Author: admin

Possible to be in two places at the same time

Yes, it is possible for an object to be in two places at the same time.  Those familiar with quantum mechanics can not deny this fact.  An electron is one such object.  And it routinely is in two places at once.  This counter-intuitive event can occur in the realm of quantum mechanics — in the world of the very small (such as sub-atomic particles).  This does not occur our everyday macro-scopic world of the large.  So that is why in our everyday lives, we can not have a person be in two places at the same time.

Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics, write in chapter 6 of his book “Parallel Worlds”:

“Modern civilization would collapse, in fact, if electrons were not allowed to be in two places at the same time.  (The molecule of our body would also collapse without this bizarre principle.  … What keeps two atoms locked in a stable molecule is the fact that electrons can simultaneously be in so many places at the same time that they form an electron “cloud” which binds the atoms together.  Thus the reason why molecules are stable and the universe does not disintegrate is that electrons can be many places at the same time.)”

Barry Schwartz Explains the Paradox of Choice

Barry Schwartz is the author of the book, “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less“. He explains the paradox of choice where in some situations, why less choice is sometimes better.  And that is why the subtitle of his book is titled “Why More Is Less”.

In July 2005, Schwartz gave a TED Talk which you can see linked here.  He first gives examples of how our modern world has given us too much choice. And two negative consequences of this.  First is decision paralysis.  An example he gives is when a retirement plan that has more mutual fund choices resulted in less participation because members find it to hard to choose.  The second negative consequence is that even after making the choice, you are less satisfied with the choice you made.  When there are lots of choices, it is just too easy to imagine that you could have chosen better.

Near the end of he talk, he gives the secret of happiness.  And the “secret of happiness is low expectation”.

Schwartz also gave a “Google Talk” on April 27, 2006 which you can view linked here.  Schwartz does have some humor in his presentations.  For example, 44 minutes into the Google Talk video, he says “Everything was better back when everything was worst”.

Everything suffers from comparison. People have higher expectation these days which makes them feel worst.

At 45 minutes into the video, an insightful comment he makes about money and happiness is …

“What is true is that once you cross subsistence, whatever subsistence is in your society, additional increases in wealth have virtually no effect on well-being. There is a huge steep curve going from zero to subsistence. But once you cross that line of subsistence, the curve flattens out. It is worth knowing, in case you have a choice between choosing x and making more money, almost certainly choosing x is what you should do.”

Funny Video About Men and Women’s Brains by Mark Gungor

Watch excerpt on YouTube »

YouTube linked here has a hilarious video by Mark Gungor telling us the difference between men and women’s brain.  Funny and perceptive too. More of his humor in his DVDs, Tale of Two Brains and Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage

Mark Gungor does marriage seminars and his website is LaughYourWay.com

For more funny videos, visit his YouTube channel.

Corpse Flower smells Terrible and is Tallest in World

Usually flowers produce a nice scent.  However this flower known as “corpse flower”, or titan arum by its scientific name, smells terrible. It is also known as amorphophallus titanum, which in Greek means “without form giant”.  More on Wikipedia.

corpse flower
Photo credit: ingridtaylar on flickr

If the flower looks big, it is.  It can reach 9 feet in height.  Look at the picture here of person next to the 2.11 meter tall flower in Kew Gardens in London.  BBC News article says the corpse flower is tallest in the world.  Also mentioned here.

In May 2003, BBC News reports of a corpse flower in University of Germany Boon that was 2.74 meters tall and 15 years old that was supposedly tallest in the world at the time.

People have referred to the smells as “rotting flesh” and “fully smelly” and “cooking cabbage and a dead rat in the wall, a mixture of the two” [source]

The smell is supposed to attract flies and carrion beetles which helps the flower pollinate.  This may be why it is also sometimes known as “carrion flower”.

The spadix in full bloom is the about the same temperature as the human body.  And this may also help attract insects that eat carcasses.

The flower grows in the tropical rainforests of Sumatra and Indonesia.  However, it sometimes can be found on display at some time in the past in botanical gardens including University of California at Berkeley’s Botanical Garden and Houston Museum of Natural Science and Kew Gardens in London and others.

White Strawberries

Although we are more familiar with red strawberries. There are such things as white strawberries.

white strawberries
Photo Credit: quinet on flickr

White strawberries are a particular type of strawberry that is naturally white.

They grow in very small crops.  That is why you hardly see them in store.  And when they are available in stores, they sometime make news such as on Telegraph.co.uk.

Don’t eat polar bear liver (at least not in one sitting)

Doctor Chopra says that “If eaten in one meal, polar bear liver can be deadly”.  This is on page 140 of “Doctor Chopra Says: medical facts and myths everyone should know“.

I’m not sure if anyone here is eating polar bear liver.  But I’m sure I cannot find it in the supermarket. But wait, isn’t polar bears in endangered.  I don’t know it is illegal to catch them or not.  There are so few polar bears left, that it would be hard to catch them anyway.

Anyways, the reason that you should not eat a lot of polar bear liver is because the liver of certain animals are very high vitamin A. So high in fact, that a person can overdose on it.

I don’t know whether to categorize this post under “fun” or “educational”.  It is after all a medical fact.  But it is kind of funny that anyone would be eating polar bear liver.  Oh well, I’ll categorize it as “interesting”.

Note: Dr. Chopra mentioned above is Dr. Sanjiv Chopra — not to be confused with the Deepak Chopra, who is also a doctor and famous author. The two happens to be brothers.