THE UNIVERSE: MIND BOGGLING NUMBERS

by | Jun 6, 2024 | Science

THE UNIVERSE: MIND BOGGLING NUMBERS

Thanks to the amazing James Webb Space Telescope, we continue to learn new and majestic lessons about the Universe. Believe me, it never ends.

My son sent me an online article yesterday about the latest discovery by the James Webb Telescope and the dedicated team of scientists who use it to study the universe. It was an article about one of the earliest galaxies formed after the big bang. That new discovery ignited this article.

When I was ten years old, our 5TH grade teacher, Mrs. Seligson, took us on a trip to the incredible Hayden Planetarium. That school trip changed my life.

I always loved to read and learn, but after that trip, I was almost in a state of shock. At the age of 10, I thought the planet earth and the stars I saw in the sky were it. But thanks to Mrs. Seligson, and the fabulous Hayden Planetarium, for the rest of my life, I would never cease to be amazed by the staggering numbers our brilliant scientists have computed over the years.

On that trip to the Hayden Planetarium, I learned the earth is just a small part of something called the Solar System. We have a star called the Sun, and 9 planets. Then I learned, our solar system is located in a much larger environment called the UNIVERSE.  Wow! What is the Universe?

I’m a long way from being a ten-year-old elementary school student, but I’ll never forget the impact of seeing a model of the solar system and the universe at the Hayden Planetarium. What I’ve learned about the Universe since that elementary school trip has never ceased to amaze me. Thanks to the James Webb Telescope, we’ve learned some incredible lessons, which go way beyond what I learned during that school trip.

We can talk about the size of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Universe, but humans cannot possibly grasp the enormity of the dimensions we now have reference where we live, and how our tiny planet fits into the entire scheme of reality.

The planet Earth, and our solar system, are part of the Milky Way Galaxy. I am going to present a series of numbers that are fascinating. Humans can comprehend the first few sets of numbers, while the big ones, which I’ll present later, are literally impossible to grasp.

  • NASA rocket ships travel close to 25,000 mph.
  • It takes between 7-8 months, traveling in a rocket ship @ 25,000 mph, to travel from earth to the planet Mars. The time frame depends on where we are in our respective orbits around the sun.
  • It took the Voyager II Rocketship about 12 years to arrive at the planet Neptune. That’s right, the solar system is so big, it took a rocket ship, traveling almost 25,000 mph, about 12 years to reach the planet Neptune.

Now we’re going to move onto a series of numbers that are incomprehensible to humans. They continue to amaze and stun me each time I examine them or learn about new ones.

  • Just in our Milky Way galaxy alone, it is estimated there are approximately 100 thousand million stars [suns].
  • There are between 100 and 200 BILLION PLANETS in the Milky Way. That is billion, not millions. We know for sure, there must be plenty of human life somewhere else in our galaxy.
  • How big is the Milky Way? It is approximately 100,000 Light Years across.
  • What is a light year? Light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second. A light year is the distance light travels in one earth calendar year. Remember, that is 186,000 miles per second, not per hour.
  • How long would it take to travel in a rocket ship from one end of the Milky Way to the opposite end? It would take about 1.9 Billion Years.

Hopefully, that will give you some understanding of how incredibly large our Milky Way Galaxy is. With at least some understanding of how gigantic our galaxy is, the following numbers go beyond mind boggling. Human beings cannot possibly put them in any frame of reference, which they can understand.

  • As mentioned above several times, the size of the Milky Way galaxy alone, is mind boggling, A big as that number is, we know there are probably between 200 and one trillion other galaxies in the Universe.

Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, we now know the Milky Way, despite its enormous size, makes up just tiny portion of the Universe. As I’ve repeatedly stated, there is no way we can comprehend the size of a universe which contains between 200 and One Trillion massive galaxies.

People Refuse to Think

by | Jul 26, 2021 | Life, Religion and God, Science

I spend a fair amount of time wondering how people could possibly be so dumb, that they often act counter to their own best interests or believe things which are totally absurd and defy logic. In addition, huge numbers of people believe anything which jives with their view of the world, even if there’s no foundation for that belief. Facts, documentation, evidence, and/or the truth will not change their opinions.

Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, mastered the technique of weaving lies around a small element of truth. Goebbels understood that if you repeat a lie enough times, instead of doing independent research, many people will believe it. That is so true in America today, especially on FOX.
Here are some absurd conspiracy theories and/or anti-science statements which are believed by millions who live in our country.

