How did you get the idea of explaining complex things using only the 1000 most common words?
The idea actually grew out of an XKCD comic I did. I was playing a computer game in which you have to design rockets and successfully launch them. My spaceships would always blow up, so every launch I needed to find a new name. I quickly got tired of giving them cool, majestic names like The Falcon and I started giving them stupid names like Flying Space Boat. The dumbest thing I could come up with was Up Goer. Then…
