Imagine you lived in a fictional sci-fi universe where
someone burned your favorite book or notebook. All you did was to login into
your intelligent supercomputer. The supercomputer quickly analyzed the
particles of ash, molecules of smoke, and fumes of heat to retrieve the exact
pattern of words that were written or printed in your book or notebook. This is
what happens to a notebook or a book when you burn it. There is a mathematical
property called “unitarity,” that states that a state of information is always
preserved. The only problem is, we don’t yet have such an advanced
supercomputer that can retrieve the information of a burned book from ash,
smoke, and heat. Otherwise, just imagine what if you could recover a chapter
from a notebook you burned because you thought it wasn’t good enough.
You don’t need to be a certified detective to solve a
mystery. Because nature provides a treasure trove of clues. Take forests, for
example. If a murder happens in the forest, you can easily tell that with a
little bit of observation and help from scientists. Forests have an uncannily
brilliant ability to preserve the evidence of a crime scene. Everything in a
forest acts as a silent witness to the crime and locks clues and evidence
inside it for humans to discover. For example, if a bullet or a weapon gets
lodged in a tree trunk, the trunk temporarily encases it like a nut in the
shell. By checking the tree rings, a human can tell the time when it got
lodged. Time can also be revealed by testing the age of insects and their eggs.
Because as soon as a body is deposited into the soil, they immediately arrive
to feed and breed on it. Humans can also discover secret graves by observing if
the roots are grown in an unevenly or disruptive manner. Then, there’s the
chemistry of the soil that holds more evidence. When there’s a decomposing dead
body in the soil, it releases a lot of nutrients from its bodily fluids, flesh,
and tissues. Plus, the pollen sticking to these can act as fascinating clocks
that can reveal the location where the body visited before dying and the time
it died.
Think about an iceberg. While 20% of it is visible above the
surface of the ocean, 80% is often hidden, deep underneath so a person’s eye
cannot see it completely. There’s a part of our brain that operates in a
similar way. Unconscious ideation is a concept in psychology that refers to the
“mental processing of thoughts, problem-solving, or emotional associations”
that occur entirely outside of your active, conscious awareness. It represents
the hidden 80% of the processes and thinking happening behind the scenes,
beyond one’s conscious awareness. It’s exactly what makes all those aha moments
and bulb-on moments possible.
1.Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
– from Mary Poppins - extraordinarily good or extremely wonderful. 2.Redrum from
The Shining – murder spelled backwards – written in lipstick on a bathroom door
– serves as a psychic warning for crime and violence 3.Groovy - From
Army of Darkness film - something is excellent, perfect, or cool 4.Schwing –
from Wayne’s world - used to express intense excitement or appreciation for an
attractive woman 5.Yo – Rocky
film - a signature greeting, a method to gain attention 6.Twitterpated
– from Bambi - being love-struck, smitten, or overwhelmed by romantic feelings,
particularly during springtime 7.Godfather - The Godfather - a mafia boss (Don) who acts
as a powerful patron 8.Gaslight from Gaslighting – a form of psychological
manipulation where a person,, over an extended period, makes someone question
their own reality, memory, or perceptions 9.Paparazzo from La Dolce Vita - a pushy, intrusive tabloid
photographer (played by Walter Santesso) who chases celebrities for candid
shots. The name, symbolizing a "buzzing insect" that darts and stings 10.Red pill,
blue pill from The Matrix - a choice between painful truth and comfortable
ignorance. The red pill offers freedom and harsh reality, while the blue pill
allows one to remain in a blissful, simulated illusion 11.Toast from Ghostbusters - being finished, doomed,
dead, or in serious trouble. 12.Yippie-ki-yay
from Die Hard - an iconic, defiant catchphrase used by John McClane to mock
villains, blending a classic cowboy exclamation with vulgarity 13.The dark
side Star Wars - represents a path of
selfishness, fear, and emotional volatility, diametrically opposed to the
selfless light side. It is a corrupting influence driven by raw emotions—anger,
hatred, jealousy, and fear of loss 14.Nimrod - The
Looney Tunes Show – mighty hunter 15.Debbie
Downer from Saturday Night Live – someone who
ruins cheerful moments with absurdly negative, pessimistic comments. The term
has become common slang for a person who constantly brings down the mood or
kills the enthusiasm of others
Almost everyone of us
have listened to this rhyme as a child. In English, the rhyme translates to
“Laddu is round, poodi is round. Fat man’s potbelly is round. Earth is round,
sky is round. The whole cosmos is round round!”
