# Share your deep thoughts **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 17, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522 "2007-09-17T18:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/21 "2007-09-17T20:52:15Z")
How come the dove gets to be the peace symbol? How about the pillow? It has more feathers than the dove, and it doesn’t have that dangerous beak. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/22 "2007-09-17T20:59:09Z")
How far does up go? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/23 "2007-09-17T21:06:42Z")
Humanity’s grip on civilization is incredibly tenuous. We in the west live in our cities and suburbs, but, terrorism notwithstanding, these are only temporary refuges from the danger the majority of the world lives in. Most of humanity is clinging on by a thread, and disaster can strike at any time: the Tibetans scratching a meagre living from the desert in the sky; the Vietnamese up to their waists in the paddies; earthquake victims living in the rubble of their destroyed communities; African villages walking miles just for water and dying of easily cured diseases. I can’t help thinking that the past few milennia of human development might be a brief interegnum in an otherwise volatile meteorological and seismic status quo. Also, lolcats are cute. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/24 "2007-09-17T21:42:08Z")
In 1900 there were about 1.6 billion people on the earth. 99.9% of them cease to exsist anymore. Currently there are about 6 billion people wandering the planet. In another 110 years 99.9% of them will be dead also. Completely wiped out. All of them. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/25 "2007-09-17T21:47:31Z")
If a tree falls in a forest and there is nobody there to hear it, do I need to eat more fibre? ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/26 "2007-09-17T23:11:26Z")
It occurred to me, just yesterday, driving home in my much beloved Subaru: that here I am as a human being, zipping around in my trusty car, a little meat being encased in a go-to shell… It occured to me that the human body is the same sort of shell for the kernel of Divine awareness; it’s just a transport mechanism, but the Driver is capable of way more than the vehicle, with the right training. Made some good sense. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/27 "2007-09-17T23:25:18Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] While there are no longer any living vetrans of the Civil War there surely must be a big handful of people that knew civil war vetrans personally when they were 18 years old and the vetran was 73. Do you know anybody still alive that knew a Civil War vetran? [/QUOTE] This may blow your mind but there is still a Civil War soldier widow still alive or at least there was the last I heard. No, it wasn’t Alberta Martin of Alabama that died a few years ago and had a website that proclaimed herself as the last Civil War widow in glorious style to the world. After Alberta’s death, the news reached the family of Maudie Hopkins of Arkansas and they were terribly confused. Maudie is also the widow of a Civil War soldier and she never thought anything of it until the world made a big deal out of the similar story. They had no choice but to come forward and kill the record of Alberta Martin. > **[News Archives](https://www.findarticles.com/news/)** > > Explore the News Articles featuring Technology, Business, Entertainment, and Science & Health topics. Access reports, insights, and stories. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/28 "2007-09-17T23:36:04Z")
While pondering some of the responses on [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=436815) thread I started to think that at some point in the future people might no longer care about the Holocaust, that it might become a myth, too heinous to have ever been fully real. It’s only natural I suppose that things pass irrevocably into history and beyond but still it’s a thought that bothers me. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/29 "2007-09-18T00:16:06Z")
[QUOTE=Omegaman] Life is hard, then you die. [/QUOTE] Life is hard by the yard but its a cinch by the inch. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/30 "2007-09-18T00:16:12Z")
Approximately 110 billion “people” have existed on earth in the last million years. That’s 11 \* 10^10. [Cite from 1987.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_085.html) There are a calculated 8.4 \* 10^18 habitable planets. [ > [@](#): > > a team of astronomers led by Dr. Simon Driver at the Australian National University estimated the number of stars presently within reach of our telescopes to be 7 \* 10^22 (“Star survey”). When we divide the number of habitable planets within the Milky Way by the total number of stars in the Milky Way (Frank, et al used the figure 4 \* 10^11), we get 0.00012 habitable planets per star. Multiplying this by the total number of observable stars in the universe gives us 8.4 \* 10^18 habitable planets ]([http://www.richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=991](http://www.richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=991)) That means for _each person_ (and/or homo sapiens precursor primate) who has lived in the last million years, there are _76 billion planets_ out there suitable for life. And that’s just what we can see from here. Considering live evolved on our planet fairly early on (3.5 million years ago), just imagine all the life out there. That blows my fucking mind. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/31 "2007-09-18T00:36:20Z")
