Some Staggering Numbers

The latest estimate for the number of stars in the observable universe is now 70 sextillion, or 70 thousand million million million. This "is greater than the estimated number of sand grains on all the world's beaches and deserts - about 10 times more." Note that this is just the estimate for the observable universe, as the scope of the actual universe "could be much, much larger still - some people think it is infinite."

As of December, 2007, 270 planets outside the solar system have been discovered. It "is estimated that at least 10% of sun-like stars have planets, and the true proportion may be much higher."

If only one in a million stars had a planet that could support life, and one in a million of those had a planet that did support life, that would provide 70 billion planets with life in the observable universe. If advanced civilizations such as ours occurred on only one in a million worlds with life, there would be 70,000 advanced civilizations in the observable universe.

With these odds, doesn't it seem unlikely that we're alone in the universe?

Now for some more mind-boggling numbers. The age of the universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years (the clock having started at the Big Bang). When we look out at those 70 sextillion stars, we are looking into the past, seeing the light from these distant objects looking as it did when it was emitted. Therefore, the furtherst objects appear 13+ billion light years away and are 13+ billion light years old.

But the universe is expanding at a rate faster than the speed of light, so the current position of these furthest stars is estimated to be over 40 billion light years away. "The observable universe is thus a sphere with a diameter of 92–94 billion light-years."

Stay with me, I'm about to make a point...

The fastest craft ever launched from Earth, Voyager 1, has had a top speed of 38,000 mph. Though not headed in the direction of Proxima Centauri, our closest celestial neighbor at 4.2 light years, it could have reached this star in 72,000 years. Even if far-future technology were able to attain half the speed of light, it would still take over 8 years to reach just the closest star. Forget about the 70 sextillion!

The universe is mind-blowingly large, and we are incomprehensively small. If the universe were created for the sake of humanity - as many people believe - why would it need to be so big? A little excessive, wouldn't you say?

Chabad Messianists Lose Court Ruling

You may be familiar with Chabad, an ultra-orthodox Jewish movement that has become very visible in recent years in their opening of "Chabad Houses" across the world. They are also one of the modern populizers of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism (Madonna has jumped into the craze, as you can read about here).

(A little sidebar: Perhaps we should replace the ineffective U.N. with Kabbalist Madonna, Buddhist Richard Gere and Scientologist Tom Cruise. They certainly couldn't do any worse in solving the world's problems.)

Anyway, Chabad is more formally known as Lubavitcher Hasidism, a sect that goes back to 18th century Russia. During the tenure of their latest leader, the "Rebbe" Menachem Mendel Schneerson, many followers claimed he was the Messiah. This belief got only stranger after his death in 1994 (he hasn't been replaced yet as Rebbe). You can read more about the background of this movement here.

The latest development in this bizarre drama is a court case that has evicted a Messianist congregation from the movement's main synagogue in Brooklyn.  While this drama has not been widely known outside of New York - where one could find posters on the subway with photos like the one above and captions reading "Messiah Now" - I'm pleased to see this development.

Fundamentalism and extremism of all colors are an embarrassment to logic and reason.

Update: Vatican Denies Exorcist Expansion

In an update from my last posting: The Vatican denies that it is expanding its legion of exorcists (article from United Press International). Luckily, the article provides another humorous quote:

"A priest at Vatican University who teaches how to recognize and expel Satan said exorcists increasingly are in demand because devil worship has become so common."

You just can't make up stuff like this.

Pope's Exorcist Squads Will Wage War on Satan

According to an article in The Daily Mail, "The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism."

Rather than make light of this critical problem facing the world, I thought I would point out some key quotes from the article:

"Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession."

"Thanks be to God, we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head-on."

"Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You have to hunt high and low for a properly trained exorcist."

"We are being bombarded by requests for exorcisms."

"The Vatican is particularly concerned that young people are being exposed to the influence of Satanic sects through rock music and the Internet."

Thank goodness the Vatican has decided to confront this menace!

God vs. Science

I read an interesting article from Time Magazine online, a bit dated (11/5/06) though no less relevant, called "God vs. Science." The bulk of the article is a debate between Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary scientist at Oxford University and author of "The God Delusion," and Francis Collins, Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and author of "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief."

It's captivating to finally read this debate framed from a scientific perspective (more so with Dawkins, of course), rather than between scientist and theologian. The line that most resonated with me was the closing comment from Dawkins:

"If there is a God, it's going to be a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more incomprehensible than anything that any theologian of any religion has ever proposed."

The graphic image above, by the way, is from another really interesting article I read in Cosmos Magazine, "Hunt for the God Particle," about the Large Hadron Collider being built outside Geneva.

And now you have your reading assignments for today.

