Recently, I had the misfortune of taking a Ryanair flight from Ireland to Poland. Though I’d heard horror stories, it was the only direct flight available, and the price was very low. The cost to my spirit, however, was quite high. To borrow a phrase from Jonathan Swift, Ryanair ill becomes the dignity of humankind. The entire process could best be described as degrading, and I would have gladly paid more to avoid needing to check my soul along with my luggage.

Amusingly, as I sat on the flight regretting my past decisions, the Ryanair app showed the following:

The off-centeredness above comes not from editing, but from the app’s poor alignment itself.

That says my flight, the one I was currently on, was coming up in 18,446,744,073,709,551,614 hours. That’s 18.44 quintillion, which is a long, long, long time. I did some quick math in my head, and later used ChatGPT to confirm my calculations and theory:

2.1 quadrillion is a lot of years.

Space nerds may already be able to see where this is going.

I doubt the distinction here is going to much matter to whom- or whatever is left on Earth.

This is actually perfect, because I estimate that “long after the sun runs out of fuel” is approximately when I’ll want to fly Ryanair again.