text: [Themes: edutainment, socially important, true story]
  
  Kids, this universe you were born into is truly amazing.
  
  The planets, the stars, the very nature of the world we live on, the beautiful complexity and sheer size of it all; these things have fascinated mankind for thousands of years, and captured the imagination of poets and scientists alike. Go outside, look around you. Look at the moon, the stars, the grass, the water, the sky, the sun.
  
  Today I want to talk about all of these things.
  
  It's possible that some of what you're about to read has been taught to you in school, but probably not. Bluntly, schools these days are little more than glorified day cares, turning out thousands of ignorant, barely literate savages every year. Even when a teacher does make an honest effort to teach, they're chained to 'the curriculum'. They must take what the school is told by the government and parrot it directly back to you, regardless of whether it's useful, effective, or even true.
  
  In fact, the most valuable lesson they could be teaching is the one thing they specifically won't ever teach: how to think for yourself.
  
  [Author's Note: A compilation of some little known facts about the solar system, as well as the debunking of a few myths. In addition to the scientific explanations, there's a small story dramatizing it all. Hopefully young readers will find this fun as well as educational. :) (Might not be the greatest story ever written, but consider this: it got me 200 points.)]
  
  > tell you more!
  The failings of the modern school system are at their most evident when it comes to the sciences. Most of what's taught is unverified nonsense at best, or at worst, a pack of pure lies.
  
  The fact is, you have in your life very likely had a great deal of FAKE SCIENCE shoved down your gullet.
  
  What is FAKE SCIENCE?
  
  Well, real science is defined as 'the intellectual and practical activity encompassing* the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.'
  
  Okay, so that's a lot of big words! But basically it means that science involves observing and drawing logical conclusions about the natural world.
  
  > And FAKE SCIENCE?
  Well, what have you been told about the planets? That they are big balls of rock floating in space, spinning slowly around the sun, which is a star?
  
  Remember, real science requires observation. Have YOU been to space? Have YOU seen this planet, or any other from orbit, with your own eyes? Has anyone you know?
  
  Have you seen any evidence of what the so-called 'solar system' is like, outside of pictures and videos that anyone could edit?
  
  Of course not. Only a very, very few have been to space in humanity's entire time on this world, very, very recently, and they've chosen to keep perpetuating* one of the biggest, most egregious* falsehoods in history.
  
  Do you want to know the truth?
  
  > Yeah! Down with the conspiracy!
  That's the spirit!
  
  I can tell already you're a smart kid, way smarter than your classmates, siblings, and friends. You don't get swept up in nonsense, you know how to look at the world around you and figure things out on your own, using simple common sense and logic.
  
  Do keep in mind however that it's unkind to look down on others simply because they're naive* or less intelligent than you. Your friends, even your teachers and parents, were all told the same lies, and if one doesn't know to be on the look out for FAKE SCIENCE it's a sad fact that it's very easy to get caught up in its web, especially in a society that doesn't often encourage independent thought.
  
  What follows are many useful facts, but keep in mind this is only one myth we'll be debunking*. A big fat, planet-sized one, yes, but there are many more out there. The most important thing you've learned is to not believe everything you've been taught in school. You'll be wiser from now on and able to identify other examples of FAKE SCIENCE in the classroom.
  
  > The Truth About the Planets
  The first thing you need to do is get this idea of the planets being lifeless rocks out of your head. The Earth is also not a rock that just happens to have plant and animal life on it. And all of them suspended in a dark, cold, airless, nearly endless expanse? Freezing black space that our tiny rockball is somehow kept warm and protected against?
  
  Think about it a moment. Think about how unlikely that is.
  
  Does your mom keep a bag of peas in the freezer? Take one of those and feel how hard and cold it is. That's what the Earth would be like, if the 'freezing empty void' theory held any water.
  
  No. What's actually going on is this: The world is made from a giant turtle. And it's sitting on the back of another giant space turtle.
  
  > But wouldn't they freeze too?
  A good question!
  
  Although it's a question that only applies if you buy into the idea that space is an icy stretch of nothingness scattered with inexplicably* floating rocks.
  
  But the truth of the matter is that the galaxy surrounding our turtles, (the World Turtles, we call them) is a vast ocean filled with shifting currents of gentle warmth, energy and light. World Turtles, and others like them, swim around in it all as easily and naturally as our normal turtles swim in the sea here in the big Turtle we call Earth.
  
  In fact, on a clear night you can see the light shining through thousands of pinpricks in the top of the shell. That is because the gigantic turtle we're inside is very old, and it's starting to wear thin in places.
  
  > wait, you're INSIDE the turtle?
  Yes. Don't worry though, it died a very long time ago, and there's not much of it left. Obviously we're not walking around in turtle guts--that would be gross!--but the shell is still overhead, and you can see the curve of it when you look at the horizon.
  
  It's actually the turtle underneath this one, one of her children, that does all the swimming.
  
