Have you ever wondered why a book feels warmer than a hard drive? Have you ever questioned your own faculties? Thought: “This cannot be correct; I must be halucinating?” Well, at least something similar. You may already know why this phenomenon occurs; In that case you can skip this article. If not: I recommend that you take the time to read this article.
Here is a summary of what you just watched:
Your feelings are delusional to some extend. They do at the least not tell you the temperature of something. This is also the difference between “hot” and “high temperature.” Whether something is hot depends solely on its temperature.When you touch something: you feel the rate at which it absorbs or emits heat from/to your body. For instance: tree insulates heat and metal conducts heat. Therefore, the hard drive feels colder than the book, although, they are at the same temperature. “High temperature” simply means that it has a lot of energy; the atoms “jiggle” fast. In addition, “hot” means that something easily transfers heat, very fast. The reason for this is that our thermal receptors only measure the temperature of our skin (and change in temperature); not the object we are in contact with.
When is something hot?
Hot and cold are both arbitrary terms which humans have invented. Similarly, you cannot think of temperature as numbers in the sence that 30 ºC is hot; how we categorise temperature is relative. For instance: kelvin is a unit for measuring temperature. Different from celcius, however, it stops at absolute zero. Absolute zero is when the atoms are static. Measuring a number is really just a way for us to document our surroundings. We need the documentation to compare cases. To understand each other. Short-term: science. You can freely choose if something is hot or cold, but you cannot choose the measured temperature of something; I cannot look at a banana and decide that it is 500 ºC without measuring its temperature. This is a psycological view of course and you may have a different explanation for the above, but this is my attempt to elucidate things.
The following entry is a conjunction of thoughts from a confused mind; exploring his mind palace as he tries to come up with something to write about. Somehow, he succeeds. This “success” lead to the following text, filled with weird concepts and random mathematical facts.
Usually, I am full of ideas. However, sometimes I get stuck. My thoughts fixate on boring topics which often are not worth writing about. A so-called writers-block. Sometimes it is a number. E.g. pi, tau or even Avogadro’s number. This week it is the sum of all natural numbers. Integers from one to infinity. The answer to this is incredibly indefinite. I have seen proofs of the answer in textbooks, videos and movies. I have, however, never found an in-depth explanation to why this is. Only proofs.
On top of my head, here are some of the documentation that I have read/watched:
I have proven it to several of my peers. I even proved it to some of my teachers, including my maths teacher. Since neither of them understood Reimann Zeta functions, I explained it in a simpler way. Instead of using complex functions, I taught them the concept using only a bit of algebra, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Regardless of the simplicity, I was asked the same question multiple times: “How can the sum of positive numbers be negative? I mean, surely, if I was to type it out on my calculator I would never reach a negative number.” Although this seems right, it is not the case. The truth is that you would not be able to do this. Since this number occurs in several areas of physics, infinity is not a possibility. Also, according to modern laws of physics nothing can be infinite. This is probably a good time to reveal the answer to reveal the answer. The number is essentially not that complicated. It is -1/12. This result is as Numberphile puts it:
In order to prove this similarly to how I taught my peers, I will use three variables/constants.
X = 1 - 1 + 1 - ...
Y = 1 - 2 + 3 - ...
Z = 1 + 2 + 3 + ...
All of these are continuous, as shown by the three dots. They resemble three different values. Two of which I will use to prove the third. Firstly, if we look at X: how can we find the value of this?
X = 1 - 1 + 1 - ...
If we stop at any given point, the result will either be one or zero; Two values. In order to get the result of the continuous function, we simply calculate the average of all possible values. Then, we get the result:
1 + 0
Now that we know the value of X, we can use this to calculate Y.
The result shows us that the value has a common factor of four. Therefore, it is the equivalent of four Z since: one times four is four, two times four is eight and so on. We can, then, isolate Z by subtracting Z from both sides. Afterwards, we divide by three to get the value of one Z.
