Apropos of Nothing *4*

Mad Grad Student · 2005-05-22 15:28:30

"Remember thou art mortal! Remember thou art mortal!" :;):

Eh, I suppose that's true enough.

Shaun Barrett · 2005-05-22 17:02:32

Hmmm. Perhaps I need to elucidate.
When Rome was gradually conquering the known world, a general would return home in triumph after a decisive battle to receive the accolade of the Roman citizens. As he rode through the eternal city on his war chariot, in procession with cartloads of booty and slaves in chains, the thronging crowds would cheer wildly and throw flower petals in his path.
Just in case this tumultuous scene of delirious adulation should turn the general's head, and give him ideas above his station, a slave rode with him on his chariot and, in a clear and reasoning voice, repeatedly murmured in his ear: "Remember thou art mortal. Remember thou art mortal. ... "

That sentence has become a classical warning against hubris ever since.

Grypd · 2005-05-22 18:49:52

Having seen Saddam in his gleaming white underwear one political hack did dare to mention.

" Well at least we have found one thing Biological in Iraq. The stuff Saddam uses to clean his smalls "

Maybe its me but I found that funny.

clark · 2005-05-23 06:21:22

Seemed apropos.

Why this affinity for Mars? What is the source of desire locked to one glimmering fading heavenly light? Mere questions for mere man to contemplate beneath a canopy of numberless stars. Why this one, instead of that one? Why this place instead of another? Why this dream above all else?

In the end, all we have are these questions whose answers will not enlighten our hearts, but merely rationalize our actions. Intellectual explanations for emotional states that will always crave, no matter how hard we satisfy the hunger.

Though this said, this known, a deeper urge brings us to action, “let us try.” This is our motivation, our spark. This is our futile attempt, hopeless with hope, and the foreknowledge of inevitable failure. This, simply, is our birthright.

“Let us try,” to reach beyond our reach. “Let us try,” to dream what none have any right to dream. “Let us try,” and seek that which has not been sought, find that which we did not know was lost, and learn that which waits to be discovered.” Let us try,” and fail, and succeed, and grieve, and cheer with ecstatic jubilation at whatever may come. “Let us try,” for in trying, we demonstrate our singular greatest strength, and in demonstrating, become that which we are: those who become more than they once were. And if that is not who we are, if some may disagree with what to so many is an undeniable truth, than let us try anyway. “Let us try,” to be the people we wish to be.

The wide expanse of unknown untouched forever is waiting. For generations it has waited, will wait- until the dying embers of our sun or souls give-up. It waits for people to try, to reach above and behold closer the sights that wait even further beyond our minds reach. In this, Mars has no final answer, it is but the next hill, of endless hills, by which to set our sights and guide our endless journey. Ah, but what a hill our Mars could be!

It is not fancy to dream a desolate desert to bloom, to resurrect life from the ashes of death, or suggest that clues to our own beginnings wait on an untouched world a mere stone-throw, in universal measurement, away from our own. It is not arrogance to deem the human species fit for such bold exploration, nor is it hubris to suggest that the opportunity is over-ripe. Ours has been a shared history of dreaming, following those dreams, and living those dreams. This is not one ideal of one people, but the ideal of all people. And in this, Mars unites the shared disparate longings of so many.

Mars is the first example of our dream. It is not the only one, the last one, or even the nearing of our zenith. Mars is the first destination of many. On the rust-orange cratered surface waits loss and gain, joy and sorrow, success or failure. What waits is an attempt, an attempt which lets us try to dream beyond this first dream of Mars.

What waits beyond the dream of Mars? Like so many, I know not, for Mars is my dream. But “let us try,” to find out what waits beyond the first step.

BWhite · 2005-05-23 07:56:07

We reach, less for what we might grasp, and more for how the effort transforms ourselves.

= = =

Rick Tumlinson was darn eloquent about "Permanance Beyond"

We go back to the Moon, to STAY! We go to Mars, to STAY!

Palomar · 2005-05-23 09:13:34

*Last week I purchased an emerald and diamond ring for myself. First jewelry (real gems) in ages. The emerald is oval in shape, flanked by sworling gold on front (as part of the slender band), and 6 small diamonds surrounding the emerald. Very pretty and looks good on my finger.

-*-

Radar's sister is pregnant. The lady we got Radar from is keeping a generational family of cats. So...pretty soon we'll have one of Radar's little nieces or nephews scampering about. Nothing like a cat in the house with the complementary dog in the yard.

Radar was born without a tail; my husband hopes to get another tailless cat but I'll settle for any kitten out of the litter.

--Cindy

BWhite · 2005-05-23 10:39:55

Brains]http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/05/23/hscout525874.html]Brain's sarcasm center

clark · 2005-05-23 10:54:12

are you being sarcastic, or not?

BWhite · 2005-05-23 11:21:08

are you being sarcastic, or not?

I haven't had a recent brain scan. Thus, I don't really know.

clark · 2005-05-23 11:26:32

Obnoxious I know.

Palomar · 2005-05-23 13:55:37

Hmmm. Perhaps I need to elucidate.
When Rome was gradually conquering the known world, a general would return home in triumph after a decisive battle to receive the accolade of the Roman citizens. As he rode through the eternal city on his war chariot, in procession with cartloads of booty and slaves in chains, the thronging crowds would cheer wildly and throw flower petals in his path.
Just in case this tumultuous scene of delirious adulation should turn the general's head, and give him ideas above his station, a slave rode with him on his chariot and, in a clear and reasoning voice, repeatedly murmured in his ear: "Remember thou art mortal. Remember thou art mortal. ... "
That sentence has become a classical warning against hubris ever since.

