The Meaning of Life and the Solar System

Don,

I hope that you have traveled well to the tropical climate of your winter dreams. I so understand the "suitcase" reference. See you got a 20 inch upright spinner? Wow! I don't think any of us could ever consider you "dated" when you're carrying that kind of baggage.

A couple of new planets have popped up on the horizon beyond Pluto. At least one of them could quite possibly be larger than Earth. This could really put a crimp in our mnemonic for remembering the planets. I think I'm still trying to adjust to Pluto being downgraded to a planette.

One of the things I've watched several times has been Neil deGrasse Tyson's response to a 6 year old, I'm sorry a 6 ¾ year old's question about what is the meaning of life. Tyson doesn't miss a beat. It is fascinating that he comes up with a description and a definition that an almost 7-year-old child can understand which means that must older folks get the point too.

He defined "meaning" as something  you find or something you create. And he threw out the question of "did I learn more today?" He went on to say that "to learn" gives you power to influence events, help people, and help yourself. Powerful words.

But I absolutely enjoyed the last 2 ½ minutes of his answer – explore nature. Jump into some mud puddles, pull pots and pans out and bang on them with various spoons to hear the different sounds. (Sometimes I still bang  spoon on things in the kitchen just hear the different sounds...) And he said that in the event that this kid's parents asked him why he was doing all of this, he said to tell the parents that Neil deGrasse Tyson gave him permission to explore the world. Sure wish somebody had done that for me.

I cannot complain too much. Living in small towns while I was growing up was one of the best experiences I could ever have. I remember running with my pals and when dinnertime came, there was this call that was transferred from mother to the mother on the next block, to the next mother to give me the message. And when we lived in Silverton, because it was very small confined valley, my mom let me explore. It was when we moved to the big city, Denver, that the permission to explore the world expired.

When we lived in Kentucky, we had a lot of rain storms and our alley was only partially paved. This meant big deep muddy holes for the kids, and me, to jump in. My biggest problem was convincing the kids to wait until they were on their way home from school to puddle jump instead of on the way to school.

Tyson pointed out that when you get older you seem to forget how to have fun. 

My biggest joy as an adult is to rake the fall leaves into a pile and then run through it. My BH doesn't like walking with me sometimes because I walk through the leaves and kick them up as I go. But if I look back, he has a sly grin on his face. I've been trying to think of other things that I do have as much abandoned fun... There are so many things I used to do; I don't do them anymore because they take time away from all of my "adult" responsibilities. Maybe I've discovered a new intention for 2015.

I've put a link here to a short video done by Lucas Green called Space Suite. It is put together with images from NASA and music has been added to complete this visual tour of our solar system and beyond. It is fascinating, brilliant... Hope you enjoy it.

I read an e-book by Kate Harper on publishing and selling on the Kindle through Amazon. It has given me some ideas on what to do with some of our stories from Wormhole. We are also looking at changing the name of the company from Wormhole Electric Publishing. Several people have pointed out recently that most people do not read beyond the second word in a title unless the second word leads to the third word. This means that many people thought of our publishing business was an electrical business because they never read the whole title. So I am looking into a new company name. Have some ideas but haven't done all of the investigation necessary for the change.

Went back to school this week – lots of new fresh faces... It is going to be a great quarter.

Don, I have to say that the two quotes from Mr. Clemens are well chosen. The one about going to heaven for the climate reminded me of several jokes but I can't tell them in mixed company. And the one about "loyalty to the government when it deserves it" is an incredible statement of our time. We are back to watching the Republicans slither around to gain ground for the 2016 election knowing full well that they have absolutely no intention of sticking to their word. And sadly, the Democrats are not too far behind. Interesting world we live in.

Hope you are having a great and wonderful time in the sun. Are you seeing as many VW's as you did the first time? I am sure that there continues to be a collision of culture between the horse and carriage and the cell phone technology. Travel safe.

Carolyn

All images downloaded from google images

Neil de Grasse Tyson retrieved from diusmpelstbw9isfoyk.jpg io9.com

It All Began in Chaos. Retrieved from ngm.nationalgeographic.com

Muddle puddles retrieved from google images

Harper book retrieved from Amazon