Z - Y = 4Z
-> Z - 1/4 = 4Z
-> -1/4 = 3Z
-> Z = -1/12
We have now proven the sum of all natural numbers to be -1/12. This shows us how entangled maths can be. However, it also shows us that there always is an intuitive explanation to even the most complicated of maths. As I said to one of my sceptic friends:
“I agree with you. The result may not be logical, but the justification is.”
For the sake of randomness here is a poll:
Mind palaces. I like my mind palace. It is a comfortable place. In there I keep my best memories. I attach important information to these memories. More precise: locations in my memories. They make it possible for me to remember digits of pi, physics-related formulas and other information that I enjoy thinking about. It is basically what I do when I am bored. I sit down and go through my hotel. The special thing about my hotel is that it has an infinite amount of rooms. Behind each door is a tightly memory. Within each memory are several pieces of information. There is even a café. Guess what I store there? I remember going to room 217 one day while talking with my teacher about programming. He had made a mistake so I corrected him. Of course this memory is now stored behind a door too, or rather a key. I keep memories of memories in a special place. The lobby. It is a nice place with sofas, plants, a counter and the keys to each room. Again, mind palaces are great. You should definitely get one.
I am now at the conclusion of this weird abstraction of thoughts; I have no idea of what I was thinking while writing this, but somehow it ended up describing a bit of maths, science and psychology. Thank you for reading this, possibly, confusing article. I hope you enjoyed it. I promise that the overall topic will be more precise next time.
Rainy weather. There is a copious amount of permutations when it comes to rain. These terms which humans have defined are of course arbitrary. Heavy rain. Drizzle. Sideways rain. To quote
Forrest Gump: “…rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath.“
This is of course because he walked through a swamp. Nonetheless, they are all equally annoying. It depends on the perspective. As a human you may think that rain is wet, cold and unremarkable. This is sometimes the case. However, it often occurs to me that I am more likely to enjoy a cup of tea with a good book when the rain forces me to stay indoors. The sound of raindrops as they hit my window is comforting. It aids me in clearing my mind. Such an experience can be quite cosy. Also, it is the only source of water for various animals and plants. Some lakes are even created by heavy rain.
Rainbows. Rain is also the reason we are delighted with this phenomenon. A rainbow occurs only when the sun projects light through a prism. In this case, the raindrops behave as prisms. Colours are light. Light is photons. Photons are measured in wavelengths. We are only able to observe some wavelengths. These are categorised as the visible spectrum.
If every single colour is projected the result is white-“transparent”. This is the reason for all colours in the Universe. A leaf, for instance, is green because it projects a specific part of the “light” from the sun. Every other colour is let through, but green is reflected back into any direction. I am talking about our vision, so I may as well bring up an interesting fact. Our vision is relative. When the colour of an object is interpreted by our brain brightness is also a determinant. Our brain compares the object to the surrounding environment.
To prove this to you, here is a picture: You will realise that the green rectangles are identical by comparing them.
Why does rain occur? Most of us know this from biology class.
Water is evaporated by thermal heat from the sun. Water from the sea or perhaps a lake. The vapour then, forms a cloud in the sky. Condensation. It stays as a cloud until the temperature and amount of vapour is unbalanced. Then, the water alternates from gas phase to liquid phase. Precipitation. Hereby unleashing rain.
Good or bad? To me rain is a necessary thing. Therefore, I choose to enjoy it. To you it may or may not be. However, it is your choice. Rainy weather should not be an excuse for anything. We are as humans adaptable to our environment. Whether it is raining outside or not. You should do what you want to. Not what nature forces you to. Equip the proper clothes and you should be able to do anything on a rainy day. Yesterday I went for a walk. It rained. It rained heavily. Anyway it was a great stroll. It felt refreshing. Although it was in the middle of the night. At this juncture, the streets were actually quite tranquil. I went for a nine kilometre walk. Passing a total of four pedestrians and two to three cars. The fact that I was dripping wet afterwards only made it more pleasant. You sometimes forget the world around you. You sometimes forget the feeling of being cold and tired. The cold part you are not even obligated to feel. Simply put on a warm and waterproof coat.
