The universe expands from an unimaginably hot and Houston Astros Blooming Baseballs Shirt speck (perhaps a singularity) with all the known forces unified. In a tiny fraction of a second tremendous changes are unleased. The strong force separates from the electronuclear. The weak force then separates from the electromagnetic. ~1 microsecond into this process Quarks are confined within hadrons. 1 millisecond in hydrogen nuclei are formed. 1 second in neutrinos begin to interact with other particles. At about the 3 minute mark helium nuclei are formed. 379,000 years in, the plasma cools enough for stable atoms to form and photons are released from this veil forming the Cosmic Background Radiation we see today. It’s 100 million years before the first stars can form, many generations of stars are busy creating the heavy elements necessary for life as we know it from the process of fission (both during the life of the star and during nova, supernova, and stellar collisions including those of neutron stars). All of these things almost certainly had to happen before life could form. So that’s somewhere around 1 billion years later before there is likely to be a place that is hospitable to life as we know it. But that’s even before galaxies have formed so that may be way too early, we just don’t know for certain.
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Fabrizio Quattrocchi, an Italian security officer, taken hostage and murdered in Iraq by Islamist militants. After being forced to dig his own grave and just before being shot in the Mens Pawdre Paw Print Graphic For Dog Dad Shirt, Fabrizio looked up at his executioners and defiantly said: “Now I will show you how an Italian dies”. I am sure in history there have been more significant moments with very cool lines, but for me, right this very moment, Fabrizio deserves the prize. EDIT: thanks everyone for the upvotes. The reason why I was fascinated by this, is that Italians are not usually seen as warriors or for dying heroically. Stereotypically, we are all artists, lovers with an incurable fondness for string instruments… Fabrizio decided to meet his fate with dignity: his words would have cut deeper in his executioners’ ego than any last minute shovel swing.
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