it asked subscribers to participate in writing a science fiction novel—a crowd-sourced novel. The novel is now available on the following site:

http://www.cnet.com/news/crowd-control-our-crowdsourced-science-fiction-novel-starts-here/

Eric Mack, a CNET writer, launched the novel on October 27, 2015, in recognition of National Writing Month in November. Each year during November, writers are encouraged to attempt to write a full novel in thirty days. I have never attempted it, and I can’t believe anyone could produce much more than 30,000 words of garbage that way, but who knows. Lots of people have tried it, and a lot have discovered a talent they didn’t know they had, or the discipline to employ a talent they do have.

Mack set up the premise for the novel entitled Crowd Control and posted his own daily writings, allowing others to add to his base. The full manuscript totals around 50,000 words and had hundreds of contributors. The finished work is now available for reading at the link above, but the site is still accepting illustrations, so artists—get to it!

Those of us who are writers fully recognize that our profession is changing rapidly. With self-publishing becoming an affordable alternative while traditional publishers offer less and less for a huge chunk of the writers’ profits, writing is open to the masses as never before. True, that sometimes results in novels of inferior quality and writing expertise making it to print, but it also provides an opening for unrecognized but potentially outstanding authors like one of my newly discovered favorites, David Dalglish. Dalglish’s novels are currently published by Orbit, but he started out by self-publishing. Would we ever have had the pleasure of his novels if self-publishing hadn’t been an option?

Crowd sourcing seems to be a new opening in the realm of authorship. As a writer, it thrills me to see something develop that encourages the art of word smithing.

Thus far I have read only the first chapter of Crowd Control, but I intend to keep reading, and I’ll let you all know what I think of it.

Today at 5:34 p.m. central daylight time marks the summer solstice, the longest day of the year for the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice, or shortest day, for the southern hemisphere. What is significant to me is the fact that the entire planet experiences the solstice at the precise same instant, although you have to translate it to your own time zone. That was new to me. I had assumed the entire day was the solstice. In fact, the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and its motion in orbit around the sun. At the June solstice, Earth is positioned in its orbit so that our world’s North Pole is at the point closest to the sun.

Most of us consider it the first day of summer, although our summer heat has usually kicked in well before that. Ancient cultures understood well the significance of the passing seasons, and monuments all over the world, from the pyramids of Egypt to the pyramids of Central and South America, were built to track the movement of the sun. Stonehenge in England aligns with the June solstice. In Egypt, if you stand at the Sphinx and look toward the two Great Pyramids, the sun sets exactly in the middle between the two on the June solstice.

The five phases of ancient Chinese philosophy were associated with specific things: directions, colors, sounds, organs in the body, fundamental elements such as water or fire, and real or mythological beasts. The summer season is associated with the direction south, the color red, the sound of laughing, the heart organ, the fire element, and a creature often referred to as red phoenix.

If you wish to celebrate the solstice as a Chinese philosopher would, you might stand facing south, and honor the “southness” of summer. Go swimming in a cool pool or stream to balance your fire element. Laugh. Laughter is good for the heart, the summer organ. And don’t forget to scan the skies for a red phoenix. What better image to apply to a setting summer sun than a fiery red bird? I think the Chinese absolutely nailed it. What could be better for you in the summer than beating the sizzling fire of the red phoenix by leaping into cool water and laughing like a child?

Happy solstice.

Credit: Deborah Byrd, earthsky.com.

We often tend to assume that we know all there is to know about our world. When I was in my twenties, I worked with a secretary in her seventies who lived in a retirement village. She once told me that a friend of hers had said he thought young people must be discouraged because there was nothing new left to discover. Without hesitation, I rattled off a list of things right off the top of my head that hadn’t yet been unraveled, including how to cure cancer and all the mysteries of black holes. I finished with “the only thing we’ve really learned is how little we know.”

I still feel that way, and it’s a thrill for me each time a major new scientific discovery hits the news. May 10, EarthSky.com carried an article by Deanna Conners highlighting the “Top 10 New Species of 2016.”

Hold the phone. Not all the new species, just the top ten. Scientists estimate there are over ten million distinct species on earth, of which only about two million have been identified and cataloged. This year’s top ten include a bizarre looking fish, a sea dragon, and a new species of pre-human hominid. Intrigued? Visit earthsky.com for the details.