Happy-healthy Holidays! Christmas has just passed and you simply ate too much! What to do? Join the most popular diet of 2013! Read this ->
Approximately 10K years ago the way we eat changed. It ensured that the modern world is what we would conclude as overcrowded. We invented the use of diary and various types of corn. Both as a food source and for animal breeding. The evolution from the hunter-gatherer diet to agriculture. At first our digestive systems did not tolerate this. Some, however, had developed an immunity against most of the symptoms. Since above-mentioned were relatively easy sources of food; more people were able to acquire food, hence improving the global birthrate. Humankind could now afford to reproduce more frequently. The most reproductive species of human were hereby in possession of a gene. A gene, which made them partially immune to the otherwise toxic foods of agriculture.
The descendants of the hunter-gatherer people do, however, still exist in our modern society. Allergies like lactose- and gluten intolerance. Although it may not be clear to you; cereal and dairy do have an effect on your health. Be you allergic to these or not. Our intake of bread and such is one of the main causes of arthritis and other similar diseases, or even diabetes.
If we look at the food pyramid from USDA it is an example of how we are unaware of this. Our world is way too overpopulated. We would not be able to step back without falling drastically in population.
Carbohydrates in white bread and even rye bread are similar to glucose (sugar). Our body was initially developed to digest very few carbohydrates. These carbohydrates were also a different type. While sugar is digested rapidly, berries, roots and nuts, the only source of carbohydrates for the cavemen, were structurally more complex. This entailed that the digestion process was slower, which has been the preference of our body since. When we consume glucose the fast digestion causes our body to react as if it was insulin. The energy is quickly stored as fat. This raises your blood sugar.
Dairy products are not entirely bad, nor good for you. Lactose, however, is and this is contained within low-fat dairy products. Low-fat dairy products are highly processed. This includes that they have a high amount of a specific protein. Whey. Your blood sugar reacts to this worse then with carbohydrates. Also, dairy does is not essential for healthy bones. The digestion of wheat, etc. even prevents us from obtaining the calcium in dairy. Regardless of this; non-processed dairy products, excluding milk, do not contain these proteins.
As a conclusion you are in general allowed to eat:
In order to balance a healthy life you should eat proportionally according to this model:
In addition to this, you should remember to exercise preferably outside regularly. This is required to maintain a healthy intake of D-vitamin, which you absorb from the sun. Also, drink loads of water!
The basic unhealthy foods:
glucose containing- and most processed foods.
If you would like some inspiration on where to start, here are some links:
Happy Holidays! Did Santa bring you some neat gifts? ;)
Today it occurred to me that there are still people on this bewildering planet, who are trying to swallow a tablespoonful of cinnamon powder within thirty seconds. I decided to make it clear why this is a bad idea. First, here is a video of TheSlowMoGuys attempting this:
Do not try this; Read on!
Like they said at the end of the video: “This was a mistake.” While it is possible; it is definitely not recommended eating a tablespoon of cinnamon. The consequences can be lethal and have already sent many “guinea pigs” to the hospital.
We can categorise substances in two categories when comparing their attraction towards water. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic substances. “Hydro” meaning water. “-philic” meaning loving. “-phobic” meaning relating to, or having an extremely strong fear or dislike of someone or something. The first category, hydrophilic substances, encompass all substances attracted to water. Therefore, these are soluble in water. The second category covers all substances with a neutral outward charge, hence they do not react with any polar substances such as water.
