Civilization @ MindSay 
A thought provoking sequel to What If . . .
Astronomers find system with five planets
By Maggie Fox,
Health and Science Editor
55 Cancri
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA scientists said they discovered a fifth planet orbiting a star outside our own solar system and say the discovery suggests there are many solar systems that are, just like our own, packed with planets. The new planet is much bigger than Earth, but is a similar distance away from its sun, a star known as 55 Cancri, the astronomers said on Tuesday. Four planets had already been seen around the star, but the discovery marks the first time as many as five planets have been found orbiting a solar system outside our own with its eight planets, said Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University. Life could conceivably live on the surface of a moon that might be orbiting the new planet, but such a moon would be far too small to detect using current methods, the astronomers said. "The star is very much like our own sun. It has about the same mass and is about the same age as our sun," Fischer told reporters. "It's a system that appears to be packed with planets."
It took the researchers 18 years of careful, painstaking study to find the five planets, which they found by measuring tiny wobbles in the star's orbit. The first planet discovered took 14 years to make one orbit. They said 55 Cancri is 41 light-years away in the constellation Cancer, a light-year being the distance light travels in one year -- about 5.8 trillion miles. The newly discovered planet has a mass about 45 times that of Earth and may resemble Saturn, the astronomers said.
HARBORING LIFE?
It is the fourth planet out from the star and completes one orbit every 260 days -- a similar orbit to that of Venus. "It would be a little bit warmer than the Earth but not very much," said Jonathan Lunine, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona. The planet is 72 million miles from its star -- closer than the Earth's 93 million miles, but the star is a little cooler than our own sun. "If there were a moon around this new planet ... it would have a rocky surface, so water on it in principle could puddle into lakes and oceans," said Geoff Marcy, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley. But the moon would have to carry a lot of mass to hold the water, he said. Water is, of course, key to life.
"This discovery of the first-ever quintuple planetary system has me jumping out of my socks," Marcy added. "We now know that our sun and its family of planets is not unusual." Marcy and other astronomers strongly believe that many stars are hosts to solar systems similar to our own. But small objects such as planets are very hard to detect. Technology that would allow scientists to detect planets as small as Earth is decades away, the scientists agreed.
The researchers have been looking at 2,000 nearby stars using the Lick Observatory near San Jose, California, and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. They have posted images of what the planets may look like on the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/telecon-20071106/. The inner four planets of 55 Cancri are all closer to the star than Earth is to the sun. The closest, about the mass of Uranus, zips around the star in just under three days at a distance of 3.5 million miles.
Animation Descriptions
1. Animation Part 1: Journey to a Star Rich with Planets
In the first part of an artist's animation, we take a journey from Earth's surface to the newest member of the 55 Cancri planetary system.
2. Fifty-five Cancri in the Night Sky
This wide-angle photograph of the night sky shows the location of 55 Cancri, a star where astronomers have found a record-breaking five planets.
3. Animation Part 2: Journey to a Star Rich with Planets
In the second part of the artist's animation, we fly out to see 55 Cancri's habitable zone (green) and the orbits of its planets compared to our own.
4. Our Solar System's Cousin?
This artist's concept illustrates two planetary systems - 55 Cancri (top) and our own.
5. Plentiful Planetary System
This artist's concept shows four of the five planets that orbit 55 Cancri, a star much like our own.
What are the possibilities of there being life other than our own in other star systems in other galaxy's in the endless universe ? Anything is possible. Wouldn't it be interesting to connect with other life in far off places ? To learn or share our thoughts, ideas, technology or belief's. To find answers to our most sought after questions and concerns. To find solutions to our most difficult problems. What would we do if we encountered such life ? How would we react ? Are we open, understanding and civilized enough to be able to accept life from another world ?
Until such an event occurs, the question still lingers in my mind . . .
