Bubba's Friday Blog: Having a positive attitude.

Welcome gentle readers. Thanks for being here.

In last week’s Friday science blog I laid out my reasoning for why I think peace is possible. Not too long ago I wrote about being the “Nicest atheist” a Jehovah’s Witness had ever met.

The connection? When I was a young man I often got the comment from strangers, “What are you smiling about? What do you think is so funny?” This happened a lot. I recently noticed that it doesn’t happen any more and I resolved to smile more and be more positive.

I think it’s working. I got a new job that is huge fun and I seem to be good at it. I’m hosting at the tasting room of Finnriver Cidery. I’ve gotten more compliments from guests there than I’ve gotten in a long time. I’m working with sweet, upbeat people. The owners seem very honest, very caring. My supervisor is a beautiful young woman who’s beauty comes in part from her enthusiasm and joy.

When I decided to turn around my attitude other parts of my life followed. Yesterday I had a short debate on Facebook. One friend posted a comment about not trusting people, they would most likely let you down and that most people are self centered and vain. I posted that I did not agree. Then I went back and forth with someone else who wanted to say that people are crap. You can’t trust ‘em.

I refuse to believe that. I hope you do too. The more people we can get to have a positive attitude the better the world would be.

Never mix red wine with Oodo, but cider is fine.

Earth Year 2014

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: The Tellon Berry Festival

Welcome fine readers. Thanks for being here.

It’s that time of year again. Time for the Tellon Berry Festival. You know what that means don’t you? The Kushan Yam festival is right around the corner!

Just kidding . . . kind of. Summer on Kusha is a series of festivals honoring various forms of Kushan Food. Cooks from around the settled portions of our world will come to Harappa City to showcase their recipes and crafts.

Earlier this week I discussed some of the new technologies and scientific research, but for most people life on Kusha and from what I’ve seen around the advanced Milky Way, people are more into simple pleasures. Visiting with friends and family, eating good food, drinking good ales, beers, wines and sometimes Oodo.

Histories of the advance species in our galaxy tend to follow a pattern. When they emerge from their tribal darkness they tend to have a century or two affair with technology. Then they settle down with the techs that really work for them and they get back to basics. Tech is for research.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Death Watch for Planet Harappa

Welcome great readers. Thanks for being here.

I live on planet Kusha but I still think of myself as Harappan. I was born there, I grew up there, my roots are there.

The death watch for my Homeworld continues. I believe the last of the mining drones have been removed and nothing operable is left on the surface. Current estimates are that the world will crumble in about three standard months.

There will be 3-deo coverage of course so I don’t plan to go. Dorian is staying home too. He says he wants to be near Max. Her health is getting worse. Some think she wont last too much longer. I’ll have more on this tomorrow.

A lot of Kushans are planning on going. The Lors are arranging a vessel to take humans there to view the event. As the date is narrowed down I’ll post information here about it.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Science in 2480

Welcome great readers. Thanks for being here.

Yesterday I mentioned that scientists have been doing some great things without having to work on creating machines for war. So, what are they doing?

The Lors have made progress on their project to understand the nature of the space outside the universe or the inter-universal gap. We’ve come to a much greater understanding of how star systems form. With the travel restrictions lifted, people are able to explore thousands of previously unknown systems.

We don’t hear much from the Fordian scientists. They have indeed been gathering data on planetary systems but they don’t seem to be making any new theories or proposals.

The Taxian scientists have been working on discovering the origin of the primal bacteria. They don’t have a source yet but they have located the original strain and claim that they are getting very close to learning about the beginning of this life.

Human scientists haven’t made many great waves in the scientific world beyond our own home-worlds. With the collapse of the SID humanity no longer has an organized body directing our scientific research. Most advanced species in the Milky Way do this.

Human scientists work mostly alone or in our educational institutions. The current generation of humans have been working on rebuilding our civilization. We were fractured during the Pax Veredis, now living on four (soon to be three) separate worlds, Earth, Lava, Kusha and for a few weeks more Harappa.

