Month: February 2017

There are 100 billion stars in our galaxy.  A thousand million.  There are 9 known galaxies beyond ours.  So there are a trillion stars (that’s ten hundred billion stars) in the discovered universe.  The nearest star is over four light years away. The rest are much, or much, much further. A light year is the distance that light can travel in a year at 670 million miles per hour.  It could take centuries or eons for a message traveling at the speed of light to reach us, assuming it was properly directed and not deflected along the way.

A trillion stars would support tens of trillions of planets.  Would you like to bet against those odds that there is not intelligent life out there somewhere.  Are we so unique?

Good God!

Nemesis (/ˈnɛməsɪs/; Greek: Νέμεσις), also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia (“the goddess of Rhamnous”) at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, was the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris (arrogance before the gods). Another name was Adrasteia, meaning “the inescapable.”

“Ah, a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what is heaven for.”

Robert Browning

Perhaps I can create a little bedlam for you.  The word “bedlam” is derived from the name of the first hospital to treat the insane in the 15th Cetury, Bethlem Royal Hospital in  England.  Bethlem was a scene of horrors over many centuries and the name became corrupted over the years to mean chaos and anarchy.