Which way does the microwave plate spin?

I've been wondering this since childhood.   Why does the turntable sometimes spin clockwise and sometimes counterclockwise?   I finally decided to research the answer.   It's because of the AC synchronous motor that it uses.   It's an inexpensive type of motor that offers constant rotation speed.   Thing is, on this motor, if no special starting mechanism is provided, the direction is random (it depends on where it last stopped and on the phase of the AC current the moment it gets restarted).   Mystery solved!

1 earpiece = 1, 2 earpieces = 4

This is just an empirical measurement, but I'm quite sure that when listening to some music using only one earpiece the perceived volume is 1/4 than when using 2 -- not half.

I think this makes some sense, as the second channel adds one dimension to the sound, turning something mono-dimensional into bi-dimensional (the sound may come from anywhere on the plane where we stand).

Things that your computer can do as it shuts down

This is the first time I talk about anything technical, but I'm going to make an exception for something that I'm quite proud of.   On Windows XP, you can initiate the shutdown process from a batch file. And this batch file can become your shutdown script. For instance:

• update the antivirus
  
• trigger a backup of important files
  
• defragment the hard disk
  
• shutdown -s -t 20 -c "Script completed, shutting down."
  

This has proven quite useful, as these shutdown tasks now get always executed, and they can take as much time as they need, as the computer is shutting itself down anyway.

Strong contrast

I know it's not very efficient, and it might break things, but on trains I like the window open and the curtain down.   I like the heater on and the windshield a tad open.   Sun and rain.

Alphabet letters

Can't help but read them.   That's why we see them everywhere we look, even on the back of a chair.

Earliest memory

I believe this is a memory from my fourth birthday -- or at least this is what I've always convinced myself of.

I was playing with streamers left over from "Carnival" and I sort of made a volcano out of dirt in my grandma's garden.   I don't think I really intended to make a volcano... it just "turned out" that way.

Marketing mystery

Who is the genius behind this?

50% vegetarian

A few people/movements suggest eating vegetarian at least one day a week, e.g.: "Vegetarian Wednesday, or David Suzuki's "Nature Challenge".

I find this quite sympthomatic of a North American meat-centric culture.

I'm Italian, and Italian cuisine has plenty of meat-free dishes -- we don't call them vegetarian options, we call them: garlic and oil pasta, eggplant Parmigiana, Margherita pizza, fresh tomatoes pasta.

So, for me it's not hard to take it one step further: I don't eat any meat for breakfast or supper, but I do eat some meat for lunch.

Whether this makes me 50% vegetarian or not, I'm quite proud of it.

Minimum energy

One good thing about the snow is that it lets us see what portion of our streets we really need.   Similarly, it's interesting to observe cow-paths and the people-created walking paths in urban parks.

One good example that I remember is this little park in front of the Milan's Polytechnic University.   Here is the original image from Google Maps.

All of these examples follow just one simple rule: minimum energy.

• shortest walk: connect common origins and common destinations
• physical constraints: avoid obstacles (e.g. trees, light poles, puddles)
• reinforcement: previously created paths offer clean, compacted soil

Perhaps landscape architects should let people find these natural paths?   One could even decide to leave the park without any paved paths for a few months, then pave the acceptable ones and block off those that are undesired.

Strange math?

Sometimes even simple math is all but intuitive.   Would you guess that one third plus half of one third equals to one half?

Becomes obvious when doubled (2/3 + 1/3 = 1).

We are the lottery winners

We are always surprised to see even numbers, as if they were less likely than non even ones.   The cashier is always surprised when the total with taxes comes to 40 dollars even.   But other numbers surprise us too -- the other day I saw a gas station sign with "Gas:123.4 - Propane:78.9", and I freaked out!

The reason why we care so much about even numbers, or progressions, or palindromes is that we consider them special.   And they definitely are, if only because they're easier to remember.

Another special number is obviously the one on the lottery ticket that we just bought.   If it does get extracted, then we'd be more than just surprised.   Most of us would start thinking of destiny and fate.

The thing is that when a special number turns out of random chance we tend to mystify the situation as if something equally special must have contributed to it happening.   In reality, in all fair cases, nothing contributed... it was just chance.   We're only having that thought after the fact.   And after the fact the probability of something that did happen is 100%.

This expands to the transcendental.   What are the odds that, of all possible combinations of elements, we ended up with an Earth that allowed the development of intelligent forms of life?   The odds are 100% because it did happen.   For how unlikely that that is, we wouldn't be wondering about it if we weren't here.   We are the lottery winners!

Wish I was taping...

Sometimes I wish there was a VCR hooked up to my eyes... So many good pictures that a camera would never have the time to take.   Like yesterday, when within 10 minutes a little girl on a glass elevator with her mom and sister was looking lost while fogging the glass underneath her nose in the shape of an almond; when, just outside, a square faced kid was very happy to be in her mom's 'backpack' carrier bouncing up and down as if he was horseback riding; and when a novice driver was looking intense with her pointy tongue sticking out of her mouth right after backing up too fast and slamming on the brakes when trying to get a big sedan with 2 wheels on the sidewalk out of a parking stall.   Well, fortunately at least we have photographic memory.