The Universe

The Observable Universe
Illustration Credit & Licence: Wikipedia, Pablo Carlos Budassi

Explanation: How far can you see? Everything you can see, and everything you could possibly see, right now, assuming your eyes could detect all types of radiations around you — is the observable universe. In light, the farthest we can see comes from the cosmic microwave background, a time 13.8 billion years ago when the universe was opaque like thick fog. Some neutrinos and gravitational waves that surround us come from even farther out, but humanity does not yet have the technology to detect them. The featured image illustrates the observable universe on an increasingly compact scale, with the Earth and Sun at the center surrounded by our Solar System, nearby stars, nearby galaxies, distant galaxies, filaments of early matter, and the cosmic microwave background. Cosmologists typically assume that our observable universe is just the nearby part of a greater entity known as “the universe” where the same physics applies. However, there are several lines of popular but speculative reasoning that assert that even our universe is part of a greater multiverse where either different physical constants occur, different physical laws apply, higher dimensions operate, or slightly different-by-chance versions of our standard universe exist.

Explore the Observable Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow’s picture: stellar shell game

Music For Peace

Just a short bit with the video for today from Bee. Same from me, below hers.

Peace Song November – Peace Will Come To Me

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I choose this one, because the music of it brings me peace. I bet I’m not the only one. It’s a peaceful song.

Music For Peace

Bee brings us the Black Pumas, and a bit of commentary that begins, “One aspect of a peaceful existence is to consider our fellow humans as our family not our enemies.” Precisely!

Peace Song November – Colours

My selection is this story, with The BeeGees performing Bob Dylan and then their own peace music. It’s an excellent story, and very good performances! Their own song is equal, at least, to Bob Dylan’s, but Barry Gibb discusses Bob Dylan’s influence on his music.

Barry Gibb recalls brave Bee Gees TV performance of Bob Dylan song to protest the Vietnam War

In 1962, the Australian Army began its formal military commitment to the U.S war in Vietnam. Two years later, young men were required to register for the National Service scheme and forced to fight in a bloody war that would enlist over 80,000 Australians. Over the next 11 years, 523 Australians died in battle and nearly 2400 were wounded before the country withdrew.

The fear of being sent to Vietnam to kill or be killed for the government struck fear into the hearts of many young Australians in 1963. That’s why three teenage boys, Barry (17), Robin (14), and Maurice (14) Gibb, The Bee Gees, took their big moment on Australian TV to speak truth to power by singing Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” The Bee Gees were relative unknowns that night on Bandstand, but by the end of the decade, they would be among the biggest acts in the world.

The Bee Gees sang ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ on Australian TV in 1963

“Blowin’ in the Wind,” released earlier that year, asks fundamental questions about war, racial justice, and whether humanity will ever live in peace and equality. The song would become one of the most important anthems in the Civil Rights and peace movements of the ‘60s and beyond.

Barry Gibb, now 79, says that even as a teenager, he completely understood why Dylan’s song needed to be heard. “I was rapidly approaching the time when I would have to register for the draft,” he told Upworthy in an exclusive interview. “It’s hard to explain that period, except that everyone was very worried, very worried, and Bob Dylan was our hero.”

“The Vietnam War was such chaos to the Australian people that it shadowed everything. I wrote a song called ‘And the Children Laughing’ because of what Bob Dylan had written. It’s about life and dying, and the idea that you would die for your country or go and kill people you don’t know. And I don’t want to go kill people. It was not on the table for me. So everything he wrote touched me deeply,” Gibb continued.

Why don’t you get on your feet

It’s about time you got to think

Whatever happened to peace?

Well, open your eyes and you’ll see children laughing

Voices singin’, hearts a-beatin’ ah…

Barry Gibb has always believed in peace

(snip-there MORE; it’s not too long, but this is a long post with the music)

“Lotus Eater”

Mississippi Kite

We get Mississippi Kites in late Spring; they’re about gone now. They give amazing air shows! Watching them makes a day better.-Ali

About

With pearlescent gray feathers and a sleek silhouette, the Mississippi Kite glides gracefully through the skies on wingbeats that manage to look effortless. While this medium-sized raptor with long, pointed wings and a squared-off tail may resemble a Peregrine Falcon in flight, the Mississippi Kite’s bouyant and easy flight can quickly distinguish it from the rapid, businesslike flight of the falcon. Its aerial acrobatics have earned the kite nicknames like “Hovering Kite.”

