Random Thought #210

The best number is 73. Why? 73 is the 21st prime number. It's mirror, 37, is the 12th and it's mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying 7 and 3...and in binary 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001.

Random Thought #209

My brother-in-law pointed out to me that all of the professions that require the highest level of learning are all called practice. Think about it...medical doctor (MD) has a practice, lawyer (JD) has a practice, psychologist (PhD) has a practice. Its just interesting some of the most well educated people in the world are simply "practicing".

Random Thought #208

What do you do when looking to buy something online? Do you look at star ratings? What about reading the reviews? Do you read the good reviews as well as the bad? If you're like me, you use this information to base your decisions of what to buy. Now when was the last time you rated something or left a review? Why do we make decisions based on some of the feedback that we aren't even willing to give ourselves? Interesting isn't it?

Here are some fun examples of people making fun of this very point.

http://www.amazon.com/Hutzler-571-Banana-Slicer/dp/B0047E0EII/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395114997&sr=8-1&keywords=banana+slicer

http://www.amazon.com/BIC-Cristal-1-0mm-Black-MSLP16-Blk/dp/B004F9QBE6/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395115023&sr=8-1&keywords=gel+pen+for+her

Random Thought #207

This is pretty cool to see that we are one step closer to achieving a major goal of energy abundance and independence with this story about being able to get more fuel out of a fusion reaction that put in. It may be on a highly controlled and small scale but its exciting news and hopefully we'll eventually realize this crucial goal.

http://gizmodo.com/nuclear-fusion-just-got-more-energy-out-of-its-fuel-tha-1522006589

Random Thought #206

I'm not a big "art" guy. I appreciate certain kinds of art such as those that make me think and conceptualize and see what isn't there. One of my favorite artists is M.C. Escher (google him sometime) but this lady also has very fun, clever, and creative art that I appreciate. I hope you enjoy her art and explanation of it as much as I do.

http://new.ted.com/talks/aparna_rao_art_that_craves_your_attention

Random Thought #205

Interesting definition for intelligence. I tend to sort of agree with his analysis to a point. Keeping options opens forces you to focus on methodologies or processes for obtaining information or making decisions vs defining a specific end-point and sticking with it. It lends credence to the concept of an incomplete system where we don't know everything and therefore we cannot pick a point in the system to define it for all scenarios but with the knowledge of ultimate truth and its existence (although we are a long ways off from it), that should tell us that there is a complete system and our interpretation of that system is simply inconsistent as we notice apparent paradoxes all the time. We simply haven't explored and discovered all aspects of the complete system and so we must keep our options open for all might be valid possibilities and this reveals (according to this guys' model) our intelligence.

http://new.ted.com/talks/alex_wissner_gross_a_new_equation_for_intelligence

Random Thought #204

This is a pretty cool story about a new and painless way to deliver vaccines but what I think is even cooler is the fact that they can be transported and later activated. Pretty cool tech and seems relatively simple. Its a wonder someone didn't think of it earlier.

http://new.ted.com/talks/mark_kendall_demo_a_needle_free_vaccine_patch_that_s_safer_and_way_cheaper