Earth has been rebuilding after a half a generation of religious wars and suppression by the Greenies. Lava is in recovery from the vacuum left by the fall of the SID and Kusha is still in our pioneer phase. There is much work to do on all the human worlds before we will have the luxury to engage in much “pure” science.

Tomorrow: The latest on the Harappan Death Watch.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: The Pax Gavaskar

Welcome marvelous readers. Thanks for being here.

It’s been over a year since I started this blog. I let the anniversary pass without mention because I hadn’t realized that I have been doing this for more than a year.

It’s been a quiet year on planet Kusha. It’s been a quiet few decades here. People are starting to call it the Pax Gavaskar. Our little Max brought about something special, something that’s lasted, at least for the brief flicker of one human life.

Still, life goes on and we make the best of a great time. Much scientific research has opened up new discoveries, even for the species that have been tech savvy for hundreds of thousands of years. We are much closer to discovering the origin of the primal bacteria that seems to have spread life around the milky Way. The Lors are making great strides in learning about the inter-universal gaps and the nature of space there.

Peace has many dividends beyond the absence of war. Scientists can divert their attention away from destructive technologies and focus on things more beneficial to life and civilization.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Bubba the Science Fan's Science Blog: Is Peace Possible?

Welcome fine readers. Thanks for being here.

I am still recovering from the Evolution Expo. What a wonderful time I had there. Meeting celebrities and learning new things about science. The best kind of fun teaches you something. I look forward to next year there.

Looking forward I want do discuss something I try to deal with in my novel “The Mother of the Galaxy” due out soon.

Is peace possible?

I have to believe it is. Certainly, there are historical arguments that it is not so. Humanity has fought over resources and philosophy as long as we can remember. Many theists tell us that they would kill and steal if it weren’t for their god. It doesn’t sound good for humanity. Without dealing with what we are doing to the Earth’e climate I see a bright future. (assuming we can deal with the climate) I see solutions for resource management and distribution. I see technological solutions to many of our problems and I see religious dogma waning.

Several years ago I moved to a small town in Oregon. I was struck by how polite everyone was. Part of that was just that Oregonians tend to be nice people but much of it was the :small town feeling”. People weren’t jerks because they would probably have to deal with the other person some time soon. It is a small town.

The internet is beginning to create a “small town” vibe around the globe. Sure much communication on the net is rude and offensive but I think that will eventually change when we do more of our business on line.

Certainly if the climate fails there will be huge fights over resources. I continue to hold out hope that we will address what we are doing to our world and that we will learn to work for a common good. We will learn to consider that all of humanity, indeed all of life on planet Earth is family. We are all living in the same “small town”.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.

Earth Year 2014

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Earth vs. Kusha

Welcome terrific readers. Thanks for being here.

Since I’ve come back from a short “stay-cation” I’ve been rambling on about some of the human worlds. We haven’t talked too much about the Homeworld. 

As a Harappan I have often been at odds with the Earthers. I think most Harappans have in inborn distrust of anything connected to Earth. This is a pain who’s roots go very deep. I can, however, step back and appreciate the world for what it is, a beautiful planet.

The landscape of Earth is as dramatic as any livable world. Of course many of the uninhabited worlds have dramatic landscapes as a result of the forces that make them unlivable.

For a planet with a strong atmosphere the mountains on Earth are quite lovely. Earth has an exceptionally diverse ecosystem and has many of the environments that other alien species live in. You can find almost anything you like on Planet Earth. Deserts, it’s got ‘em. Oceans, yep. Mountains aplenty and grand river systems as fine as anywhere.

Some Kushans and Earthers will get into a friendly debate about which planet is most beautiful. I hear the Earth sky is a lovely shade of blue but there is no way it can compare with the Kushan sky. Kusha might not have the grand mountain ranges that Earth has but has much more farmable land.

These kinds of arguments are silly in their way. How can you compare a rose with a tulip? A tellon berry from an apple? Still, we have these impossible debates and we enjoy debating something that can not be debated. 

As long as this is done over a mug of cider or cold beer.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480