What If . . . ?
civilization makes us poofters... makes us weaker as individuals yet
stronger as groups... or is that perceived strength just an illusion? are
not groups more fragile than strong individuals? what is more useful--
strength or knowledge? individuals build strength, groups build
knowledge... what is easier to acquire-- strength or knowledge? in the
"natural world" knowledge is more elusive than strength, and vice-versa in
the "civilized world"... perhaps wherever "might is right" prevails, nature
prevails, and this "civilized world" of which we so often speak and dream is
but a theory... for would not a truly civil world follow the maxim "right
is right" above the alternative? why should the "wise" bow to might?
wisdom should elevate us above fear... wisdom should equip us with the
tools to negate physical might... tools that transcend might... tools that
CONVINCE rather than dominate... tools that ENLIGHTEN rather than
terrorize... where are these tools? why aren't they working? might is the
easy way, the natural way... it is our default tool, our inherited master,
our first and last resort... right must be AGREED upon, but might is as
uncontestable as an avalanche... right demands co-operation, might demands
submission... right must constantly be revised and challenged, but to
challenge and change might is to make a fire burn cold... right is reason,
might is muscle... right harvests the virtues of all, might harvests the
fear and obedience of all to serve the virtues of one... right is the
domain of all, might, of a few... nature taught us to be mighty, to wield
might like a talisman against all unpleasantness... we know what it is to
be mighty, for we feast on the less-mighty every night, and hold a knife to
the throats of the less-mighty every second of every day... if our might as
a species is ever challenged, we get to task eradicating the source of that
challenge... bears are not civilized, wolves are not civilized, sharks are
not civilized... "civilization" is the domain of humankind and those who
never fail in the service of humankind... we eradicate the competition, and
then we turn on each other... when there are no bears and wolves afoot
within the city gates, we project their spectre onto the faces of each
other... we are meant to live alongside such adversaries, and our genetic
conditioning creates them when we isolate ourselves from them (or eradicate
them)... we are/become wolves at each others' doors... our genes must be
telling us that we need wolves to avoid becoming weak... what good is a
might that can never affect? what good is might when there is nothing to
effect? might is divisive... might is delusional, always inventing
threats, always subjecting us to fear so that we may seek out strength...
we need strength no more! we are all that's left to feel the brunt of our
strength! we are all that is left to suffer from might!
the bears are gone! the wolves are gone! the sharks are gone! the plague is gone! we killed them all because we feared them! now all we fear is each other-- what do you think we will do to ourselves! might will lead us to ruin, not victory-- IT is all we need fear. IT is the last and most formidable beast of this world... it is our greatest threat... fear it, and the fear with which it contorts us into beasts... might is the enemy of civilization, the enemy of right, and only righteousness can beat it... this is not abstract! education can prevail over might as laws (ideally) prevail over chaos... we are NEVER taught the follies of might-- never! we are simply taught of the scar that might has left, and is leaving, on our world... we're taught the wheres whens, whos and hows of might and that is all! and that is insanity! "this conqueror had an army of this many and killed this many people to gain an empire of this many nations..." "this mogul began with a bank account of this many dollars and bought out this many companies to gain a corporation which spans this many continents..." MIGHT. it is a wretched, wretched thing, but it can be defeated by three humble letters: "w", "h", and "y". might cannot stand up to questioning and logic... it is irreconcilable with our better virtues... might's strength rests on the assumption that all life will use might whenever it comes across anything that can be swayed by it... might's strength rests on the assumption that all life is selfish to a fault, that all life is selfish first and foremost... is this the case? if so, life is invirtuous, and not worth fretting over at all.. if not, WE HAVE TO CHANGE NOW. right is right.
I went to the grocery store today to stock up on some vittles. I had to search long and hard for the little box of frozen chopped spinach I like. The display of same has dwindled to just a few boxes in the huge freezer section. In fact, I found that only 11 doors had frozen bags and boxes of vegetables behind them. Frozen pizza was behind 15. I guess those holders of wealth in America would now say (or be falsely credited with saying), "Let them eat pizza".
