Look, Up in the Sky!

     I recently bought a pair of Orion Ultra-View 10x50 binoculars to do a little stargazing. I mean, when the stars are as clear as they are here and when you can see more with the naked eye than you ever dreamed possible, binoculars are the next step. I was spurred on by the comet Lovejoy, which i had a very small window of opportunity to see. I found it, with its faint green smudge in the sky, to right of Orion in the Southern sky, below the Pleiades. But, that was just the beginning. Within a week, I had seen so much more that I was kicking myself for not doing this sooner.

http://www.universetoday.com/106995/subaru-telescope-captures-the-fine-details-of-comet-lovejoys-tail/

     I love the stars. I love all things space. Hubble images, space shuttles, Star Wars and Star Trek. I'm all in. Except I have never been much of a star gazer. I wanted to be, but I just didn't do it. I had a telescope when I was a kid, but I grew bored quickly and then it was forgotten in a closet. Its really a shame, since now i realize that you can see the Galilean Moons and the Rings of Saturn with just a pair of binoculars. You can see the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, Mars, Venus, Mercury...all in much more striking detail than I ever thought was possible without a telescope with a high magnification. The awe it inspires is...awe inspiring! The more I look, the more I want to see.

http://www.mikesastrophotos.com/tag/nebula/

     I am obsessed with the moons of Jupiter. When I first look at Jupiter a few weeks ago, on a crystal clear night here in Southern Germany, I thought the little bright dots next to it were stars. It was only after a few minutes that I realized they were some combination of Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. How I didn't know I could almost see them with the naked eye shows how distracted I have been with other things in my life. I have spent my life fascinated with the Solar System, space exploration, the images Hubble send back to Earth..all of it. But I never really took the time to look up myself. Call me lazy, blame it on light pollution or my obsession with television, but the very things I was awed by I never bothered to go outside and look at on my own.

http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/m/planets/453251.aspx

      I think so many of us are distracted in the same ways. We are all caught up in the machine that has us up at dawn for coffee, in the car to the office by 8am, back in time for soccer practice at 5:30pm, all the while nose-deep in our smart phones watching cats attack balls of yarn or answering Facebook messages with "smh" or "lmfao". We wander through life, focused on careers and values and our beliefs, failing to take into account the very things that make our reality so beautiful. Instead of gazing at the stars and wondering what's up there, how it got there and what will happen next, we are fixated on our laptops and Facebook memes and whether or not the Patriots are world-class cheaters (which everyone knows they are).

     Stop looking down at that glow device in your hand. Look up! Turn the TV off and take your kids outside. Take some binoculars. If you're addicted to your smartphone, put it to good use and download the Skyview app. Go to the park or wherever the light doesn't block the heavens. The Universe is more than buying things and saving for retirement. There are wonders conjure wild fantasies and humbling thoughts that put life into perspective. Next time it's clear at night, go outside. What do you see? As I found out, more than I thought possible.

He Had a Dream

Partisan Divides and Clean Water

     Take a look at the recent Forbes article that details the "end" of the partisan divide over whether Climate Change is a real thing or not. Despite the recent actions of the US Senate, that voted to determine if anthropogenic climate change indeed exists, apparently the majority of the GOP acknowledges and accepts that we are indeed having an effect on the planets climate. I was pretty shocked to read that, I have to say. But it did give me hope.

     What I don't understand is why the Senate is even wasting our tax dollars on votes to determine something that really can only be fleshed out with science and statistics. Voting on whether Climate Change is real is like voting to decide if most birds can fly or to establish whether we breath O2 or not. I'd rather they vote on steps to take to reduce the effects of AGW instead of grandstanding for a small but vocal faction of the GOP to appease them.

     Sorry this blog can be so political sometimes, but that's part of it these days. The Forbes article points out that that is changing, which is good. But we have a long way to go. So, to balance out todays post and in order to focus on the positive and the humorous for the rest of the month, here is an article with a positive spin. When I worked with the Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy, clean water was a focus. Scientists now are developing nanoparticles to clean up our water. Because clean water is important. Although, to be sure, maybe we should vote on that.

Ohio Takes a Step Back

     Ohio governor John Kasich just signed a bill passed by the Ohio State Legislature that rolls back renewable energy standards. In short, customers will no longer get discounts or credits for producing renewable energy, the utilities are no longer required to produce a certain amount of energy with Solar, Wind or other renewables. And utilities are no longer encouraged to find energy efficient solution for their customers. You can read the article here.

     What the fuck? Katich ran for office on a campaign that promised voters he would create jobs and was all for clean technology and renewable energy. Signing the bill shows he is yet another lying politician who is in bed with the oil and coal industries. And he will say whatever he has to in order to get elected. It is common nowadays to just toss around that today's politicians are being paid by the fossil fuel industry. When things like this happen, can you blame us? What other logical reason is there to NOT start switching over to renewables? If there ever was a perfect set up for Wind Energy in the US, than its along the shores of Lake Erie in a state decimated by pollution and with a large amount of people living near the poverty line.

     All of these steps back from renewable energy and environmental regulations has my head spinning. Is it really all about money? I mean, renewable energy poses a grand opportunity to put America back on top, to clean up the air and water and land, to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and update the nations power grid. The last one is important for National Security reasons. The potential for growth and innovation in the renewable energy sector far exceed those which could come about by staying married to fossil fuels. So, why the huge push for fossil fuel energy? Are our government officials really in the pockets of the Oil and Coal giants?

     I can't wrap my head around this stuff sometimes. More often lately, in fact, I feel like my head is going to explode, which might be good. Maybe my brain remnants will spread some common sense and enlightened thinking around to the masses.