Cities and Thrones and Powers

Cities and Thrones and Powers
Stand in Time's eye
Almost as long as flowers
Which daily die:
But, as new buds put forth
To glad new men,
Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth
The Cities rise again.

This season's Daffodil,
She never hears
What change, what chance, what chill,
Cut down last year's:
But with bold countenance,
And knowledge small,
Esteems her seven day's continuance
To be perpetual.

So Time that is o'er-kind
To all that be,
Ordains us e'en as blind,
As bold as she:
That in our very death,
And burial sure,
Shadow to shadow, well persuaded, saith,
"See how our works endure!"

(From Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling)

BWhite · 2005-05-23 15:16:55

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2005/5 … 94#94]Hell for the fundamentalists.

The sound proof glass was a cool bit.

Mad Grad Student · 2005-05-24 23:18:47

Hmmm. Perhaps I need to elucidate.
When Rome was gradually conquering the known world, a general would return home in triumph after a decisive battle to receive the accolade of the Roman citizens. As he rode through the eternal city on his war chariot, in procession with cartloads of booty and slaves in chains, the thronging crowds would cheer wildly and throw flower petals in his path.
Just in case this tumultuous scene of delirious adulation should turn the general's head, and give him ideas above his station, a slave rode with him on his chariot and, in a clear and reasoning voice, repeatedly murmured in his ear: "Remember thou art mortal. Remember thou art mortal. ... "
That sentence has become a classical warning against hubris ever since.

I'd heard that story before with the line "All glory is fleeting," the line change just threw me off a bit. But it's the same general message, I suppose.

One final object lesson for the year from class before finals begin in nine hours: extreme pictionary is quite fun. Extreme pictionary is played much like regular pictionary (where one member from each team attempts to get his/her team to guess a word by drawing clues without using dialog, letters, symbols, or gestures), except for that two teams of at least thirteen each are pitted against one another, and the opposing team must think of a ridiculously hard word for the other team to attempt to guess. In five rounds, my team managed to eek out a 2-1 victory by correctly guessing "synecdoche" (hey, that stuff does come in handy) and "moot," and those were the easiest words we were given. This is why extreme pictionary only works in a high-language-density setting like an English classroom. But it might be fun to try it out wherever you happen to be stuck with a large group of people with little to do for an hour or so. Just a thought, anyways.

What is the first thing a person ever thinks? ???

Grypd · 2005-05-25 02:35:25

What is the first thing a person ever thinks? ???

Maybe, Ouch bright light...

or even earlier,

Hmmm if i kick here, two minutes later I here a toilet flushing

Palomar · 2005-05-25 04:19:27

What is the first thing a person ever thinks? ???

*It'd likely have to do with either hunger, pain or warmth -- or light (during birth), as Grypd suggested.

--Cindy

Cobra Commander · 2005-05-25 05:14:01

What is the first thing a person ever thinks?

What the hell is going on out there?

clark · 2005-05-25 05:14:13

What is the first thing a person ever thinks?

Oh no, not again.

Palomar · 2005-05-25 06:52:06

*Aaaarrggh. That large vitamin capsule did NOT go down right. :-\ Oh my aching esophagus.

At least I managed to catch the soda just in time, earlier this a.m., to prevent spilling it when I nearly knocked it over. ::sigh::

Mad Grad Student · 2005-05-26 22:21:46

What is the first thing a person ever thinks?
Oh no, not again.

Perhaps. Or perhaps it's something more along the lines of "Why am I here?" or "What is the meaning of life?" There's some critical moment where everything just clicks together right in a person's brain and they transition from a stimulus-response, input/output system to one of actual thinking, consideration, and self-awareness. It's gotta be a miraculous moment, but obviously no one knows when it occurs or what the first thing anyone thinks is. Then again, maybe it's just something like "Mmmmm, it's nice and warm in here."

Then again, Cobra might be onto something there. Humans just always seem to be bent on figuring out what's going on wherever they can't be, and then figuring out how to get there. That's why we build rockets and the dolphins don't.

clark · 2005-05-27 05:20:59

Ohhhhhhh, you wanted a serious answer.

Well, for starters, little itty bitty human beings when first born can't see too well, can't hear too well, and their brains are still in the process of forming.

Fun stuff, child development, babies, as they develop actually regress in developmental abilities as different portions of their brains kick in.

So, their perceptual abilities increase, only to decrease as the brain reorganizes to develop higher learning functions.

Most people (but not all strangely) cannot recall memories from birth precisely (or so it is theorized) because of this developmental transition.

So, in the end, no first thought at birth. Just reactions to stimulus. Some people never grow out of it, as numerous debates throughout the internet attest.

Cobra Commander · 2005-05-27 05:22:38

Humans just always seem to be bent on figuring out what's going on wherever they can't be, and then figuring out how to get there. That's why we build rockets and the dolphins don't.

That, and thumbs.

clark · 2005-05-27 05:31:56

I thought we built rockets because of our obsession with phallic symbols.

dicktice · 2005-05-27 10:21:55

Shouldn't we investigate dolphin genetics, to find the branch-point where forelimbs transitioned into flippers, and manipulate the genes responsible to retain, and then develop arms, hands, fingers and thumbs, with webbing to maintain swimming ability? And if not, why not?

clark · 2005-05-27 11:35:55

Dicktice should read the 'Uplift' series.

If we gave them appendages as you suggest, how would we ever catch them in our nets?

mmmmm, tun-ah.

BWhite · 2005-05-27 19:25:44

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qst … dnFlZUVFeX
kz]Buzz Aldrin says:

Feelings? Girls have feelings. Boys do things. :;):

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