The Milky Way: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations

Astronomy and astrophysics are one of those things I always wished I had the chance to study were it not for the physics part. Somehow everything ended up being pi times the square root of 15 to the 10th power or something. So I admire from afar and leave the complex math and physics to those with an aptitude for such things.

But you don’t need to know MIT level math to find awe and fascination in our universe – which is vast, beautiful, fascinating and seemingly infinite. The scales and distances are so incredible that just citing the numbers won’t give most people a real idea of the immense scales involved.   To put things in perspective: the Earth is to our Galaxy what an atom is to our body.

It is humbling and helps put things in perspective to look at the world and our existence from that angle, especially in a world in which most people are obsessed with petty, in the grander scheme of things,  irrelevant notions of religion and national identity. We humans are so blinded by our own alleged self importance and the belief that we occupy a privileged position in the universe, that we cannot see anything else but ourselves.

Our most fundamental beliefs pertaining to the nature of existence are deeply rooted in folklore and myth, from which the myriad of world religions have emerged. The belief in some sort of a creator and decision maker pulling the strings has been so entrenched in our civilizations and cultures that stepping away from such a paradigm would in fact require a serious paradigm shift on a very fundamental level. But as long as beliefs in a fantastical and mythical power in the form of religion keep guiding us, we will never be able to step beyond the known and into the unknown that is our universe; our existence.

So what is this universe and where is it vis a vis us? The answer is: The Milky Way Galaxy where life as we know it exists on a small planet in a nine planetary solar system.

The Milky Way Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy 100,000–120,000 light-years in diameter containing 100–400 billion stars. As a comparison, the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy contains an estimated one trillion stars.

The sun is about 26,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, located on one of its spiral arms, close to the inner rim of the Galaxy’s Orion Arm, in the Local Fluff inside the Local Bubble, and in the Gould Belt, at a distance of 8.33 ± 0.35 kiloparsecs (27,200 ± 1,100 light years) from the Galactic Center. It takes our solar system roughly 200-250 million years to orbit once around the Milky Way. In this orbit, we (and the rest of the Solar System) are traveling at a velocity of about 155 miles/sec (250 km/sec).

The center of the Milky Way, the galactic center, is called Sagittarius A which is a supermassive black hole.

The Milky Way is estimated to be about 13.2 billion years old, nearly as old as the Universe. Surrounded by several smaller satellite galaxies, the Milky Way is part of the Local Group of galaxies, which forms a subcomponent of the Virgo Supercluster.

The arms of the Milky Way are named for the constellations that are seen in those directions. The major arms of the Milky Way galaxy are the

Perseus Arm

Sagittarius Arm

Centaurus Arm and

Orion-Cygnus Arm.

Our Solar System is located in the Orion-Cygnus Arm known as the Orion Spur.

(LOCAL GROUP:

The Local Group is the cluster of galaxies to which we belong. It is a group of about 30 galaxies that is about 5 million light-years across. The largest of the galaxies are Andromeda galaxy, Triangulum, and our Milky Way. The Local Group also includes Fornax, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, M32, M33, M101, and 9 dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The center of the Local Group is roughly between the Milky Way)

Astronomers believe that only about 10% of the mass of our galaxy comes from stars, gas and dust. They suspect that there must be more matter than we can see because of the way the galaxy rotates. If all of the stars in our galaxy were orbiting a massive object in the center, the way the planets orbit the Sun in the Solar System, then the stars closer to the edge of the galaxy should be orbiting more slowly than stars closer to the center, the same way the outer planets orbit more slowly than the inner ones. Instead, stars near the edge of our galaxy orbit at nearly the same speed as stars nearer the center.

To produce this kind of motion, the galaxy must contain much more mass than we can see. Astronomers theorize that this extra mass is dark matter. This matter is not visible, emits no electromagnetic radiation, and has so far eluded detection.

As a guide to the relative physical scale of the Milky Way, if it were reduced to 100 meters in diameter, the Solar System, including the hypothesized Oort cloud, would be no more than 1 millimeter (0.039 in) in width. The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, would be 4.2 mm (0.17 in) distance and the Andromeda Galaxy, M31. The galaxies in the Local Group are moving in concert with each other, independent of the “Hubble flow” expansion.

