The Long Shot: What Do You See?

My printed copy of Seed Magazine's web-only feature article "The Long Shot" signed by the author himself, Lee Billings.

"What do you see?"
It's great when someone asks you that question. Rorschach may disagree, or you may be unwilling to answer at all, like the captain of Icarus 2 in "Sunshine" who faced solar flares.
I just wanted to share what I saw after I read an article from Seed Magazine: The Long Shot by Lee Billings.
If you read the first and last sentence of that article, what do you see?
For me, I see two "long shots": One from the person searching for Earth-like worlds around Alpha Centauri, and the other from the visiting journalist.
"What I see" already began from the first sentence of that article. The descriptions of the scene made me close my eyes to see it all with my mind.
Why all this drama? Because it is my dream to visit all the great observatories and telescopes around the world. Just being there would have been part of the culmination of my long shot. Meeting actual planet-hunters would have made it sweeter.
Closely following and writing about the ongoing saga of the quest to answer "Are We Alone?" is another long shot. I've heard it said that there is no money in Journalism. But it is especially in this kind of topic that I learn that fact first-hand with this blog. People are fairly oblivious to what it means if we ever find life on other worlds. I've heard it so many times, "people just don't care". The public's attitude towards space exploration takes it's toll on the lack of funding for these kinds of projects. It is apparent in the struggle of Debra Fischer to keep the project afloat. I feel her description of "being in a sinking ship, throwing everything overboard just to keep moving forward".
However, for those who see something magnificent in the quest for knowledge about life on other worlds, it is well worth the ride. This is true also for those who are not directly involved in the actual frontier of Scientific endeavor, like me.
I am in it for a piece of the journey and adventure. And if stories are what the universe is made of, then I want to share in this particular story. I want to see through a planet-hunter's eyes, through their massive telescopes. I want to see the Milky Way from the mountaintops overlooking the domes and then feel the wind in my face gazing skyward.
To have a drink with someone who stood in that spot that I dream about, is to share in the joy of that experience. In my life, I've never really bothered much to look at the name of the author of an essay or article, but Lee changed all that as i've come to realize that journalists have that sense of adventure as well.
It is a great moment in history to be alive and to take part in the saga to answer perhaps Mankind's greatest question: Are we alone?
So if you happen to look up to the night sky from the mountaintops, please tell me, what do you see?

Space or Die

"All civilizations become either space-faring or extinct."
- Carl Sagan

Brian the Bat had Rabies

When I was a kid, I was bitten by a bat. My mother can tell the whole story of how she drove away the bat from my bloody hand.
When the story about Brian the Spacebat came about, I can't help but remember that fateful day.
When you get bitten by a bat, or any animal for that matter, Rabies is of prime concern. Reflecting upon the fact that i am still alive, it meant that the bat who bit me was not rabid. Or was it?
Reflecting upon the fact that I too am drawn to outer space, I can't help but think that perhaps Brian might have had rabies of some kind.
How can you tell if a bat has rabies? Well, although CDC says that rabies can be confirmed only in a laboratory, any bat that is active by day, is found in a place where bats are not usually seen (for example, on a space shuttle), or is unable to fly (like Brian)--might be rabid.
I asked @DiscoveryBat--the ghost of Brian the Bat--to confirm whether he had rabies, but he has not answered (yet).
Hence, i took the time to write this article while I waited. But the pieces of the puzzle seemed to come together as time went by.
A wildlife expert said that Brian might have had a broken wing. That's no expert! He's a poet! "Broken wings" are the stuff of poems, songs and melodramatic overtones. How did Brian get up there in the first place?
And if Brian had some problem with his shoulders, he wouldn't be able to hang on. The vibrations would be too much. If you've seen a footage of astronauts during lift-off, you'll see that they are being shaken like crazy.
Brian did not have a broken wing. Neither did he have any problems with his shoulders. He just didn't fly off, because he was rabid.
But what kind of rabies? It's called Space Rabies - the unsatiable and maniacal desire to reach outer space. At this point, after it has taken so long for Brian to answer, I do not expect him to think straight and even answer my question. Any rabid mammal would deny having rabies (just watch the movie 'Quarantine' and you'll know what I mean), but the tell-tale signs of space rabies is obvious (look at the hair of some astronauts in the ISS). Just like Brian and all those infected with space rabies, they have only one thing in mind: to reach Outer Space.
A twitter friend, @XiNeutrino rightfully observed a sure sign that Brian was infected with Rabies because he had fever. I couldn't agree more (Brian was hot on the infrared images). Brian surely had the symptom of Space Rabies--the fever for Space Travel, and he infected the world with it.
Brian the Bat is the first case of Space Rabies, and there will be more. So Brian Bat Foundation was set up by @astroengine (the man who named "Brian the Bat") to track the spread of this infection called Space Rabies in the animal kingdom. Only time will tell when the disease that Brian started will spread to the public. Be prepared for Space Travel. Fasten your seat belts for Outer Space!

SpaceCollective: Forward-thinking Terrestrials

I came across this awesome site called SpaceCollective that features wonderful insights about Space, Science and the Future, and explores the inner, outer and cyber space. I've watched all of their videos and they are all so inspiring and thought-provoking. Man is a Space-farer, and the human mind is an explorer of Futures. SpaceCollective rolls both into one, and it stays true to their mantra of living science fiction today.

Carl Sagan's Legacy Stamped

Carl Sagan, author of my favorite book - Cosmos, just came up in the blogosphere today in the form of a stamp.
It appears that the Sagan Appreciation Society is planning a petition for the US Postal Service to issue a postage stamp honoring astronomer and science writer Carl Sagan.
A metaphorical thing indeed for someone who stamped a huge legacy in the minds and hearts of skygazers and space explorers.