http://blog.jmlynch.org/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/ suffering under the sun Sat, 23 Jul 2011 23:46:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://blog.jmlynch.org/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/comment-page-1/#comment-1522 Wed, 04 Oct 2006 19:39:03 +0000 http://jmlynch.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/#comment-1522 In the words of Eric Idle:
Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving
and revolving at 900 miles an hour,
It’s orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it’s reckoned,
the 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 the outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour,
of the Galaxy we call the Milky Way.
Our Galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars,
it’s 100,000 light-years side-to-side,
It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light-years thick,
but out by us it’s just 3,000 light-years wide.
We’re 30,000 light-years from galactic central point,
we go round every 200 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 whiz,
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,
Pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space,
because there’s bugger all down here on Earth.
A scientific analysis of this can be found here, by the way.

]]> http://blog.jmlynch.org/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/comment-page-1/#comment-1521 Wed, 04 Oct 2006 13:16:26 +0000 http://jmlynch.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/#comment-1521 Heartily inspiring! Thanks, Carl, and John for reminding us.

]]> http://blog.jmlynch.org/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/comment-page-1/#comment-1520 Wed, 04 Oct 2006 10:18:52 +0000 http://jmlynch.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/#comment-1520 Even now, his words bring goosebumps to my skin. We miss you, Carl.

]]> http://blog.jmlynch.org/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/comment-page-1/#comment-1519 Wed, 04 Oct 2006 07:18:01 +0000 http://jmlynch.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/on_a_pale_blue_dot/#comment-1519 And what is more inspiring and wonderous than that?
Thanks, Carl!

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