Learning

Observe a tiny dog curled up and tucked in under a blanket for a nap… he crawled under Don’s blanket and made himself very comfortable.  He’s finding it cool since he’s been groomed and his fur is clipped very short.  That’s the challenge of having curls — they tend to snarl easily and are painful to untangle, so often just keeping them short is easiest.  Mine are easier either really short or down to my shoulders; anything between is just… messy!  I’ve had a couple of days feeling wiped out — in fact, last night I’d fallen asleep in my chair around 6pm, and when I woke up and went to bed I slept for almost 11 hours, so I obviously needed rest.  Don has been a lot more like himself, and eating well, so I am a very happy and relieved woman, as you can guess.  I don’t like it when he’s unwell (and he doesn’t like it when I’m sick either) so the fact that he’s more active is fabulous.  Right now they’re watching baseball, and I expect to hear snores in a moment, but they aren’t sleeping, just “resting their eyes” 🤪

I was watching some science documentaries today for the first time in a while.  The first ones were in French, talking about the planets with a focus on the gas giants and the other was in English, discussing early explorers and human migration.  I was utterly fascinated by them, so much so that I didn’t fall asleep much!    They caused me to remember the old series Cosmos, hosted by Carl Sagan in the 1980s; that was an inspiration to me on a number of levels, so that I’d asked for a telescope as a Christmas present when I was about 14.  At the time, I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to do any real stargazing in a town, although there were fewer lights then than there are now.  It’s a shame, really, as my first view of the Moon through the telescope was just awesome.  I wasn’t ever able to find any of the other planets easily, and most of the other possible viewings were washed out by light pollution or by inconveniently placed trees and houses!  As time passed, I remained interested in space exploration and astronomy (not astrology) and was thrilled by the Hubble telescope, the International Space Station, the Mars landing (among others) and crushed by the end of the Shuttle program — I cried when the Atlantis (the last shuttle) was flown into retirement in 2011.  It was sadder than the retirement of the Concorde, as both of these programs seemed to me to be innovative and necessary for our development.  It would have not been so sad if there were other craft that had improved the technology, but instead they were just shut down.

I remember as a child — this was the decade after the Moon landing, and some of the other moon missions — there were lots of dreams about space exploration.  In fact, I remember discussions on “what are the benefits of the space program, and why should we continue to invest in that when there are so many problems on Earth?” That was early in the 1980s, when I was quite young, until the dreadful Challenger explosion.  There were so many shows on TV that suggested bases on the Moon and on Mars, in reality, there were the Voyager missions — it was hard to imagine back then that we weren’t likely to hear much from them until the 1990s which was really really far in the future!  I expected that we would be working to establish a settlement on the moon by 2000, so we could potentially vacation there.  I was anticipating some of the advances in Arthur Clarke’s 2001 — in which people could hop on a shuttle to go to the moon base.  Three days of travel each way, and then time in the capsules!  Just imagine that as a summer vacation?  (I love the book, was confused by a lot of the movie, and still would like to see much of that plot in reality.)  Plus there was the Saturn trip, where HAL acted up… even more exciting! (In the movie, it was Jupiter.)  Add in to that all of the many science fiction shows and other books and movies, and it seemed that space exploration would be at the forefront of development by the new millennium… no such luck, as you all know.  The Mars rovers and the Webb telescope have moved it back into mainstream consciousness again, plus the Voyagers are leaving the solar system after some awesome photographs and other data collection, and I feel a level of excitement returning.

I’ve also watched a few nature documentaries (Sir David Attenborough’s classic narration) and both the videography and narration have improved over the years, even though I retain fond memories of Cousteau and the voyages of the Calypso.  I’d enjoy getting a good general overview of several topics, minus outlandish speculation.  Yes, that’s me and my reading of the encyclopedia self emerging again.  It’s so wonderful, seeing the images  from the telescopes, and the other observatories (like the discovery of what a black hole looks like) and I rather wish that I could spend a century or so in exploring.  It’s mind-boggling to imagine the distances between the stars, and even between the planets in our own solar system — I mean, it’s taken over 40 years for the early probes to just leave the system, travelling at over 61,000 km/hr, and that’s less than the distance light travels in a day.  So to cover 5 light years, it would take 70,000 years to travel, and that’s 7 times as long as recorded human history!!  I was fascinated to learn that there are mathematical models suggesting the theoretical development of a warp drive a la Star Trek, and refinements that reduce the power requirements into the realm of possibility.

There’s so much to learn!  And so many fields in which to explore… being omniscient would be cool, wouldn’t it?  Along with being able to travel instantaneously anywhere we want.  I’d start off with regular trips home, before expanding to visit friends and family in other countries, and then exploring some remote areas… And clearly, I have a lot of time dreaming!  Right now, though, I can hear snores, so I might try changing from baseball to something else less boring before I go to bed!  Good night!