Cinnamon is a hydrophobic substance. This means that it is insoluble in water. In other words: it is non-polar and can therefore not be broken up into components, hence bonding with water’s hydrogen bonds. It can be compared to oil, which neither bonds with water because of its chemical charge. When attempting to consume cinnamon it dries out the saliva in your mouth. In order to consume anything it must be dissolved by the saliva in your mouth, which mainly consists of water. Therefore, you feel an immense amount of pain from the lack of water in your mouth and throat. If you, then try to breathe; which you will, the cinnamon will hauled into your lungs. This can cause breathing problems. If you have ever tried this without seeking medical attention, please, do ask your doctor to check for any injuries in your respiration system.
It is, however, healthy to eat cinnamon and you should definitely not avoid it. Cinnamon has actually been proven to contain rich amounts of poly-phenols, which function similar to insulin, hence regulating the blood sugar. This is particularly good news for people with diabetes. So, as with anything, consume food in the proper proportions and stay healthy!
- Now if you will have me excused. I feel the urge to read.
Why do we exchange presents, or should I say gifts? I was told that we do this to show our outward generosity. Although this is the intention; it has occurred to me that this sense of generosity has been commercialised. The tradition has been sprinkled with a tint of expectancy. Expectation of receiving specifically the presents stated on your wish list. We have a ton of holidays today in which we all exchange presents. These presents have with time become more and more impersonal and expensive. The initial idea of gift giving was that we gave presents to those nearest to us. Gifts which we found exceptional and proper for the individual. This concept has, in my opinion, been destroyed by the media. They have turned these customs upside-down and promoted the use of wish lists. These lists are similar to a shopping list since they state a row of items which the author would like to own. Instead of giving a thoughtful gift we have, hence now swapped this with purchasing items unknown to us. This conceals the impression that we now know less about those nearest to us. An outstanding example would be gift cards. “From Me To You” it says when the actual words should be “From You To You. Purchased by Me.”
If you know the definitional difference between “present” and “gift” you might be wondering why I am using the lesser personal “present”. The reason for this I indirectly stated above. A gift is something you give to a family member or close friend, whom you are passionate about. On the other hand, a present is something which you give to show respect to an employee or otherwise not closely related person. If you were not aware of my opinion on this subject, you should be now. I obviously mean that our society is controlled by commercials. We stick our feelings to dull objects which we then exchange with our friends, family and employees for something likewise.
Christmas is after all just an old heathen celebration. Originally it was called solstice. They celebrated the harvest and prayed for a new year of healthy crops. If this is not the case in your country, please, do not blame me. I am from Denmark, where I am sure this is how Christmas originated, but it might be otherwise in different countries.
Regardless of our unenthusiastic presents we do, however, get together and share the holidays with each other. We give the so-called “gifts.” We chat, drink, dance and share our joy. This close bond, which we experience at Christmas makes it the obvious time for helping those in need. We donate money to charity. Where do the money go? Most of us do not know where they go. We assure ourselves that we did something generous. We actually have no idea since we were not the ones who delivered the money. Also, we eat a lot on Christmas and at other occasions. The bare truth is that some of us even throw up half of it. Either because we were drunk or because we ate too much! Maybe even both. This enormous waste of food could instead have been spent on contributing to the fight against poverty and starvation with even greater quantities of money. Why even donate money in the first place? If nothing, but your own self-esteem matters?
Another confusing part of holidays is New Year’s Eve. The rest of the year we discuss our continuing problems with the climate. Every year we then fire huge amounts of noisy fireworks into the air. The amounts of carbon dioxide which spill into the air are huge. In addition, people are often injured upon New Year’s Eve. Some become hearing impaired and some acquire fatal injuries. This madness has to stop!
Now. We are completely off track. Let’s return to the topic at which we started. I do not expect the readers of this blog entry to change their way of celebrating Christmas, etc. I do, however, expect you to reflect on the subject and establish your own point of view. It is time to become independent of the media. We need to think more about the choices we make. Think: “Who are my parents really?” “What would they like for Christmas?” Making decisions yourself is a vital part of life. Do not let commercials and wish lists take over. Decide for yourself how to please those closest to you.