This is a minor incident in the scope of things, but I think it is one small indicator of the fall of civilization...a microcosm.
Great Nations have more often than not found their demise not from the outside but from the inside. Moral deprivation has too often weakened the greatness of nations like a cancer within weakening the moral fiber allowing an outside virus to invade.
In Western culture the Greeks eventually succumbed to the ‘Romans. The Romans experienced moral depravity amongst its ruling elites depriving first of its Republic then its Empire.
Hundreds of years of internecine strife between European ruling Elites ultimately led to the likes of Napoleon and Hitler attempting to enforce humanism by the former and a genocidal State Cult by the later.
In the East China evolved into a huge empire under varying dynasties including one of the most feared descending from the Mongols of Genghis and Kublai Khan. Even that empire descended into a dark age of War Lords that ended with the most recent dynasty – Communist China.
The largest of all empires became subjected to the immorality of slavery, theft of children and blood thirsty devastation of populations that often had a choice between conversion and the second class citizenship of a Dhimmi. A Dhimmi was a life of humiliation and it was the compelling reason for Christians to convert to Mohammedanism after their land was conquered. The immorality of entrenched non-change and intolerant Sharia Law caused the largest empire on earth to collapse with the final demise of the Ottoman Turks at the end of WWI.
Many would say America is the provider of global peace today. Many hate America for its police status while simultaneously many fear America withdrawing its global protection. America’s protection has allowed economies of Western lands to build the utopias of socialized medicine and is well because American money protected their livelihood and budget.
Now even America is facing the consequences of moral choices today. Secular Humanistic Leftists have succeeded in removing prayer from schools and the public domain, they legalized abortion as a form of birth control (not to save a mother’s life), they have allowed children the right to disrespect parental authority, and they have become Christophobes doing their utmost to demonize Christianity as an archaic anti-humanist way of life. One of the greatest moral confrontations to American morality is the homosexual agenda coupled with a secular humanist agenda to end the foundational precepts of Biblical Christianity.
Let us examine the homosexual agenda. I think you will be surprised on how pervasive and heinously successful it has been to date.
Below are the facts as set forth by Peter LaBarbera:
----------------------------------------
‘Gay’ Agenda … What ‘Gay’ Agenda?
By Peter LaBarbera
Original Publication: November 26, 2006
“The agenda and vision that we must proudly articulate is that yes, indeed, we intend to change society.”
–Matt Foreman, president of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Nov. 10, “Creating Change” conference
When it comes to chutzpah, homosexual activists have it in spades. They work their lavender tushes off revolutionizing the age-old Judeo-Christian definitions of marriage and family; fight for “gay/straight” clubs in middle- and high schools, and homosexuality-affirming lessons for all students–even toddlers; lobby for open homosexuality in the armed forces; oppose marriage-preference adoption laws based on the absurd proposition that a child having two “gay daddies” is no worse off than one having a mother and a father; make outrageous claims that esteemed historical figures like Abe Lincoln were “gay”; and radically reinterpret the Bible to change homosexuality from an abomination to a “gift from God.”
Then they turn around and ridicule the idea that there is a “gay agenda.”
Here’s an entry from lesbian blogger Pam Spaulding:
“The Homosexual Agenda is an elusive document. We’ve been looking around for a copy for quite some time; the distribution plan is so secret that it’s almost like we need a queer Indiana Jones to hunt the master copy down. The various anti-gay forces are certain that we all have a copy and are coordinating a attack to achieve world domination.” –Pam Spaulding
Memo to Pam: you don’t have to risk being chased by a giant boulder in the Amazon to find a copy of that elusive agenda; just click this link for the 1972 Gay Rights Platform. Note the last two demands under “States” in the 1972 document: “Repeal all laws governing the age of sexual consent” and “Repeal all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit.”