Al Qaeda Behind Bhutto Assassination

According to an article in The Sun online, the Interior Ministry of Pakistan claims that there is "irrefutable evidence" that Al Qaeda was behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. I would prefer to hear that this information has been verified by the United States government, if that's possible, because I trust the honesty of the Interior Minsitry of Pakistan as much as I trust the ethics of Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice...which is to say, not at all.

But if this proves to be true, it should be a wakeup call for anyone who thinks that the War on Islamic Terrorism - as it should be called - is overblown hype and fearmongering. I just finished reading Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11." These barbarians are in this fight for the long haul, and believe that this struggle might take decades. Bin Laden and his band of barbarians believe that their years of fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan collapsed that empire, and that eventually they will cause the same fate to befall America, which they see as the largest impediment to creating a new Islamic caliphate. In their view, destabalizing Muslim states that are not Islamist - and even worse, allied with the U.S. - will drive more recruits to their cause and allow them to overthrow these "takfir" regimes.

We've become so buried in the quagmire of Iraq that our focus has been turned away from stamping out the Islamist terrorists. Iraq was at most minimally associated with Al Qaeda, but now has become the quicksand of the majority of our military resources. Meanwhile, Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and countless other Al Qaeda and Taliban are likely hiding in the Wild West that is the tribal areas of Pakistan near the Afghanistan border (official site). Bhutto offered hope that Pakistan might fulfill its promise to take control of these areas and root out the terrorists.

I can only hope that this assassination strengthens our resolve to continue this fight, especially past the presidential election in November. By this I don't necessarily mean Iraq, but rather, the larger war against Islamist Terrorism. And I hope that Pakistan will finally root out the barbarians at the gate. If not, another 9/11 will be inevitable.

Will There Be Rallies?

In the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, will there be rallies and demonstrations across the Muslim world? Insulting cartoons and inflammatory comments by the Pope set off mass hysteria across the Middle East, as well as Europe. Will the murder of a Muslim leader who promoted democratic reforms engender the same rage and initiate a call to arms by moderate Muslims to take control of their societies from the forces of terror, anarchy and barbarism? I doubt it.

Here's an interesting post-assassination analysis from the Jerusalem Post.

Hilarious Japanese Game Show

I wanted to test embedding a video into this blog, and this is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Not to be a Scrooge...But I Love This Story

RACY 'SANTA' CITED FOR DUI

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- A beefy gent wearing a red Santa hat and purple G-string in Los Angeles this holiday season not only didn't pass for Santa but failed a Breathalyzer test, too.

Rick Carroll, 53, of Long Beach, Calif., who also sported a blond wig, black leg warmers and red, lace camisole, allegedly registered just over the legal blood-alcohol limit of .08 percent when officers tested him after he pulled up in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater Sunday night, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The 6-foot-4, 280-pound Carroll was booked on a misdemeanor DUI charge and released on $5,000 bail, the newspaper said. His car was impounded.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Chief Ken Garner said officers were "pretty sure this is not ... Santa Claus."

"There was no Mel Gibson treatment for him," Garner added, referring to the help the actor received from deputies after his drunken driving arrest last year. "He had to sober up and find his own reindeer."

Click here for the story on the UPI website.

Church and State Crash Head On in the House

On Dec. 11, H.R. 847 was passed in the House of Representatives.  The text, according to a Washington Post article, includes:

"Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States. . . ." 

"Christianity [is] the religion of over three-fourths of the American population"

"American Christians observe Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ"

"Christmas is celebrated as a recognition of God's redemption, mercy, and Grace."

"Now, therefore be it Resolved, that the House of Representatives . . . expresses continued support for Christians in the United States . . . acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States . . . rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and expresses its deepest respect to American Christians."

This is nauseating, frankly.  Is it just me, or have politicians gone off the deep end recently in their declarations of faith?  Every presidential debate has been chock full of professions of Christian belief.  There's no embarrassment in admitting you don't believe in evolution (as a number of Republican candidates did), but God help an atheist if he or she ever runs for office.

This House resolution spits in the face of the Founding Fathers, who designed our government on a separation of church and state.  They may have primarily been Christians, but they created a secular government that was inclusive of all religions, or those who choose no religion.

A politician who doesn't believe in evolution wouldn't get my vote for dog catcher, because I wouldn't trust his ability to exercise logical judgment.  I can only hope that enough constituents feel the same as I do, and let their opinions be heard, or there will be more ridiculous resolutions like H.R. 847.

Institute for Creation Research in San Diego

It was with great delight that I discovered a relatively nearby destination, the Institute for Creation Research, and its Museum of Creation and Earth History.

I am fascinated by the absurdity of religious fundamentalism, and respectful of the capacity of science to discover the underlying truths in the universe.  As long as the Creationists aren't trying to force this affront to science into the public education system, I can enjoy a stroll through Fantasyland without feeling guilty.

I have yet to visit this museum, but it has become my new #1 destination in Southern California.  I'll provide a full report once I've been there.