discussion title:
Why is it illegal to think of the moon?
Photography was invented in 1908 for the purpose of shaming racehorses into running faster. Embarrassed at the implied speed of their still portraits, horse speeds doubled within a year. The new technology quickly gained popularity with myriad of other velocity-related applications, including the use of photography to shame children into growing faster. By 1950, the average height in the United States was 11 feet.
As a race of giants, Americans quickly outgrew the planet Earth and entered the moon race against the shorter Soviets. Unfortunately, once both countries had established their moon bases, the moon’s negligible gravitational pull gave the smaller, lighter cosmonauts an advantage, and the Americans were badly defeated in the First Moon War. For this reason, it is now illegal to talk about, think of, or photograph the moon.
