A Goal I Might Be Able To Keep

Of all the yearly resolutions I made, meaning able to leave the planet is the one I wanted to keep the most but never thought I would.

There are seven planets circling this tiny little barely bigger than Jupiter star, including three that could possibly support life! Plus it’s only forty lightyears away. Which is 235,100,000,000,000 miles. Someone really needs to get to work on making Warp Drive.

Not that living there will be entirely perfect. They might be tidally locked to the sun, like the moon is to the Earth, which means the same side is always facing it. So on one side it’s day all the time and the other is night all the time, with perpetual twilight around the middle. That actually makes for extreme weather conditions, plus the three planets that possibly have water are so hot that they probably don’t have much. Still sounds better than Earth right now, though.

These planets are so cool. All seven of the orbiting planets are closer to their star than Mercury is to the sun, so close in fact that their orbits are mere Earth days. They’re also so near each other that you can see the other planets like we see the moon. Well, probably. They don’t know what the atmospheres are made of. For all we know they’re impossible to see off of.

What do you guys think about the new planets? Any sci-fi-y ideas about what they might be like?

Planet X

Or perhaps, planet IX.

I’m just totally geeking out over the fact that scientists are theorizing that there’s a ninth planet in the solar system. And no, not Pluto, or any of the other dwarf planets that can’t clear their orbits of other celestial bodies.

Apparently, some of the smaller objects out in the far reaches of the solar system are moving in such a way that it seems that there has to be something huge having an effect on them. This mystery object is thought to be about ten times the size of Earth and is so far away that it could take fifteen thousand years to complete an orbit of the sun.

However, there are still a lot of questions, like how such a large planet could have formed so far away, or was it formed closer and then somehow got moved away? Or something else?

This is so cool. I love wondering what’s going on in outer space. I think there are a lot of good story ideas that could come from the existence of another planet in the solar system. What do you think about the “new” planet? Any ideas brewing about it?

Spaced Out

I like space. Outer space. I think it’s cool. I’m absolutely terrified of the thought of actually going there, though. I prefer to observe it on my nice, atmosphere-covered planet. Luckily there are braver people than me to do that.

First we have a game, Cosmic Crush and its sequel are a lot of fun. You play as a rock and smash into smaller stuff to grow, becoming a planet, a yellow star, a red giant, and even a galaxy. I like the control in the first one better because you can use the arrow keys, but the second one, where you have to use the mouse to move, is longer and otherwise has better gameplay.

Scale of the Universe isn’t a game, really, but it’s interactive so that’s what it’s called on Newgrounds. I’ve mentioned it before—it’s filled with information on various things that you look at by moving a scale along the bottom. You can go as small as quantum foam, the theoretical foundation of the universe, but what I really like is the right end of the scale, when it talks about various planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies. You can see the distance from the sun to Pluto, which happens to be greater than the largest known star.

Science Daily has tons of articles on planets outside the solar system, black holes, and astrophysics. There’s also the Hubble telescope’s website, which might as well be called “Cool Space Photos Daily”. Cracked also has some good space articles from time to time, that are pretty well-researched and full of cool pictures, which include things like the planet made of diamond and the space cloud of raspberry rum. I’m not making that up. It’s totally a thing.

Anyway, I like space. I only regret not having any good ideas for stories that take place there.

Later! 

Random Thoughts

---It’s been such a long time. I’ve missed these.
---You know what? Sometimes I just want to look up song lyrics. STOP TRYING TO SELL ME RINGTONES.

---“Scientists create tractor beam”. YES! One step closer to Star Trek!

---I accidentally knocked into my old clarinet case and a bunch of Pixy Sticks spilled out. My first thought was “How long have those been in there?” (More than five years, definitely). My second thought was “Do Pixy Sticks go bad?”

---For the record, no, I did not eat them. I had plenty of peanut butter M&Ms so there was no need to.

---Actual headline: “Middle School Wrestlers On Top!” Must…not…make…obvious…joke. Brain…OVERLOADING…

---Space smells like burning metal.

---Although the center of the galaxy is raspberry flavored rum.

---“Sony to make last MiniDisc stereo system in March”. Somehow they’ve been out for twenty one years and I’ve never heard of them. Props for the dedication to stupid ideas, Sony.

---Not the PS2 though. Anyone who badmouths it will be unfriended for life. Also I’ll punch you.

---A guy found the largest prime number yet. He received a $3000 grant for doing so. Math!

---“Curiosity killed the cat” doesn’t mean curiosity is danger. The original meaning of the phrase was that worrying killed the cat. Not sure why it always had to be cats, but there you go.

---The state of Mississippi just ratified the thirteenth amendment (outlawing slavery) in February. Way to stay on the ball, guys.

---The fax machine was invented in 1843.

---A Russian bus driver rams cars that rudely cut him off in traffic. With the approval of his employer.

---Now that they have 3D printers, there’s only one more horizon to breach: 4D printers. They print out time itself.

---Well, what did you think they were going to do now that they found the Higgs boson?
---Futurama is ending. Not canceled (again) but actually, factually ending. Prepare to ingest cyanide capsules now.

Dangerous

Because I feel that you won’t be safe until you’re afraid of everything on the planet.

The Top Five Things That Are Totally Going To Get You

5. Plants. “Are you crazy?” you might be saying. “Plants aren’t dangerous.” Oh, how I wish that were so. You better hope there aren’t any Eucalyptus trees in your backyard. Because they’re oil is flammable and they throw their branches down in hopes that eventually, a fire will come along to ignite them and destroy every other tree that's in there way. And there are plants that evolved to emit chemicals when attacked by insects—chemicals to summon the predators of that insect. And of course, there’s the fact that the kudzu plant is slowly consuming America.

4. Outer Space. Seriously, there are tons of weird dangers up there. You might think “Oh, space is huge and by comparison, the Earth is really small. Nothing’s going to happen.” And you’re probably right. As long as no black holes with masses a hundred times greater than the sun wander nearby. Still, that’s a minor threat. There’s also cosmic radiation. Lucky for us, we have an ozone layer to keep us safe. As long as nothing happens to that, we should be fine. Oh, wait…

3. Dolphins. Sure, they look cute. But underneath that smiling exterior is a mammal that will kidnap other dolphinsand even kill them. You know Orcas, the biggest dolphin of them all? They attack and eat Great White Sharks. Not for sustenance. Just because. Yeah. Don’t mess with them.

2. Ants. Ants…ants are just evil. In Australia, Argentine Ant colonies don’t compete with each other anymore. Instead, they banded together to form one super colonyto screw over every other type of ant and take over the world. There’s also the yellow crazy antwhich apparently enjoys making land uninhabitable for every other living creature on the planet. Let’s not forget the fact that some species of ants will go to war and enslave other ants. Better hope they don’t make us their next target.

1. Escalators. “It’s unbelievable what an escalator will do to human flesh.” I feel that no further explanation is needed. 

NOTE: The above is written with tongue firmly in cheek and it is wise to also read it that way. Obviously it's unlikely ants will take over the world or a black hole will fly by consuming us all. Watch out for those escalators, though.