  • Almost 20% of Americans believe the sun rotates around the earth
  • The moon landing never happened, it was filmed in a Hollywood studio.
  • 911 was a plot constructed by the U.S. government for whatever reason.
  • The 20 children and 6 teachers murdered at Sandy Hook never happened. It is a story made up by liberals who want to take away your guns.
  • The 17 students and staff members killed @ Parkland High School never happened. It was made up by liberals who want to take away your guns.
  • The planet earth was repeatedly visited by aliens, but our government is keeping it a secret.
  • Over 2 million Americans believe the earth is flat.
  • Over 51% of Americans believe there is something up in the sky which they call god.
  • Over 40% of Americans believe god created the planet earth.
  • Millions of Americans believe in an afterlife located in heaven or hell. Of course they cannot tell us where to find either one.

I could probably write a lengthy book on ignorance, but here are what I believe is an array of stunning examples, illustrating sheer stupidity.

Crime Related:

  • Divorce: A man and woman were in the process of getting divorced, so they were negotiating a buyout settlement on the part of the husband, who was allegedly worth around $500 million. He eventually made a final offer to his soon to be ex-wife, whereby he agreed to give her $25 MILLION. You guessed it. Instead of suffering while trying to live on a meager budget of only $25 million, she hired a friend to murder her husband. Both the wife and her friend are in prison for the remainder of their lives. They no longer have to worry about trying to somehow make it in life on a tiny, $25 million budget.
  • A woman who married a fireman in Ohio, hired someone to kill her husband because she wanted his pension all to herself. She didn’t know the husband never updated the pension benefits documents, so upon his death, 100% of his death benefits would go to his first wife. It really doesn’t matter because the woman who hired the hitman, is in prison for the rest of her life.
  • Divorce: In rural Georgia, in the heart of the Bible Belt, a couple was on the verge of getting a divorce. However, the church, which dominated life in their small town, frowned upon divorce. Therefore, the wife, who didn’t want to be humiliated in their local church, elected to murder her husband. You know where she is now.
  • Life Insurance Policies: Very often, when someone murders their spouse, they purchased a significant life insurance policy before the murder. It’s hard to believe, but those morons think the homicide detectives will never notice the purchase of a million dollar life insurance policy just prior to the crime.
  • In Michigan, three family members were arrested and charged with murder after they killed a security guard who told them they must wear a face mask in the store.
  • In Georgia, a man killed a cashier who told him he had to wear a face mask in the store.
  • In both examples above, the killers face the possibility of spending the rest of their lives in prison because of how they reacted to nothing more than a store health & safety rule. You are going to spend the remainder of your life in prison just because an employee asked you to wear a mask. You could have easily walked out of the store.
  • Fired: How many times have you seen a tragic case on the news where somebody was fired and returned to the job site where he killed many, or all his co-workers? Getting fired is clearly a traumatic experience, but I don’t believe murdering your co-workers will help improve the situation.

GOD:

  • In the 21st Century, almost 8 billion people live on our planet. Millions of Americans believe in a Supreme Being they call god. Incredibly, they believe there’s a god who somehow simultaneously monitors every human being on the planet. Really? There’s a god monitoring almost 8 billion people simultaneously? Yes, people actually believe that supreme being is listening to them while they’re praying.
  • How are you communicating with this so called god? How can this so called god monitor 8 billion people at the same time? Why can’t people realize this totally defies logic?
  • As for praying to their god, people also incredibly believe you have to participate in a bizarre ritual in order to communicate with god. That includes bowing your head, getting on your knees, and/or putting your hands together. Why can’t people realize how absurd that is?
  • Athletes thank god after they score a touchdown or hit a home run. With all the things going on in the world, they believe something called god is watching their game, rooting for them, and controlling the game in their favor? I would be LOL if this wasn’t such a serious issue.
  • Of course, believers cannot tell you where god lives or anything else about their supreme being. We do know that after 60 years of astronauts and satellites circulating the earth non-stop, nobody ever came across god. Maybe he’s hiding in the home of the devil?
  • In America, every day of the week, someone’s daughter or sister is kidnapped by a psychopath. After that happens, what do most of them do? That’s right, they have a prayer vigil where they pray to God for her safe return. Where was their God when she was kidnapped and subsequently assaulted and mutilated by the psychopath?
  • Jews: During the holocaust, over 6 million Jews were slaughtered by Hitler and the Nazis. Jewish people still believe in their god, who did absolutely nothing to stop the despicable killing of millions.
  • Catholics: After thousands of children were sexually assaulted by priests, their followers still refuse to walk away from the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. Where was their god when thousands of children were and still are sexually assaulted by people who are allegedly representing the God they worship?
  • Mormons: One of their prophets lives in prison because he was convicted of sexual assault on children. Warren Jeffs is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous denomination. In 2011, he was convicted of two felony counts of sexual assault on children, for which he is currently serving a life sentence, plus twenty years. In 2006, Jeffs was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List for his flight from the charges that he had arranged illegal marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls in Utah. Incredibly, Jeffs is a man of god, who still controls large numbers of believers. What are they thinking?
  • Americans who believe in a god, give him (notice the word him) credit for everything good which happens on the planet, but never hold god accountable for anything negative. They always have a convenient scapegoat ready, such as the devil or man. I thought god had more power than the devil and/or men.

