The most amazing thing you've seen

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around personal experiences of witnessing remarkable events, with participants sharing their most amazing sights. The scope includes a mix of historical, astronomical, and personal experiences, as well as emotional reflections on these moments.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants recall significant historical events, such as the launch of Apollo 11 and the Challenger disaster, emphasizing their emotional impact.
  • Others share personal experiences of witnessing natural phenomena, like double rainbows and meteors, highlighting the awe they felt.
  • Several participants mention the Hubble Space Telescope images, particularly the "Pillars of Creation," and discuss their significance and emotional resonance.
  • Some express the profound effect of seeing planets like Saturn and Jupiter through telescopes, noting how these experiences shaped their understanding of the universe.
  • There are mentions of the emotional weight of witnessing tragic events, such as the 9/11 attacks, contrasting with the joy of witnessing births and space launches.
  • One participant describes a dramatic boat race incident, illustrating the thrill and unpredictability of such events.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share a range of personal experiences without reaching a consensus on what constitutes the "most amazing" sight. Multiple competing views and emotional responses remain evident throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Some statements reflect personal memories that may be influenced by individual perspectives and emotional responses, leading to subjective interpretations of what is considered "amazing." There are also references to specific events and images that may require further context for full understanding.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may interest individuals exploring human experiences of awe, emotional responses to significant events, and the impact of witnessing extraordinary natural and historical phenomena.

  • #31
Fredrik said:
That's a really interesting video. I have never seen this much of one Hitler's speeches before. I have only seen excerpts that are a few seconds long. There are a few things that are really noticeable: The intensity and passion, his voice, his body language (the way he waves his arms, the way he gets up on his toes), the fact that there is almost no content in what he's saying, the ecstatic audience, the number of cameras in the room, etc. This looks more like a scene from a very well-directed movie than like something that actually happened. It was more like a religious nut meeting / rock concert than like a political rally.

I'm not positive, but I think it was made by Leni Riefenstahl. She made documentaries and propaganda for Hitler. If you can get past the content of her films, the cinematography really shows her genius.
 
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  • #32
The greatest thing I've ever seen, and I wasn't there, it's a photo my brother took, is of a (the?) salt lake high up in Bolivia. It has about an inch of water on it, and reflects the sky. It looks out of this world!

Here's a small version of the photo, you can find it with Google easily.

avatars-000001981765-sbmd8r-crop.jpg
 
  • #33
Adyssa said:
The greatest thing I've ever seen, and I wasn't there, it's a photo my brother took, is of a (the?) salt lake high up in Bolivia. It has about an inch of water on it, and reflects the sky. It looks out of this world!

Here's a small version of the photo, you can find it with Google easily.

avatars-000001981765-sbmd8r-crop.jpg

That is spectacular. It looks like some scene from a movie depicting heaven.
 
  • #35
The bright blue-white light of my Guardian Angel in a dark room without windows. I was not the only one who saw it.
 
  • #36
  • #37
The latest on the Japan tsunami.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/scuba-divers-reveal-remnants-of-japan-tsunami-25523722
 
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  • #38
DaveC426913 said:
At a star party, I saw Jupiter and its moons in a pair of tripod-mounted binocs, and I realized just how close they were. I kept looking in the binocs then line-of-sight, then in the binocs then line-of-sight. Jupiter's moons are almost visible to the naked eye, and that made me feel like they're fruit hanging low from a tree, just waiting to be picked. I was sold on astronomy.

I have very similar inspiration. Seeing Jupiter's and Saturn's features through a neighbor's back-yard telescope, when I was a kid, are some of my fondest memories. The more I learn now, the more I'm amazed at what I really saw.

A close second is Hale-Bopp's semi-permanence in the sky in 1997. I think most view the sky with a certain predictable permanence, and the comment showed that not to be the case.
 
  • #39
mege said:
I have very similar inspiration. Seeing Jupiter's and Saturn's features through a neighbor's back-yard telescope, when I was a kid, are some of my fondest memories. The more I learn now, the more I'm amazed at what I really saw.

A close second is Hale-Bopp's semi-permanence in the sky in 1997. I think most view the sky with a certain predictable permanence, and the comment showed that not to be the case.

Are you old enough to remember Kotoutek? Visible in broad daylight with a tail longer than your hand at arm's length.
 
  • #40
DaveC426913 said:
Are you old enough to remember Kotoutek? Visible in broad daylight with a tail longer than your hand at arm's length.

I was so old when that that damned thing got around to visiting us that I was taking a nap and missed it entirely.

By the bye... isn't there supposed to be an "h" in there at approximately the position that you inserted the first "t"? Just asking.
 
  • #41
DaveC426913 said:
Are you old enough to remember Kotoutek? Visible in broad daylight with a tail longer than your hand at arm's length.
Of course I remember Ketoehek. I missed getting on the alien spaceship hiding in its wake and have been stuck on this microscopic particle ever since, jutting out of it like a sore thumb.
 
  • #42
Adyssa said:
The greatest thing I've ever seen, and I wasn't there, it's a photo my brother took, is of a (the?) salt lake high up in Bolivia. It has about an inch of water on it, and reflects the sky. It looks out of this world!

Here's a small version of the photo, you can find it with Google easily.

avatars-000001981765-sbmd8r-crop.jpg

I like that picture so much. Do you have the large version of that photo. I tried to google it but couldn't find the exact photo..
 
  • #43
Watching the boat I'd spent 4 years restoring

halfdnes.jpg

~1999

rosi.jpg

~2003

get destroyed in less than 10 seconds...

rosi_still_floats.JPG

April 24, 2006

At least she still floats.

Fortunately, I found http://home.europa.com/~garry/trista2007trianglelake.jpg" in Charville a few months later.

ps. It looked pretty much like the recent Japanese Tsunami, all black and boiling. Only we were standing there, with nowhere to run.

IMG_0028rs.JPG

April 30, 2006 re-enacting what we went through. (For the lawyers...)

post-non-humorous notes to self: 1. Regardless of how beautiful a day seems to be, always have a route of egress in mind. 2. Unhook the stern anchor if the tsunami is going to be more than 10 feet in height. You will know this because the river level will drop 10 feet before the tsunami hits. 3. Grab your keys and wallet before the tsunami strikes, because if you survive, at least you'll be able to drive home, and not spend the next week getting a locksmith to make a key for your car because your keys were in your vest, and your emergency key was in your wallet, which was also in your vest, which was hanging over the back of your beach chair, which was dragged into 20 feet of water by the freaking tsunami. On the bright side though, none of us died that afternoon. But still... @#&*#$%^$%^#!
 
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  • #44
Probably this:
[PLAIN]http://www.scarborough.k12.me.us/wis/teachers/dtewhey/webquest/nature/images/St.%20Helens.jpg

The 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption, mainly because I lived close enough to see it from my backyard.
 
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  • #45
In my freshman year while experimenting, I stared into the bathroom mirror until the room was completely whited out.
 
  • #46
There is amazing stuff everywhere, though we have to be open to it, and aware.

A while back, I took my dog out for a walk along the road and startled a flock of mourning doves. As they flushed and started gaining altitude, a goshawk swooped out of the woods and picked one out of the air. That was a hard hit, with feathers flying everywhere. I had my Panasonic pocket camera in my pocket (of course) with no chance of capturing that. Confirmed: goshawks are large enough and strong enough to lug off a mourning dove. The broad-winged hawks generally pluck them and dismember them on the ground.
 
  • #47
faizin said:
I like that picture so much. Do you have the large version of that photo. I tried to google it but couldn't find the exact photo..

My brother took it, let me see if I can get a large version :)
 

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