Review: The Walking Dead – Season 3, Episode 2: “Sick”

Securing the prison

The Walking Dead is back with a vengeance for its third season and unlike the comatose second season of the Days of Our Zombie Lives style that was thrown our way –  the new season – up until now at least – has been quintessential zombie apocalypse.

Instead of cluttering our from stupid TV shows already half dead brains with prime time soap opera junk  – which was the entire second season – debating Lori’s rate of sexual intercourse and trying to find the answer to the number one question burning on everyone’s mind after the world has come to an end, namely who the father of Lori’s child is – the first two episodes of the third season (Episode 1 titled “Seed‘), have finally picked up in speed and intensity taking the show away from the bore  that was season 2.

Shelter in prison

This season starts off great by taking us back to all the things that originally made this show great: the chase, the herds, survival, thrill, making life and death decisions in the face of absolute dread. In a way it is great Shane is out of the question so that we can finally move away from the love triangle bullshit drama that was degrading this show into comatose depths.

The strength of The Walking Dead has always been the realism with which it portrayed the journey of its protagonists through the barren apocalypse of a world run over by the flesh eating undead. Whereas Season 2 had abandoned all those questions in favor of dealing with the domestic problems of Rick, Lori and Shane with zombies thrown in for show, this season starts off by once again placing the zombie apocalypse, its aftermath and the drive for pure survival at the forefront.

Maggie getting into the spirit of things

Flashback to season 2: the group had narrowly escaped Hershel’s farm  after a massive herd had swept through there, killing half of Hershel’s family. Rick, who had been led into the woods by Shane to be killed, finally realized what was going on and shot Shane. Andrea got separated from the group. The others believe her dea and meet up at the freeway trying to figure out what to do.

Fast forward through the winter and it is summer again; it appears to be going by the lushness of the vegetation and the sweat everyone seems to be breaking. People look worn out and even though around 10 months have passed, Lori is still something like 7 months pregnant holding her belly like it was a bowling ball she was afraid might roll out from underneath her at  any second. Don’t ask why, but we will get back to internal consistency later.

A transformation has taken place within Rick as well. Optimism has  given way the shadow inhabiting all of us. Unlike Shane where this transformation seemed forced and became off-puttish, the change we see in Rick is subtle and more believable   It makes sense. And it is also very revealing of the inner struggle he is facing; the inward battle to try to accept that the world as he knew it is over and with it every bit of morality that existed within that world.

At the beginning of their journey. Rick went back to save Merle from the roof of the mall after he had been handcuffed there for his threatening behavior. He risked himself and the group in order to do the right thing telling Lori “I don’t care what he [Merle] would do. I cannot let a man die like this.”

This past year seems to have taken a heavy toll on Rick’s ability to cope with the new order of things.  In a world having fallen apart at the seams – where good and bad and morality and ethics no longer have the meaning they used to have pre apocalypse – Rick’s priorities as a leader  – but also human being  – have changed.  And in a way, they have to.

Big tiny indeed has a tiny brain

In the absence of government and law enforcement or really any of  kind of structure of governance in place and thus the things that keep society functioning as we know it, humans degrade to savagery, committing unspeakable crimes against one another. In such a world, holding on to grand principles established in a world with government and the rule of law would be futile.

As the leader of the group, Rick is facing a daunting challenge on many fronts. And much like any leader, he is forced to make the tough choices. in light of those challenges. Diplomacy just does not work with entities that operate under no code of conduct.

I don’t think people – even Lori or Herschel – realize how truly   alone Rick is in this and the immense weight on his shoulders.

Unlike Shane who seemed to have been in his element in the world post apocalypse, willing to kill people in cold blood under the guise of “saving everyone”, Rick really does have a hard time pulling this off.  Everytime he makes a decision in that direction, he seems to struggle deep inside, even if he doesn’t talk about it.

