You know you’ve found the right partner when she doesn’t even think to wonder why you’re reading the flight manual for the 747-800 or a book about nuclear reactor shielding. Or a practice guide for the GRE. Or a book about the genetics of lichens. Or a physician’s drug interaction manual.

I mean, why wouldn’t you read books about stuff like that? Right?

Blackhat is not a very good movie.

But one thing notable about it is that it showed what actual bullet damage looks like during a battle. Bullets don’t spark off things with cute little flashes of light. They pass right on through. An AK-47 round can go all the way through a shipping container (as occurs in the movie). And it leaves big holes as it does so. This is very rare to show in a film.

When I was a kid we — as many North Florida rednecks do — had an abandoned car in the yard. We’d shoot at it sometimes, so I got to see pretty early exactly what a gun does to a vehicle. Only thing that really stopped the bullets was the engine block.

Small bits of sheet metal are like air to a bullet. Does nothing, really.