We are symmetrical beings

Just like pretty much any other living form... Isn't it funny, when you think of it?   We are mostly symmetrical, at least externally, is that to save on some DNA?   Just flip one sign?

Drums and rythm

There is something "universal" about drums.   Why 4/4 sounds so natural?   Who has decided that drums must have kick, snare and hi-hat?

If you can't see my mirrors...

The bumper sticker says: "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you."   I get the idea, but that's an over statement!   If you can't see my mirrors, the only thing I can say for sure is that I can't see your eyes.

Expectations

When I plan to go to a place a lot ahead of time, after a while in my mind the place starts taking a life of its own.   Then of course when it's finally time to go I find it completely different.   But the funny thing is that the made-up version doesn't immediately fade away, for a little while the two memories co-exist, and the real one isn't less fake than the imaginary one.

Let me introduce you...

Is it just me?   When they introduce me somebody, I never manage to memorize their name.   Then I always have to ask the embarrassing question "What is your name again?"   I remember everything else but the name... Bizarre.

Reading voice

Ok, another really weird consideration, buckle up!  I don't know about you, but I usually re-read all my writings (even all my emails), and I mentally read using my own voice, of course.  When I read emails from somebody that I know, I usually imagine his or her voice.  And when I'm reading stuff from somebody I don't know?  Well, I default back to my own voice.
My way of reading, I guess, implies that I have to go exactly at the same speed as if I was speaking... That's why for me reading a book takes forever!

Candid Camera

An entire afternoon spent at my mechanic's gave me an idea for a candid camera that has some potentials, I think.  It seems that the best way to describe a car problem is to reproduce the noise with the mouth!  "When I brake it makes a khrkhrkhr", "Is this graaang normal?", "I hear a strange cktik!"

Typing watching the screen

I started doing that a while ago, and now I'm pretty good in it.  I wouldn't be able to tell if «v» sits to the left or to the right of «b», but my fingers seem to know... And if I get it wrong doesn't matter because my fingers know exactly where backspace is!

Minimum energy

OK, I noticed another weird thing that I do.  When I get a dish with a couple of side orders (like a combo in a fast food) I position the plate in front of me on the table and then I start rotating it until it reaches its "optimal" orientation, an angle that gives me the right view on the food.  Then I start eating.

Two double cheeseburgers for 3$

How can they do that?  Can somebody explain it to me?  Oh, 3 Canadian dollars!

Turn it down!

Have you ever listened to the commercials on the radio at a stupidly high volume just because they happened to come right after your favorite song?  I do all the time!

Effect and Cause

Sometimes I forget what is it that made me feel unhappy or worried.  I have the feeling sitting there, but have to stop and think for a few seconds before I remember what caused it.  This can also happen when I'm happy...

People change less

People change, but the more they get old the less they do.  Does this increase the chances of them establishing stable relationships?

More things that I hate

• When I'm the last in line and nobody else arrives after me.
• When I struggle to find the key, and it was actually already open.
• When I run to catch the subway, I jump in, and then the train waits there for minutes with all the people staring at me.
• When I forget what I was about to say.
• When I forget what I was looking for.

Morality

"Never do anything that you wouldn't want them to find you dead while you are doing it."   Could it be so simple?

Look me in the eyes

It's impossible -- you can only do one at a time.  And, besides, if somebody is talking to me I can't help it, I always end up looking straight in the lips.  Is it just me?

Fidelization?

Why in the world all superstores have to have their membership cards?  If that's to get customer fidelization, well, none of them succeeded with me: I have them all! And I just get the discounts.

Disconnected eyes

I like books, but truth is that I'm an awful reader.  If my reading isn't that catchy, I get easily distracted by something that pops into my mind, strangely enough my eyes don't stop reading: they manage to get until the end of the page on their own!  And that's when I realize that I missed the whole thing and that I have to start over.

Colours of numbers

0 is certainly black, and 1 is probably blue.  2 looks good in orange, but 3 is definitely yellow; 4 is almost certainly green, whereas 5 is red.  6 is cyan, and 7 is most likely white.  I'm not sure about 8 (probably brown), but 9 is surely purple.

Me and myself

I noticed that when I mentally speak to myself (mostly to get organized) I talk to me in first person plural: "now we finish this, then we go home."  I'm wondering what person people talk to themselves in.

Why are shoes thrown over the power lines?