Rick may have unwillingly become the leader of this of group of people that look up to him for guidance and leadership, but it appears as if this role has also given him something to live for; to strive for, to fight for. It is what keeps Rick going in light of absolute devastation in the remnants of days gone by. Rick’s allegiance to this group is unequivocal. Giving up on the group would mean giving up on hope and a future and Rick cannot go there if he wants to make it through this in one piece.

I think the writers have done a great job portraying Rick’s struggle and how he is divided and conflicted. Leadership is ultimately about making the tough calls and actually realizing that the call you are making is tough.  It it weren’t, it wouldn’t be leadership. And Rick is a leader, flawed as he may be in other aspects.

“Aim for the brain guys. No more of that prison riot bullshit”

Having said that, there are still some inconsistencies which puzzle the astute observer – in no particular order:

1) When we left off at the end of season 2, Lori was upset with Rick having killed Shane and that Carl had to put Shane down after he had turned. Halfway through the first episode of the 3rd season, that resentment is still apparent. But suddenly that changes and Lori complains that after everything she put Rick through, it is no wonder he hates her. But hello…where did that come from? Just five minutes ago Rick was the one trying to making amends with Lori but now suddenly Lori is the one having to make amends with Rick? It seems like the writers decided half-way through to change this around hoping we won’t notice.

2) Why does Carl hate mommy dearest so much? If something happened in the winter months we didn’t get to see, then the writers should have made it clear somehow. Without having done so, however, it just seems a bit odd.

3) When we left off, fall had begun and the group was trying to figure out a way to survive winter.  Let’s say it was October. Now it is summer again (going by vegetation sometime around July)  – so something like 9 months have passed. Yet Lori is still pregnant (looks like 7  or 8 months). How is that possible? Lori must have been at least a month or two pregnant by the time she found out. If something like 8 months have passed, how can she still be only around 7 months pregnant?

Rick is not kidding around

4) If everyone is infected anyway and they “turn” after they die, then why does it matter whether they are bitten or not? You only worry about such things when you worry about viral or parasitic transmission. But if everyone is infected anyway, why do they care? And for that matter, why do people who get bitten die sooner than those not bitten – even though both are infected?

I think that, by far, this is the biggest disconnect and disappointment in terms of internal consistency. Maybe there is an explanation for it but they are not telling us what that is, so we are left with speculating  – which is always a sign of bad story telling.

Tight formation

5) How the hell is Hershel alive? How did the infection not kill him? He first had his leg hacked off by a dirty ax lying around in the decay of the prison. Then they used a bunch of unsanitary towels and everything they could find in the stench to dress the wound. How did he not get an infection or die from blood loss? He is an older man who has been probably malnourished with a weakened immune system. How could his heart and brain have survived  the lack of oxygen from all the blood loss, not to mention the immense infection? I mean this was a leg being hacked off for crying out loud.

6) Finally, exactly who is brain dead may I ask? For 10 months these prisoners are stuck in there with everyone dead and zombies walking outside and it never occurred to them to break out? Or go figure out what has happened. They just stayed there hoping the National Guard would show up? Really? For ten months? Since when do prisoners not look for opportunities to break out, especially in light of complete chaos.

Such inconsistencies gnaw at the believability of the show and the writers are well advised to avoid them. It remains to be seen how far down the rabbit hole the writers want to take us; just hope that that particular hole isn’t something we can find easily in prime time soap.

Michael Bay’s Open Letter to Spoiled, Overpaid Actors Who Complain About Having a Job That Pays a Lot

“Do you ever get sick of actors that make $15 million a picture, or even $200,000 for voiceover work that took a brisk one hour and 43 minutes to complete, and then complain about their jobs?

With all the problems facing our world today, do these grumbling thespians really think people reading the news actually care about trivial complaints that their job wasn’t “artistic enough” or “fulfilling enough”? […] What happened to people who had integrity, who did a job, got paid for their hard work, and just smiled afterward? Be happy you even have a job — let alone a job that pays you more than 98% of the people in America.

I have a wonderful idea for all those whiners: They can give their “unhappy job money” to a wonderful Elephant Rescue. It’s the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Africa. I will match the funds they donate.” 