A long-distance migratory species, the Mississippi Kite breeds throughout the southern and central United States, making use of wooded areas in a range of settings — in large, low-lying forest tracts, windbreaks (stands of wind-resistant trees and shrubs) in prairies, and even in urban settings. Their habitat use and even their social behaviors vary throughout their range, with kites in the west being more likely to nest in colonies than their counterparts in the east.

Threats

The global Mississippi Kite population is increasing, and its range has expanded into parts of the Southwest since the mid-20th century. Even so, the cumulative impacts from threats like habitat degradation and loss, pesticide use, and collisions may make the Mississippi Kite more vulnerable across parts of its range.

Habitat Loss (snip-more on the page)

https://abcbirds.org/birds/mississippi-kite/

11/21 Is A Newsy Day In Peace & Justice History

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november21

Some Good Eco News-

Norway Turns Ocean Forests Of Seaweed Into Weapons Against Climate Change

Written by Matthew Russell

Off Trøndelag’s coast, long lines of kelp now do double duty. They grow fast. They also lock away carbon. A new pilot farm near Frøya aims to turn that promise into measurable removal of CO₂ from the air, according to DNV.

The site spans 20 hectares and carries up to 55,000 meters of kelp lines. First seedlings went in last November. The goal is proof of concept, then scale.

How the Pilot Works

The three-year Joint Industry Project, JIP Seaweed Carbon Solutions, brings SINTEF together with DNV, Equinor, Aker BP, Wintershall Dea, and Ocean Rainforest, with a total budget of NOK 50 million, Safety4Sea reports.

Researchers expect an initial harvest of about 150 tons of kelp after 8–10 months at sea. Early estimates suggest that biomass could represent roughly 15 tons of captured CO₂. This is a test bed for methods that can be replicated and expanded, DNV explains.

There’s a second step, as kelp becomes biochar. That process stabilizes carbon for the long term and can improve soils on land, SINTEF’s team told Safety4Sea. The project is designed to test both the removal and the storage.

Serene coastal landscape with rocky shores and calm water under a cloudy sky.

A Long History, A New Mission

Seaweed isn’t new here. Norwegians have cultivated kelp since the 18th and 19th centuries for fertilizer and feed. Scientists advanced modern methods in the 1930s, laying the groundwork for today’s farms, according to SeaweedFarming.com. Cold, nutrient-rich waters support species like Laminaria and Saccharina. They grow quickly and draw down dissolved carbon and nitrogen.

The country’s aquaculture backbone also helps. Norway already runs one of the world’s most advanced seafood sectors. That expertise now extends to macroalgae.

Policy, Permits, and Ecosystems

Commercial cultivation began receiving specific permits in 2014, and activity has expanded across several coastal counties, according to a study in Aquaculture International. Researchers detailed the risks that accompany scale: genetic interaction with wild kelp, habitat impacts, disease, and space conflicts. Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture, where seaweed grows alongside finfish, can recycle nutrients from farms and reduce eutrophication pressures.

Vibrant yellow seaweed covers dark rocky surfaces near shallow water.

Engineering for Open Water

Getting beyond sheltered bays is crucial. One path is the “Seaweed Carrier,” a sheet-like offshore system that lets kelp move with waves in deeper, more exposed water. It supports mechanical harvesting and industrial output without using land, Business Norway explains. The same approach can enhance water quality by absorbing CO₂ and “lost” nutrients.

The Frøya project is small in tonnage but big in intent. It links Norway’s long kelp lineage with new climate tech: fast-growing macroalgae, verified carbon accounting, and durable storage as biochar. If these methods prove reliable at sea and on shore, Norway will have more than a farm. It will have a blueprint for ocean-based carbon removal that others can copy.

Music For Peace

I can’t believe this month is past half over! Anyway, I think the guys here will particularly enjoy Bee’s selection for Wednesday, “Peace Somehow.” It sounds like it fits with other music the guys have posted, genre-wise.

Peace Song November – Peace Somehow

As Bee participates in the bloggers’s Global Strike For Gaza, here is her Thursday Peace Music post early (not to us, of course, as it’ll be Thursday when this post goes up.) Bee’s message with this one is important for each of us to take to heart.