Death of a Star or Two

If the radiance of a thousand suns
Were to burst at once into the sky
That would be like the splendour
of the Mighty One…
I am become Death,
The shatterer of worlds.

Thus spoke Robert Oppenheimer in 1944, about the atom bomb he had helped realize. He just stole the words from the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient book –scientists aren’t generally great poets. And I only know all of this because I’ve played Civilization too much –which is also the reason I think Oppenheimer sounds like Leonard Nimoy aka Mr Spock, since it was his voice speaking these famous words upon completion of the Manhattan Project. In the game, that is.

Obviously, Deconstruction isn’t rocket science and I’m no Leonard Nimoy (although I do think I’m a better singer). But the Philips PSG-012 Studio Lamp I’ve deconstructed did remind me of this quote. Not that the PSG-012 actually came close to the radiance of a thousand suns, but when aimed directly at your eyes it certainly felt that way. It definitely made me want to duck and cover. Plus, though it wasn’t a thousand suns, it was a 1000 Watt lamp and as we all know from science class, a Watt is something similar to a sun.

This portable sun is now back where it belongs, in heaven, where all machines go after deconstruction, to shine on brightly but never blindingly, for ever and ever. Who knows, it might have already met Leonard, who’s been up there since February this year.