Complex Numbers

None More Black

PROMPT November 7th

What is your favorite color? Do you have a favorite color pairing? What’s something in your life that you picture when you think of your favorite color? Do you choose to wear clothing that is your favorite color? Has your favorite color changed over your life?

Use these questions to explore how your favorite color has influenced you.

What is your favorite color?
Black.

Do you have a favorite color pairing?
Black with More Black

What’s something in your life that you picture when you think of your favorite color?
The Void.

Do you choose to wear clothing that is your favorite color?
Almost all the time.

Has your favorite color changed over your life?
For a while in high school, I thought my favorite color was blue, but no, it was still black.



"But Waltz, black isn't a color! It's the absence of color!"

Black is a color. It's technically an achromatic color, a color without hue. An object that is black doesn't radiate much in the visual spectrum (in the case of black holes, not at all), and it absorbs all visible light that impacts it. It probably generates or reflects other frequencies on the EM spectrum, though; we just can't see those.

Some scientists a while back came up with a material that's nearly 100% black; it's so black it's hard to look at. Sadly, they didn't make me a t-shirt out of this material, but licensed it to some idiot artist.

I'm a lot of fun at weddings, let me tell you.

My affinity for black has little to do with its cultural associations, though. Mostly, I just think it looks good. Partly, it has to do with science, in some sort of metaphorical sense - as a black object absorbs light, so I absorb knowledge, however imperfectly.

It's not the only color I wear, but its primary sartorial advantage is that it pairs with almost anything, which is useful when you don't want to ever think the sentence: "What color shirt will work with these pants?" So my traveling outfit consists of black shoes, black jeans, a black t-shirt, and the loudest Hawaiian shirt I can find.

People should sigh in relief that at least I don't pair the Hawaiian shirt with striped pants.