radical coolectomy

(3 comments)
2006.06.28
I think the best thing to say about something that has had all its fun or interesting parts taken out is that it has undergone a "radical coolectomy".


Image of the Moment
The planets of our solar system, allowing you to see the scale of them. From this rense.com page, which has other views, including our sun and other larger stars.

I always assumed Jupiter was even bigger relative to Earth. And the funny thing is, I think I have a feel for the size of the Earth from airplane trips on clear days, where I can see its curvature pretty well. So from there, with this page I can extrapolate to the size of, say, Jupiter, and from there the sun, and I can think that my physical place in the universe isn't quite as tiny as I sometimes assume.

Also, compare this previously kisrael'd HTML scale model of the Solar System, scrolling horizontally to give you a feel for the distance between these planets. But I'd say today's image gives a better feel for the sizes.