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.