Now you made me want to read the Inkheart trilogy again... It's definitely too much of a kids' series to be worth it though.

>The question being, we're able to describe the physical wavelength in nanometers of these waves that apparently aren't oscillating in space so much as they oscillate between electric and magnetic fields. ...how do you assign a unit of length to that?

The length is assigned to the distance it takes for the photon energy's wave to travel from one amplitude to the other and back. What that means physically *is* the phaenomena it expresses itself in, in the relevant experiments. If I was to speculate about how it's expressed as a logical principle of physical interactions, I'd say the wave is the photon's potential to bend or change direction, especially in contact with other matter (and the energy that constitutes said matter) as it travels through spacetime. But I'd also acknowledge that there's probably a reason why, even if my logic is correct, physicists would never oversimplify it like that.

"In the electromagnetic field" probably just takes it from "mystery balls of energy" to "balls inside a mystery ether" for someone who doesn't understand the subject properly.

>Another way to view it: When light is emitted, it is quantized (discrete). It is not continuous. When you turn the dimmer switch on an LED, it doesn't produce a bigger or smaller light beam, it produces a larger or smaller number of photons. Each electron you pass through the LED excites an electron to later decay back to ground state.

Though there is also the other way of altering the energy content of a photon, by impacting its frequency (and by extension wavelength.) It's just not useful for affecting the intensity of visible light.

Since we're explaining the photon's essence, I figured making that explicit might help to avoid further confusion.

>I don't wish to experiment with buckwheat, gel et al... just a normal pillow that isn't worth a million dollars

If you like firm, thick pillows, cotton filling is the best deal. Firm, cheap, and infinitely more durable than any polymer fill materials. Ideally buy pillows slightly larger than your pillow cases for truly bulging tautness.

The first pillows I ever bought were cotton-filled, and I wish I had never replaced them. They stayed with me for many years, and retained their shape. The polyester-filled replacements I bought were completely worn down after less than a year.

Mind you, the general recommendation for spine health is that you shouldn't life your head too high. But I can guarantee you, your pillow choice won't save your neck anyway. Exercise, posture, and an animated daily routine are the only true deciding factors of your orthopedic health. Just pick a pillow you like sleeping on.

If you prefer softer pillows, down or memory foam will treat you well.

If you want to go test pillows, make sure to find out your mattress firmness grading, so you can compare it on a similar mattress in a boutique. Apparently that influences how pillows feel quite a bit.

Fun fact that I've recently learned: Ergonomic office chairs, especially those meant for productivity (as opposed to pure soft comfort for 24-hour jobs), are largely designed around *encouraging* mobility. The amount of things that are beneficial about staying in motion while resting are absurdly numerous considering how many of us would probably be inclined to guess that the healthiest way to sit is to find the "optimal" posture for your spine/shoulders/neck and stay in it.

There are specific things a good chair can do for your posture besides just padding and keeping you active (personalised measurements for things like lumbar support, breathability, etc.), but much of the benefit is just generated by what it encourages you to do for yourself.

Now, lying/lounging on the ground or a sofa while reading aren't quite the same thing as sitting in a chair to work, so you don't have to expect quite as much motion to be necessary. More akin to sleeping. But I'd still suggest steering clear of trying to establish specific perfect positions.

Your instinct tells you what your body wants, and even if you never put any weight or restrict bloodflow to any part of your body, chances are staying in one position for a long chapter isn't the way to go.

Not sponsored, I just really liked the way my body felt after I sat in that boutique for less than an hour.

> "Viruses only exist through the destruction of other cells."

Yes, but I would assume they survive significantly longer in ocean water than they would in a dry place on land, right? Thus those 10 million viruses in a seawater drop wouldn't all necessarily have infected an orgamism quite as recently as you would expect from our experience with viruses in the air or on a dry surface.