Weighty Things

Weighty Things - © Kent Fletcher
June 1, 2008

In my cruising of the web, I keep coming across weighty things, mostly tons. "Tons" of information, "tons" of fun, "tons" of frivolity. Wow, must be tons of tons of things out there, eh?

Now, herein lies my quandary. How does one weigh tons of information, of fun, of frivolity? How does one weigh flights of fancy, the spoken word, the sung song, the preacher's comments on Sunday mornings? For these items, and others, of surreality, how does one weigh the thought processes? It's confusing to me.

To weigh the physical things, like radioisotopes, or birds, or virii, or ships, or bacteria, now there I can get a grip of the reality. Tiny as they are - the radioisotopes or virii or bacteria - they still have physical characteristics, don't they? And if they have physical characteristics, well, then they would weigh something, wouldn't they? And of course, we all know perfectly well that ships and buildings and water containers and cars and some animals like whales and elephants can and do weigh tons, but I wonder how many specimens of radioisotopes or virii or bacteria would it take to weigh a ton? If all humanity, and all the animal world were taken away, would there be enough radioisotopes or virii or bacteria left on this planet to even weigh a ton, or two? Now there is an interesting subject for some young entrepreneur to work on for a thesis. It would keep him busy for a ton of time, wouldn't it?

Thinking about all this weighs on my mind, on my thought processes, I'm getting a headache. But I will plod along for just a few more minutes.

Here's some thoughts, maybe a ton or two for YOU to ponder, as well:

- How can the weight of the earth be calculated, when all known living things in the universe only reside on this little orb, this minute speck in the sky? Yeah, yeah, I know what you're going to say, that approximations can be made up in the physical aspects of the elements, tons of rock, tons of water, all those physical things that can be touched, felt, weighed can be guesstimated out, extrapolated for density and volume and given a number. But compared to what? Has anyone ever been anywhere else but the Earth's moon for comparisons? Do we (humanity) have drilling stations set up on the dark side of the moon, out of eyesight of humanity back here at the home base, coring samples through that mass of.... what? How can the weight of the Earth orb be calculated, as we have nothing to really -compare it to?

- We've all heard tell of how things - thoughts, emotions, non-physical aspects - weigh on us, yes? We have "heavy" hearts at times, and we have "light-headedness"? Can someone tell me how to weigh an emotion? How much is a ton of emotion, or thought?

- Somehow, if the "thing" that holds all the universe together (gravity?) were to go away, what would happen to the tons of stuff we can see and feel? Would it all flatten into a pancake form? Would it get bigger? How big would the hole be where it all collects? Hm. Dr. Pepple, where are you?

- How is the weight of the air we breathe weighed? It is so light and fluffy (?), how can one get a grasp, really, on air? If one takes a cube, say a cubic foot of space, of air, and extracts all the air within that confine, can the weight of the cube after the extraction be compared to the weight before? What's left, just a lot of dead air? And would the cube even exist, anyway, because as I understand it, there's tons of air both inside a given space, and outside, and if the air inside is removed, what's to keep the air outside from collapsing the whole thing? Hm.

- How much does a cubic foot of water weigh at 10,000 feet below sea level? There are trenches that deep, I think. Does the weight of an object really increase the closer to the core of the Earth it is? Does a pound of weight on the surface eventually weigh a ton somewhere below that? I'm not asking about the cumulative weight on top, the tons on top, just that one cubic foot of... whatever - water, air, elephants.

- If Superman has super-human abilities, how much does he really weigh? Tons?

- How much space does a ton of air take up?

- How much space does a ton of information take up? Or fun? Or frivolity? In our shrinking environment, can we really afford to have all these weighty things? Will all these tons of information eventually do us in?

Think about all this, will you? Let me know your thoughts, even your tons of thoughts. I've got a couple of cubby-holes it could all be stored in for future generations.

The more I think about all this, the more I draw on my consciousness about "things". How many thoughts make up a ton of thoughts? But I'm repeating myself, so I'll end this, now, with just one more thought.

As I've written elsewhere, and drawing upon an old cartoon from many years gone by, sometimes I sits, sometimes I sits and thinks, and when I sits and thinks long enough, I goes to sleep.