The other day, I had the rare opportunity to clean the house from top to bottom without interruption. My wife and my mother-in-law took the kids to the state fair on a weekday to beat the crowds, which left me with an evening alone at home. I seized the chance to do some deep cleaning of the various nooks and crannies that tend to be glossed over when we tell the kids to pick up after themselves. I liken these areas to black holes, which have a gravitational field so massive, nothing can escape it. Not even information stands a chance of escaping, thanks to things only astrophysicists and mathematicians understand. But because I’m an armchair physicist today, this is my chance to compare something relatable to something as mysterious and terrifying as black holes. So I took my vacuum cleaner and prepared to begin my cleaning expedition into one of the most well-known, dangerous, and possible prospective areas inside the house: the couch.
