Your head poking through the cloth reminds me of the parachute our grade school gym class would play with; at one point, everyone in class had to pull the chute over our necks and lay on the floor (while someone stood on the middle of the chute on the outside), creating this inflated donut ring. The light inside was so diffused and even and seeing everyone's heads made me really happy. Despite being super shy and not talking to most kids, I suddenly felt like I was in an evenly lit science-fiction world (think Tarkovsky's Solaris, but I wouldn't know that for over a decade) and I wanted to just be with everyone in that moment.

I can only imagine that if I were to replace that parachute with windows gazing over our own planet, I would break down and cry :) So thank you for sharing this "technical" photo, because to me it brought back a deep memory!

That's awesome! I didn't know :)

Hey, I learned something new! Thank you :)

The actor Chris Pine was visibly upset at himself on a recent late night talk show; he was talking about how much he used to read until he got a smartphone. So now after a few years of having a phone, he wants to get rid of it.

I found it interesting that he couldn't overcome whatever addiction we have to our phones. So it's not just "us"!

Exactly. I stopped giving out book and movie recommendations probably 20 years ago, it's just a waste of time. I like what I like and that's the end of it.

But I'll happily seek out from others when I ask for it. But if someone just tells me to see a book or movie, it's not gonna happen.

That said, luckily I've never experienced my opinion being "slated" (I think OP meant slayed)

I know light doesn't experience time. From the photon's vantage, you are right. But in physical space, it still takes time for the photon to reach a destination. Downvote me all you want but your original comment is plainly wrong.

I'm sorry, that's incorrect, and no noodle has been cooked. From the point of view of the photon, sure, you are right. But the physical packet of information still travels at the speed of light, and even then that speed can be altered by an intervening atmosphere or interstellar medium. By your logic, the starlight I see outside is both here and just leaving the star simultaneously, which is 100% inaccurate.

I read this book ages ago and then immediately dived into Michio Kaku's Hyperspace. So I associate the two together. Those were a fun few weeks of reading for me.

I think I do too. And I think that's what audiobooks do as well. I was just wonderin'!

I always wondered how you were supposed to read this in your head. Do you say Mr. M? ("Mr. Em") or can you make up a name, like Mr. Montrose...

i'm learning quite a bit from these comments though!

Isn't the Harry Potter series full of these things? Stuff from book 1 resolves or is explained in like Books 5 and 7, etc etc (things from each book play roles in subsequent books)... I no longer have the memory to recall examples, but I was always impressed with her attention to detail or impressed by the amount of patience she had to keep so many secrets for so many pages.

So what you're saying is there's good money to be made by porn-parodying Nintendo