I Blog Poetry and Prose

Size, Blue Whales, and the Galaxy

Istiqlál (Independence), 6 Qudrat (Power) 175 B.E. - Friday, November 9, 2018

FORUM

30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS  (13+) WDC's Longest Running Blog Competition - Hiatus #1786069 by Fivesixer

Did you know? The veins of a blue whale are so wide, a 3 year old child could swim through them? Spend your blogging time today thinking about size. Scale is important in writing - how do you use it? If you're up for it, try examining something extremely small and describing it as if it were the size of a car. Can you get your readers to guess what you're describing?

“Don't Panic.”1 Size is relative. To human being a molecule is small, but to an atom a molecule is gigantic. Size is just a point of view, that is determined by the perception of the observer. A good example is the size of a spider, to most people a spider is a small eight-legged "bug". However, to anyone suffering from arachnophobia--and I know this from personal experience--a spider (any spider) is a huge eight-legged monster out to get them. Once I stop panicking, and realize that I am truly larger than the spider, I can find a weapon of some type of eridacate the monster.

Right now, I am reading The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, which is huge compared to the regular Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is huge because it contains five complete novels, a short story, and an introduction written by Douglas Adams. The wonderful thing about this book, besides being funny, is that it gives the reader some hint as to how large the galaxy really is compared to the size of the Earth.

So, “Don't Panic.” Grab your towel, because all professional Galactic Hitchhikers carry a large towel with them, and thumb down a flying saucer. Once you are aboard, ask the pilot or captain to take you to Ford Prefect. Ford Prefect is the roving reporter who updates the Hitchhiker's Guide and this Guide sells better than the Encyclopedia Galactica. The Encyclopedia Galactica, is larger and more expensive than the Hitchhiker's Guide, but it doesn't always give all the information a Galactic Hitchhiker needs. Which goes to prove that bigger is not always better.

Footnotes
1  Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy