Saturday, November 16, 2013

The Pale Blue Dot - the Only home we have ever known - Carl Sagan video

The Earth is where we make our stand – The Pale Blue Dot and the Only home we have ever known. This photograph of Earth taken by Voyager 1 was dubbed "Pale Blue Dot."

Video narration by renowned scientist Carl Sagan

“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."

"The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."



Comment - S.D. - Online Publisher - Great Mystery Publishing
We are not helpless. We, humanity, have created these problems the world now faces. It is up to US to fix them, or let the problems we have generated destroy us and every other living thing. Speak up, act on the principles of compassion, vote for those who have policies of welfare, kindness and ecological responsibility, live a lifestyle that helps not hurts the planet and each other, make a small difference, and together we will make a BIG difference. If we act now, if we act together, we can turn this around. Are you ready to make a positive difference?

More information about this video - The Sagan Series is an educational project working in the hopes of promoting scientific literacy in the general population. Created by @ReidGower http://twitter.com/reidgower - Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All copyrighted materials contained herein belong to their respective copyright holders, I do not claim ownership over any of these materials. I realize no profit, monetary or otherwise, from the exhibition of these videos.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

The futility and barbarism of animal testing...

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture says it all. Animal testing needs to stop...immediately! If you want to find out why animal testing harms humans as well as non-human animals click here. And to download a free book about how animal testing harms humans written by Hans Ruesch click here.

Animals Have Souls
This is one of the most heartbreaking pictures I have seen about animal testing. The hand of an unknown monkey at testing facility, grasping the side of the trash can after they discarded her for dead.