Where did this incredible explosion of life come from? Certainly, the perfect position of our planet in relation to the sun and the abundant presence of water enabled the propagation and differentiation of species. But scientists have for some time debated the possibility that our planet’s water, and even the building blocks of life itself, were delivered to us by a comet or asteroid.

May 27, The European Space Agency announced that it’s Rosetta Spacecraft, which has been studying the Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for the past two years, found glycine and phosphorus on the comet. Glycine is one of the amino acids considered a building block of life, and phosphorus is a key component in DNA and cells. In addition to glycine, researchers found other organic molecules that could be precursors to the formation of glycine.

So, if life on earth didn’t begin here, where did it originate? Where in the galaxy is planet (or comet) zero?

I am declaring today Memorial Day. I may be only a lowly reporter, but Dadra, who has declared himself Provisional President of Blitzgan, surely has what he considers to be more important things on his mind. The civil war, the most recent and most destructive of this planet’s bloody history, has ended, mostly because there are not enough soldiers and not enough military hardware remaining to continue the fight.

So I, Pika RN2378, dedicate this day, Rava 43 of the year 6247, to the one and half million people who died in the last six risings of our moon. The once-proud fleet of a thousand interstellar battleships lies in a ruined minefield of debris throughout our solar system.

Why have we ripped our own world apart in such dastardly fashion? For a dream. The hope that this will be the last of Blitzgan’s wars. A chance to dismantle a history based on the subjugation of an entire species, training our offspring from childhood to be subjects willing to dedicate their lives to the direction of their superiors, designing our educational system to promote conformity and acquiescence. For thousands of years we have exported war, sending our finest youth off to distant battlefields. Always we were told by our trusted leaders that it was for our benefit, to protect us and to further security for others with whom we traded. How is the slaughter of our children to our benefit?

No, that insanity must end forever. Let others fight their own battles. We can protect ourselves without a suicidal dedication to alien wars. For the sake of our children to come, we must build a better world.

So, to all who have given their lives, through all the ages past, to the pursuit of war, go to Badalla in peace, peace everlasting. To you I dedicate this Memorial Day, to honor you and to mark the beginning of a new way of life.

I had the opportunity to attend Planet Comicon in Kansas City this weekend, my first such event. For those who don’t know, these events sprang up in just the past ten to fifteen years, originally among people in the comic book industry. They now encompass every aspect of fantasy and science fiction including comic books, video games, movies and television shows.

A lot of the participants spend days, weeks, or longer developing elaborate character costumes. Halloween taken to the max. I went primarily to see the costumes and to watch the competition. I didn’t expect to get much out of the panel presentations. Boy was I ever wrong.

There were so many interesting presentations that I found it hard to find time to eat. Two of the sessions focused on the physics behind science fiction, what might work based on real science and what suppositions are pure baloney. Dr. Dan Claes, Department Chair & Professor, HEP Physics & Astronomy, University of Nebraska, gave an artful mathematical demonstration of the physics related to Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Many of the assumptions behind Superman’s original comic book incarnation are based on valid science. He could leap tall buildings (but not fly) and had superhuman strength. His abilities would be plausible, if highly improbable, based on the assumption that his species was born on a planet with radically higher gravity and a red sun that promoted a different cell structure. The modern versions of both heroes are beyond real science, however.

Dr. Claes’s second lecture focused on the effects of radiation. Godzilla, giant ants, and other radiation-induced nasties—not plausible. Sorry monster movie buffs. The modern field of genetics offers many more possibilities. Spiderman on the other hand, might be plausible if there were other factors involved such as a rapidly-spreading radioactively altered virus that the spider transmitted.

All science fiction revolves around stretching science to its limits and trying to project ourselves into a future we can’t see. One of the limits to interplanetary travel is the damaging effect of long-term exposure to cosmic radiation that astronauts would experience. We have nothing that will adequately shield them. So Star Trek—not possible at this point in time. But new elements are discovered or created from time to time, or we may discover a way to counteract the effects, so who knows.

I am surprised and thrilled that Planet Comicon gave me many insights and inspirations for my future writing. Dr. Claes answered a major question I had for the book I am writing and seeing the alien creations of others helped me clarify how my own characters should look.

It just goes to show that a writer never knows where he or she will find inspiration. Keep an open mind and keep on trying new things.