This rhyme was usually
taught to us in the English class, but if it was taught in the mathematics
class, your math teacher would probably tell you that everything that is round,
or circular, carries a mysterious number called “pi.”
Pi is the God of the
mathematical world. It never ends, it lasts forever, and it never changes. Basically,
it is immortal.
Spiritual mystics
sometimes call it the ”Absolute truth” or the “universal constant.”
You may be fascinated
to know that in ancient times, understanding this number wasn’t just curiosity,
but a necessity, especially for astronomers and architects. Greeks and
Egyptians exhausted every method to calculate the full decimal expression of
pi, ultimately surrendering to the fact that it is just eternal, infinite, non-terminating,
and unchangeable.
In math books, pi is
represented by the symbol of two vertical legs supporting a horizontal roof,
like a table, with value represented either as 22 by 7 or 3.14….
These dots after the
decimal represent the never-ending decimal expression of pi, with first two
digits always remaining the same 14. It is also represented by the formula:
circumference of the circle divided by twice the radius or the diameter.
Scientists have spent
centuries decoding the mystery of pi, trying to calculate its complete value by
using strings to measure the circle, sometimes using sophisticated
supercomputers, but they never quite reached the end. Even after trillions of
digits, the number didn’t seem to end.
Pi is not just the God
of the mathematical world, but also the secret hiding in everything that is
shaped like a circle. The Ferry wheel, the merry-go-round, the planetary
orbits, the chapattis your mom makes, even the brightness of stars.
So the next time you
are visiting a temple to worship God, don’t forget to ask the priest why didn’t
they put a sculpture of this fascinating mathematical God pi alongside the
sculptures of other gods and goddesses.
In many big brands, greatest percentage of the profits comes
from a small portion of their products. A tiny number of bugs are responsible
for a large percentage of crashes. Like an iceberg, a great percentage of our
life situation depends on our physical, visible actions, and a little
percentage is dependent on what we think, believe, or feel about our life. In a
restaurant, for instance, most of the orders come from the top few specialities
in their menu while the rest of the products are ordered only by a handful of
customers. Named after the economist, Vilfredo Pareto, Pareto’s Law states that
roughly 80% of the consequences result from 20% of the causes. It is also
called as the 80/20 rule or the "law of the vital few and the trivial many.”
The law is famously used by businessmen, leaders, economists, shopkeepers, and
is of immense help to anyone who desires to sort out their life.
I don’t want to complete that book of math, but I want to
score 100 in the test. I want to start my own business but I don’t want to read
about marketing or do deep analysis of my products. I want to sell my crafts,
but I don’t want to learn how to advertise them to people. Well, if you are
someone who loves to make money, which you probably do, and still find yourself
saying these lines, you might be missing a crucial piece of information you
need. The Wilson’s Law, also known as the “Law of wealth accumulation.”
Wilson’s law challenges the notion that money is the sole
purpose of your actions. The law insists that it’s not about chasing money, but
investing in yourself and your capacity to become a medium to create value for
yourself and others. The two pillars of this law are knowledge and
intelligence. Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Wilson, who specializes in
game theory emphasized the importance of constantly adapting to change,
continuous learning, and expanding intellectual boundaries to become capable of
innovation. Lastly, remember that knowledge doesn’t just imply information. It
also means radical and constant change. “If you put information and
intelligence into a system, but don’t change the structure, the behaviour stays
the same.”