Or try this link for the 1987 (Homosexual) “March on Washington.” No agenda here, other than the calls for:
- “The government should provide protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, public accommodations and education just as protection is provided on race, creed, color, sex, or national origin”;
- “Anti-homophobic curriculum in the schools”;
- “The government should ensure all public education programs include programs designed to combat lesbian/gay prejudice … Institutions that discriminate against lesbian and gay people should be denied tax-exempt status and federal funding.”
- “A massive [federal] AIDS education and prevention program that is explicit, culturally sensitive, lesbian and gay affirming and sex positive”;
- “Public and private institutions should support parenting by lesbian or gay couples”;
- All people must have access to free abortions and contraceptives on demand regardless of age.” (Strangely, abortion advocacy has long been part of the homosexual activist agenda.)
The truth is that there are multiple homosexual agendas, with the unifying theme that they all endorse the normalization of homosexual perversion (they call it “orientation”) as a “civil right.” The most radical of the large national homosexual groups is the National Lesbian and Gay Task Force (NGLTF), which combines leftist ideology with grassroots organizing. At the NGLTF’s 2006 “Creating Change” conference held in Kansas City, MO, Nov. 8-12, Executive Direct Matt Foreman laid out a seven-point “gay agenda” for the Task Force:
“So here’s that agenda…” –Matt Foreman
1 - “The floor of our agenda is, of course, that every gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered person is protected from discrimination — no matter where they live or work. But our vision insists that companies like Wal-Mart — that yes, prohibit discrimination - cannot be allowed to make billions of dollars every year while leaving one out of every six of their employees with no health insurance at all.”
Translation: The Agenda includes federal ENDA (Employment Nondiscrimination Act) and “hate crimes” legislation–both top priorities for liberals in the new Democratic-led Congress. Note that Foreman makes no exceptions for churches, Christian or religious ministries (e.g., child care agencies), or religious-owned small businesses, although exemptions are written into the ENDA bill.
2 - “The floor of our agenda is, of course, a country where a woman’s right to choose is inviolate and people’s sexual lives are their own business. But our vision is a country where sexual freedom is seen for what it is: a fundamental human right.”
Translation: The Task Force’s “gay agenda” is “anything goes,” including abortion, even though homosexual “couples” cannot conceive children. In one of the “Creating Change” break-out sessions, “sexual freedom” was defined, in part, as the right to signal one’s sexuality and to act on it without stigma.
At another “Creating Change” panel attended by an Americans For Truth reporter, a speaker asserted: “Choosing how many [sex] partners you have is a human right.” Thus the definition of “human rights” is expanded to almost complete sexual anarchy. Future articles on the “Creating Change” conference will reveal how the Task Force–through its alliances with even more radical groups–now embraces “sex work” (prostitution) as a “human right,” even for teenagers.
Don’t expect to read about that in the liberal media.
3 - “The floor of our agenda is, of course, that all of us can serve our country openly in the military. But our vision is a country where none of the lives and limbs of our soldiers — whatever their orientation or identity — are wasted as fodder to advance empire and economic interests.”
Translation: The leftist Task Force’s “gay agenda” adds a twist to the usual homosexual call for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: contempt for the freedom-promoting aims of American foreign policy, thus trivializing the sacrifices of our men in uniform. The lives of the men and women who died serving their country in Afghanistan and Iraq were not “wasted,” Mr. Foreman.
4 - “The floor of our agenda is, of course, that queer and questioning kids are protected from bullying, harrassment and violence in our schools.”
Translation: The Task Force Gay Agenda capitalizes on adolescent confusion by promoting the notion of “queer” kids. The “gay” movement talks about “protecting” these children, but balks at the idea of warning them about the massive health risks of homosexual sex–especially for males. And regarding those “questioning kids,” do you think the “gay” movement wants to expose them to the pros and cons of embracing homosexuality? Not a chance. “Diversity” as employed in the service of Sexual Correctness is a sham.
