Scale

I've been thinking about scale lately. It's a popular subject in art and science.

The diameter of the Earth is 41,851,050 feet

The height of the Empire State Building is 1250ft. To span the diameter of the earth it'd take 33,480 empire state buildings. If there was a scale model of the earth at the size of the empire state building, a 6' tall person would be .05mm tall. Turns out that's the exact average size of a grain of sand.

And then I look at this image (click it):

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gx1G8GWS

If the empire state building was a scale model of the Sun, the Earth would be about 11 feet tall, and the empire state building would be the size of a grain of sand (.1mm), while a person would be approximately the size of the HIV virus.

If the empire state building was a scale model of VY Canis Majoris, the largest known star, then the Sun would be about the size of a large honeydew melon (7"), the Earth would be the size of a grain of sand (1.5mm), the empire state building would need to stack three times to reach the diameter of a sperm's head, and a person would be about the size of a sucrose molecule.

If the empire state building was a scale model of the Milky Way, VY Canis Majoris would be about the size of a grapefruit (4"), and a person would be one attometer tall.

If the empire state building was a scale model of an attometer, the planck length (the length at which physics breaks) would be .2" tall, and a person would be over a hundred times the height of VY Canis Majoris.

I just want to know exactly how big I am. It's enough to completely smash my brain.

TV series I watch, and their premieres and finales

Current (season finale date)
     30 Rock (-April 22) (Th)
     Family Guy (May 23) (Sun)
     Lost (-May 23) (T)
     Chuck (-May 24) (Th)
     FlashForward (-May 27) (Th)
     United States of Tara (-June 7) (M)
     V (-June) (T)
     Breaking Bad (Sun)
     Nurse Jackie (M)
     South Park (W)
     Bleach (T)

April
     Glee (-June 8)

June
     Weeds
     True Blood
     Entourage
     Futurama
     Lie To Me

July
     Mad Men

September
     Heroes
     Caprica
     Dexter


I'm missing some, I'm sure of it. Oh well. This post is for me, so I can remember when to look for these shows. I also want to catch up on Doctor Who and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, check out Justified, see the last couple seasons of Buffy (I stopped halfway in), and, I don't know.. there's too much.

And then there are all the webcomics and podcasts I keep track of..

Mr. Deity
A History of the World in 100 Objects

Wapsi Square
Dominic Deegan
PvP
XKCD
Concession
Penny Arcade
Hark! A Vagrant
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Surviving the World
A Softer World
Misfile
Octopus Pie
Something Positive


I'm beginning to realize just how much of my time I spend in front of this computer. Yikes.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

It has been over a month since I have posted, and each week has been a separate lifetime.

I watched a movie just now, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

That's a production still, but it captures the color and feeling of the film beautifully. That's the director on the right, Woody Allen, who has a way with film like I could only dream of, an intense capacity for emotionally turbulent and gripping tales of love and life. And in the middle, my favorite actress, Penelope Cruz, who I adore from all her work with Almodovar. On the left, Javier Bardem, who most recognize from No Country for Old Men but he has much more depth than that film shows of him, and in the back Scarlett Johanssen, who plays Cristina. Missing from the photo is Rebecca Hall, who plays Vicky.

As often happens with me, I've lost my capacity to say what I'm feeling. It's a film that makes me want to paint, to express the emotions it brought up in me.