The Moon!

Today is Moon Landing Day-- 40 years ago today, humans landed on the moon. And then a few more did, and then nothing happened.

See, here's where I have a problem with it. All that money was spent, several lives were lost, huge risks were taken, lots of veryusual spin-off tech was created, the world's view of space and human capability was changed forever, and then we did nothing? What happened to space colonies and the first man on Mars by the end of the seventies? Worse yet, there's a need for a human footprint in space.

As far as we know, we're the only life in the galaxy, maybe the only life in the universe. One plague, one asteroid, one massive ecological disaster, one climate shit, one war with the right (or very wrong) weapons, and we could very well die off-- which would leave the universe without life. If we're all there is, then the ecological mindset means we have to protect ourselves as much as we try to protect our ecologies, and it's not that big a leap, really. We move animals around to open up genepools, we preserve areas and breed species to re-release, so why can't we build safety nets for ourselves throughout the solar system? If something happens to the Earth, if humanity is wiped out here or the world is rendered unlivable, then we can survive on the moon, on Mars, on the moons of Jupter and in the Asteroid belt, on Titan and in orbit and in the spaces between planets were we can spread out.

Even more pressing, there will soon be more people than we can make food for, more than there is space for, and more than there is water for-- and space opens up that constraint, too. Space is called space because there's space. It'd be almost impossible to overpopulate the openness of other worlds, of colonies in orbit. We could build arcs and preserve species and ecosystems as well as people, we could manufacture as much water as we need from the raw ingredients of the cosmos, we could grow food for everyone. As the world gets too full, people can move to the moon and on to other homes, founding new colonies, new cultures, adding to our diversity and our chance of survival, bringing life to the universe and greening up what's currently, as far as we know, kind of a collection of pretty dead rocks. If there's no other life out there, who's going to complain? If there is, we can share information with them if they're sentient, increasing our knowledge and worth that way, building the next sort of human culture in tandem with a galactic community, and if they're not sentient, we can study them, understand the universe and leave them alone to become what they need to become.

So why did we leave the moon alone? Why did we let the governement and the world tell us it wasn't important anymore? Because now, as things look more and more dire, it is important, and we should have had that release valve up and running thirty years ago, that safety net in place and waiting a whole generation before now.

So today, on Moon Landing Day, think about the future of the human race: isn't it better to spread out as we always have, then to burn up or starve as we seem to think is the way to go now?

Alternatives alternatives alternatives

I was channel surfing the other day, and I got distracted by part of Whale Wars. Here's these very young and idealistic looking Greenpeace and the like people trying to stop ships from harvesting whales. Which is probably a good idea, what with them getting scarce-- but these kids aren't offering any sort of alternative to these people. As long as the demand is up and the pay is good, they're going to hunt whales, and that's really all there is to it. I mean, it's happening with rhinos and pangolins, too right now: big money always trumps environmentalism, and as long as the hunters don't have anything else that pays as well, they're going to keep doing it. So why isn't there are show about that? About building an alternative that makes the hunting look bad? Why isn't there a show about environmental groups that go out and teach people other ways to feed their families, other sources of the sorts of products they get from these endangered animals that are endangered in part because of unsustainable harvesting, dangerous folk medicine beliefs, and a taste for the exotic? I think it would be more interesting to see real change happening, not just hippies getting hosed down and whaling ships getting accosted and this so-called war that can't really ever change things. It could maybe hold things up, but that'll just make the ships go somewhere else, hunt some other whale population. It isn't stopping the source of the problem, or even really acknowleging that there is one. The hunters are just doing what they know will make money; I doubt many of them are pathologically opposed to whales. I doubt there's that many Ahabs out there, willing to kill them all to get payback on one of them. Mostly, it's just fishermen who know that this'll pay the bills and feed the family and offers the least amount of work for the most amount of income. So why not find them another source of income that is sustainable, responsible, useful and better advised?

emma peel's shoes

We've been watching old episodes of the Avengers lately, and every time they show Emma wearing something green, I want to lose fifty pounds so I can dress like that. But mostly, it's giving me a vintage show fetish. I have no idea what size shoe I'd wear in vintage sizes, but they're all so cute! The maryjane styles are my special favorite, and I can't seem to find any pictures of them-- but she wore green ones in one ep, and a pink and yellow pair in another, and sweet little slides, and some really kick-ass pumps...

I'll keep you up to date on this.

silkies enriche ageless moisturizer

While I've been out of work, I've been trying to make a little money through those websites that have you sign up for samples and things to get a few cents of pay, and one of them was for Silkies Enriche.

It's a pretty good lotion, thich, but not too thick, and it smooths in with almost no trouble at all. It smooths really quickly and makes my face feel a little firmer just on the one use, but on my face, it's almost a little oily-- on my neck, it works perfectly, and my collarbones still feet really soft, even after going out to watch the fireworks in the heat last night and not reapplying this morning.

I don't know if I'd buy it again-- I still like my Avon Liiv Botanicals better, mostly because it at least tries to be all-natural-- but I think if I find it again (I don't remember where I got it), I'll probably use it in the winter, when my skin is drier and less oily.

Some Beautiful Things