Just in case I haven’t mentioned it yet, a fact requiring an investigation on its own, I am a huge fan of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Zaphod Bibblebrox, the two-headed President of the Galaxy is sentenced to the worst punishment known in the universe. He is sentenced to the Total Perspective Vortex. The TPV is a box, designed to show those who enter, their actual place in the universe. All those who were previously sentenced to the TPV emerged out of it, understanding how small they were compared to the vastness of the universe lost their minds in a very profound way. Zaphod Bibblebrox, however, was not particularly impressed. In fact, his own greatness, at least in his own mind (mine too) was confirmed and validated.
This thought about the Guide, came to me as I was thinking of myself in different terms. By definition, the fact that I am here and writing, is evidence that I had parents. And so did they, and so on and so forth. I could claim, by induction, that my ancestors were there at the moment when life started on this planet. Indeed, I don’t know what they looked like, where did they come from, and what other offspring they had. But I know for sure, an ancestor of mine was present when life started on earth.
Furthermore, our own molecules, as the ones making up my ancestors consisted of matter that was there since the beginning of time. Possibly earlier, but there was no time to measure (that was a semi joke. I meant to write is as a joke, but then I realized that in certain ways, and according to certain theories, which I can’t comprehend, it is actually a correct statement). The carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and all those minerals that we all consist of, were there billions of years ago. They may have been part of other people, animals, even plants or bodies of water (see under “incarnation”). I’m sure some are familiar with the “you are breathing in molecules from the last breath of Julius Caesar” concept. Matter doesn’t go away, and doesn’t get created. Even creationists may agree that with one exception (creation itself), new matter is not introduced to this world.
I am not special. Parts of us, tiny as they are, were present in many grand events that took place on the planet. The Flood, The Exodus, The Plague, 9/11. Imagine, that one day, a great scientist would discover, that there’s memory at the molecule level, or even at the atomic level. Imagine what we will be able to learn and understand on our own past.
The point of all this: when someone asks you how old you are, think twice before you answer. I believe that about forty seven years ago, my mother gave birth to what was later known as myself. Although, I must admit, that there’s almost no cellular relation between that screaming baby and me. All his cells are long gone, and mine are just a few years old (more). What makes us related is that the original DNA strains and the memories I have link us together.
I came across a couple of interesting riddles lately. One was introduced by a good friend, Barak Paztal, who just returned from Beijing (welcome back Barak and Irit), the other was told on the radio. I thought they are worth sharing. I will share the solutions (and some insights) next week. Anyone cares to take a crack at the riddles? Any insights?
1. If one wanted to surround the earth with rope, he will need roughly 40,000 km of rope. What if he wanted to have the rope 1 meter away from the ground, how much additional rope is needed?
2. A father of three was on his deathbed. He was the owner of seventeen camels. He wrote a will: “please give half my camels to my older son, a third to the middle son, and two ninths to the youngest”. The brothers were utterly and totally confused. They didn’t know how to execute the will. Finally they went to a wise lady who lived close by. She solved the problem for them. Can you guess what her solution was?
As I said, solutions and insights next week.
Riddle number 1. If one wanted to surround the earth with rope, he will need roughly 40,000 km of rope. What if he wanted to have the rope 1 meter away from the ground, how much rope will he need? Amazingly, the answer is with 2*pi rope which is roughly 6.28 meters, you can get the rope to be 1 meter away from the ground. So with even less than 10 meters, you could easily get a donkey to crawl under…
The circumference of the earth is roughly 40,000 km. This makes the radius roughly 6,366 km. Your question is basically to increase the radius by 1 meter or to make it 6366001 meters.
6366000*2*pi = 39998757.665505247
6366001*2*pi = 39998763.948690554
763.9486 – 757.6655 = 6.2831 (roughly 2*pi)
Increase the radius by 1 meter will yield an additional 6.28 in the circumference. (Easy for a donkey, harder for an elephant…
Riddle number 2. This one has some insights. The old lady suggested that they take her only camel – as a gift. They did, and suddenly everything worked out. The older son received nine camels, the middle son six, and the younger one – two. But when they came to actually split the inheritance, they couldn’t help noticing that there was one camel extra. Naturally, they returned it to the old wise lady…
Insights? don’t rush to conclusions before you understand the problem and have a chance to work it. Another one: sometimes you need a physical help to solve a problem, when virtual help is perfectly sufficient.
I came across a couple of interesting riddles lately. One was introduced by a good friend, Barak Paztal, who just returned from Beijing (welcome back Barak and Irit), the other was told on the radio. I thought they are worth sharing. I will share the solutions (and some insights) next week. Anyone cares to take a crack at the riddles? Any insights?
