A close-up image of a text quote attributed to Carl Sagan. The quote is formatted with a large opening quotation mark and a small, blurred profile picture of the author in the top-left corner. The text reads: "I can remember one occasion, taking a shower with my wife while high, in which I had an idea on the origins and invalidities of racism in terms of Gaussian distribution curves. It was a point obvious in a way, but rarely talked about. I drew curves in soap on the shower wall, and went to write the idea down. One idea led to another, and at the end of about an hour of extremely hard work I had found I had written eleven short essays on a wide range of social, political, philosophical, and human biological topics... I have used them in university commencement addresses, public lectures, and in my books." Below the quote, the name "Carl Sagan" is written in bold.

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[โ€“] 108 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Off topic but I think the lyric is bathroom floor, bathroom door could turn it into a slightly different story

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  • [โ€“] 86 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    !showerthoughts@lemmy.world needs to up its game

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  • [โ€“] 82 points 1 year ago

    Imagine having sex, you blast rope all over your SO and see some noise pattern that leads to the discovery of a stable wormhole.

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  • [โ€“] 61 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That signature at the bottom hit me like a semi

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  • [โ€“] 44 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Other people don't just shower together for fun? Shower sex is awful, but tandem showering is lovely. Even used to shower with roommates back in the days.

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  • [โ€“] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I'd shower with my youngest (son) from time to time as long as we're both still comfortable with it. My oldest has grown past that tho.

    I used to shower with my wife but she would hog the water and have it on way, way too hot for my liking. It wasn't an enjoyable experience for me. I'd just have to try to get her to finish up quick so I can go and tend to myself alone.

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  • [โ€“] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Thanks for reminding me of some great memories showering with my dad. We would have these like endurance contests with the cold water lol.

    With my partner I kind of squish myself against the wall so we have the water pouring between us. But you're right it's not as easy as just trending to yourself.

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  • [โ€“] 40 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [โ€“] 34 points 1 year ago

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/1999/aug/24/spaceexploration

    The late astronomer and author Carl Sagan was a secret but avid marijuana smoker, crediting it with inspiring essays and scientific insight, according to Sagan's biographer.

    Using the pseudonym 'Mr. X', Sagan wrote about his pot smoking in an essay published in the 1971 book Reconsidering Marijuana. The book's editor, Lester Grinspoon, recently disclosed the secret to Sagan's biographer, Keay Davidson.

    Davidson, a writer for the San Francisco Examiner, revealed the marijuana use in an article published in the newspaper's magazine Sunday. Carl Sagan: A Life is due out in October.

    "I find that today a single joint is enough to get me high... in one movie theater recently I found I could get high just by inhaling the cannabis smoke which permeated the theatre," wrote Sagan, who authored popular science books such as Cosmos, Contact, and The Dragons of Eden.

    In the essay, Sagan said marijuana inspired some of his intellectual work.

    "I can remember one occasion, taking a shower with my wife while high, in which I had an idea on the origins and invalidities of racism in terms of gaussian distribution curves," wrote the former Cornell University professor. "I wrote the curves in soap on the shower wall, and went to write the idea down."

    Sagan also wrote that pot enhanced his experience of food, particularly potatoes, as well as music and sex.

    Grinspoon, Sagan's closest friend for 30 years, said Sagan's marijuana use is evidence against the notion that marijuana makes people less ambitious.

    "He was certainly highly motivated to work, to contribute," said Grinspoon, a psychiatry professor at Harvard University.

    Grinspoon is an advocate of decriminalizing marijuana.

    Ann Druyan, Sagan's former wife, is a director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The nonprofit group promotes legalization of marijuana.

    Sagan died of pneumonia in 1996. He was 62.

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  • [โ€“] 31 points 1 year ago (14 children)

    Wtf how big is your water heater?

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  • [โ€“] 46 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    went to write the idea down

    Doesn't this mean he left the shower?

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  • [โ€“] 32 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Iโ€™ll test this for science.

    First I have to find a wife.

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  • [โ€“] 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Thats a solid plan. Start with a partner and then study Gaussian curves. God knows understanding Gauss first makes it harder to find a partner

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  • [โ€“] 12 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Tankless water heaters will go forever.

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  • [โ€“] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Never got any complaints *wink wink*

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  • [โ€“] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    It's not the size of the water heater, it's the volume of water output.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Since shower water is a mixture of hot and cold, tank size, tank temperature, and cold water temperature are the predominant factors, at least initially.

    For a given shower temperature, hot water consumption rate will increase at an exponential rate until tank temperature falls to shower temperature, then shower temperature will fall.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago

    We were making sexual innuendos, not having a real conversation on water heater capabilities.

    Anyway instantaneous (in-line) heaters exist, I've got a 35-year old one, never runs out of water, it doesn't have a tank.

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  • [โ€“] 24 points 1 year ago

    Now that's a guy who likes curves!

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  • If it was any other name at the bottom of that quote I wouldโ€™ve doubted.

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  • Post nut clarity

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  • [โ€“] 10 points 1 year ago

    "The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives in Dick and Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes".

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  • [โ€“] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [โ€“] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Was the wife impressed though?

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  • Oh I've been this kind of high before. It's awesome 0

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  • [โ€“] 4 points 1 year ago

    How could I forget that I had given her an extra key?

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  • [โ€“] 4 points 1 year ago

    Buck* naked

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago

    Wasnt there a documentary on PBS in the 90s about fermat's last theorem where this was a plot point?

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