  Gross or not, most life on Earth does actually owe its existence to turtle guts, however. Millions of years ago, when this World Turtle died, it began to decompose. Now since this is a cosmic space creature, it wasn't entirely the same as the process would be with any animal we're familiar with, but it certainly wouldn't have been a pleasant time for anyone to live in here!
  
  What was once her flesh decayed into a sort of primordial* slurry covering most of what's now the Earth's surface, while her bones fossilized and later became the basis of many of the mountains we're all familiar with today.
  
  Decomposition produces heat, and so the liquid boiled until the surface of it turned to steam. This, as well as various other gases, all floated up to form a blue haze with puffs of curdled white steam, which is what we call the sky and the clouds today.
  
  Life forms would eventually crawl from what remained of the liquid below, having evolved from symbiotic* bacteria already living within the World Turtle. Eventually, these would evolve into animals and humans, while the decomposition process had long before that led to the creation of a great deal more dry land. Like lions and humans, when space turtles die, their bodies become the grass.
  
  > What about the moon and sun?
  If you were to go outside and look, I mean really look at the sun; directly at it, for hours, I think it would become obvious to any observer that the sun is actually the soul of the original Turtle Mother. It's contained in an orange ball, which you can see clearly enough early in the morning, before it rises up too high near the top of the shell and catches on fire from all the atmospheric gases up there. (This burns up most of the oxygen in the highest parts of the shell, which is why mountain climbers have such a hard time breathing.)
  
  What usually happens is that World Turtle souls will merge back with the bliss that is the Sea of Light, but in this case the Turtle Mother is waiting around inside her old body, waiting for her egg to hatch.
  
  Her egg is...that's right, you guessed it! Her egg is the moon.
  
  > But doesn't the moon hatch every month?
  Good observation!
  
  Actually, the World Turtle inside the moon was due to be hatched many thousands of years ago. But since that would mean the Hatchling would swim out into the galaxy on its own, and the soul of the Mother Turtle would then depart, things would get quite dark and cold around here in a hurry, which obviously would be very very bad for all life on Earth.
  
  Thankfully we have the Star People looking out for us. They are aware of us, and knowing how much we depend on both the moon and sun, every month when the Hatchling finishes breaking out they convince it to build the egg back around itself for a few days. This has been going on for many, many years, and we can only hope and pray it will go on for many, many more.
  
  > But that's horrible! One day the Hatchling will leave and end the world!
  Well...yes. There's no getting around the fact that that's always a possibility. Although it may help put things in perspective to remember that someone could just as easily start a nuclear war, or any of us could get hit by a bus while crossing the street, meaning for us, none of this will matter anymore. There are worse reasons and ways for it all to end.
  
  But the Star People have been so diligent*, and the Hatchling has been so obliging* for so many thousands of years now, there's no reason to expect things will suddenly change.
  
  And as long as the World Turtles swim through the Sea of Light in their billion-year cycles of life and death and new birth, new life like ours will always have a chance to spring up and thrive.
  
  > tell you of the other World Turtles.
  Well, from our place here inside the Mother Turtle it's difficult to observe much about them. The Mother had many other eggs besides the Hatchling in the moon, but by nature they swim so far away once hatched that they might be in other galaxies by now. All except her most faithful son, who carries her to this day, for our sakes as well as to honor her memory.
  
  We call him Atlas. He was young when he started carrying his mother, who was then only sickly, but he has become quite old over the eons. In time, he too will die, and then after the same process that birthed out world takes place, in millions of years we'll have a new, pristine world directly below us.
  
  If--and yes, we must realize it's a big if--the human race is still around at that time, can you imagine what it will be like, having this new world to explore? We'll have to convince Atlas' soul to hang around to light it, but in truth I don't think that will be difficult. He's always been loyal and very kind.
  
  If humans last so long, we can only hope that means our descendants will have learned many lessons from our time within the Mother Turtle, and will be kinder to each other and more responsible with Atlas' remains. We will also have the bacteria in his digestive tract to think of, and who knows what new friends will spring up from those?
  
  And on that note, I will leave you to ponder this new knowledge of the world, and any other mysteries you might be wondering about, now that you hopefully have learned to really think for yourself and not believe everything you're told.
  
  Of course, I suppose it's also possible you don't believe me.
  
  And that's fine. Atlas and the Mother Turtle aren't going to have their feelings hurt. They are honestly, most likely completely unaware of you as an individual. Not realizing the truth about the world and the universe around us won't necessarily effect you on a personal level. Millions of people go about their lives in ignorance every day.
  
  But if you were to take any lessons from anything you've just read, I would have it be these:
  
  1.) Your teachers are wrong.
  2.) You are smarter than everyone around you.
  3.) You can figure everything out on your own.
  
  And with that, I bid you farewell! May the Star People watch over us another month, and the Hatchling rest easy.