4 ms·

About to? > It could happen at any time in the... next few hundred thousand years. I understand this is imminent on a cosmological timescale, but the title is

About to? > It could happen at any time in the... next few hundred thousand years. I understand this is imminent on a cosmological timescale, but the title is click-baity.

Brockenstein 8y ago
If you want to interpret it that way. If you have some idea of cosmological scale and time frames you're probably willing to read the headline in those terms. After all at 8,000 light years what we're seeing right now "just happened"... near the beginning of recorded human history. Does absolutely everything need to be written from the perspective of default human biases?
cryptonector 8y ago
It's not click-baity. Any headline like this can only mean "about to on a cosmological scale", and I understood it as such immediately, and I also felt excited, and the excitement was warranted because the news really is exciting.
- spookthesunset 8y ago
  > Any headline like this can only mean "about to on a cosmological scale" Sorry, I also read it as "any day now" and I'm pretty sure anybody who is a layman on this topic also did the same. The title is plenty click-baity.
  - lb1lf 8y ago
    -I had the unexpected pleasure of sitting next to a geologist on a domestic flight a few years ago; he explained about an unstable mountainous area he’d surveyed, stressing that it would come crashing down at some point. I inquired as to /when/ we could expect this to happen, as it sounded imminent. «Oh, any day now - definitely in the next 30-50,000 years!» And here I am, with project deadlines measured in hours...
- nsxwolf 8y ago
  Why would "about to on a cosmological scale" make you feel excited? Are you planning on being around for a few hundred thousand more years?
  - gmanley 8y ago
    Well, it could also happen tomorrow. There is just a larger possible timeline.
    - dingaling 8y ago
      Or it could have happened yesterday. Or 7,999 years ago.
- exodust 8y ago
  The whole site has a trashy click-bait vibe. They're even using the classic click-bait word "jaw-dropping" in the story title. I've noticed other news outlets who picked up this story used the alternate click-bait word "breathtaking" to describe the image. It's usually one or the other.
- ShorsHammer 8y ago
  "The sun is about to engulf the soon."
- ataturk 8y ago
  I voted for "Gamma Ray Burst" in the Florida election instead of "Big Rock From Space" but when they counted them, it was determined that my intention was to vote for the Democrat candidate.

About to? > It could happen at any time in the... next few hundred thousand years. I understand this is imminent on a cosmological timescale, but the title is click-baity.

Brockenstein 8y ago

If you want to interpret it that way. If you have some idea of cosmological scale and time frames you're probably willing to read the headline in those terms. After all at 8,000 light years what we're seeing right now "just happened"... near the beginning of recorded human history. Does absolutely everything need to be written from the perspective of default human biases?

cryptonector 8y ago

It's not click-baity. Any headline like this can only mean "about to on a cosmological scale", and I understood it as such immediately, and I also felt excited, and the excitement was warranted because the news really is exciting.

spookthesunset 8y ago
> Any headline like this can only mean "about to on a cosmological scale" Sorry, I also read it as "any day now" and I'm pretty sure anybody who is a layman on this topic also did the same. The title is plenty click-baity.
- lb1lf 8y ago
  -I had the unexpected pleasure of sitting next to a geologist on a domestic flight a few years ago; he explained about an unstable mountainous area he’d surveyed, stressing that it would come crashing down at some point. I inquired as to /when/ we could expect this to happen, as it sounded imminent. «Oh, any day now - definitely in the next 30-50,000 years!» And here I am, with project deadlines measured in hours...
nsxwolf 8y ago
Why would "about to on a cosmological scale" make you feel excited? Are you planning on being around for a few hundred thousand more years?
- gmanley 8y ago
  Well, it could also happen tomorrow. There is just a larger possible timeline.
  - dingaling 8y ago
    Or it could have happened yesterday. Or 7,999 years ago.
exodust 8y ago
The whole site has a trashy click-bait vibe. They're even using the classic click-bait word "jaw-dropping" in the story title. I've noticed other news outlets who picked up this story used the alternate click-bait word "breathtaking" to describe the image. It's usually one or the other.
ShorsHammer 8y ago
"The sun is about to engulf the soon."
ataturk 8y ago
I voted for "Gamma Ray Burst" in the Florida election instead of "Big Rock From Space" but when they counted them, it was determined that my intention was to vote for the Democrat candidate.