COVID-19: Until recently, whenever we had a national crisis, Americans always united to fight as one. That changed with Trump and his cult members. Although there are pockets of vaccine resistance in all groups, it is a dominating issue in Trump World. A large number of his cult members turned the battle against the pandemic into a political fight.  Many of Trump’s cult members:

  • Refused to participate in the basic safety protocol of wearing masks. This is an effective protocol where there is almost universal agreement among scientists.
  • A large percentage of Trump supporters are anti-science and refuse to get the vaccine. They are so dumb they believe vaccine conspiracy theories such as
  • the federal government is using the vaccine to plant a microchip
  • then the federal government will take away your bible and guns
  • the vaccine will make you magnetic
  • the vaccine will turn you into a homosexual
  • they don’t believe Trump’s endorsement of the vaccine was real

For most of the pandemic, 2 of the 3 leading states with Covid-19 [per one hundred thousand residents] were North and South Dakota. There have been numerous reports from those states, plus states like Alabama and Arkansas, where covid-19 victims claimed their doctor was lying when he/she gave them the diagnosis. They called it FAKE NEWS or said their problem was caused by something else, but the doctors want to blame Covid-19. When people refuse to believe the diagnosis of their doctors, we are in big trouble.

Trump’s Republican Party: Please note, I’m distinguishing between real Republicans versus those who are cult members, totally dedicated to Comrade Trump, Vladimir’s number one flunky.

  • As of July 2021, the majority of Republicans believe Trump won the election. They believe this despite the fact that zero evidence has been produced.
  • In addition, Trump’s attorney, Sydney Powell, said in a court of law, that election fraud allegations are a big LIE.
  • Even though Trump supporters believe Democrats are fumbling, bumbling, incompetent buffoons, they still believe the Dems somehow became strikingly efficient on election day, and managed to steal and change millions of ballots from Trump to Biden in Republican controlled states and kept it a national secret.
  • Maybe the Dems accomplished that nifty trick using a special blue laser beam, emanating from an alien spaceship who prefer Democrats?
  • By the way, on those very same ballots, using the same election system, many Republicans running for office did extremely well.
  • If the Democrats were controlling the ballots, how did that happen?
  • I’m sure every Trump supporter, who assaulted the U.S. Capitol, believed he won the election.
  • Millions of Republicans are convinced the FBI orchestrated the attack on the Capitol and they used BLM and Antifa members, posing as Trump supporters. Can anyone really be this dumb?
  • Countless millions of Trump supporters believe he was exonerated by the Mueller Report. They completely ignore Robert Mueller’s own words when he said that never happened. Remember what Joseph Goebbels said about repeating a LIE enough times?
  • In December of 2016, a man from North Carolina, got into his pickup truck and drove approximately 4 hours to a DC pizza parlor. The guy believed Hillary was running a child pornography ring the in the basement of that pizza parlor. He brought an AR-15 and planned on rescuing the sexually abused children from the basement. He became irate when the employees told him there was no basement, and then fired an unknown number of shots. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and he went to prison for several years.
  • Believe me when I say there are millions of Americans who believe this kind of garbage. Another insane example is Democrats are pedophiles who eat their young.
  • A large number of Republicans believe the Democrats have a plan to take away their guns, when in fact, they can’t even pass a law requiring universal background checks.
  • Doing away with the second amendment would require an amendment passed by both the House and Senate with a two thirds majority vote. After that, it would have to be ratified by three fourths of the states. The odds of that happening are virtually zero!
  • But that doesn’t stop morons from believing the Democrats will implement a plan to take away their guns

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Versus Electric Vehicles

by | Jun 26, 2021 | Science

Everyone who cares about the future of our planet probably accepts the fact that we must transition away from gasoline powered vehicles. Because of TESLA and the focus of mass media, you’re probably assuming the future will be electric vehicles. Don’t be so sure, because many people believe Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles are a much better option, for both the environment and the consumer. A significant number of car companies are working on HFC vehicles. I could print the list, but I’m not doing such. Please take my word for it, the list is quite long.

I’m going to talk about this choice, and why I hope it will be the Hydrogen Fuel Cell which dominates the future of America, but I must begin with two caveats.

  1. Technology changes rapidly, so if something totally unexpected happens in the next few years, that could change the equation big time.
  2. I am not an engineer, so don’t rely upon my technical analysis.

