I'd rather be studying astronomy

[mellowtigger]

I'd rather be studying astronomy at school.

A few weeks ago, this announcement crossed my news feeds. Researchers found 4 small planets around Barnard's Star. This particular article is better than the others on this topic, because it includes a chart that shows the nearest stars to our own star. It reminds me that what I really want to study is our "local neighborhood", everything within 100 light years or so. It's a pitifully small volume of space, within the larger galaxy and universe, but that's what I want to study nevertheless. There is so much that we don't know about our own neighborhood. I remember none of the math/physics from my first round of university life, so a return to school would be a small adventure.

Click to read about job hunting and politics...

I did some very minor job hunting this weekend, looking for something less stressful than my current job. The "permutation explosion" is what I call the great variety of topics and skills that we're supposed to know, with details careening from one to the other in stark contrast between each problem ticket that we address. Studies have told us for decades that context switching is terrible for productivity, and this job is entirely that process. While my stress level is significantly lower than it was during the first 3, 6, 9, or even 12 months of this job, it's still not dropping to a reasonable level. It might have something to do with my blood pressure problem too. I finally scheduled a doctor appointment to see about medication for that issue, although a lifestyle change might be a better choice.

I know from several experiences over the decades that I cannot both do school and work at the same time. That stress would be terrible too. I'm better off focusing on only one or the other. I'd like to get back to my childhood astronomy before I someday die, but Trump/Republican destruction of the social contract makes it unlikely that I will ever see any kind of retirement income. Here in the USA, "Social Security" is supposed to be a generational promise, stretching across time. It's what they now decry as a Ponzi scheme. There is no social contract in the USA any more. It's all about power and profit now. It's a loss for all of us.

The massive crowds at the Bernie Sanders and AOC rallies are giving me hope. Maybe it's still possible within my remaining lifetime for the USA to regain a democracy from its current plutocracy. Even the local news stories like this one aren't fully capturing the size of this grassroots movement. Social media (especially this poorly named group) are doing better at showing pictures and video. If we're lucky, the oligarchs of the DNC will step aside and finally allow a populist candidate to lead the party. If we're unlucky, then they'll have to force a 3rd-party switch that yanks some Democrats, some Republicans, and plenty of what I call (at least since 2019) "the unimpressed" to vote for them, while elections are still a trustworthy process here. I wish I could stop caring about politics, but it raises daily questions about my job security, electricity costs (sorry, Canada, I don't blame you), food prices, healthcare, and more.

I'd rather be studying astronomy at school, but here we all are.

Comments

[dewline]

It does seem like local interstellar space is getting more exciting by the day from what I can see, so your desire is Valid. Capitalisation intended.

[mellowtigger]

I said this story popped up weeks ago, but it was just days. Last week only seemed like a month passed. LOL

The larger cosmology is interesting too. If I'm understanding correctly, a new idea about the expansion of the universe is that space expands unevenly, expanding faster in areas that are less dense. Apparently, this discrepancy can eliminate the need for "dark matter" to explain currently observed universe expansion. I have no idea how that proposition affects the idea of "flat" or even "saddleback" space curvature, if it's instead all bubbly and uneven.

Very interesting, yes, but it's just not what grabs my attention. I want to peek in infrared at everything nearby, both within our solar system's sphere (not just within the flat ecliptic plane) and within 100 light years, just to catalog when something shows up. I want to know more about the waterworld discovered a few years ago, just 48 light years away.

Instead, I'm "working for a living" and (apparently) driving up my blood pressure. Ugh. UBI can't arrive soon enough.