Mars - we want the canals back!

This is the Mars I grew up with. There was a confidence that there was life up there. Mariner 4 put pay to all that. The pictures that came back seemed as though Mariner 4 had detoured to the Moon, or Mercury instead.

Ray Bradbury in his "Martian Chronicles" hinted at Martians having been there, being there when the astronauts finally landed on the red planet. Ray's book brought back my boyish vision of Mars, rather than the "real" one, gradually revealed by Mariner 4 and the other Mariners. I also read other tales about Mars written by Captain W.E. Johns "Return To Mars". I can't remember much about the book itself. I'm almost reluctant to re-read it, in case it destroys my precious image of it, consisting of the rexine bound and lavishly coloured drawings I can just recall from it.

The black lines you see in my experimental colour pencil drawing, (to remind myself how I did it!), were once thought to be canals, built by intelligent Martians to irrigate their exceedingly arid planet. Imagine. Martians investing in a planet-wide irrigation system. How much money would that need?

Later, Viking 1 and 2 actually landing on surface of Mars! Wow! I am so honoured that I witnessed the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.

Think about it. I witnessed humankind setting foot on to the surface of another world. And hopefully, I should still be alive when humankind land on Mars. These are events that no other generation will ever witness. Sure, we'll land on other planets of our solar system and later, of other stars.

I just hope we don't ever "know" to much.

Moon Conspiracy Theories

I'm surprised that this still persists. There are still people who believe we never set foot on the Moon. There are a number of things that baffle me, if what the conspiracy theorists say, is true. The alternate events posed by the conspiracy theorists would require a level of secrecy which would be extremely difficult to maintain.

The radio signals that were used to communicate were in the high VHF/low UHF band. Analogue, this was years before digital and so perfectly accessible to all of the best equipped amateur radio operators all over the world, except those of course on the wrong side of the planet. What would be in it for the amateur radio operators to be quiet about the alleged hoax?

Surely, at the height of the Cold War, it must've crossed the minds of the Soviet government in Moscow to check where the signal was really coming from? If an HF radio signal, allegedly coming from the Moon, wasn't coming from the Moon, even a high school student with suitable radio rig would soon know that the signal wasn't coming from the Moon?

That being said, the Conspiracy Theorists are doing science a service. After all, ever since I heard about their claims, I've been checking and re-checking what I believe in. And that's got to be a good thing.

Library away day

Today, I went to Pathway to Success. This is a library away day for staff, in the lovely grounds of Fulborn, just outside Cambridge.

Fulborn used to be a mental hospital and it must've had a very different atmosphere, in those far off Victorian days, compared to it's present role as one of the homes for Anglia Ruskin University's Faculty of Health.

AwayDays have an energy all of their own. They are very empowering for the university's staff. It's always good to be asked how best to ensure that the delivery of our services is accessible and is helpful to our students in their quest for their degree.

We all enjoyed mooching around the huge verdant estate of Fulbourn. This away day is currently a one-off, but I am convinced that we should have this regularly. The cream cakes didn't influence my decision one bit. Well..... not that much, well, I say not much ... well.. quite a bit, really... yeah...

Unitarian Universalist Churches

I began taking an interest in this church, when I discovered that Doctor Pat Robertson, described the Unitarian Universalists, on his fun programme, "700 Club" as "going straight to hell" It's at this point I tend to take more of an interest. I find what Doctor Pat Robertson opposes to be a great endorsement system!

Liberals are asked for millions of litmus tests, from the Christian right, to demonstrate that their faith is "correct" and "true", (which I've always thought was missing the point of faith).
Faith is where you bring up your kids, the best way you know how. If you've been a good parent, you've led by example and you got the ground rules right, then more often than not, you will find your kids will suprise you with how good they are.

You never subject your family or your friends to a barrage of tests. You don't have to boss them to care for others and accept them for who they are. Equally, our sons know bigots whenever they see them. They don't need any parental prompting from me!

A church, like Pat Robertson's, that says that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people are sinful, is not speaking for God. Surely this rainbow of sexual and gender design is God's own?

Don't these right wing evangelist churches ever read the news? All of the wars on the planet are fuelled by people who haven't merely got a temporary dispute going on. They are fuelled by people who want us British and Americans dead. Just like Hitler wanted all the Jews dead. Simple. We will beat them, because we must. Not from making bigger wars, but by fighting for peace and leading by example. This is the way we prove ourselves to be decent.

Pat Robertson, just like those warring factions, can't live with people who are part of the gender/sexual rainbow, those who don't fit neatly into the straight man and straight woman orthodoxy. This kind of human bar-coding is the stuff of wars.

Look at all of the societies which were liberal, before we arrived. Polynesia, certain parts of Africa and also the various tribes of native Americans, like the Berdache. They all worked perfectly well. Where you have acceptance and tolerance of people's differences, you have peace.

Christopher Reeve was a great friend of the Unitarian Universalist Church. The more I read of him, it becomes clear to me that he was a super man. A kind, quiet, diginified and gentle man who clearly had great strength. A church with people like that is certainly worth joining.

It's an 11 dimension universe folks!

But guess what? There's strings attached....