slow space travel

Something that I've been thinking about lately is that maybe all of our sci-fi ideas on taking shortcuts to visit distant stars and galaxies is all just fiction. Maybe no matter how much effort and time we put in to developing new technologies, maybe we'll never be able to get anywhere much faster then we can right now.

Here's an interesting article on how long it would take to get to the closest star (Proxima Centauri), which happens to be 4.22 light years away.

One of the most optimistic theoretical methods, is nuclear pulse propulsion, which could possibly do it in 85 years. Granted, if you wanted to search for a planet that contains life, you would probably have to go much farther then that. Now, unless we figure out a way to freeze people for the duration of the trips, we would have to have a space ship so large that it's like it's own little planet. Some sort of self-sustaining craft that could recycle all the water and oxygen required to keep people alive. Depending on how fast we could realistically go, we would have to have generation after generation living on the craft.

If someone asked me if I wanted to go in to space, never see a planet again, only to raise a family so that future generations could make new discoveries, I would definitely say yes. As long as the spaceship was comfortable enough.

I know we're all kind of waiting until it's really necessary to do something like this, like if the planet is doomed or over-populated. We're also hoping that science can develop new technologies to do it in a faster way, but maybe we'll never come up with something that's any faster, and we should at least consider the idea of going with what we have right now. Is something was threatening human life, at least we could be somewhat ready if we started working on it. We can all see that we're filling up the planet quick, and we see our children as potential problems as over crowding is becoming a serious issue. Working on a project like this could shift that view, to one that's more optimistic.

Sometimes I think about all the things I think about.

Food, drink, sex, etc.

I wonder, how much of this thought time am I wasting and when can I get to the good stuff.

How can I just get right to the point.

What the fuck are we here for anyways?

What are we doing?

crazy dream

So this morning I woke up from this dream. I was driving down the number one highway and there was a lot of snow on it in some areas. (Yesterday was our first snowfall that stayed on the ground). At one point, I started skidding in my truck and did a complete 360. I stayed on the road and was fine. (Yesterday, my brother and I were trekking through the boonies, and as I was driving down the dirt road to get there, I started skidding a bit and recovered.)

So, for some reason, I was driving my bike instead of my truck, and was heading under the Steinbach underpass when all of a sudden huge chunks of snow fell down from overhead, just barely missing me. Traffic had to stop, and my dad was one of the first to be there. We both grabbed a large chunk and moved it off the road. At that point my brother tried to hug me and I pushed him away. I remember hearing someone say something like "how rude to reject a hug like that" or something to that nature.

So, back on my bike, I remember traveling a fairly long ways when I noticed a train up ahead. Despite the fact I was on a bike and had all the time in the world to stop, I hit the brakes just within centimeters of the train. All of a sudden the train started to derail. With too much traffic behind me, I started climbing along the edge of the ditch, holding my bike while scaling it. There was a train along side the ditch as well and it seemed to be reacting to the train. So I ditched the bike and started running. I managed to get out of the area without getting hurt.

That's around the part where I woke up. The first thing I thought about when I woke up was making sure everyone was alright, while calling 911, and re-routing traffic until the authorities arrive.

I like to finish my dreams, even if I know they're not real. Especially an epic dream like that one.

My brother always likes to analyze dreams when I tell them to him. He's always looking for symbolism and things like that and I usually reply by saying a dream is just a trip in your imagination. There are messages and things, but to me, it's only saying how you view the world, or what you like to imagine.

For example, in other dreams like the ones I had last night, I never get hurt. Chaos all around me, but I'm just fine. I think I have confidence that no matter what happens, I'll usually make it through without a scratch.

I don't worry about a lot of things in life. I'm not careless, not really anyway, but I don't live my life in fear.

But if the dream taught me anything, it's that maybe I should watch where I tread because you never know when something crazy might happen.

"Afghan Taliban say they pose no threat to the West"

Did they ever?

There are a lot of things that bother me about society. A big one is that I can't trust media outlets. One big offense is American media stating that Saddam Hussein never let the UN inspectors in, and that's why they invaded. Anyone that remembers the details at the time knows that UN inspectors had been let in and were searching but Bush still invaded anyway.

After finding out that media companies can and do change the facts to try and re-write history, I can never tell if a statement like this is really true or not:

"U.S.-led forces with the help of Afghan groups overthrew the Taliban government during a five week battle which started on October 7, 2001, after the militants refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for the September 11 attacks on America."

In many ways, the two motives seem similar, the US demanding something that the country can't provide, and they invade anyways. In one situation, it's Osama Bin Laden, and in the other, it's weapons of mass destruction.

8 years later, we're all still tied up in this mess with nothing to show for it.

The Taliban have never been a threat to the west. One disturbing fact is that these Afghanistan people were delivered weapons and assistance to fight off communism and then the very same people that helped them stay independent have now invaded and are forcing democracy on them. Isn't that entirely hypocritical?

The media would have us believe that Afghanistan is a terror breeding country, one where terror camps are producing more and more terrorists to inflict terror among the American people. Are you terrified yet?

It seems like the only people creating terror are the media outlets.