To Boldly Go

A One-Way Human Mission to Mars?

photo of the red planet courtesy of wikimedia commons

We have to leave the planet sooner or later and Mars is the only plausible choice at this time.  A mission to to Mars would cost less than half as much if we don't plan to come back.  Would you travel to Mars as a colonist?  Intriguing.

UPDATED TO ADD: here's the entire issue of the Journal of Cosmology dealing with the topic of travel to and exploration of Mars.  The papers are also published as a hardbound volume titled The Human Mission to Mars. Colonizing the Red Planet.

Brostaigh Oraibh, Nó Béimíd Déanach Le Haghaidh An Tine Cnámha

This weekend is Samhain, as they called it in the Auld Sod.

photo from photos8.com

Samhain was originally a Fall harvest festival that traditionally occurred after the first frost killed the grass and excess cattle were slaughtered because it was cool enough for the meat to keep. The bones of the cattle were thrown into the bonefire, the term from which we take the modern term, bonfire. The bonefire was also a time of remembering the dead, community bonding, ritual purification, and divination. As was its practice, when the Roman Catholic Church encountered Celtic polytheism it Christianized these pagan observances, creating All Saint's Eve and All Saint's Day which are still observed as Halloween.

If you plan to consume ethanol at this year's festivities, please designate a driver.  Do not drink and drive.  Have a plan, stay alive.