"Earth 2" has been found ... maybe?

But don't pack your bags quite yet.

Astronomers have finally found a planet outside of our solar system that might be somewhat similar to Earth. As far as we can tell from 120 trillion miles away.

It's only about 20 light years away. And in galactic terms, that's close. But even if you traveled at the speed of light (which is supposed to be the physical speed limit of our universe), it'd take 20 years to get there. (Of course once you take into account the time dilation effect that occurs while traveling near the speed of light, you might barely age during the journey. But everyone back at home would be 40 years older if you decide to make a round trip to the new planet.)

Also, you're probably going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe since I'd suspect the dim red sun would mess up your fashion scheme.

By the way, Mars also qualifies as habitable according to the scientists' high standards (and I don't know of anyone seriously considering a move to Mars), so the climate of this new extra-solar planet may a bit too cool or a bit too warm.

Or the atmosphere (assuming there even is an atmosphere) may smell like dirty socks.

Reading the Bible in a Year

My wife and I have decided that we are going to try to read the whole Bible in a year. Today, we bought a One Year Bible (ESV translation).

We've already read today's passages. So far, so good. It's not the first time that I've started studying Joshua in the middle of the book (a few years ago, I started attending a church group while a study of Joshua was underway). Joshua might not be the easier book to start reading in the middle of, but this way we'll know right away if we start to fall behind.