—Michael Bay [Since deleted from his blog. Coward. Can’t even stand by what he says]

Review: Welcome to the Dollhouse

Dawn Wiener hated by everyone

If at the age of 12 or 13 you weren’t part of the popular in-crowd filled with perfect little miss sunshines, then you will appreciate what Dawn (Heather Matarazzo) is going through in this quasi coming age movie of a bullied junior highschooler. 

Welcome to the Dollhouse is about a girl in junior high who is as unpopular as can be. Everyone spits on her, from her school mates, to her teachers, her siblings and even her own parents. Every adult in this movie is an ugly human being and Dawn is caught amidst this ugliness, becoming one of its unfortunate victims.

No one likes Dawn; in fact, everyone hates her. When she asks one of her tormentors why she hates her so much, she responds “because you are ugly“.

That pretty much sums it all up, as all the people in Dawn’s life are mean to her and flat out assholes for no apparent reason. Her mother, her father, her brother, her teachers, her peers – and even her little sister whom I hated so much that in fact when she was kidnapped in the end I was actually hoping they had hurt her. Seeing a mere 7 year old be so mean already doesn’t leave much hope for the rest of us. Everyone, without exception, is mean and cruel to Dawn.

Sawing off Barbie’s head

I would not call this movie a comedy or particularly funny. It is actually filled with social commentary, is sad and while humorous at times, it is depressing to watch Dawn be surrounded by so much dislike and lack of love in her life.

The laughter that occasionally ensues is immediately muted by the completely bleak and sad situation Dawn is in. Even the  scene where she dreams she rescued her sister and everyone tells her they love her:  that wasn;t funny, that was tragic. This girl is so parched for love, she dreams it.

The director is very smart and knows what he is doing and he would never degrade this movie by inserting lame comedic relief in there. So the “humor” is not really humor, it is the sad theme strategically inserted,  underscoring Dawn’s plight, unhappiness and desolation. No wonder she is mean to those weaker than her, the girl doesn’t know anything else. All the adults in her life are despicable human beings presenting some of the worst qualities, so she can’t give what she never received.

There is one scene, after her sister has been kidnapped, where she tells her brother that their mom doesn’t want her to go to school today because she is afraid she might be kidnapped too, and her brother responds deridingly “yeah right“; exemplifying how worthless Dawn is made feel as her own brother doesn’t think she is even worth kidnapping.

“I hate you because you are ugly”

Welcome to the Dollhouse is a powerful movie; it is brutally honest and it will not sugarcoat junior high and being an unpopular-and-emotionally-abused 12 year-old experience for you.

The sad thing about it, of course, is that people really are like that in life. I could identify with Dawn in so many ways. When I was 12, I was wearing huge glasses and dorky clothes and didn’t fit in and just wasn’t popular at all and people in my school, including my teachers, made me feel worthless. I remember one time I was wearing a jacket with a big hood and this kid behind me in line slowly dumped his yogurt, spoon by spoon, into my hood while I was standing in line for lunch.

I guess director/writer Todd Solondz must have gone through similar humiliating experiences, which is why he was able to retell Dawn’s plight in such painful accuracy and so masterfully.

‘Today after school I am going to rape you

The ending is pretty strong as well because it is not a sappy, stupid Hollywood ending, but a real-life one. The character of Dawn, unlike the characters of many of the high school classics of the 80s that unduly idolize the school years – such as Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club and Can’t Buy Me Love etc. – doesn’t come out of age, or grows as a person, is now popular or suddenly finds the love of her life.

Nothing really is resolved or changes for Dawn. When she goes looking for her sister in New York and doesn’t come home at night, no one even notices she was gone. Her parents still treat her like dirt and mostly ignore her, she still doesn’t have any friends or gained popularity of any kind and she still looks in the mirror everyday wondering why everyone hates her so much.

