We are not alone .........

I watched a very interesting (Horizon) programme last night , all about gravity and the quest by Quantum physicists to explain its existence . It's all such thought provoking stuff ; this is looking at "The Bigger Picture" in a gargantuan way with a really wide angle lens ..... I always begin to feel uncomfortably insignificant when contemplating the cosmological (phew , now that was a quality sentence !!) Anyway I came across this mind-boggling thought , in the paper at the weekend , so in the interests of dragging everyone else along in the wake of my wonder and awe I thought I'd share it here ...

Australian astronomers have calculated that there are more than 70 sextillion stars in the known universe . That's a 7 followed by 22 zeros !!! Or pictured this way ; there are 10 times more stars than the number of grains of sand in all the earth's beaches and deserts .

Puts us in to perspective doesn't it ???

T.T.F.N Ruth ( waving to the Universe !)

Which Jane Austen heroine are you ?

I saw the picture link to this amusing quiz on Lisa's Q.D Patooties blog .You can see it here on mine now , at the bottom of my bear photos . Well don't be silly , of course I had to have a go straight away !! I was delighted to be pronounced "Elizabeth Bennett" - although if you know Jane Austen's novels very well you need to be mindful of choosing the most truthful responses , and not the ones which obviously pertain to your preferred female principal character !
So "Yay" for Elizabeth B ; much as I love the book Mansfield Park , I wouldn't want to be pronounced a Fanny Price ! I'm just not that much of a passive self-sacrificer , and Marianne Dashwood's a bit too ninny-like ; although she's only supposed to be 16 . The poor girl ages with every film/tv adaptation. I shall make no mention here of Andrew Davies' recent mashed-up and stuck back together (not necessarily in the correct order) tele script effort . Tsk tsk , it took "writer's licence" to a whole new meaning - I occasionally wondered if he'd actually read the book !? Oh dear , I seem to have mentioned it now ...the scenery was .. "nice" . No , as E.B. I'll settle for all the wittiest lines of dialogue , and the upper hand in a verbal punch-up with toffs any day . Sigh ......
just call me a Jane Austen Anorak .....

T.T.F.N Ruth x