Us.

[Evoman]

Us....little beings on a planet.








Us....recent additions to the galaxy.






Us.....






Us.....in comparison






Us.....in a tiny portion of the sky....









I think that sometimes it worth remembering your significance in the grander scheme of things. When you are getting to big for your britches, and you feel the universe owes you something, take a real look.

Take comfort, because right now, WE -tiny, infinitismally small, insignificant-EXIST. And you only get one shot while your here. Live your life like you want to live it.

[tblue]

1. But WOW! How right you are. Great graphics. I'd been spinning around in my little distressed

state of mind, and this is giving my perspective a reality check. Thank you so much for that, my friend! Sometimes I take life way too seriously.

[Evoman]

13. Your welcome.

I think what blows my mind (and probably because I'm interested in evolution) is the graphic containing the timeline of prehistoric Earth. They zoom in two times, and all of human existence is STILL just a sliver of a sliver of time.

Everytime I get upset, I like to just sit down and stare at pictures of space, or even artist interpretations of prehistoric Earth. It puts everything in immediate perspective. Why do we spend so much time doing things we hate, and being with people who are toxic, and trying to please others, at our own detriment? We have so little time.

I decided yesterday, after starting this thread, that next summer I'm going to go spelunking in some of the caverns in western Canada. Fuck sitting around and playing video games or watching TV. I'm going to do something I've always wanted to do. My gf and I are starting to plan the trip.

Lol...I also realized, upon signing in (I pretty much left DU after I posted this thread) that I am on the greatest page! WTF! That never happens. Thank you all for recommending this thread.

[tblue]

26. Way to go! Oh, have a blast spelunking! Canada is just awesome. I gave up hanging out

with negative people a long time ago. I don't spend any time with any Republics period. They just make me feel frustrated and angry. I'm inspired by your post and, believe me, I need the inspiration these days.

[EST]

2. As my old granny used to tell me, if you want to see just

how much lasting difference you really make, put your hand in a bucket of water.
Then remove rour hand and see how long the hole in the water lasts. That's it.

[intaglio]

3. And according to the Rapture is soon crowd

all of that is put there "just" for our benefit so that our "faith" can be tested.

What they are really doing is calling their deity a liar :eyes:

[OneBlueSky]

4. reflecting on the fourth graphic . . . the one pointing to the sun . . .

wonder what the chances are that there's intelligent life somewhere other than the planet Earth? . . .

[ArbustoBuster]

12. An answer to this could be given by the Drake equation, once we know enough about the universe.

The Drake equation starts with what we know, then gives a general idea of how many other civilizations there might be out there. Unfortunately, "what we know" is severely limited. We don't really know most of the numbers to plug into Drake's equation, yet.

[cosmik debris]

17. I prefer the Douglas Adams equation

Given that, in an infinitely expanding universe, there are an infinite number of planets.

And given that we only know that one planet has sentient life.

Then the probability of sentient life in the universe is 1 over infinity.

And therefore the probability that we exist is statistically equal to zero.

:)

[Dorian Gray]

33. That gave me a headache!

;)

[Evoman]

15. Look at the last graphic....all those points of light are GALAXIES.

You go far away enough, galaxies start looking like stars. Is there alien life out there? How can we possible know? For some reason, though, I don't doubt it :)

[Meshuga]

5. As in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life"

It's nice to be aware of this:

"Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."

However, to be honest, most of the time I'm thinking this:

"Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis?
Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?
It's swell to have a stiffy.
It's divine to own a dick,
From the tiniest little tadger
To the world's biggest prick.
So, three cheers for your Willy or John Thomas.
Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake,
Your piece of pork, your wife's best friend,
Your Percy, or your cock.
You can wrap it up in ribbons.
You can slip it in your sock,
But don't take it out in public,
Or they will stick you in the dock,
And you won't come back."

[cosmik debris]

7. But then, the Theists have their 2 cents also.

Oh Lord, please don't burn us,
Don't grill or toast your flock,
Don't put us on the barbecue,
Or simmer us in stock,
Don't braise or bake or boil us,
Or stir-fry us in a wok...

Oh please don't lightly poach us,
Or baste us with hot fat,
Don't fricassee or roast us,
Or boil us in a vat,
And please don't stick thy servants Lord,
In a Rotissomat...

