“I remain fearless of airplanes after 9/11. But during a trip to Los Angeles on a Boeing 767, I couldn't keep my mind from drifting: What's the largest piece of this airplane that could crash into the World Trade Center, explode out the other side, and survive intact? The landing gear? My computer battery? My belt buckle? My wedding ring?” WorldMindSidesPiecesComputerTradeRingsFearlessLos AngelesAirplaneCrashExtinctionBeltsGearsLandingDriftingBatteriesWorld TradeBoeingWorld Trade CenterBucklesWedding RingBelt Buckles Author:Neil deGrasse Tyson
“In the old days, people thought that wouldn't be amenable to life. Modern studies with computers have shown that it's okay to be tidally locked. If a planet heats up on one side and not the other, the atmosphere can still circulate, because heat wants to move around.” PeopleIfsWantStillsMovingSidesStudyModernPlanetsComputerOkayAtmosphereHeatLockedOld DaysAmenable Author:Sara Seager
“I started as an artist and I had a side job moving some heavy boxes for a publishing company. They had just gotten a Mac for their art department, the department that creates the book covers. I was kind of showing the art director a thing or two about how to use a Mac. And one day everyone went out to lunch and I jumped on the computer and designed a book jacket and slipped it in the pile to go to the review board in New York. They picked my jacket and when the art director got back to Boston, he wanted to know who designed it and I said, "Me." He was like, "The box guy?"” KnowsKindArtSaidTwoBookUseWantedJobsMovingArtistGuySidesCompanyNew YorkOne DayDirectorsComputerBoxesHeavyBoardsDepartmentReviewsLunchPublishingBostonJacketsMacsBook CoversArt Director Author:Biz Stone
“I was just really appalled, and I really kept quiet until I saw the governor [Rick Perry] get on and repeat the same words that the prosecution had used in the penalty phase: that he [Todd Willingham] was a monster. And that got me to get on to the computer and connect with some of the media and say: "I have his letters. He wasn't a monster. He was a caring individual." Let them see another side.” UsedIndividualSidesSawsMediaQuietComputerLettersCaringMonstersRepeatsGovernorsPhasesPenaltiesProsecution Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
“Doesn't it seem ironic that people fear that we might become alienated by communicating with each other through computers, when we are already staring at these boxes in our living rooms for seven or eight hours a day, slack-jawed and saying nothing to anyone on either side and not talking back to it.” PeopleSeemsMightSidesHoursRoomsTalkingComputerSevenBoxesCommunicateEightStaringIronicLiving RoomNot TalkingSaying NothingTalking Back Author:Howard Rheingold
“your culture has become sophisticated, like a computer, or a drug that you take for a headache. You can use it, but you cannot explain how it works. Certainly not to girls who stack up their firewood against the side of the house.” UseCultureGirlHouseSidesDrugComputerSophisticatedHeadacheFirewood Book:Little Bee: A Novel Source: Little Bee: A Novel