Before we start the comparison, we need to explain how a Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle works and why it’s an ecofriendly option. A Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle combines hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity, which powers the electric motor. Here’s the good news. The only byproduct of this process is H2O (water). Both Hydrogen Fuel Cell and Electric Vehicles have comparable or better performance than a gasoline powered car.

Negative Aspects of owning an electric vehicle

  • The cost is obviously very high.
  • Range is limited to around 250 miles.
  • I’m sure this will change over the next several years, but when you must find an electric charging station, that’s a challenge. Imagine being on a long trip and you get stuck in an unexpected traffic backup on the Interstate, while your battery charge is dissipating. That isn’t a very comforting thought, is it?
  • Before we get to the big downside to electric vehicles, it’s important that you understand the following. Just like your phone, you can charge the battery rapidly or you can do a slow charge.
  • Why would you choose the slow charge over a rapid one?
  • Because repeated rapid charging of the battery will make it wear out prematurely. If you always opt for the slow charge, the battery will have a much longer life.
  • If you’re on a trip and opt for the rapid charge, it will take around an hour to charge your vehicle. Are you comfortable with that? I didn’t think so.
  • If you’re home and doing a slow charge, that could take between 8-12 hours. I don’t know about you, but that’s not an appealing option for me.

Why Choose a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Over an Electric One

  • Let’s acknowledge that the cost is much higher than a gasoline powered engine. Of course that could change if and when these vehicles are mass produced at a significant level.
  • One reason to choose this option over an electric vehicle is range. A HFC vehicle has a range of approximately 350 miles, which is about a hundred miles more than an electric vehicle. Please understand, this could change as technology advances in the design of electric batteries.
  • But here’s the big one. You can fill up a HFC Vehicle with Hydrogen, just as you do with gasoline. In other words, you can fill the tank in less then 4-5 minutes.
  • Of course, you’re probably asking, fill up where? Obviously, America would have to make a concerted effort to build hydrogen fuel stations everywhere, just like gasoline stations.
  • Hydrogen is probably the most abundant element on the planet.
  • If enough people understand the advantages of Hydrogen, I think this is a very realistic possibility, but there’s a big problem.
  • That problem is a chicken and egg issue. No car manufacturer is going to commit to building HFC vehicles in America, until there’s an infrastructure of hydrogen stations. Of course, nobody’s going to build that infrastructure until car manufacturers start building HFC vehicles.

NASA Developing A Telescope To Find Asteroids/Comets Headed Towards Earth

by | Jun 15, 2021 | Science

Around 66 million years ago, scientists believe an asteroid, approximately 7-9 miles wide, crashed into earth, just east of Mexico. It was the final blow which made dinosaurs extinct. It just didn’t impact dinosaurs. Most scientists believe around 80% of life on the planet, possibly more, also became extinct, eventually leading to new forms in the evolutionary process. Shhhhhhh, don’t mention the science of evolution to Trump lovers.  That wasn’t the only reason for the dinosaur extinction, but it was the primary one.

Why do we care about the above? Because an asteroid which crashes into the planet earth can do massive damage, possibly even destroying all forms of life.  Scientists estimate an asteroid 55-60 miles wide would destroy every civilization on the planet. Asteroids/Comets are constantly headed in our direction. The last known asteroid which caused serious damage entered Earth’s atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013. That’s approximately 930 miles east of Moscow. It exploded in the air, releasing 20 to 30 times more energy than that of the first atomic bombs, generating brightness greater than the sun, generating heat, damaging more than 7,000 buildings, and injuring approximately 1,000 people. The shock wave broke windows almost 60 miles away. The asteroid wasn’t detected because it apparently came from the same direction as the sun.

In light of this major threat, NASA will launch a new telescope in 2026, which will be our first line of defense in protecting the planet. The primary mission is to search the solar system for potentially dangerous asteroids or comets headed towards earth. The Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope (NEO) was approved by NASA, and is currently in the design phase. The infrared telescope will help scientists find asteroids and comets which come within 30 million miles of the Earth’s orbit. Yes, 30 million miles is considered close enough to pose a danger. There’s no guarantee this telescope will find all dangerous objects headed our way (remember the one which exploded over Russia in 2013), but they hope to have a success rate above 90%.

Unfortunately, finding asteroids or comets headed our way is only part of the equation. The second part is can we change the path of the asteroid or comet. I’m sorry to say, we still don’t know if that’s possible. There are some proposed strategies, but as of today, they are only theories.  NASA will soon conduct some experiments to see if we can find a methodology that can reliably re-direct an asteroid away from our planet.

Please keep in mind, when they find an asteroid headed our way, NASA needs lots of time to prepare a mission to hopefully redirect the asteroid or comet. If they find an asteroid headed our way, scheduled to arrive, in let’s say only 4-6 months, that would not be nearly enough time to prepare a mission. If that happens, we may not be around to worry about climate change.