432nd Friday Blog Roundup
So the world is going to end. Probably like… I don’t know… 10 billion years from now. And that sucks. When I read on iO9 about how we now know definitively that the world is going to end, I felt really sad. Especially since one of my big loves is the Higgs boson (Josh likes to say, “if you love that boson so much, why don’t you marry it?” Maybe I will, maybe I will).
It sort of doesn’t matter if it’s going to take place 10 billion years from now, when no one will be around to remember our generation. It’s just the idea of something I really like — the world, for instance — ending. What if I plant a time capsule now with a note that it be opened in 10 billion years? Now I can’t do that because the earth itself isn’t even going to be here by that time. I’m going to have to set it for 9 billion years. And that isn’t as special.
Of course, if the physicist’s calculations are off, we don’t need to worry about the world ending by being swallowed by an alternate universe. Though it sounds as if they’re fairly certain that 10 billion years from now, all of this will be gone. So… yeah… I’m back to sad again.
Am I the only one who is really sad thinking about the world ending, even if it is 10 billion years from now?
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “Poetry for the Aunt You Love to Hate” (Just Stop Trying and It Will Happen)
- “Invisible Badge” (Life from Here)
- “Infertility and Shame” (No Kidding in NZ)
- “Birth Day, VI” (Awful But Functioning)
- “A Note from Me to You” (Ask Moxie)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Just Another Infertility Blog has a post that starts out about religion but changes to be an epiphany that came through meditation. She has stopped asking herself why she’s struggling with infertility. She writes, “What I’ve discovered is that those questions are not really helpful and I’ve been trying to move away from that type of thinking and look more at what this experience has taught me and what I can take away from all of this.” It’s just a really thought-provoking post.
Res Cogitatae has a post about her recent bout of anxiety. The post feels like an onion unpeeling, all these layers coming undone to get to that anxiety in the center. And it all comes down to the unknowns — all the various unknowns of life and work and family building. She explains, “Dear readers, if you have been with me all this time (and I know some of you have) you know this about me: I do not do well with unknowns. I am a planner. An organizer. I cannot stand ceding control of my life to the universe.” As someone who is similar in nature, this post spoke to me. Especially the idea that naming it really can help you wrap your brain around it and feel as if the anxiety-inducing elements have been brought down to size.
I cracked up over Something Out of Nothing’s post about her two-hour delay. That’s all. I just felt the need to point out her dry wit.
And to that end, Mrs. Spit has a gorgeous post about being a memory keeper. That’s all. I just felt the need to point out this piece of heart-wrenching beauty.
Lastly, Silent Sorority has a post unpacking some of Hilary Mantel’s now infamous words about Kate Middleton as well as the pressure royalty go through to produce an heir. She asks if the world would be as interested in William and Kate if they were an infertile couple; would they celebrate them as a family of two? As I said in her comment section, on one hand, the pressure on royals to reproduce is horrifying (and the #1 reason I would never in a trillion years want to be a princess). But if we look at it as a job? Then I’m not as horrified. If the purpose of a doctor is to treat illness, then I would expect a doctor to treat illness. And if the purpose of a monarch is to ensure the stability of the government and produce an heir that will succeed the current monarch, then we can look back at history and see that big problems arise when there is a fight for power. While I don’t think the United Kingdom will fall apart if Kate and William never reproduced, I could see a country holding its collective breath waiting for another royal to be born because that child signifies continuation. Stability. Government. Which also translates into security for the nation. Heady things. She is never going to personally “rule,” though she has an important role in creating that stability. Go over there and give her your thoughts.
The roundup to the Roundup: Are you also sad that the world is going to end? And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between February 15th and 22nd) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
14 comments
Very good collection of blog inferences. The world ending? Not sure I believe any person walking this earth can forecast that. Depending on whether one believes in God the world as we know it will surely end.~ Josh
It makes me sad to think about the world ending sometime too. I almost had a panic attack one day when I watched a documentary called “If We Had No Moon” because it showed all the awful things that will happen once the moon moves far enough away from the earth.
The world ending does make me sad. In fact, I’ve been sad about this since I was a child and saw something on PBS about this sort of physics work being done, and the hint that this place won’t last forever. But, being the science fiction geek that I am, I like to think that by then, humans will have found a new home (or many new homes). That doesn’t change the fact that I love Earth, and am sad that one day it won’t be here anymore!
Also – I LOLed at Josh’s “Why don’t you marry it?” I love the Higgs Boson because Science! But I also feel like the whole idea sounds like the start to a really stressful science fiction story.
Off to read Silent Sorority’s post! I wrote a post in December on the Duchess of Cambridge and what would happen if she had been infertile right after they announced her pregnancy http://babywithatwist.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/fertility-and-the-royal-family/
Thanks for the shout out and for your comment, Mel! Hilary Mantel’s full remarks became available yesterday and they offer a fuller view into the topic. Loribeth also shared a link to a Toronto Star piece (in her comment) that references the infertility Mantel experienced due to endometriosis and a hysterectomy at 27…
When I was a kid, I went to the planetariu and learned that eventually the sun would blow up and burn out. I was (and still am) terribly worried that some of my descendants will experience that.
Melancholia (the movie).
I’m not sad that the world will eventually end – it’s not likely that I will be around to experience it. And by then, we may have made ourselves extinct anyway. Or, as someone said above…moved on to greener pastures. It’s just not worth my time to worry about.
So, Josh wants you to be a bigamist, eh? Very open-minded of him.
I’d like to nominate this post for the list next week.
http://www.singleinfertilefemale.com/2013/02/it-takes-a-village/
Thanks Mel for highlighting my post! I’m so tickled to be on your list… yours was one of the first IF blogs I discovered. Thanks so much for being the fantastic resource that you are for this whole community.
Nothing is set in stone. They’ve predicted the end of the world so many times that I’ve lost all faith in it. Whether 2012 or 10 billion, it will happen (if it will happen) whenever it will happen.
Happy ICLW!
Actually… it might be fair to say that the UK might be more likely to become disunited (ie, the Celtic bits going off and becoming independent) if the Royal Family are unpopular. So having young, popular Royals doing popular, newsworthy things does have more of an impact than you might think.
Aw, thanks, Mel. I’m blushing. Dry is my favorite kind of wit, so I take that as a huge compliment!
I loved Esperanza’s post about visualizing what a second child would mean to her and, more than that, what she hopes to do with the rest of her life:
http://esperanzasays.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/wild-and-precious/
Yep, the end of the world in 10 billion years is pretty freaking restrictive. Limitations on time capsules… and now I have a time-frame to work to so I can get every flavour of Crispy Cream tried. Sure I’m gluten and dairy intolereant and don’t generally eat junkfood, but if the world is going to end why not party anyway??