Have you ever found yourself visiting a new place where
there is so much crowd that you can’t figure out the right direction to
proceed, which causes you to feel lost in the city? We all have come across
math and physics problems in school where we became puzzled with variables and
equations that we kept on circling in loops, never really arriving at the
solution. Honestly, everyone goes through this feeling from time to time. With
so much going through their mind, they feel clueless and paralyzed about what
to do next. Here comes the Kidlin’s Law, derived from the fictional character
of Kidlin from a 1962 novel King Rat. The law states that by writing down a
problem clearly and specifically, it is already half solved. The
problem-solving theory emphasizes that breaking down the problem into small
manageable components, clearly defining it, structuring, and putting it down on
paper cuts through the noise and guides you towards the solution.
The theory is also based on taking radical
self-responsibility. The first step is acknowledging the problem, observing it
with self-awareness, sometimes bringing external intervention, and ultimately,
writing it down on paper. So, the next time you find yourself jostling in an
ocean of ideas, so overwhelming that you can no longer decide how to take the
first step, remember the Kidlin’s law and instead of obsessing over your new
fancy notebook, just pull it out and write down your ideas.
The 6 Thinking Hats is a systematic, structured,
parallel-thinking framework designed by physician and thought-organization expert
Edward de Bono. The framework is designed for better decision making, problem-solving, reducing conflict, and exploring any issue from six different
perspectives.
Each thinking hat plays a distinct function and role. Each
thinking role is identified with a colored symbolic “thinking hat.” By mentally
wearing and switching “hats,” you can easily focus or redirect thoughts, a
conversation, or an interaction. Looking at things from these perspectives
ensures that you direct your thinking in the best possible way rather than letting
it run on auto-pilot.
1. 1. White Hat (This type of thinking focuses on
facts, just facts. Separate facts from feelings. It's all about information. It
focuses on available data, facts, and identifying information gaps.)
2. 2. Yellow Hat (This type of thinking focuses on
benefits, brightness, and optimism. Balancing fear with possibility. It
explores the positive, optimistic, and beneficial aspects of a decision.)
3. 3. Blue Hat (This thinking hat is all about
management, direction, and organization of thought. It enables the person to
stop getting stuck in a spiral and set an agenda that will steer them forward.
It's a control mechanism to minimize stress and stay organized.)
4. 4, Green Hat (This thinking hat is all about
options, creativity; the possibilities, alternatives, and new ideas. Is there
another way to do this? Is there an alternative to this? This hat questions
like these.)
5. 5, Black Hat (As the name suggests, this thinking
hat focuses on identifying the dark or negative things, the risks before they
create trouble. It Identifies potential problems, risks, dangers, and critical,
logical reasons for caution. When used wisely, this thinking hat is
tremendously powerful, but when overused, it can amplify the problems and
generate unnecessary doubts or fears.)
6. 6. Red Hat (Red Thinking Hat is all about feelings,
emotions, hunches, intuitions, and gut reactions. This thinking process calls
for investigating, understanding, and being aware of our deepest feelings,
fears, likes, dislikes, loves, and hates, so instead of driving your life, you
take the driver seat and direct them)
Nalini was journeying through a forest alongside a cook, a
servant, an elf, and a minister from her mother’s palace. Her goal was to find
the magical blue gemstone that lay hidden in some corner of the forest. With
the help of various compasses and maps, they finally discovered the blue
gemstone. The gemstone lay amidst a dense clump of tall grasses. As she bent
down to pick up the gem, someone pointed a pistol on her back and demanded that
the gem be given to him. When she turned around to take a look, it was the
minister. Her mother had entrusted the minister thinking that he would help
Nalini find the gemstone. But he turned out to be a betrayer and a “snake in
the grass.” The idiom “Snake in the grass” refers to “A treacherous person. A
person who cannot be trusted. A secretly faithless friend.”
Macaronic verse refers
to a poetic piece or poetry that combines or mixes words or phrases from
different languages, often in a humorous or burlesque way.
An example of
macaronic verse includes Lord Byron’s poem "Maid of Athens, ere we
part."
Each stanza of this
poem ends with the same Greek line, which translates to "My life, I love
you!"
Maid of Athens, ere we
part,
Give, oh, give me back
my heart!
Or, since that has
left my breast,
Keep it now, and take
the rest!
Hear my vow before I
go,
Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ [My
life, I love you!]
Macaronic comes from
the Italian word “macaroni” or “dumplings,” which refers to “the coarse,
unrefined nature of a mixture of languages.”
