[ExI] two observations

[Kevin Freels]

>I think it's interesting the way spiders fly.  A small spider will
>produce a strand of silk that catches enough breeze to carry the
>spider up into the air.  Maybe it's not technically self-powered
>flight; it's a cool trick though.  I imagine it as a metaphor for
>human diaspora to the stars - our puny boats won't carry a whole
>civilization but a largest enough number of seeds cast to the [solar]
>wind might eventually be lucky.  Given our inherent sense of
>self-preservation, those seeds will probably have to be digital copies
>else the failure rate would be depressingly prohibitive.

I saw an amazing example of this on my NAR level 3 certification flight many years ago. It was a 2pm launch and my rocket veered slightly to the west. As I turned my head to follow I could see hundreds, or perhaps thousands of spider silk strands shimmering in the sky. It was weird, but beautiful. I was captivated by it and lost track of my rocket. I never did recover that rocket and I never saw another example of spider ballooning as magical. 
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