[Meshuga]

9. And more specifically...

...Catholics have their 2 cents:

"DAD:
There are Jews in the world.
There are Buddhists.
There are Hindus and Mormons, and then
There are those that follow Mohammed, but
I've never been one of them.

I'm a Roman Catholic,
And have been since before I was born,
And the one thing they say about Catholics is:
They'll take you as soon as you're warm.

You don't have to be a six-footer.
You don't have to have a great brain.
You don't have to have any clothes on. You're
A Catholic the moment Dad came,

Because

Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.

CHILDREN:
Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.

GIRL:
Let the heathen spill theirs
On the dusty ground.
God shall make them pay for
Each sperm that can't be found.

CHILDREN:
Every sperm is wanted.
Every sperm is good.
Every sperm is needed
In your neighbourhood.

MUM:
Hindu, Taoist, Mormon,
Spill theirs just anywhere,
But God loves those who treat their
Semen with more care.

MEN:
Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
WOMEN:
If a sperm is wasted,...
CHILDREN:
...God get quite irate.

PRIEST:
Every sperm is sacred.
BRIDE and GROOM:
Every sperm is good.
NANNIES:
Every sperm is needed...
CARDINALS:
...In your neighbourhood!

CHILDREN:
Every sperm is useful.
Every sperm is fine.
FUNERAL CORTEGE:
God needs everybody's.
MOURNER #1:
Mine!
MOURNER #2:
And mine!
CORPSE:
And mine!

NUN:
Let the Pagan spill theirs
O'er mountain, hill, and plain.
HOLY STATUES:
God shall strike them down for
Each sperm that's spilt in vain.

EVERYONE:
Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is good.
Every sperm is needed
In your neighbourhood.

Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite iraaaaaate!"

[cosmik debris]

10. High-Kicking Nuns always crack me up! n/t

[intaglio]

8. You might be interested in a ditty supposedly by A P Herbert

"The portions of a Woman that excite a man's depravity
Are fashioned with considerable care,
For what at first may seem to be a simple little cavity,
Is really an elaborate affair"

[intheflow]

6. Thanks for this.

I love being reminded how small I am because it really does put my problems into their proper perspective.

And while I can appreciate all things Monty Python, I also want to offer up this Peter Mayer song:

Blue Boat Home

Though below me, I feel no motion
Standing on these mountains and plains
Far away from the rolling ocean
Still my dry land heart can say
I’ve been sailing all my life now
Never harbor or port have I known
The wide universe is the ocean I travel
And the earth is my blue boat home

Sun, my sail and moon, my rudder
As I ply the starry sea
Leaning over the edge in wonder
Casting questions into the deep
Drifting here with my ship’s companions
All we kindred pilgrim souls
Making our way by the lights of the heavens
In our beautiful blue boat home

I give thanks to the waves upholding me
Hail the great winds urging me on
Greet the infinite sea before me
Sing the sky my sailor’s song
I was born upon the fathoms
Never harbor or port have I known
The wide universe is the ocean I travel
And the earth is my blue boat home

[NMMNG]

11. Excellent post

Thank you! :thumbsup:

[ArbustoBuster]

14. The Pale Blue Dot

We succeeded in taking that picture , and if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

--Carl Sagan

[Evoman]

16. Blows the goddamned mind.

Man....

[flying rabbit]

25. Amen

[Gelliebeans]

18. Great graphics

I have bookmarked this one for future use. K&R.

[cyborg_jim]

19. It just boggles the mind how anyone can be so convinced of our own self-importance

Unless they have never seen such images.

K&R

[byronius]

20. I have this most excellent program, 'Deep Space Explorer'.

You can explore any part of known space -- the solar system planets are all composed from Hubble photos, and you can turn the monitor into a spacecraft, zooming at thousands of times the speed of light. It's VERY fun. Thousands and thousands of galaxies and stars -- you can swoop around through the universe, galaxies whipping by.

I'm goin'.

I feel less small than I do EXCITED. OUTWARD BOUND!

Here's a song I once wrote about it:

http://www.jupitersheep.com/Music/Time_Of_Our_Lives.mp3

[nicknameless]

30. Nice song, Byronius

Very '80s

:)

[Martin Eden]

21. Size doesn't matter.

It's what happens in the space between your ears that counts.

