Random Thoughts on the Universe

Florida Panther Family

This magnificent photo of the endangered Florida panther is copied from the site of Vern Buchanan, Florida Congressman, who is attempting to aid this dwindling breed. Forty-one panthers were killed this year, thirty in traffic accidents - most, I believe, in the southern half of the state. Supposedly, there are only 180 panthers left in the state.

After a lifetime of membership in the Congregational Church, on January 3, 2016, I became an Episcopalian. (Few Congregational churches here in Florida bear any resemblance to the Congregational Churches of New England where I grew up.) And at Church of the Resurrection the intellectual level is high, the choir (in which I sing) truly amazing. Best amateur choir I've ever sung with.

Being helped to my feet by both Father Paul & the Bishop!

 

Walking away, officially Episcopalian

Hailey as an X-Wing fighter

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Random Thoughts

Monday, January 4, 2016:
I was checking out at Walgreen's today when I saw a National Geographic with the absurd Cover Headline (in giant letters): "Are We Alone?" set against a star-filled sky. My immediate reaction was, "They've got to be kidding!" I mean, in this day and age, with all we know about the Universe, how could there be any thinking person on earth too arrogant to admit that it's absolutely impossible that we are the only sentient beings in the cosmos. Look at the night sky. Look at the Hubble photos. Read any modern text on astronomy. There is no way, no how, that we can be alone. And that a well-respected, long-established magazine like National Geographic should pose such a question makes me cringe. I mean, really, that is just plain stupid.

If you take the answer to that question a step further, the obvious answer suggests that some alien civilizations will be far ahead of us, some on a par, and some far behind. But that anyone could question whether there are sentient beings elsewhere in the universe is like finding one drop of rain on earth and assuming that to be all the water there is.

Of course we are not alone. But distances are vast, and who knows when we'll be able to venture out far enough to find other people like us - or people who may be vastly different from what we consider normal? 

Have "they" come to us? I'm inclined to think so. I'm old enough to remember the first reports on the Roswell incident, before it got all "tidied up" into a downed weather balloon. I even know someone who has seen what he calls "the evidence" at Area 51. (And no, he's not a kook but someone who was stationed there in a responsible job.) 

Do we actually adore Star Wars and Star Trek because we consider them nothing more than fantasy adventure? I don't think so. We love them because they show us what many of us think may be the future. In the case of Star Wars, an epic battle of good versus evil. In Star Trek, we see a series of stories that reveal a more benign future, a time of exploration, combined with parables of good and evil, right and wrong, with touches of both comedy and pathos. 

We are not simply fans, we are believers. The world we see on screen is out there, and we know someone, someday is going to go all the way - out of our star system and into the Quadrant, across the Galaxy, and finally to that great and mysterious universe beyond. We're not going to be there to see it, but it will happen. So we enjoy the gorgeous on-screen fiction, while hoping that no matter what form the future takes, it will be a Star Trek world of optimism and strong life-respecting values. 

Spiral Galaxy Messier 81

Okay, folks, can anyone actually look at this single photo from a universe that contains countless galaxies and still believe we are alone. Every pin point of light is a star system, and it's well beyond the law of averages to say that not a single one of them has a planet capable of producing sentient life.

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Thanks for stopping by,

Grace

For Grace's website, listing all books as Blair Bancroft, click here.
For a brochure for Grace's editing service, Best Foot Forward, click here.