As our undercover writers discovered (the Task Force bans conservatives at its events), some of the “queer kids” attending “Creating Change” were exposed to very extreme behaviors and advocacy. America’s teenagers need guidance and moral standards to live by. They don’t need to be led into dangerous (and illegal) sexual behaviors–including “sex work”–in the guise of advancing “sexual freedom.”
5 - “The floor of our agenda is, of course, the demise of America’s anti-gay industry and putting an end, once and for all, to their use of us and our families for cynical culture wars and political gains.”
Translation: That’s us, folks. This thinly-veiled slap at Christian and conservative groups betrays the intolerance that is at the core of the “gay” agenda. Homosexual activists are driven to verbally bash religious traditionalists because the latter stand in the way of the their goal of celebrating homosexual behavior and using the government to promote it. Again, don’t be naive: the same Task Force that compares Christian advocates of traditional sexual morality to racist fringe groups will have no problem one day pushing for laws that ban “hate speech” (e.g., Christian preaching against homosexuality).
6 - “The floor of our agenda is, of course, unequivocally fighting for and winning the freedom to marry — with, as Evan Wolfson says, all of its rights, responsibilities, and social significance. But our vision is a country where a person’s healthcare, support in one’s old age, or access to other vital benefits and entitlements are not dependent on a person’s marital status.”
Translation: It is not enough for the Task Force to seek to legalize counterfeit “gay marriage”; they want to destroy any societal preference toward marriage, thus dishonoring genuine holy matrimony itself.
7 - “The floor of our agenda is, of course, a country that not only honors and respects the amazing and wonderful diversity of the families we have built against tremendous odds, but a country that honors and respects the reality and the diversity of all American families.”
Translation: The Task Force demands that others honor and respect any group that wants to label itself family. And not just “gay” families: consider the Task Force’s “Creating Change” session (listed in the official program) on “polygamy/non-monogamy.” When sexual radicals talk “diversity,” don’t assume that means just homosexual relationships.
Matt Foreman said to an audience of over 1,000 homosexual activists attending “Creating Change”:
“We are strong, unbowed, unbeaten, vibrant, energized, and ready to kick some butt.”
Advocates of the natural family and real marriage had better assume a similar posture:
“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
- I Corinthians 16:13
My first full day in Egypt really allowed me to connect with the country’s deep and ancient history as my group and I went to see the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the Egyptian National Museum.
The Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza really allow you to understand how advanced the culture of the Egyptians really was. I never knew the individual blocks of stone that the Egyptians used to make the pyramids were so large, a fact I became aware of when I saw that the base stones came up to around my shoulders. Standing next to them, I could not understand how such an ancient civilization could move such large stones. The pyramids themselves are simply overpowering pieces of construction. They are so big that focusing on the whole structure at once is quite a difficult task. Interestingly, when you look at the top of the pyramid from its base it loses its angular shape and looks like stairs going towards the heavens.
Set about a five minute bus ride from the Pyramids, the Sphinx is also an amazing sight to see both for its sheer size and because of the way that the Great Pyramids are picturesquely set in its background. Also, some myths about these structures were dispelled by my tour guide. According to her, archaeological evidence shows that the Great Pyramids were made by neither aliens nor Jewish slaves, but rather by skilled Egyptian craftsmen and engineers. Additionally, the claim that the nose of the Sphinx was blown off by French troops because it was that of African face is untrue. Rather, it was blown away because of early Muslim rulers believed that such a large portrayal of a person’s fame was blasphemous.
As the afternoon wore on, my group and I went to the Egyptian National Museum. Home to treasures such as King Tut’s mask, the museum was quite an experience. Unfortunately, the museum does not allow any photos; however, the memories I have are unbelievable. The King Tut exhibit was definitely amazing. While I was impressed at the Pyramids by the way in which the Egyptians were able to construct so massive a structure, I was impressed at the museum by the way in which the Egyptians were able master such small details in the fields of artisanry and craftsmanship.
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