I've found a few possible answers on the web.  Here they are:

• It's a time-honored tradition to throw your sneakers over the power lines on the last day of school.
• Because someone felt compelled to try to sling them up there so that they would stay (sometimes they are old shoes that need to be discarded, sometimes they are someone else's shoes, and the boys involved are playing a prank on that person.)
• Drug dealers use them as a sign that to let their customers know that drugs are sold in that area.
• To serve as a reminder/warning of a murder that occurred nearby.
• Because teenage boys who've just "scored" for the first time (i.e., lost their virginity) use that sign to proclaim their conquest to the world.
• They are left there as breeding pots for the extraterrestrial black oil virus. The life forms hide in the shelter of the shoes and observe traffic, waiting for just the right moment to commence the invasion.

Sources:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/factoids/a/sneakers.htm
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_274.html
http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/sneakers.htm
http://breebop.toastmedia.com/archives/000599.html
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1&tid=1403250

Found on an old Post-It

It's easier to unhumanize a human than to humanize a computer. (Aug 23, 2002)

Imagine...

Our generation is very fortunate, it's the first generation where people can find people from all over the world and start chatting in seconds.

If things keep evolving this way, in a near future everyone will be only a few clicks away from anyone else, and this will certainly change the world.

"Imagine all the people Sharing all the world..." (John Lennon, 1971)

Old memories

I don't know why, but today I remembered some things that happened about 30 years ago.  There was me asking my grandfather: "How are people supposed to keep their hands when they walk? Straight open, or closed in a fist?" He said: "Something in between", and it seemed to me a good answer.

I remember me watching my hand and thinking it had nice proportions, I don't think it has changed much.

I also remember some pretty boring moments, strange that they left a sign that has lasted for so long... For instance I see me sitting on the floor staring at the carpet, or watching the room's door trying to catch sleep for my afternoon nap...

Animality?

I find quite interesting that we spend a lot of time in cutting our hair and trimming our nails.  We also use special products to make our hair feel softer and look brighter.  We have even invented professionals that we pay to perform these make-up operations on us.  If an alien dropped on the Earth he would probably report that "Humans derive from monkeys but they try to hide it by polishing their hair and making their nails look more gentle."

The first five minutes

The first five minutes when I wake up, that's when I think my brain works 2x.  As if I had a double who shares my own experiences and yet can give me a different perspective on a problem.  BTW this only works when I wake up naturally, that's why I try to wake up before the alarm.  I actually think the alarm causes some sort of brain damage, it's responsible for the crime of interrupting dreams, it's the first bad news of the day -- the day itself heals the alarm's wound, and makes me forget about it.  I'm thinking that the sunlight can mend as much as the dark can hurt.

I'm a genius!

You know those stupid things that when you do them they make you feel immensely proud of yourself?   This morning I was pouring olive oil from the 5 litre can to the bottle using a funnel.   You know what happens, the oil goes in very slowly because the air has to come out.   So after wasting 2 minutes filling 10% of the bottle I took a straw and I put it in the funnel.   It worked amazingly well.   I'm so proud of me today!

I read somewhere

I have a feeling that when we say "I read somewhere that..." it's often because we don't want to say where we read it.

Am I anxious?

Is it just me?  I can't find things in lists.  If the list is not sorted, even if fairly short, I have a hard time to find what I look for.  A good idea would be to start from the beginning and proceed in order, but I have no patience -- I start jumping back and forth on my list starting to think "it's not here!"

Simple explanations

If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck.
It's funny that a concept so obvious has actually a name: the Occam's Razor, and it originates back in the 14th century. (Sometimes I think that in the Middle Ages it was relatively easy to make history!)
This principle states that the explanation for a given phenomenon that has the fewest assumptions should be preferred over more complicated ones and can be used for instance to try explaining the Fermi paradox on the fact that we haven't found any prove of intelligent extraterrestrial life even though many think it ought to exist.

TO-DOs

- Become more aware of the world we live in.
- Read a lot more, and write more too.
- Meet new people and visit new places.
- Learn to wait.
- Learn to filter out the things that don’t matter.
- Become a better listener.
- Sleep more.
- Dream more.

Lazy brain

Why is my brain so lazy?  Sometimes to enter my place I start checking each one of my keys in sequence, instead of thinking which one is the right one.  This happens when I'm tired and I start applying the most stupid algorithm, the linear search.  Sometimes it's easier that way: 33% chance is a pretty high number, if I'm lucky I'll solve my problem with no brain power, and if I fail no one dies -actually- on my second trial I'll have an even greater chance to succeed: 50%.  Worst case, my third trial will be 100% guaranteed to succeed.  Not smart but certainly a way to get things going...

