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Blog: Rex55

Infinite Snapshot

Views: 434 (Total: 1748)

Date Posted: September 10th, 2009 (6:36am)

I am a youtube junkie, and love searching for all kinds of random, interesting clips. I decided I might as well post some of the really neat ones I find to share with all my readers. Sure, it will be harder for me to hide my nerdiness =) , but I think writing about poker all the time gets boring, and this will mix it up.

So the one for today is super nerdy, but I think anyone with an appreciation for the universe will find it super intriguing. Watch the whole thing, even if it starts as a snoozefest.. believe me, its a beautiful 6:39 minutes.

Watch it Here: The Most Important Image Ever Taken

Watching the clip humbled me and at the same time sent shivers down my spine. It left me with a lot to think about and I literally spent the last two hours talking about universe related topics with my friend. Understanding the infinite complexity of the universe is beyond the scope of human limitation, and when I really stop to ponder it, it sends my mind reeling.. thought after thought...question after question. To think Earth is barely a speck of sand on a beach introduces the idea of so many wondrous other lifeforms that I believe exist... somewhere out in the vast expanse. My imagination soars. And maybe for the next few moments or hours, yours will too.

c0d34w4y Added 9/12/09 4:42am

Just stumbled on your blog, really like it :) I agree, the universe and our place in it is a fascinating thing to think about.. dreams of ET and such :-)

OlDusty Added 9/11/09 7:43pm

Maybe you have it backwards Zimba. Maybe your daily decisions affect what you see on the video. I may write more on the subjuct soon. Thanks for the link Rex it's beautiful..

RossG Added 9/11/09 3:22pm

I love this stuff too lol. Also, you can see that video in this static image too... pretty cool. http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2706/spaceb.jpg

tomdelvinco Added 9/11/09 12:33pm

Good post Rex, I randomly stumbled across the Hubble Deep Field video last year and it inspired me to take up Astronomy, and I'm even considering pursuing it as a career. It's amazing when I think back now, just how little I really knew. I never really thought about it. But when you understand just what this image represents, it’s a huge wake-up call. I guess the big thing it really changed my perspective on was our own human conflicts, which when you delve further into the subject of cosmology seem even more pointless than they did before. Without wanting to go into hippy-mode, we need to stop the tribalism that is preventing our species moving forward, and work together towards a better future for humanity and the planet that we are gradually destroying. I have become very cynical towards the Nationalist and Religious delusions that continually stand in the way of this progress. It has also helped with Poker, too. I honestly think I have developed better emotional control as a result of this hobby, a perspective on things that many Poker Players lack. If I have a bad session nowadays I can just go outside and look through my telescope for a while, or look at some of the pictures from Hubble, and all of a sudden it doesn’t really matter anymore. It really is the ultimate tilt relief. I find it quite frustrating that very few people are aware that this image exists. If you were to ask most people on the street, they would not have seen the Hubble Deep Field. Despite it being one of the most inspirational and profoundly important images in human history, it’s not relatively well known. Another great video: Carl Sagan’s interpretation of a photo of Earth named ‘The Pale Blue Dot’. I found it very thought provoking and I think Carl’s message here is something every human being should hear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmMUuR--Qvo Tom

Persius Added 9/11/09 11:35am

Great video... I've always been fascinated about astrology, and one of my most vivid memories from a trip i made to Brazil 2 years ago was to be able to look at the sky on the beach of Pipa at night, which is on the northeast part of the country and near the equator, and be able to see both Polaris and the southern hemisphere Crux constellation... Me and some friends that were there will never forget that sky.

swa22 Added 9/11/09 1:59am

Also, what I got out of the clip was the word "possibilities"

Rex55 Added 9/11/09 1:37am

Well Zimba, I can't answer that question for you, only you can answer it for yourself. I know how it affects me and my perspective on life, religion, family, people, animals, water, etc. We are so caught up living in the 'narcisstic' bubble of I, that I think viewing the world, cosmos and our lives from an objective viewpoint every once in a while can only be healthy. Thinking about the universe isn't going to help you decide what you want for dinner, or where to get your gas tank filled (daily decisions), but thinking about the universe might give answers to deeper questions, or at the very least shed some light on them. I think most humans in general are inquisitive and curious, and we have an intrinsic thirst to explore.. to "know" more. Some of us focus that curiousity on sports, or movies, or math, poker, all of the above and more. For me, that exploration has always involved science, so I chose to share this clip with you. While it might not be an earth shattering clip about how to change your life, at the very least it offers insight into how in the grand picture, a lot of what we dwell and fixate on is quite trivial. Its the same feeling one might get when they visit a developing country and see people with no food or water.. perhaps when they return back to their home base with the luxuries they are accustomed to, they will have a newer perspective and spend more time being grateful or appreciative of them. Ultimately, part of human and scientific progress has been the ability to evolve our thinking to include not just narrow trains of thought, but larger concepts. It is because of the curiousity and exploration of many great ancient civilations, explorers, inventors, scientists, etc that have advanced technology, medicine to what it is today. So How does it affect your daily decisions? Like I said, I don't know. But I know how it affects mine and I am glad it has affected so many others in history.

swa22 Added 9/10/09 8:27pm

Driving from the Kerrville Folk Festival to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1996, We stopped off to camp in the Kit Carson National Forest outside Taos, NM...The sky I saw that night is the infinite snapshot, I'll keep in my mind forever...being from the east coast near NYC, I never saw anything like that in my life...the best sunsets I've seen were in Montana and Alberta, Canada...pure magic...

Zimba Added 9/10/09 2:20pm

It is very impressive to consider, but I'm left wondering how does it realistically affect my daily decisions?

smallteene Added 9/10/09 2:06pm

I liked the video a lot, although why did they have to add that crappy vid of that guy...??...my dad works @ stanford and plays around with satellites. He just launched prob over a year ago a segment with nasa to study the auroras in the sky...(said to eventually destroy us with its rays)...i hope all is well rexy! =) ...watching this reminded me of Battlestar Galactica....i love that show! "jump!"

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