While you’re reading this post on your bedside or chair, you are currently at rest, 0 m/s relative to the Earth’s surface because you are spinning with Earth as friction from the ground you are sitting on drags you along as Newton’s 3rd Law explains the presence of an equal and opposite force to the applied force. However if your friend is on the sun watching your movement on Earth, you are spinning counterclockwise at about 1670 km/hr and orbiting your friend at about 108,000 km/hr. Many textbooks will only show you a screenshot of our solar system and you would assume our solar system is relatively stationary in the universe, but I’m afraid to say that it’s not. The sun is moving, we and our neighbouring planets including Uranus and their respective moons are moving with the sun. We are moving with the sun at about 72,000 km/hr roughly towards the constellation of Lyra. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is also moving as the universe is proven to be expanding due to the discovery of red shifts.
Near the conclusion of a year, every news channel, social media giant and end-of-year TV show replays a compilation of events, moments, bloopers, births, deaths, discoveries, feature stories, interviews, uncensored speeches and scenes, and behind-the-scenes intermission moments that you may have forgotten or remembered. What can you remember this year, last year and so on so on?
In fact, the most memorable moments in each passing year are always personal which may involve achievements and goals that you’ve set yourself to accomplish even with your backs to the wall. As a university student those achievements are mostly academic, for instance, successfully passing units that I’ve struggled to surpass during each passing semesters. Moments shown on social media or on air involve events that are heartbreaking also stick in our minds too such as the terrorist plots in Europe and Indonesia, the outcome of the USA presidential election and the negative, overreactive backlash from all capitalist or Western media outlets in USA, Russia and Australia that followed, the subdued outcome of the Australian Federal Election, the Syrian refugee crisis due to the ongoing Syrian War, North Korea’s nuclear tests, natural disasters such as hurricanes/typhoons, tornados, bushfires, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes that affect high-risk areas and the scrutiny and controversy surrounding the Rio Olympics despite it going ahead as per usual.
Every year it’s estimated that each year about 131 million people are born, while 55 million pass away through natural causes, unnatural accidents, weapons, mother nature or excessive force. If this trend continues in the long term for at least the next millennia without any pending nuclear disaster, I don’t know how Earth will house this many homo sapiens along with the millions of animals species. However we are notified of the births of those who are related to popular people like the Royal Family’s Prince George, Hollywood couples like Brangelina (sadly no longer existent), athletes and models like Chris & Rebecca Judd, social media stars, TV presenters and news broadcasters etc. The media also acknowledges the birth of rare animals in our zoos like the pandas Wang Wang and FuNi in Adelaide Zoo and baby elephant Sabai in Taronga Zoo, Dubbo.
Understandably, everyone goes in a frenzy online and offline when their favourite celebrity (actor, actress or singer) passes away due to natural causes. It seems that 2016 is not only the year of the Underdog but also the unlucky year for celebrities. The most shared tributes I’ve seen include David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Muhammad Ali, Anton Yelchin, Alan Young, Gene Wilder, Zsa Zsa Gabor, George Michael, Prince and recently Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds. Here’s a list of celebrities who were unfortunately taken away from us by natural selection:
http://www.syracuse.com/celebrity-news/index.ssf/2016/01/celebrity_deaths_in_2016_famous_photos.html
Ever though a majority of us don’t know these people personally, we still grieve with waterfalls of tears streaming down our faces. We hear and learn so much about them in talk-show interviews not only about their passions in their singing and acting careers but also the fascinating personal stories they happily shared with us (the audience). It seems that their appearances in films and music concerts brought us closer to them like they’ve become part of our family. The way they emulated certain characters in different movie genres or sung their songs helped us relate to those plot twists and their sense of understanding of human behaviour inspire us to be just as empathetic as them. Sadly, like us, they are human too. As we age, they age too. Most of you would have seen them in their prime time and wish for them to bring back memories of their illustrious careers just so you can feel nostalgic about the entertainment you enjoyed as children.
Whilst all of you relishing in a minute silence for those we loved watching on the big screen, I'll discuss birth and death in another post. Meanwhile who could not forget one of our greatest ancestors?
On a positive note, moments that can be memorable most likely made us burst into laughter, nostalgic and and we cannot stop spreading their name and what they’re known for through word of mouth or online conversation. Do you remember this lady?
I’m sure everyone knows this game:
And these forgettable memes:
Every country, community and society around the globe welcome the new year depending on your time zone with a bang in the form of colourful fireworks. Each mega-structure like the Burj Al Khalifa (UAE), Sydney Harbour Bridge (Australia), Taipei 101 (Taiwan), Eiffel Tower (France), Times Square (USA & Hong Kong), Brandenburg Gate (Germany), Big Ben (England), Sky Tower (New Zealand) and Tokyo Tower (Japan) become the firework centrepiece in the country they represent. It is this time of year where everyone across Earth say the same 10 arabic numbers in descending order as one year ends and another begins. But I’m always wondered why we welcome a new year with a fireworks display? Invented in ancient China around the 7th century (Tang Dynasty), fireworks were believed to scare away evil spirits and bring happiness and luck, as an extension of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China of gunpowder, a material the first pyrotechnicians used. Nowadays pyrotechnicians add chemicals to gunpowder to give its glamorous colour combination. Those colourful fireworks are generated by "pyrotechnic stars” that produce intense light when ignited. They contain the following basic ingredients:
— A fuel to burn the star
— An oxidiser to support the fuel combustion
— Colour-producing chemicals
— A binder that holds the pellet together
— A Chlorine donor that provides Chlorine to strengthen the colour of the flame.
Here’s a link below regarding which chemical gives off which colour:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrotechnic_colorant
I have to admit it’s been quite a tumultuous and eventful year like every other year. I was planning to start a blog next year but after finding Blogger, I was over the moon. I have found a media outlet where I could post personal commentary on every topic, issue, everyday activity and deep questions. I could not wait any longer so I decided to start it sooner rather than later. This is just the beginning. They will be a lot more deep commentary from me in the future and I hope you’re enjoying what you’re reading. Invite your friends over if you feel they find my unique thoughts worth a read. Finally, I wish all of you reading this and around the globe a safe and happy 2017. As Ellen Degeneres would say “Be Kind to One Another.” See you next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment