Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by seclorum_wien on Friday October 17, 2025 @09:42AM
(#45616728)
Can confirm, have ventured all over the deserts of my homeland, and every time I do, I am filled with awe at the temerity of life on the brink of hardship.
It is a spiritually rewarding activity to look out over a landscape, be still for a while, and notice the absolute abundance of life, as robust as ever.
Even in the dustiest Earth voids, there are colours and growth. It pays to look for it.
Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by whiplash451 on Friday October 17, 2025 @09:21AM
(#45616476)
Why especially on HN?
The Mojave Desert has some of the most beautiful life (plants and animals both) that I've ever seen. I think the lack of a green canopy just misleads people - it looks like a sea of yellow-brown in a satellite image, and even in person, you have to look closely to see the life. But that just makes it more special IMO.
Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by IncreasePosts on Friday October 17, 2025 @01:50PM
(#45619669)
The word "Namib" means "place where there is nothing" in Khoekhoegowab, spoken by the people who live right next to the desert and assuredly explored it.
Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by thaumasiotes on Friday October 17, 2025 @06:58PM
(#45623118)
Where are you getting the gloss? Wiktionary has a definition "wasteland", but also derives it etymologically from a verb meaning "walk". Is there an element that means "nothing"?
Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by IncreasePosts on Monday October 20, 2025 @01:09PM
(#45646356)
I was told it by my driver when I visited the desert during a trip to Angola. Where he got it from? No idea.
Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by reaperducer on Friday October 17, 2025 @07:02PM
(#45623165)
Wikipedia states that your interpretation is not 100% certain. It says that there is also believed to mean "vast place," which is not in dispute.
Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by inemesitaffia on Saturday October 18, 2025 @11:17AM
(#45628040)
So, a vast nothing
This reminds me of the dead sea, it's far from dead, there are life forms in it. It's called the dead sea in Arabic as well (maybe this is the source of the name? Don't quote me on this one)
Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by sandworm101 on Friday October 17, 2025 @03:47PM
(#45621206)
They are empty places. The biomass per square area is a pittance compared to any other habitat. Water is life. Places with less water have less life. Not all places are equal.
Re:Live Stream from the Namib Desert
by reaperducer on Friday October 17, 2025 @06:59PM
(#45623132)
Places with less water have less life.
This is only true if every piece of life requires the exact same amount of water. Which is false. Your argument easily falls down simply by noting that a river has less life than a rain forest.
> Your argument easily falls down simply by noting that a river has less life than a rain forest.
Is that true? What is your source for that?
If you've ever actually lived in or explored a desert, you quickly learn that they are full of life. More than most urban landscapes.