As I was walking Song Shen to her car tonight, she made a comment about how we could see so many stars in the clear sky.

I was like, “what, that handful of stars? Do you know how many are actually out there?” Song Shen grew up in Shanghai, which probably has the worst light pollution in all of China.

Then, completely undefensively, she admitted that, yes, there was an unbelievable number when viewed from a plane’s cockpit, flying over the Pacific at night.

I wonder how often I do that.