[QUOTE=elelle] It occurred to me, just yesterday, driving home in my much beloved Subaru: that here I am as a human being, zipping around in my trusty car, a little meat being encased in a go-to shell… It occured to me that the human body is the same sort of shell for the kernel of Divine awareness; it’s just a transport mechanism, but the Driver is capable of way more than the vehicle, with the right training. Made some good sense. [/QUOTE] 🙂 ! Rush hour interstate traffic becomes my metaphor for the path on the way home. All these people heading towards something safe, something sacred, something _home_; and I understand why they want to get there so quickly. ---
**Author:** ![yams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/848f3c/32.png) [@yams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yams)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/32 "2007-09-18T01:02:59Z")
the famous chemist, amedeo avogadro gained renown through his hypothesis that equal volumes of different gases at the same temperature and pressure contain equal numbers of molecules. namely, in 22.4L of gas at standard temperature and pressure, there exists one mole of atoms/molecules/whatevers. the mole is equal to 6.022x10^23 particles. most people believe the term ‘mole’ to be derived from the latin _moles_, meaning a ‘heap,’ or a ‘pile.’ in actuality, avogadro despised latin, and would never have allowed ‘his’ number to be associated with, as he called it, “a gory old dead language of wankers and stiffs.” the term ‘mole’ came about because avogadro was a huge mole enthusiast. after coining his ideal gas law, he devoted the rest of his life to the study of moles in their natural habitats. upon the death of his pet mole, avogadro dissected his former pet in what is still one of the most exacting autopsies ever recorded, and discovered that moles consist of 6.022x10^23 distinct parts, making the mole by far the part-iest mammal in existence. humans, by comparison, have only 2000 parts. (cite, lever2000 soap commercials.) avogadro’s pet mole’s name was lance. love yams!! ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/33 "2007-09-18T01:27:40Z")
[QUOTE=yams!!] humans, by comparison, have only 2000 parts. (cite, lever2000 soap commercials.) avogadro’s pet mole’s name was lance. love yams!! [/QUOTE] That cite is crap. I keep counting my parts over and over and I only come up with 1743. Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![yams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/848f3c/32.png) [@yams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yams)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/34 "2007-09-18T03:40:41Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] That cite is crap. I keep counting my parts over and over and I only come up with 1743. Am I missing something? [/QUOTE] maybe you are a western reticulated chipmunk? western reticulated chipmunks generally have 1743 parts. love yams!! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/35 "2007-09-18T05:36:13Z")
[QUOTE=yams!!] maybe you are a western reticulated chipmunk? western reticulated chipmunks generally have 1743 parts. [/QUOTE] (Holds up sign)WESTERN RETICULATED CHIPMUNK SEASON Some nice responses so far by the way. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/36 "2007-09-18T06:17:38Z")
The Big Question in astrophysics has always been whether the universe is expanding fast enough to break free of its own gravitational pull, or whether it will eventually slow, stop, and collapse back in on itself. The thing to do, obviously, is to track the speed at which it’s expanding, and find out how much it’s slowing down. So about ten years ago some scientist-types got to studying the rate of expansion, and found that it is [accelerating](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fate_of_the_universe#Emerging_scientific_basis). ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/37 "2007-09-18T14:18:40Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] While there are no longer any living vetrans of the Civil War there surely must be a big handful of people that knew civil war vetrans personally when they were 18 years old and the vetran was 73. Do you know anybody still alive that knew a Civil War vetran? [/QUOTE] My father-in-law’s grandfather was a veteran of the Civil War. My father-in-law is still alive (age 79). My deep thought: the Civil War veteran and my son have the same name, and despite the nilhistic views in this thread, I can feel the history and legacy of my son’s great-great grandfather when I speak his name. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/38 "2007-09-18T18:25:33Z")
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it. –FCOD ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/39 "2007-09-18T19:05:36Z")
I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of microcosmos, and how atoms look just like miniature solar systems. Who knows how many tiny universes we each contain? Time to go re-read _Horton Hears a Who_. Or watch the last scene of _Men in Black_. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522/40 "2007-09-18T19:30:45Z")
Completely disjointed deep thoughts on pattern recognition in humans: Electrons orbit nuclei Planets orbit stars Stars orbit galactic centers Galaxies even orbit other galaxies Why wouldn’t the pattern continue in both directions? At the subatomic level, bosons could orbit quarks or whatever. Universes could orbit other universes, or even could orbit some other thing we don’t even know exists. Is the purpose of human life to observe and understand the universe? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-deep-thoughts/419522.md?page=3)