Gates of New York

So pretty much everyone has heard my exuberant ranting and raving about "The Gates" since I first learned of it a couple of months ago. Although I didn't get the chance to see it up close and personal, I can only imagine how much of a breathtaking experience it has been seeing the thousands of orange curtains flowing in my favorite place in the preeminent metropolis (and my favorite city). You can tell how much of a profound effect it had on people by simply looking up "The Gates" on Flickr Today we'll finally witness the plug being pulled off the project, I thought I'd commemorate the magnificent work of art by posting a picture. I look forward to seeing Christo's and Jean-Claude's next project "The Arkansas River Project", perhaps personally this time.

Little Green Men.. Life On Mars?

It’s been a little over a decade since I came across the scientific TV blockbuster “Cosmos” and its human star Carl Sagan; whose enthusiasm for the universe and engaging screen presence awakened the astronomer in me. Ever since I’ve been fascinated by the vastness & wonder of space, the future of space travel and the possibility of extraterrestrial life forms. It’s been a very long time since I first saw Mars as a little red dot on my humble telescope. The intensive scrutiny of the red planet and the vast assortment of spacecrafts currently exploring it was an idea far fetched for me back then. Needless to say that with orbiters scanning the Martian landscape and the Spirit and Opportunity rovers have assembled what might be described as a MASSIVE FLOOD OF SCIENTIFIC DATA. The discovery of jarosite and other mineral salts on a rocky outcropping by one of NASA’s rovers “Opportunity”, and the evidence of large blocks of water ice just beneath the Martian surface by a European space probe contributed to a recent joint statement by Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of the NASA Ames Research Center claiming they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on the red planet, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water. Although their findings lacks direct proof of life on Mars, the methane signatures and signs of possible biological activity similar to those recently discovered in caves near Rio Tinto River (Called so because of its reddish tint, the product of iron being dissolved in its highly acidic water), can only make you wonder if life does exist over there. In response, NASA issued a statement calling the reports incorrect: “NASA does not have any observational data from any current Mars missions that supports this claim. The work by the scientists mentioned in the reports cannot be used to directly infer anything about life on Mars, but may help formulate the strategy for how to search for martian life. Their research concerns extreme environments on Earth as analogs of possible environments on Mars. No research paper has been submitted by them to any scientific journal asserting martian life.” Makes you wonder, ey? If life exists elsewhere it would most probably obliterate the GOD theory, GOD didn’t mention making aliens did he or she for that matter? I look forward to reading the Rio Tinto research, and its implications for present life on Mars.

So Bloody Tired

I'm tired. No, no, no wait I'm exhausted. For almost a decade I've been blaming it on poor blood circulation, bad diet, lack of vitamins, pollution, global warming, and a about a dozen other maladies that make you question the significance of living. Looking at the Department of Statistics website earlier on today; I found it isn't any of that at all. I'm exhausted because I'm overworked; let me demonstrate. If the population of this country is 6 million, and half a million are retired. That leaves 5.5 million, there are 2.5 million in school, that leaves 3 million out of which 1 million are unemployed, and another 1 million are employed by the government and/or army, 534,998 work in farming/county councils, 400,000 working abroad, 45,000 in hospitals, 20,000 in prison, which leaves just TWO people to do the work. YOU and me!! And you're sitting on your bloody arse reading this! It's no wonder I'm so bloody tired.