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Contemplating my navel

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DrEntropy

DrEntropy

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Standing under a pre-dawn sky at a latitude some 25.7 degrees north, moon bright and waning. Venus is a vividly bright pinpoint a bit low and easterly, the sun's light ricocheting from it to my retinae, it's humbling. Did Lucy and her contemporaries have self-awareness? Four and a half billion years it took for the pebble we call terra-firma to form and cool into the Earth we now know and call home. Traces of hominids go back a couple million so far. An eye-blink of time. The low rumbling sound of jet engines, powerful machines, can be heard from the east, Ft. Lauderdale airport within a short distance. We fly! Humans have set foot on that now waning moon! We're an organism going from beating lunch over the head or pulling it from a plant, to taking air travel for granted. All in the time that to the Universe, it needs be considered miniscule.

MORE COFFEE!!
 
As a fellow history nut told me: The only reason Earth allowed humans to develop and spread, is that Earth couldn't invent plastics on its own.

Now that Earth is covered with plastics ... Earth doesn't need us any longer.

hmmmmm
 
Mom used to say the planet would shake us off like a dog would shake off a bunch of fleas. She may have had a point.
 
Funny how coincidences "happen": Sitting here with my coffee listening to grandson #1 (age 7) reading from one of his Christmas gifts, a book about the origins of the earth and the dinosaurs.

"Pangea and Panthalassa" --- don't believe I was introduced to those words at that age!
 
Brer Mick said:
Funny how coincidences "happen"
Click to expand...


:lol:

I was reading the "All About" series, Robinson Caruso and Tom Swift at about that age. Moby Dick soon after.
 
And back in elementary school (1950s), I was reading "Johnny Texas" - a kids' book on an immigrant family coming to Texas in the early 19th century, looking for a better life than they had in the "old country".

Back in them thar days, us Texas kids were required by law to study Texas (and US) history and government.

Tom M.
 
Yeah, but for many, "required to study" didn't translate to "learn and remember". High school civics was so boring that even the teacher would forget to pause after reading a joke from his prepared lecture!

Thing that gets me is how many times in the past, humans have developed "advanced" civilizations that have fallen and left little trace. We've passed the Incans (at about 150 years), but have a long way to go to match the Romans (over 500 years). "The sun never sets on the British Empire", but where is it today? Were the Dark Ages an aberration, or the normal condition?

"Everything can change
In the blink of an eye
So let the good times roll
Before we say goodbye,"
 
Here's something to contemplate. 18 years ago, when I started British Car Forum, these things did not exist:

[FONT=&quot]4G LTE networks
Airbnb
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Alexa
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Android[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]App Store
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Bitcoin
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Dropbox
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Facebook
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Fitbit
GoFundMe
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Google Chrome
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Google Maps
GPS on smart phones
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Hulu[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Instagram
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]iPad[/FONT]
iPhone
Kickstarter
[FONT=&quot]Kindle[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Lyft
[/FONT]Netflix streaming
Oculus (Virtual Reality)
PayPal (existed under different name previously)
[FONT=&quot]Pinterest
(the) Selfie Stick[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Slack[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Snapchat[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Spotify
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Square
Tesla[/FONT]
Twitter
[FONT=&quot]Uber
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Venmo[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Waze[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]WhatsApp[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]YouTube

How ever did we survive? [/FONT]
 
And 19 years ago, everyone was convinced the wheels of the world would come off, because computers only used two digits for the year :smile:
 
...and no offense Doc, but I'd rather contemplate Barbara Eden's navel :cool-new:
 
DrEntropy said:
Humans have set foot on that now waning moon! We're an organism going from beating lunch over the head or pulling it from a plant, to taking air travel for granted. All in the time that to the Universe, it needs be considered miniscule.

MORE COFFEE!!
Click to expand...

And now what might be thought of as instant virtual air travel since this thing we call the web allows is to not only talk to almost anyone anywhere in the world, but to see moving pictures of daily life for millions anywhere in the world, in real time. Maybe not exactly the same as being there, but thing of all the places even the wealthy with time to spare will never see.
 
Omphaloskepsis to be sure. :cool:
 
Yep... the complete life-cycle. Seems about right. :playful:
 
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