Aloha Friday Motivation | Pondering the Universe Edition | #26

-

 Happy Aloha Friday!

My son and I started exploring the universe. Needless to say, it was a black hole.

It all started in the Lowe’s parking lot. Walking past one of those new mustang SUVs in burnt orange (or puce), I noticed a bumper sticker that read, “The next solar eclipse: 4/8/2024!” I turned to my 3 year old and said, “Arlo, did you know that the next solar eclipse is on your birthday?” The construction vehicle, car and truck loving 3 year old (who is still obsessed with cars and trucks and construction vehicles) now has a new obsession with space and the planets and eclipses. He’s even memorized all nine planets (yes, Pluto will always be a planet in my household). He runs around the house exclaiming that “Satur” (he has trouble turning the corner of the “turn”) is his favorite followed by Uranus. He has even asked Santa to bring him Saturn next year.

His sparked interest has ignited mine as well: a sort of chain reaction that has me fascinated with how the universe came into existence, what existed before the universe, and everything in between. While I won’t bore you with the specifics (at least not today), I will guide you to these amazing Universe Facts (I picked out a few choice ones and listed them below) and this amazing site! Also, I would implore you to revisit the Stephen Hawking quote below from time to time. I am reminded, daily, by my kids, that this childlike sense of abandon and wonder is what keeps us interested and, by proxy, makes us interesting.  A wise friend said to me recently, “I spend my time thinking about a lot of stuff. I'd say it helps me be good at my job....but it isn't always related to my job.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Some of my favorite Universe Facts:

  • It snows metal and rains acid on Venus. Venus is congested in sulfuric acid, which causes the planet’s metals to become gas, liquid, and solid, in the atmosphere before raining down. (like, WHAT!?)
  • Sunset is blue on Mars. Mars has less than 1% of the Earth’s atmosphere. The sunset on Mars looks blue because the atmosphere mostly captures blue light from the sun.
  • If two pieces of the same type of metal touch in space, they will bond permanently. Unlike on Earth, the process called cold welding will cause two pieces of the same metal to merge due to the absence of water and air molecules in space.
  • Uranus rotates on its side. Uranus is the only planet in the solar system that spins sideways on its axis. Scientists theorize that a collision realigned its orientation.
  • There’s a planet made of diamonds 2 times the size of Earth. 55 Cancri e is a so-called “super-Earth” made of diamonds discovered in 2004 around a nearby star in the Milky Way. 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aloha Friday Motivation | Fuji Edition| #21

-
Image
  Happy Aloha Friday! ( BLOG LINK ) There is a Japanese proverb that says, “A wise-man climbs Mt. Fuji once; a fool climbs it twice.” 316 years ago tomorrow marks the last eruption of Mt Fuji, Japan’s most kenspeckle landmark. Situated roughly 2 hours from Tokyo, it is the highest mountain in Japan with its 12,000 ft stature rising up from the landscape like the platonic form of a volcano. Though deemed a low risk eruption threat, Fuji is still an active volcano, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire , home to 452 volcanoes surrounding the Pacific Ocean, roughly 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes, accounting for almost 90% of the world’s earthquakes. Put another way: Major tectonic activity! Fuji holds a lot of spiritual significance, being one of Japan’s three holy mountains, along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. Sitting atop Fuji is Okumiya shrine , the highest shrine in all of Japan. Ironically, or fittingly depending on how you slice it, lying in the northwest foothi
Read more

Aloha Friday Motivation | Superstitious | POST:101323

-
Image
Happy Aloha Friday the 13 th ! ( Blog Link ) It is, sadly, another somber Friday, with such chaos and atrocity playing out in the world. To say the situation in Israel is complicated would be an understatement. This article tries to simplify it, but I don’t think such a complicated situation can ever be simplified. While I don’t want to dwell on it, I think Wendell berry does a good job of capturing a lot of what I have been feeling as of late: "When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free." Source: The Peace of Wild
Read more

Aloha Friday Motivation | Pseudonym Edition | POST:042123

-
Image
  Happy Aloha Friday, Many would shake their head if I told them that Mark Twain and Nina Simone had a lot in common. Yes, they were both writers, passionate about their art form, passionate about many things. But Twain’s writing, owing to the times, was marked with racial undertones, while Nina Simone’s work fueled her civil rights activism. Through all of it though, the two shared a few ties that bind. Here are two pretty interesting ties!   Neither Mark Twain, nor Nina Simone were there actual names. Samuel Clemens pen name was born from his time piloting river boats in Mississippi and Mark Twain is a term that refers to the save depth for a riverboat to operate, 12 fathoms. Eunice Waymon took on the stage name Nina Simone (Nina for little one, and Simone after the Spanish actress, Simone Signoret) when she got a gig in a bar in Atlantic city, hoping to it would keep her conservative mother from finding out about her performances. A lin
Read more