On one midnight, Pongo, the dinosaur, ran away from his home
in the jungle. Wandering about in zigzagging trails of dense trees, he got
lost. As young as he was, he couldn’t remember his way to home. Lonely and
frightened, he kept walking and soon found himself roaming in the city. While
he was plodding on a streetside, he bumped into a boy named Brandy who was
playing with other kids in a park. They were jumping in a pool, laughing
loudly, and having fun. Seeing them enjoy, Pongo approached them. By the time
he arrived at the pool, the boys were already walking away towards a lemonade
stand. Eager to join their friendly company, Pongo followed them to the
lemonade stand. By the time he reached the stand, the boys had already bought
their glasses of lemonade and were now walking towards a peanut seller. Sweaty-bodied,
Pongo kept following them. Meanwhile, one of the boys in the group realized
that this giant green dragon was following them. He whispered this to Brandy
and other boys. They turned back to face Pongo. There were tears in Pongo’s eyes,
not only because he was hungry, but also because he was lonely. Brandy asked
Pongo what did he want from them. Pongo replied, “I just need a gabba.” The
word “gabba” means “a friend.”
1.Polyptoton
is a figure of speech that involves the repetition of words of the same root
used in the same sentence with a variety of differing contexts, inflection and
voice; Derived from the Greek word polúptōtos, meaning “having many cases”.
This device is often used to embellish the poetry and poetic sentences with
musicality and tone. Ex: "I dreamed a dream in times gone by.",
"The bread rolls rolled down the counter.", "They waited
impatiently in the waiting room."
Once Robby visited a theatre with his family to attend a
magic show. During one act, the magician called him on the stage as a
volunteer. Robby jumped ahead, not knowing that this magician was an evil one.
At first, the magician created an artificial clone that looked just like Robby.
While the audience cheered at his incredible trick, he pretended that he was
going to place a box over the cloned Robby. But instead, he placed the real
Robby inside a box. Unaware and shocked, Robby suddenly found himself in a
place where there was nothing but darkness all around, except for a tiny ray of
light that reached the box from somewhere. As he noticed, the tiny ray of light
revealed a giant spider crawling on the wall opposite to where Robby was
slouched on his knees. Since the room was not very large and there wasn’t much
distance between the walls, Robby shivered with fright. The giant, gleaming
black tentacles of the spider were slowly moving towards him through the wall. At
this moment, he was reminded of a word he had read on the internet – “hellhole.”
Hellhole means “a very unpleasant place or dangerous, frightening situation.”
By the year 2002, when Mark Zuckerberg joined Harvard
University, he was already known as a “programming whizz.” The school from
where he graduated had student directories or photo address books that
contained the names and photos of students who stayed in the school’s dorms. Drawing
his inspiration from these books, he started a coding project and released a
communication sharing network website called “TheFacebook.” The website became
an instant hit among the students. In 2004, when he launched this website, he
was just 19 years old. Therefore, Zuckerberg is a “Golden boy.” The phrase
“Golden boy” refers to a man who becomes successful at a very early age and is
admired by people.
One day, Bobby’s boss gave him the task of writing a
proposal letter to an advertising company. He asked him to describe their
product in detail and request them to create an advertising campaign to promote
their product. He also told him to do some research on the company and their ad
campaigns so he could better propose their product. Bobby returned to his desk,
but spent the entire day researching the company. It was evening and he still
had not started writing the letter. He kept on researching and researching,
never starting the letter. When his boss called him, he fumed with anger. The
next day his boss sent him to have a meeting with a fashion designer. Nervous
that he was going to meet a fashion personality, Bobby spent too much time in
selecting a dress that he lost track of time and missed the meeting. Due to his
persnickety behaviour, his boss fired him. Persnickety means “placing too much
attention on trivial, unnecessary or minor details”
Buffer pony was born with a weird defect in his body. His
parents had named him “Buffer” after this defect. While other horses galloped
normally, his body would sometimes freeze on the spot and start shaking and
buffering. For a few moments, he felt helpless and powerless against his own
body. This buffer would trigger in his body at random times, causing him much
annoyance and unpleasantness. He desired to be normal like other ponies of his
age. But his defect made him withdraw from his friends and remain alone. Even
while lounging in his home, watching television, or reading a book, his body
would suddenly start trembling and he would have “screaming meemies.” Screaming
meemies means “extreme nervousness, anxiety, jitters or shivers.”