[ozymandius]

22. Bookmarked and recommended!

Splendid work - if my tiny little voice may say so!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

23. Evo, I teach

gifted kids and about ten years ago they got into timelines bigtime and figured out a timeline for the entire history of the earth. I don't remember the numbers. But we have a standard size of tagboard that is 24 x 18 and they did some calculations that showed if, on a linear time line (is that redundant?) one of those sheets represented 500 years, that recorded history was on the first ten sheets, lined up in the classroom, and the onset of humanity was somewhere out on the playground and the beginning of the earth was all those pages lined up all the way to CA.

TG

[Evoman]

24. The scale for time and distance at these level are almost unfathomable.

I got these stats from the internet:

"If the solar system were the size of a table, the Andromeda Galaxy would lie at 10 times the distance to the moon and the most distant galaxies would lie at 60 times the distance to the Sun.

If the sun were the size of a golf ball in New York the next nearest star would be a golf ball in Chicago.

If you look at a picture of the earth which is about 8cm in diameter, all of the atmosphere relevant to our life is the thickness of a thread."

[Danger Mouse]

27. "Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving..."

"...and revolving at 900 miles an hour"

[The Witch]

28. Adding to the songs this brings to mind:

Breaking out the obscure showtunes:

(sung)
Call me fool,
That's alright with me.
Here's my rule,
Never disagree.
Where's my pride?
Swallowed long ago.
Deep inside,
Where it doesn't show.
Bowing, scraping, nodding, beaming
Always humble
Not an ounce of self respect.
Yes sir, yes sir, you're so right sir
Black is white sir
'Scuse me while I genuflect.
How do I remain so calm and cheerful?
How do I retain my piece of mind?
Let me just explain my rationale
It's all in your perspective.
Listen! Listen!
To an old Hungarian's philosophy.

(singing dialogue)
I am only one of
several in a rather small parfumerie.
Which is only one of several in this city.
Which is one of many cities in this country which
Is only one
Of many countries
Which are on this continent
Which is only one of seven on this not so special planet
Which is one of several in our solar system
Which is only one of many solar systems
In this vast, and inconceivable affair, that is the universe
Sooooooo
In this infinite, incomprehensible scheme
If a dot called Maraczek should scream
At a speck called Sipos
What on Earth does it matter?

And slightly more familiar:

Everybody lives on a street in a city
Or a village or a town for what it's worth.
And they're all inside a country which is part of a continent
That sits upon a planet known as Earth.
And the Earth is a ball full of oceans and some mountains
Which is out there spinning silently in space.
And living on that Earth are the plants and the animals
And also the entire human race.

It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney.
It's big and black and inky
And we are small and dinky
It's a big universe and we're not.

And we're part of a vast interplanetary system
Stretching seven hundred billion miles long.
With nine planets and a sun; we think the Earth's the only one
That has life on it, although we could be wrong.
Across the interstellar voids are a billion asteroids
Including meteors and Halley's Comet too.
And there's over fifty moons floating out there like balloons
In a panoramic trillion-mile view.

And still it's all a speck amid a hundred billion stars
In a galaxy we call the Milky Way.
It's sixty thousand trillion miles from one end to the other
And still that's just a fraction of the way.
'Cause there's a hundred billion galaxies that stretch across the sky
Filled with constellations, planets, moons and stars.
And still the universe extends to a place that never ends
Which is maybe just inside a little jar!

It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney.
Though we don't know how it got here
We're an important part here
It's a big universe and it's ours!

[cosmik debris]

29. The Animaniacs win again!!!

Hip! Hip! Hooray!!!

[Random_Australian]

31. I love the M87 galaxy almost as much as I do the CERN LHC.

And the archea are the most cool things ever to have existed. (As in, the mircobes what used Tungsten)

:)

Next to any of this stuff, how look like sucks.

(Well, except for one thing they created, the CERN LHC, and there are probably a few other worthwhile things)

:)

[Dorian Gray]

32. I actually love this reminder

about how vast the universe is, and how insignificant we are. So many of us can be self involved and blow our personal issues way out of proportion, and this is a great reminder about how little any of that matters. Plus, it's awe inspiring. :)

[JerseygirlCT]

34. It is, isn't it? Simply gorgeous, too. Thanks, Evoman! nt