Tuesday, Oct 18

I couldn't really find anything that I wanted to read in the NYT today, at least in the sections that I usually browse and read from like the front page, the world section, the U.S. section, (and lately the business day section), etc, but today I figured I'd take a look at the science-based section of the paper, section D I believe. Most of the articles sounded too advanced for me, even though I've heard that the NYT is written at a third-grade reading level (I could be wrong though). An article in the section, "Not Such a Stretch to Reach for the Stars", caught my attention initially simply because of the title. When I started reading the article, I couldn't believe what I was reading was real because it discussed visiting the stars (in the future, of course), what it would take to create an engine that could propel a starship, the fact that an engine like that could destroy the planet, and so much more. None of the information made sense to me because although I realize technology has made amazing advances in this field, it's crazy (but I guess not too crazy) to think that traveling to the stars is possible in the somewhat near future. The article mentioned that NASA's future is uncertain, but the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Darpa, is the organization heading this possible century-long space project. The name of the organization, specifically the word "defense", makes me wonder what we are defending ourselves from... Anyways, it's articles like this one that make me realize just how small our world, and even our planet, are!