Difficult Choices

[AFK]

I don't like nachos much.  Going to the moon would be cool. 

[Cramulus]

I'll take the moon trip. I can go down to the store and buy nachos if I really want them, which I don't all the time. Conversely, only 12 people have walked on the moon, stood on another world and watched OUR world hang in the sky.

How is this a difficult choice again?

Depends on how hungry you were when you got to the poll I think.

I'm jam packed with nacho goodness this very minute and still say the moon can go fuck itself. If it were, I dunno..Mars or Saturn or even Venus I'd give it some thought. But I can see the moon *right now* and it's always BOOOOOOORRRRRING and my nachos are all gone. Time is money, money is nachos, therefore time is nachos. GIVE THEM TO ME.

This sounds like "I can go find a picture on Google in two secords so who cares?"

Heres a task, for anyone who wants it:
-Buy (or build) a telescope; Orion 10" Dobsonian reflector is probably the best bang for the buck.
-Go out on a dark clear night and set up said scope, letting it cool.
-Find out where Jupiter, Mars or especially Saturn is.
-Point telescope at bright dot.
-Shudder in amazement and wonder as said planet floats into view.

Because you haven't really experienced Saturn's rings until you've done this, photographs do NOT do it justice, especially when you can see it yourself, under your own effort. The rings really are beauty in perfection, which I didn't understand till I had done the above. As Feynman said, "It's all really there", but you will only really GET that when you see it for yourself. It goes back to Joy in the Mearly Weird and Real. In the case of Saturn, our Weird of the planets and various other galactic phenomenon has been diluted by the enormous amounts of photos coming out of various NASA projects like HST and the Voyager program. I'm not knocking those, rather, I think they are incredible. At the same time, it's like discovering that dragons exist and being able to find photos of dragons in two seconds; the false sense of apparent accessibility lends to the viewer a feeling of apathy. The easiest way to rekindle this joy is by direct experience, especially if there's some effort involved.

As Yudowsky said, if people had to go through initiation ceremonies to receive great knowledge, it would seem all that much more worthy of knowing.

you have made me want to do this

[Luna]

This sounds like "I can go find a picture on Google in two secords so who cares?"

Heres a task, for anyone who wants it:
-Buy (or build) a telescope; Orion 10" Dobsonian reflector is probably the best bang for the buck.
-Go out on a dark clear night and set up said scope, letting it cool.
-Find out where Jupiter, Mars or especially Saturn is.
-Point telescope at bright dot.
-Shudder in amazement and wonder as said planet floats into view.

Because you haven't really experienced Saturn's rings until you've done this, photographs do NOT do it justice, especially when you can see it yourself, under your own effort. The rings really are beauty in perfection, which I didn't understand till I had done the above. As Feynman said, "It's all really there", but you will only really GET that when you see it for yourself. It goes back to Joy in the Mearly Weird and Real. In the case of Saturn, our Weird of the planets and various other galactic phenomenon has been diluted by the enormous amounts of photos coming out of various NASA projects like HST and the Voyager program. I'm not knocking those, rather, I think they are incredible. At the same time, it's like discovering that dragons exist and being able to find photos of dragons in two seconds; the false sense of apparent accessibility lends to the viewer a feeling of apathy. The easiest way to rekindle this joy is by direct experience, especially if there's some effort involved.

As Yudowsky said, if people had to go through initiation ceremonies to receive great knowledge, it would seem all that much more worthy of knowing.

What Cram said.

I love this forum.  I keep finding awesome stuff like this post in the strangest places.

ETA, if you haven't seen this photo yet:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/28/6154326-a-double-scoop-of-saturns-moons

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

NACHOS! THIS MEANS I CAN NACHO DANCE!

[Richter]

It is an example of my excellent self control that I haven't psoted a massive wall of smiley figures and WOMP's singing "Fly me to the Moon".

[Kai]

This sounds like "I can go find a picture on Google in two secords so who cares?"

Heres a task, for anyone who wants it:
-Buy (or build) a telescope; Orion 10" Dobsonian reflector is probably the best bang for the buck.
-Go out on a dark clear night and set up said scope, letting it cool.
-Find out where Jupiter, Mars or especially Saturn is.
-Point telescope at bright dot.
-Shudder in amazement and wonder as said planet floats into view.

Because you haven't really experienced Saturn's rings until you've done this, photographs do NOT do it justice, especially when you can see it yourself, under your own effort. The rings really are beauty in perfection, which I didn't understand till I had done the above. As Feynman said, "It's all really there", but you will only really GET that when you see it for yourself. It goes back to Joy in the Mearly Weird and Real. In the case of Saturn, our Weird of the planets and various other galactic phenomenon has been diluted by the enormous amounts of photos coming out of various NASA projects like HST and the Voyager program. I'm not knocking those, rather, I think they are incredible. At the same time, it's like discovering that dragons exist and being able to find photos of dragons in two seconds; the false sense of apparent accessibility lends to the viewer a feeling of apathy. The easiest way to rekindle this joy is by direct experience, especially if there's some effort involved.

As Yudowsky said, if people had to go through initiation ceremonies to receive great knowledge, it would seem all that much more worthy of knowing.

What Cram said.

I love this forum.  I keep finding awesome stuff like this post in the strangest places.

ETA, if you haven't seen this photo yet:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/28/6154326-a-double-scoop-of-saturns-moons

No I haven't and it is /awesome/. It's like an alt version of Earthrise: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/24/5708231-holiday-calendar-from-the-moon-to-the-earth

[Luna]

ETA, if you haven't seen this photo yet:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/28/6154326-a-double-scoop-of-saturns-moons

No I haven't and it is /awesome/. It's like an alt version of Earthrise: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/24/5708231-holiday-calendar-from-the-moon-to-the-earth

I thought it was stunning.

[Prince Glittersnatch III]

I would choose the Nachos.
I would then use them to feed starving African children.

Bunch of selfish pricks picking the moon.

[Triple Zero]

I'll take the moon trip. I can go down to the store and buy nachos if I really want them, which I don't all the time. Conversely, only 12 people have walked on the moon, stood on another world and watched OUR world hang in the sky.

How is this a difficult choice again?

That ^^^

I really don;t see what's so great about nachos for life.

If not it being a fucking obvious choice in the first place, I'd ask you, you'll get sick of nachos after a while, definitely pick the once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity.

[*GrumpButt*]

Nachos please.
Considering I am severely afraid of heights. I hate even getting up on the step ladder to change light bulbs.

[Kai]

Nachos please.
Considering I am severely afraid of heights. I hate even getting up on the step ladder to change light bulbs.

You do realize there's no up or down in space, right?

[Eater of Clowns]

Nachos please.
Considering I am severely afraid of heights. I hate even getting up on the step ladder to change light bulbs.

You do realize there's no up or down in space, right?

False.  The enemy's gate is always down.

[Jasper]

[*GrumpButt*]

Lol yeah I know. It's the ride up.... And then the ride DOWN.....

[Jasper]

Takeoff and landing are my favorite parts of flying. 

That and the oddly pleasing combination of crying babies, increased ambient radiation, and wind turbulence.