The Most Astounding Fact by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.
When you take something great, like the musings of the mind of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, and combine it with something else great, like stunning images of life and wonder on and off of Earth … you get this.
It’s the sort of video that makes you prop your chin up in your hand, with your head tilted just so (yeah, like that), as you stare at your computer screen mumbling things like “Ahhh“ and “Wooahh” and other unintelligible noises that mean “I approve of this, and it makes me feel good.”
Watch it once, then twice, then with a friend.
[Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ph.D. (October 5, 1958)]
“The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth, the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them went unstable in their later years they collapsed and then exploded scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas cloud that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems. Stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself.So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up – many people feel small because they’re small and the Universe is big – but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive…”
I have a George Orwell somewhere..
05/16/2012
3:22
3:22
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Media ignore theft of photographer’s work documenting black lesbian lives
oh, fuck. i’m not usually all “if you see something say something” but for real if you see any of the work pop up somewhere else contact the authorities
(via wanderlustprince)
05/15/2012
14:24
14:24
Disgusting.(z) In which I weep for humanity…
Yeeeeep that’s right folks! Doesn’t matter that people are homeless and DYING as long as a certain group within the community gets to marry!!!!
You see, marriage is a magic institution that solves everything!
Hmmm, where have I heard that before?
If you see nothing wrong with this, I don’t know what to tell you…
What the fuck.
UGH. PRIORITIES, PEOPLE. FUCKING GET SOME.
(via wanderlustprince)
05/15/2012
14:00
14:00
(Source: drunkonstevphen, via lgbtlaughs)
![fotojournalismus:
Women with their eyes blindfolded, mouths taped and hands tied are seen during an Arab Jewish protest in the city of Jaffa near Tel Aviv, against the administrative detention of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails on May 12, 2012. Palestinian officials said they expected a breakthrough soon on efforts to end a mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israel, some of them close to death.
[Credit : David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m40t37Hks91r44q44o1_500.jpg)
Women with their eyes blindfolded, mouths taped and hands tied are seen during an Arab Jewish protest in the city of Jaffa near Tel Aviv, against the administrative detention of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails on May 12, 2012. Palestinian officials said they expected a breakthrough soon on efforts to end a mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israel, some of them close to death.
[Credit : David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images]
(via mohandasgandhi)
PLEASE REBLOG, ESPECIALLY IN THE AREAS OF NEW YORK, PITTSBURGH, PHILADELPHIA, AND NEW JERSEY!!!!
One of our followers asked us to share this image with the rest of the HONY community. Please do anything you can to help.
05/14/2012
13:05
13:05
Trans* rights in the United States. See a problem here?
& This is why I wont move off the west coast!
Nor I out of Minnesota!!!
just in case you folks don’t quite understand the implications of “employment discrimination” and “housing discrimination” i will break it down for you:
it means you can be FIRED from your job, no matter HOW long you’ve been working there or how great an employee you are, for NO other reason, and it means you can be KICKED OUT OF YOUR HOUSE AND/OR EVICTED for NO OTHER REASON. it means you can be DENIED a job SOLELY because you are trans* and it means you can be denied a home SOLELY because you are trans*. and it is COMPLETELY LEGAL.
mass only recently ended this with the trans* rights bill we passed just a few months ago.
i hope you understand that the legal sanctioning of stripping BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS from trans* people is DIRECTLY CORRELATED with the outrageously high homelessness and SUICIDE rates of trans* people. THIS is part of why over 50% of trans* people UNDER 20 have attempted suicide, many successfully. 50 FUCKING PERCENT.
this is not just discrimination. this is STRIPPING people of their HUMANITY and ENDORSING their deaths. this is borderline LEGAL GENOCIDE.
why i’m not at all impressed w/ Obama’s “groundbreaking” stance on gay marriage.
(via saschaeatsteeth)
05/14/2012
12:58
12:58
05/14/2012
4:58
4:58
Carlos Latuff produced this amazing piece to show the solidarity between the Irish during the 1981 Irish hunger strike and the approximate 2000+ Palestinians participating in the recent hunger strike which protests Israel’s practice of administrative detention.
(Source: shawarmaqueen, via stay-human)
05/14/2012
3:43
3:43
Think this shit’s funny?
Keep making rape jokes then.
It really gets me when people say things like “why didn’t you report them!?” or “it’s your fault, you let them walk free”. Statistically speaking, rapists will not be convicted, or tried or even brought in for questioning. The victim is lucky if their charges even get a second glance. Plus, the horrific things victims have to go through to prove that they’ve actually been victimized further damages their psyche and healing process, which should be their first priority above anything. It’s the sad reality we live in and rapists know this and it’s why they continue to be so prevalent. In addition, we live in a victim-blaming society where rape is considered a preventable situation in which a person can’t suppress their innate sexual urges instead of a violent, horrific crime. By saying things like “she was asking for it” or “they shouldn’t have been so drunk” suggests rape is something everyone is capable of if they’re tempted enough, which it most certainly is not.
These numbers need to change. This is embarrassing and disgusting, but we as a society, need to start rethinking how we even perceive rape before that can happen.
(via historicalslut)
05/14/2012
3:22
3:22
