*click!* Know what???

Hokay we have a buncha stuff -- for example "Yes dear, I paint."

I been thinking, which I do, all the time, (unfortunately) and I realize the older I get, the more conventional wisdom makes sense. What your mommy and daddy told you is true, unless they are natural jokers. God DOES have a sense of humor, and we are at the brunt of it. Remedy?? Laugh.

UFO's. My what a subject. Lets tackle UFO's, extraterrestrial type; never mind how they got here. They do not let us know what they are because we aren't ready to know. We are almost ready, thus they are sending us puzzles to figure out. They are not dwelling on the same sensory/reality plane as we do. Nor will we, once we die.
No, I have not tossed out the possibility that they are angels.

It's silly to be afraid of them, in any case.

The older I get the more I realize (sadly!!!) that being an expert or a doctor in any field does not mean that person is all-wise. Geniuses have the same ability to really pull a duh-doofus-boner as the rest of us. 'Caveat!!!'

I wanna go to Mars. I can't. Damnnit. Love to go, sink my fingers into the sand, explore the caverns and caves and ice fields. Can't. Body won't let us, yet. Send on the drones!!!! All those wonderful rovers and cameras. Dare we guess that the 'little green men' types are nothing but machinery?

I wonder if Venus, the planet, is only in a phase, and will eventually cool off, and change climate and become habitable??? Earth has done similiar things dozens of times. Ice Planet, Hot planet, No-life planet -- earth has been there, done that, and still the lil microbes keep on ticking.

And there's a lot still out on the other solar system balls.

Politics is an old ploy. It is a means of survival, that your genes will be passed on. In the name of politics, one cheats, lies, connives, plots, maneuvers, collects markers and grooms others. To render us worth saving as a species we are going to have to jettison some of these behaviors. Don't ask me which. It's a giant Gordian Knot, and one written about since the age of written language.

Will we panic when the "martians" come?? Or the Andorians, or the Romulans or the whatever CP3O arrives?? I don't think we'll do the "War of the worlds" thing but then I remain still the pie-eyed optimist I have been for decades.

Chow, Baby!!

paper or plastic

The latest from the smart fellas in the world of NASA and affiliates... plastic may be the skin of future spaceships. Hmmm Why do I think of Ziplock??

Travel

The latest from my buddy who took a plane to the East coast --- We should do these now. Airplane travel these days is slightly better than a livestock trailer haul. No food. Forgotten drinks, frisking and unpacking ... Let's do amtrack!
ALL ABOARD!!!!

now try this

Hey is that water I see??? Ice??? Good ol Mars. Keep us guessing.

Now about NASA and shuttles and repairs. Poor NASA is a political thing. The whole shebang is run by the goverment "committee". That means there will be grandstanding by people who don't really do anything except listen to lobbyists. Also the 'nervous nellies' in any program are going to continue to piss and moan about everything. Until private enterprise gets itself into space, this will continue-- with veiled threats to scrub the whole mission etc. Perhaps we need to repair --to the moon! Again. There is lots there to make useful, water (again with that!) god-awful many minerals -- a frontier strange and wonderful. An extended space station as we have now is crippled by the fact that human beings can only go so long without gravity. We are going to have to deal with that if we expect to get anywhere. Mars needs much exploration, by robots and man. For that matter robots on the moon too, doing the job of mining, exploration, pictures ---

And don't forget, we need to learn how to make nanotubes and buckyballs to utilize in space.

Hooray for the brave crew who patched up the Discovery! In spite of hand-wringing by publicity-minded nay-sayers, to save their little CYA campaign, the whole thing still can be successful. All the pessimism by such Cassandras are often blown out of proportion

It's okay, people. It's okay. Don't sweat it. We are going to have more casualties. We are going to have more accidents. Steady as she goes!