horizontality

I didn't think "horizontality" was a real word when I decided on it for today's truth and beauty entry. It is though, and I love both the word and what it describes, "the quality of being parallel to the horizon." How lovely is that? To be parallel to something as grand as the horizon, the site of every sunrise and sunset, infinite and vast.

It turns out there's also a Principle of Horizontality, one of Steno's Laws, referring to geological science and the idea that all sedimentary layers are deposited purely horizontally. Of course, Steno was wrong and even sediment can get creative from time to time. Consider, for example, sand dunes where coarser grained sediments may be deposited at angles of up to 15 degrees. Geologists get to use terms like "angle of repose" when talking about sand dunes. Lucky them.

My prefered Principle of Horizontality is: When you're tired and your body hurts, go to bed. As a prelude to such sweet horizontality, I like to take a bath. Horizontality doesn't work so well there-- the tub isn't big enough and even if it were, I don't like getting water in my ears. In the tub, I think mimicking a sand dune is the better option, with a 15 degree angle of repose.

And now, in the immortal words of Gretl von Trapp, "The sun has gone to bed and so must I."

[The makers of Tylenol3™ are partly responsible for the random nature of this entry. I could have started with, "In praise of pain killers...." but the horizontality thing seemed more interesting.]