1. If one wanted to surround the earth with rope, he will need roughly 40,000 km of rope. What if he wanted to have the rope 1 meter away from the ground, how much additional rope is needed?
2. A father of three was on his deathbed. He was the owner of seventeen camels. He wrote a will: “please give half my camels to my older son, a third to the middle son, and two ninths to the youngest”. The brothers were utterly and totally confused. They didn’t know how to execute the will. Finally they went to a wise lady who lived close by. She solved the problem for them. Can you guess what her solution was?
My wife and I took the kids to see “Up” yesterday. My younger child is six, and he is at the point where he is almost ready to sit still for the duration of a movie. “Up” is a wonderful summer children movie. Only it isn’t a children’s movie at all. Of course, all children would see a young and clumsy child befriending an older man for a beautiful adventure with a mechanical dog, an amazing and colorful big bird and a crazy explorer. Using an actual house hooked up to what seems to be thousands of balloons, the unlikely couple goes to South America, following the tracks of the crazy explorer. The superficial level is funny, refreshing, and sweet. But there’s a lot more to it. There’s another level, possibly more.
The story begins with two young children striving for adventure. They marry later on in life, sadly unable to have children of their own, even sadder not being able to fulfill their dreams. They are shown saving nickels and dimes in a large glass bottle. The “adventure savings bank” keeps getting smashed for its content due to urgent needs: a broken car, a storm, an illness. The wife dies, and the sour taste of broken dreams fills the screen and the heart. It is then that I had some reflections, which caused my eyes to water. My six years old boy saw it and asked if I was catching a cold, so I sneezed a couple of times and assure him that indeed, I was coming down with something…
My reflections were twosome. One on myself, and the other on a close friend of mine. As for me, my dreams were not broken. In fact, I believe I went further than I ever thought I would, I have seen more places than I dreamed about, I met people more exotic than I could imagine, I read books and magazines way more exciting than I could ever hope for, I experienced. I have been blessed with a great family. Wonderful parents, a sister and a brother. Great children, great nieces and nephews. You could say that my dreams were not extremely ambitious, and I might actually agree. But they weren’t modest, and I believe I accomplished at least the realistic part of my dreams and aspirations. Possibly more. I am a happy man.
But my heart went out to a good friend of mine, whom I believe had very little expectations from life, but wasn’t even able to have those expectations realized. She grew up expecting to marry some guy, and to serve him as is common in her community. Like her mother and four sisters, she expected to have many children, work outside the home, cook, clean, wash, entertain guests, raise children. She was expected to be happy with what she had, to not spend a lot of money, to save, to be modest. She dreamed only to be treated nicely. And she wasn’t. In fact, she isn’t. For twenty something years, she has been taken for granted, by her husband and children, day in day out. Watching “Up”, I was thinking, if I had a big bundle of balloons, at least a metaphoric one, I would let her use it. So at least one time in her life, she would be able to take off.
And to all I would say: for as long as you breathe, never stop dreaming, and never stop pursuing happiness. (And never let anyone take you for granted).
A Swedish reporter is accusing the Israeli military of capturing Palestinians for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs (more).
To my dear friends in Sweden. You may have the wrong perception. My ancestors did not use children blood for religious rituals. In fact, one could claim that my ancestors blood was used for some rituals, religious or not. And my military, sure as hell, didn’t capture Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. The accusation is ridiculous as much as it is despicable. Like most blood libels are. Nobody cares to provide proof, and proving it false is impossible. But Israelis would never badmouth the Swedes. After all, they make real good cars, and after all many Swedish girls made Israel their home. I, personally, feel sorry for them. After all living such boring life, surrounded by more than reasonable neighbors, with strong economy, and lots of blond women, does not provide a people with the mental skills to understand or relate to the environment we live in.
I hope that in the future, their reality changes enough to help them develop these skills.
Just in case I haven’t mentioned it yet, a fact requiring an investigation on its own, I am a huge fan of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Zaphod Bibblebrox, the two-headed President of the Galaxy is sentenced to the worst punishment known in the universe. He is sentenced to the Total Perspective Vortex. The TPV is a box, designed to show those who enter, their actual place in the universe. All those who were previously sentenced to the TPV emerged out of it, understanding how small they were compared to the vastness of the universe lost their minds in a very profound way. Zaphod Bibblebrox, however, was not particularly impressed. In fact, his own greatness, at least in his own mind (mine too) was confirmed and validated.
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