Once upon a time, Alexander
The Great was treading through Indian mountains with his cavalry. They combed
the jungles in these mountains to pluck some herbs and plants they could use
for adding flavor to their emperor’s food. What they were looking for in
particular was a plant called silphium. But by the time they reached India, the
emperor realized that they had mistakenly used another plant in place of
silphium. This newly-discovered plant smelled nasty but added a strong,
delicious flavor to the food. Soon, the word spread among people. They too
started using this plant to add flavour to their daily meals. Over many years,
this plant became a quintessential spice in Indian cooking. People gave it
names like “Asafoetida,” “Hing,” and even “food of the gods.” Quintessential
means “the essence of something,” “the most important part of something” or the
“most perfect example or representation of something.”
Living in a secluded hilltop house, Nandini, her husband and
her son was a happy family. They had been living here for five years. Over
time, Nandini had build her art business wherein she created sketches for
people and companies. But as orders and commissions started pouring in large numbers,
she had no choice but to hire a housekeeper to relieve herself of the household
duties. Her husband too remained busy in his bakery business. So they hired a woman
named Dibbuk to do the housework. Dibbuk was a charming lady except that there
was an evil twitch in her eyes that sometimes frightened Nandini’s son Ashish. One
day, both Nandini and her husband were out of the house, attending meetings.
They had left Ashish in the care of Dibbuk. Inside the house, Ashish was slumped
on a sofa watching television and eating snacks. Outside, thunder was crackling
loudly. As stormy clouds gathered, the orange sunset sky turned into dark grey,
something that could creep out even the bravest adult. Meanwhile, Dibbuk was
cooking dinner for the boy. About two hours later, heavy rain was pouring down
from the sky. Both Nandini and her husband had to wait in their offices as it
was too difficult to drive their cars in such a gushing rainstorm. When they
reached home, it was already 11 pm. Rain had stopped but a light drizzle was
still trickling down. As they parked their car in the driveway and unlocked the
front door. They were thinking that Dibbuk would have put their son to sleep
and locked the door with the spare house key. They stepped inside and walked to
Ashish’s bedroom to see if he was sound asleep. But as Nandini entered his
room, the boy appeared to be awake. He was sitting on his bed, staring oddly at
the wall. She patted his shoulders and suddenly he flew upwards and started
screaming in ghostly voices. His parents became worried at his unusual
behaviour. Even when they tried to calm him down, he kept on screaming,
sometimes even scratching and biting them. His body appeared weak and sweaty,
and it seemed something had possessed him. Distressed by this behaviour,
Nandini’s husband called a friend who was a priest. The next morning, this
priest arrived in their house. Dibbuk was brooming the floor as usual and
Ashish was sprawled on the sofa with his eyes open. His eyes were reddened by
lack of sleep, yet a monstrous force was disabling him to control himself. The
priest looked at the boy and gasped. He told the couple that their son was
possessed by a very powerful demon. He rummaged inside his bag and pulled out a
string carrying the pendant of a holy bead. As he was about to touch the holy
bead to boy’s forehead, the string suddenly slipped from his hands and fell on Dibbuk’s
back who was now squatting on the floor, mopping it. As the holy bead came in
contact with Dibbuk’s body, she yelled out a deadly shriek. Fire erupted in her
body and burned her into ashes. Meanwhile, Ashish revived into his normal
personality and soon fell asleep. Everyone was puzzled. But when Nandini, her
husband and the priest visited Dibbuk’s house, they were shocked to realize
that Dibbuk was not an ordinary woman. She was a worshipper of devil. She
extracted children’s souls and sacrificed them on a tree where this demon would
gulp the souls down and become more powerful. Dibbuk was diablerie. Diablerie
means “sorcery, black magic, or witchcraft connected with devils.”