A lot of people complain about the ending, stating that it has no resolution and that her circumstances donyt change. But that is the whole point.  As Thoreau once said “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation“. Their plights go unnoticed and then they die. Most people who are treated like Dawn don’t become either a) happy, pretty, successful, fit, loved, tanned people or b) turn to a life of crime becoming the Columbine shooters. On the contrary, they just fade away, suffer through it and realize that in the end they can’t change anything; like Dawn at the end of the movie.

That is because in real life, there isn’t a happy ending at the end of the 90 minutes and sometimes people just aren’t able to rise above their assigned rung on the social ladder. I guess that is why so many people find this movie difficult to watch or dismiss it altogether.

Review: Revenge

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold. It is, after all,  best to get back at those who wronged you when they least expect it and after the matter has settled – in their minds at least.

ABC’s primetime drama series Revenge toys with this basic premise and introduces us into the high society world that connects the wealth looted in Wallstreet to the kind of narcissistic lifestyles and decadence it creates in the outskirts of the city, in the idyllic and posh Hamptons. It tells the story of a young woman who does exactly that: take revenge on those who wronged her by making them do horrible things to each other.

Years after the injustice that landed her father in jail and then cost him his life, Amanda Clark (Emily Vankamp) moves back to the Hamptons and charms the pants off her “new” neighbors — while plotting their downfall for sins committed against her family.

This modern day drama is inspired by Alexandre Dumas’ novel The Count of Monte Cristo, in which the protagonist – after years of wrongful imprisonment  – finally returns to get revenge on those responsbile for his demise.

Revenge is an intriguing show if you can look past the gaping plot holes, if you can suspend disbelief to the 15th power and if you in general are the kind of person who enjoys watching stylized high society soap operas. Otherwise you will spend your time trying to make sense of how, for example, a little girl/woman can actually manage to take down an entire empire, why things just fall into place conveniently to achieve the desired plot outcome and why a thirty-something year old guy is a billionaire.

This is one of those shows that precipitated in light of the Occupy Wall-street movement but with the basic structure of shows like Dynasty and Dallas. It is primetime soap.

Emily Vankamp playingalm bad-ass

There is a lot of unconvincing stuff going on in this show – from not only the actions of the characters but also their feelings and emotions. People fall in and out of love with each other at a drop of a hat, true to soap opera form, someone believed to be dead ends up actually being alive and when they do come back everyone is as “shocked” about seeing this person again as they would be if that person had returned from a long vacation. Things also seem to be strangely falling into place when convenient and the plot “twists” are doctored and predictable.

They were trying to pull a Point of No Return here but it failed as this story is basically about a bunch of obscenely wealthy people who engage in the most heinous acts so they can continue living in the lap of wealth and luxury. Because of this, their “plight” and struggles do not evoke much sympathy. What do I care if the main lead brings down her scumbag husband? She is a scumbag herself. In fact, every character is a despicable human being you don’t care about.

To make matters worse, the miscasting of Emily Vankamp as the skilled, edgy and angry former delinquent with martial arts skills akin to The Bride in Kill Bill further leads to the unbelievability of the story. Emily Vankamp is just not very believable as the angry, former troublemaker from juvie out to avenge her dead father.  She seems too tame and proper. It’s like you took a girl from the OC and said “here, play the little assassin“. It just looked ridiculous and was very unconvincing

 That is because Vankamp is just not convincing as the real Amanda Clarke. She is supposed to be this complex character stuck between her conscience and her relentless desire for revenge, a woman who is deeply angry and manipulative becasue she needed to be that person in order to take down a mogul. But Emily Vankamp is just not that person. We do not see that complexity and the struggle. Her character portrayal is too calm and composed; too unconflicted. 

In fact, all the characters are mechanic and barely inhabit their roles.

Sporadically there is some excellent writing in there but that is rare becasue those excellent parts are interrupted by these annoying soap opera like plot twists and unbelievable character portrayals.

So if you don’t mind watching a bunch of poor rich people and their heart wrenching struggles to remain on top of the food chain, con each other out of millions they in turn conned out of some poor unknowing soul, then this is the show for you. If, on the other hand, soap operas with two dimensional characters and strange plot twists and unbelievable, implausible story lines aren’t your cup of tea, then I recommend not tuning in at all.