Isaac Asimov in his Foundation series postulated a Universe, or at least a galaxy, that had human beings as its only sentients.  The time travelers portrayed in the End of Eternity swept all those bad aliens from near space and left mankind in charge of its own destiny.  At the end of the series a search is made for the planet of origin, its solar system characterized by an E-type planet with a large moon and a ringed gas giant.  Quite a series from quite an author.

In order to have life forms at all, it may be that E-type planets need large moons to generate tides, since these in turn keep the ocean in movement, stirring the pot if you will, so that a chemical mix of nutrients and proteins can spawn life.  Mars, for example, may never have had a chance.  In addition to its smaller gravity, Deimos and Phobos would cause imperceptible tides in a Martian ocean.  As we probe further into space with new telescopes, new techniques, and new software, discovering more and more planetary systems, we may find other E-type planets, but we probably won’t be able to see their moons, so the large moon criterion, if it is a criterion, cannot be tested.

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I’d like to formally announce my new novel Soldiers of God to the reading public (Infinity Publishing, ISBN 0-7414-5141-7).  It is not completely new to the pages of this website.  At its launch you could read an extract and at Public Bookshelf you could read it on online.  Now you can buy it in traditional hard copy.

There are some themes that are popular in today’s literature while others have become nearly taboo.  I saw Slumdog Millionaire today and wondered how the American public reacts to the slums portrayed in the movie.  Perhaps many will pass this off as cinematic exaggeration.  Let me tell you, I saw similar slums up close and personal during the time I was in Colombia.  They exist.  People don’t like to be reminded about how bad the world is.  Just extrapolate that homeless person in the US rummaging in the trash can for food or bottles to return to a poor devil in a Third World country where the average yearly income can be less than what you make in an hour.  In Soldiers I will remind you of how bad it can become. 

The themes Soldiers treats are dark and very relevant to the dangerous times we live in.  You might not like these themes.  They are adult themes, though, themes you should think about, which is why I assumed from the beginning that no traditional agent or publisher would even consider the novel.  It is not popular to write about these themes.  I don’t care.  I’m not out to make money.

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A generation separates ex-President Bush and President Obama.  The schisms produced in the American politic by the former may take that long to heal.  The hole Mr. Bush has dug for this country is dark and deep.  Mr. Obama can at best start the process in his first four years in office, but start he must.

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Kudos to Citibank and The Bank of America.  Apparently they feel they have passed once again the incompetence/greed threshold I spoke of in my 9/17/08 post and are asking for more money from the government (read: you, the taxpayer).  With their acquisitions they are probably big enough that we can’t afford to let them go under.

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Have you ever seen so many companies in trouble?  Or are they just looking out for the bottom line?  It is easy for a company to say in this economy that they have to scale down and prepare for the worst.  After all, isn’t that what we all do in bad times, i.e. hunker down and become lean, mean economic machines?

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Members of a government panel recently determined that they could not trace most of the $300 billion plus that was handed over already to those poor failing banks (never fear, more is to come).  This shell game has been perpetrated at the same time that people are losing their jobs and defaulting on their mortgages.  Whish!  Whish!  The shells move around faster than the eye can see.  Try to guess under which shell the $300 billion lies. 

“Oh, sorry, you guessed wrong,” says Mr. Banker.  ”Instead of getting filthy rich like me, you’ll lose your house, or your job – at the very least, expect to have less this year while I have more.  Ha, ha.  Stupid Middle Class jerk!”

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Since Mr. Obama has announced his cabinet the last few days, it is time to say something about his science team.  (This post will start a new blog category of science where I will stick anything related to new science and science policy.)

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