“You only have to buy one ticket to win the lottery”
Jim Bakula
Usually people might think, “If I won the lottery I would
……”, and in this way, buying just one ticket can produce a wonderful
expansion of the possibilities available in one’s life. The truth is that we
don’t have to win the lottery in order to start actualizing our dreams. Often
it’s not the lack of money that stops us from beginning this path. If we just
start, it can take on a life of its’ own. If buying one lottery ticket starts
this process, something far more valuable than mere money has already been won.
Last week I took a trip to the Kennedy Space Center here in
Florida, where all manned space launches in the Western hemisphere have been
sent from, and where all moon landings and all Mars launches have originated. The
shuttle program has ended, and until the next system is ready, (not before
2017), leaving the gravity field of Earth entails a trip on a Russian Proton
rocket or on one of several future private launch systems which are not yet
operational for human flight.
The International Space Station (ISS) is operational.
Anyone with an Amateur radio license, a simple inexpensive handheld radio and
antenna, and a free computer program or smartphone app (satellite AR) to see
when the station is overhead, has a good chance to talk to the astronauts there.
An unmanned launch to Mars is scheduled in two weeks. The school bus sized
James Webb telescope, much larger than the Hubble, will go up soon. With
cooperation and good will, it seems that almost nothing is impossible.
T’ai Chi in Space
The possibilities for T’ai Chi in zero or low gravity
conditions are intriguing. Coordination of movements from the center, internal balance, and the
use of all body parts in integration would have immense benefits in navigating
these environments effectively. The reduction of muscle mass that occurs during
extended stays in these conditions might be reduced far more effectively by
adding exercises based upon T’ai Chi principles to current work outs, which use
stationary bicycles, elastic band stretches, and other traditional devices. I
look forward to the growth of an entirely new field of T’ai Chi practice in the
coming centuries.
This new science might replace the constant (gravity) with a
variable, (time and force amplitude dependent inertia), leading to some
fascinating possibilities and even some new moves. I suspect that we are in for
some exciting times in the fields of dance, gymnastics, and sports, to name
just a few of the new explorations of human potential just now becoming
available.
Blessings to All,
Daniel
