Apr 02 2008
The Universe
I’m gonna get up on my soap box again and do a little preaching, but this sermon has nothing to do with politics or our brain-dead sound bite culture. I want to talk about perspective. It’s as easy to lose as it every was — with family, work, war, recession, and the thousand other obligations, responsibilities and desires that occupy our minds.
Lately, I’ve been stressed balancing a lot of work with my desire to spend time with my wife and daughter. Like most people in that situation, I’ve been stressed. Recently I have found respite in, of all things, a TV show on the History Channel called The Universe. Astronomers, physicists, cosmologists, astrobiologists, rocket scientists — all come off as every day people, bringing the mysteries and wonder of the cosmos into my home in layman’s terms. Nubulae. Black Holes. The Sun. Galaxies. Each show addresses a new, very specific topic with top-notch (if somewhat dorky) experts, plus amazing photography and animations.
Personally, I find knowing that the orion nebula is 1270 light-years from earth and 24 light-years wide (a light-year being 5,878,625,373,183.61 miles), to be a profound dose of perspective. That it takes days for a ray of light to travel from the sun’s core to its surface, then only a few minutes to reach earth. That when we look to the sky, we are looking into the past, for almost every sparkle from every star we see has taken millions of years to reach us. That dark energy is winning the war against gravity, and that the Universe may never stop expanding. And knowing that earth is just a small planet orbiting an average star on the outskirts of one run-of-the mill galaxy among billions is inspiring.
We’ve been given an amazing gift with this planet and the miracle of life that thrives upon it, and I think civilization would benefit if people stopped to consider things larger than themselves for an hour a week.
Ah, someone besides me was watching last night’s episode on nebulae.
Brad,
Cool post.
I was thinking something similar. I checked out this new initiative called Allicance for Climate Protection.
We Can Solve It
wecansolveit.org
The environment means more to me now that I live up in the Pacific Northwest where the air smells fresh and the trees and grass are super green…
Brad, I consider that “sometyhing larger than myself” each and every day and give thanks for the hand that created it all. Nothing comes from nothing, each and every thing, tangible and intangible,… from cars, to the most small and intricate piece of technology in existence, to the air we breath has a creator. The vastness and beauty of the Universe, far beyond my own realm of scientifice comprehension (even though I am a fascinated with all forms of science) has a creator as well, and He is the one who gives us our very lives and all the talents to go with them. When I look at our beautiful little Sophie (as well as all little babies), and stop to think of all the parts that make her little being function,her the ability to love, laugh and find new adventure each day of her new life, day, I see His love and beauty of His creation. The human body is a complete miracle to me, to think of how it is put together to run in sync with all other organs to keep us alive and functioning. Yes, we have truly been given a gift… a gift of creation, a gift of love and the ability to make our own decisions in pursuing our talents and choices, be they good or bad… we have been given the gift of life to pursue as we see fit. You got philosophical, and started me on a roll,.but it gave me time to do my own reflection, thank you for that. Love to all of you!
I like Star Trek better. Just joking. Some of the “Universe” shows are good and some are bad. By bad i mean not as cool as the sun one, the black hole one, and the jupiter one. The dark matter one was ok. The one on worm holes was not very interesting to me. I still dvr everyone and watch them though. I wish they would do one on orion. that’s my favorite constellation. The big dipper is ok but orion is the bomb.
I didn’t like the one on the Sun, which, incidentally, is my favorite planet. I like it because it’s like the king of planets.
I thought the moon one was kind of boring.
If the moon were made out of ribs would u eat it, i would. And i would was it down with an ice cold budweiser.
You know all those horses in the Bud commercials, Chad? The brew comes from their bladders.
You know what else? I’d like to see the bulldozers that dug the Grand Canyon. Those suckers gotta be huge. In fact, they’re so big I bet only aliens could build them. I guess that means aliens are responsible for the Grand Canyon. They should do a Universe episode on that.
A couple of weeks back, I went to the Griffith Planetarium on a whim. I’m not the biggest science guy myself, but the renovations and the show definitely sound like they’re in your ballpark. You might want to check it out when you have a free evening.
I’m waiting for apes to evolve a little bit more. Getting in debates with them and fighting with them would be cool. Kind of like Planet of the Apes or something.
Hey Chad, I would eat a moon made of ribs. What if it were Krispy Kreme Doughnut? What you eat it? I would.
Oh yeah i’d eat it if it was a doughnut. I hope that wasn’t a cop joke senior. i can easily find where you live and send in a group of men clad only in black and automatic rifles. it would be a bad day.
No cop jokes from me… Put your Glock back in your holster, Botz. I do think you might be a little sensitive about doughnut jokes though.