The Highway
While driving down the highway I often think to myself, “This highway system must have taken a lot of work and a lot of planning! How the heck did anyone accomplish this feat!” And it just amazes me that this complex network of roads can take you wherever you want to go.
Sight
The fact that we can see just amazes me. How does it work? It’s the most amazing part of the body, IMHO.
How I can move any part of my body at will and it always responds.
Computers
Cars
Flight
These are just a few everyday things that most people don’t give a second thought to that I often find myself pondering.
Touch: I can feel the difference in, for example, the depth of the wood grain in my desk in different areas, just by running my hand across it.
Smell: I didn’t really think much about it until my father lost his sense of smell. Now I appreciate it immensely, especially for its role in eating.
Socialization: I find it odd that there’s this set of rules I have to follow when interacting with people, and almost everyone knows them, and expects me to follow them.
I know there’s more, I just can’t quite think of them right now. Cars especially used to get to me. When I was a wee lass of 16, I used to have to pull over sometimes while I was driving because I would get distracted by thinking about how weird it was that I just turned a wheel and pushed some levers to move a monstrous cube of metal around really fast.
It’s my duty to view the whole world with a sense of wonder. Right now, I’m depressing little squares made from processed dinosaur bones. These send electrical impulses to a green and gold tapestry. The tapestry sends a message of electrical impulses through the phone line and another message to a gun shooting charged particles at a metal screen behind a piece of glass.
Soap Bubbles- I think it was Twain who said that if there was only one bubble in all the world, it would be a treasure beyond price.
Light Emitting Diodes- A stream of electrons jump from point a to point b resulting in magical glowing stones. Whenever a neighbor dumps a vcr or computer I take the LED’s. Even off, they have a jewel-like beauty. I’m currently repairing my LED staff- 4.5 feet of frosted plastic filled with blinking LED’s.
Dogs- Dogs and wolves are both Canis Lupus. But eons ago, some how dogs and humans began to cooperate for their survival. For literally thousands of years, dogs have been our friends and allies. But there was a time when there were no dogs, only wolves who howled in darkness outside the fire.
Trains.
I have to admit, the raw power of trains just really amazes me. How much force does it take to move one mile of huge cars made of steel, each one filled with different cargo?
The train passes by all the time, and I think of it as an old friend. I’m sure alot of folks are annoyed by the noise, but I love it. I often see it close up when I’m out walking the dog, and I still have a childlike wonder when It passes me by
Stupidity. Every day, I deal with soooo many people who just ask the dumbest question and do the stupidest things that one would assume anyone with any common sense would be able to judge and get without half a thought.
the sky. I can’t name the number of times I’ve just had to stop and stare at the clowds, the sunset, the empty sky itslef. It’s always so captivating and wonderful, it’s very existance baffles me.
My friends. Not a day goes by when one of them doesn’t say or do something that comes across as totally new to me. I’m always learning new things from and about them. People are amazing (except those stupid people from statement number one).
Animals in general. I’m currently catsitting for some friends of mine, and these two cats are so much more personable than any others I’ve ever known. And every Saturday morning, we have a dog come into work from the local shelter, and they’re always so sweet and playful and amazing. I constantly wonder what they think.
The way everytime I start to think “Gee, I haven’t spoken to so-and-so in a while,” they contact me. that’s kinda creepy too, but amazing nonetheless.
The way musicians can come up with new music. I figured after all this time, every riff and chord had already been played, but it hasn’t.
Plants. You put this little dry thing in the dirt, and the next thing you know, it’s growing and turning into a nice big plant, using nothing but dirt and water and sun! And then it produces something yummy to eat! Wow.
Big tangles of freeway interchanges, where you have concrete arches throwing themselves every which way that not only don’t fall down, but get thousands of people where they’re going without killing themselves, usually.
The electric power grid. People are quick to bitch when the lights go out, but stand back and consider the complexity of getting power to thousands of people and businesses.
PolyCarp-everything good and loving about Christianity with none of the negative baggage
Fenris-His knowledge of all thing comic book is astounding, his satire superb
Esprix-What if the coolest guy in high school was compassionate and generous, gay and a huge Babylon 5 fan.
Every Doper has some exceptional quality. When I go offline, I’ll have to call Mom and thank her for buying me the Straight Dope book all those years ago.
The human reproductive system. Not only do I think the whole process is simply amazing, from how two separate individuals’ bodies prepare for “the act” to conception to gestation to the actual giving of birth…
…it’s also a whole lotta fun just practicing.
Everyday I see incredible acts of blatant stupidity on the road. Based on the local population and the number of acts that must occur total, I would have to guess that at least 2000 people die each day on roads in the metro area. But they don’t. Not even 10 a day. I am amazed that so many people can get away with doing such insane things and (usually) live. Collective human behavior in general is amazing.
Cars amaze me. All those thousands of parts working together at infintesimal tolerances pushed forward by controlled explosions to transport me from here to there.
My brain. Well, my brain, your brain, anybody’s brain. Do you realize how much stuff is in your brain? Think about how many songs you know. And that’s just one – one! – subject!! Also the fact that youcan tink about your brain with your brain. How cool is that?
My brain. Well, my brain, your brain, anybody’s brain. Do you realize how much stuff is in your brain? Think about how many songs you know. And that’s just one – one! – subject!! Also the fact that you can think about your brain with your brain. How cool is that?
Computers. Layers and layers of coding, all built on ones and zeros. All we do is add more layers of ones and zeros until we can start using things to represent these, and simple do incredible things with them. Any electronic devices are amazing.
Cars. A car is an incredibly complicated work of engineering, thousands of parts all comprising a whole that gets you where you want to do. Whenever I think about it, I get a whole new appreciation of how hard it must really be to build a good car. Ditto for airplanes, heck any type of engineering for transportation.
How one girl can do something as simple as flick her hair and make it look so graceful sigh.
Me. It’s hard to explain, but every so often I get hit by this sudden feeling… “I’m alive… people see me as a different person, and they’re all seeing things like me…” That’s only half of it, but again, you’d have had to feel it.
The time and vastness of space… How starlight that’s see a billion worlds over millions of years is only just touching us on it’s journey… How some of the stars I see right now no longer exist…
Take the VCR for instance. Hundreds of moving parts, thousands to millions of transistors. Something that used to cost a couple of thousand dollars back in the 60s when that was a lot of money. Now it is less than $100, something that you could pay for on a minimum-wage workweek. It is now cheaper to throw away and buy a new one than to have it repaired.
Just looking at one tells the story of a huge industry with myriad supporting technologies and how far we have come from individual craftsmanship – with both good and bad consequences.