Earth
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(Difference between revisions)
Psygremlin (Talk | contribs) (And we speak of terra firma, but the planet is called Earth, not Terra) |
(→Fun facts about the Earth: Earth is still called Terra after the goddess in other languages and in fiction (source: Wiki disambiguation page of Terra). Besides terra firma means 'dry land'..) |
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*Earth lost out to [[Mars]] when all of the planetary bodies of the Solar System voted for <i>Most Likely to Support Life</i>. But, who's laughing now? | *Earth lost out to [[Mars]] when all of the planetary bodies of the Solar System voted for <i>Most Likely to Support Life</i>. But, who's laughing now? | ||
*"[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Mostly Harmless]]" <sup>(caps intentional)</sup> | *"[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Mostly Harmless]]" <sup>(caps intentional)</sup> | ||
| − | *It is the only planet in the solar system not named after a Roman god. However, the dwarf planets Haumea and Makemake are named after Hawaiian and Easter Island deities respectively, whilst Eris is named after the Greek goddess of discord. | + | *It is the only planet in the solar system not named after a Roman god in English language. However, the dwarf planets Haumea and Makemake are named after Hawaiian and Easter Island deities respectively, whilst Eris is named after the Greek goddess of discord. |
==Fact sheet (serious)== | ==Fact sheet (serious)== | ||
Revision as of 22:19, 1 May 2010
Earth is one of nine eight planets in the solar system orbiting a star called Sol in random science fiction stories. While some believe there is intelligent life on Earth, others are too smart to really believe this.
Earth is also one of the four fundamental elements the Greeks philosophised about, the others being water, air and fire. Some people consider their philosophical ruminations to be somewhat naive. If you consider that they were doing said philosophizing a good few thousand years ago, and the four elements line up pretty well with solid, liquid, gas and energy, perhaps they were not too far off the mark after all.
Fun facts about the Earth
- Most humans believe that the Earth is a sphere (more-or-less). A highly vocal, loony, and nasally minority seem to think that it is flat, presumably squarish. This RationalWiki editor believes that it is a dodecahedron.
- There is a heck of a lot of water on the Earth. Curiously, while water is absolutely vital to continued life as humans know it, most of the Earth's water, if consumed in sufficient quantities, would kill humans.
- The Earth's environment is seemingly quite fragile. However, since it is our God-given right to trash it, dammit we're gonna do it.
- Everyone that has ever lived and everyone you have ever known has been from Earth. Deep, ain't it? Alien abductionists may disagree with this.
- Earth's star, Sol (though possession probably should belong to Sol and not Earth), is considered to be average as stars go. How's that for weird?
- Earth lost out to Mars when all of the planetary bodies of the Solar System voted for Most Likely to Support Life. But, who's laughing now?
- " Mostly Harmless" (caps intentional)
- It is the only planet in the solar system not named after a Roman god in English language. However, the dwarf planets Haumea and Makemake are named after Hawaiian and Easter Island deities respectively, whilst Eris is named after the Greek goddess of discord.
Fact sheet (serious)
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