of moons, life, and death
One of saturn's moons has geysers, which indicates that there is a possibility it can sustain "life".
NYtimes says that "life requires at least 3 ingredients "water, heat and carbon based molecules." I'd probably add a few more (sex, drugs and rock & roll? blood, sweat and tears? cinnamon, curry, and cumin? goretex, neoprene and nike? pick your poison...), but i guess that's a start. Anyway as any good sci-fi writer will tell you, the NY times is talking about "life as we know it," i.e. carbon based life. It's always interesting though to speculate about life based on something else, like silicon, or electromagnetic force. Larry Niven wrote a story which had a being shaped like a sail that lived off of solar energy. Niven comes up with some very cool entities, i must say.
Speaking of entities, and moons, this morning I woke up sad. On a brilliantly sunny day just like this one 2 years ago, March 13, 2004, my favorite cat, "moon launch," died in my arms. He had lung cancer and couldn't breathe. I carried him out from the vet's office, his heavy weight in my arms, blinded by sun and tears.
Odd of course to carry on so for a cat. But i did.
Anyway, one should remember moon fondly, and with a touch of exasperation. He and I were together for 13 years, he came to me as a completly wild stringy gray kitten on superbowl sunday, 1991. Over the years he flung himself out of 2 windows, raised kittens, fell in love, trashed innumerable apartments, ate about a megaton of plastic bags, made friends with enormous dogs, demanded constant infusions of tuna water, and vocalized loudly whenever he felt he had something to say, which was often. He was huge, irrascible, annoying, determined, crazy, he loved me...and i loved him.
"all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to die" -- Blade Runner
Om mane padme hum, moonie.
(top picture courtesy of www.phlonx.com)
NYtimes says that "life requires at least 3 ingredients "water, heat and carbon based molecules." I'd probably add a few more (sex, drugs and rock & roll? blood, sweat and tears? cinnamon, curry, and cumin? goretex, neoprene and nike? pick your poison...), but i guess that's a start. Anyway as any good sci-fi writer will tell you, the NY times is talking about "life as we know it," i.e. carbon based life. It's always interesting though to speculate about life based on something else, like silicon, or electromagnetic force. Larry Niven wrote a story which had a being shaped like a sail that lived off of solar energy. Niven comes up with some very cool entities, i must say.
Speaking of entities, and moons, this morning I woke up sad. On a brilliantly sunny day just like this one 2 years ago, March 13, 2004, my favorite cat, "moon launch," died in my arms. He had lung cancer and couldn't breathe. I carried him out from the vet's office, his heavy weight in my arms, blinded by sun and tears.
Odd of course to carry on so for a cat. But i did.
Anyway, one should remember moon fondly, and with a touch of exasperation. He and I were together for 13 years, he came to me as a completly wild stringy gray kitten on superbowl sunday, 1991. Over the years he flung himself out of 2 windows, raised kittens, fell in love, trashed innumerable apartments, ate about a megaton of plastic bags, made friends with enormous dogs, demanded constant infusions of tuna water, and vocalized loudly whenever he felt he had something to say, which was often. He was huge, irrascible, annoying, determined, crazy, he loved me...and i loved him. 
"all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to die" -- Blade Runner
Om mane padme hum, moonie.
(top picture courtesy of www.phlonx.com)
posted by abigail at 6:40:00 AM
1 Comments:
Strange how everyone is always hoping and praying that there is life elsewhere and that we are not alone. Shame that those same people cannot find consolation in the life teeming around them. Or cats. Either will do.
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