To brighten up your day

What's better after a stressful day than coming home and finding in your mailbox a pamphlet that says: "What you should know about Cremation..."?

Dogs and jokes

It is always somehow touching for me when I hear dogs howling when they hear a siren. I wish I could tell the dog: "It's alright, don't worry, I know it sounds to you like another dog's howl, but it's actually something else... now go back to sleep."  I find particularly disturbing when somebody is withholding information that could make someone else feel better. Like for that kids' joke where you hide the snack to your classmate and you watch him searching anxiously into his backpack. How's that supposed to be funny? I hate that kind of jokes.

Partial information

It's hard to accept that our knowledge is always partial. We get our knowledge through our senses, and throughout time. Every day we keep interpolating the reality based upon a few isolated samples, moreover affected by noise. Only if we concentrate on the same subject long enough, then we start to get close to what its reality is, assuming that our presence doesn't affect it. Awareness of partial information is the key, never stop sampling the world, never settle down on anything, don't discard any sample, just keep collecting -- we don't know where is the noise and where there isn't.

I love snow

We got some snow, it doesn't happen very often here. I'm finding that almost everybody claims to hate it and that he hopes it turns into rain, but secretly prays for more.  Why do we find so hard to admit that there is a child inside us that just wants something different to play with? Yes, I know, we say it to be dangerous, and sometimes it's true, but is this the real reason?

Things

A few messages back I was listing people that I like and people that I hate, I've done the same thing with things. Here it is:

Things that I like:
- taking off on a plane.
- when the song on the car stereo ends right when I'm arrived.
- 9 o'clock in the morning.
- the square shape.
- picking up photo prints from the store.
- listing stuff.

Things that I hate:
- useless noises, particularly untuned radios.
- superstore membership discounts.
- receiving promotional faxes over the phone.
- when people wait until the answering machine starts recording and then they hang up.
- to be called a "shopper", like in "Attention Shoppers" (public announcement in a mall.)
- keeping secrets.

Deal hunters

Why in superstores the big bargains are always presented in big messy containers? Like those DVDs for 9.95, where the 10 available titles are all mixed up so that people have to kill themselves to browse through. Do people actually like to fight their way to the good deal? Just like fishing, if it is too easy it's no fun?

100% real Kraft cheese!

Okay, I found them there, I was hungry, and I ate them. But I promise I won't do it again... Ritz crackers featuring real Kraft cheese? What's fancy about it!? Do people actually recognize Kraft as a cheese brand? Is that because of the "Kraft Dinner"? I'm speechless... So here is the fairy tale: At Christie Brown & Co. (the guys who make the Ritz) one day somebody found out that cheese goes well with crackers, so they decided to feature the world famous Kraft cheese for their snacks. At Kraft they were very happy to be chosen for their ancient tradition in cheese making, and to return the favor they started some catchy promotion of the Ritz crackers on their website: "For a fun and easy solution to after-school snacking, try new Ritz Bits Sandwiches Cheese Explosion Crackers. These mini delights are made with 100% real Kraft Cheese sandwiched between two bite-sized cheese-flavored crackers. With double the cheesy appeal, these cracker sandwiches pack a huge flavor punch."

The reality? Reading the back of the bag you can see that Christie Brown & Co. is just a division of Kraft, and the funny thing is that Kraft is owned by Altria, and "Altria" is just the new name of Philip Morris.

Two months off coffee

Now that two months have passed since I quit coffee, I realized that coffee was taking quite a bit of my day. Somehow it became a tradition, a no-brainer, something that you don't have to keep figuring out -- it was quite handy, actually.  Coffee in the morning? sure; coffee after lunch? of course; with bagels? coffee; feeling tired? coffee; feeling like you need something warm? coffee; your stomach is a little upset? coffee; meeting with a friend? "what about a coffee?"; very cold day? "let's stop for a coffee"; entering a movie theatre? "let me grab a coffee"; "did somebody make coffee?", "can I get you a coffee?", "how is coffee?", "what kind of coffee?"
So now I have to rethink all these moments, and find an alternative - or simply don't find any alternative. Did I become a little less boring?

Peculiar?

Why am I always trying to figure out why meaningless things are the way they are? For instance, I found three reasons why the last leaves that drop from a tree in the fall are the tiny external ones: they are younger and thus stronger, they offer less resistance to the wind, the sprigs they're attached to flex together with the leaves when there's wind.