Honesty

But to be honest, it's very difficult. Nobody want to be honest. Everybody want to be right, and this is the problem. Being honest, it means not to give up. Being honest, it means to being a human. And if you consider yourself as a judge, you have to be honest. And if you consider yourself as a democratic country, you have to be honest. And if you consider yourself as a human, you don't have just to feel sorry about that, but to understand what the other need to live as a human and to give them those needed by understanding their pain and by representing your pain as a human to allow them to understand you.

From an interview with Robi Damelin and Ali Abu Awwad on Speaking of Faith, a radio program that starts most of my Sundays off with conversations I'm probably not awake enough to appreciate fully. Damelin and Awwad are "part of a gathering network of Israelis and Palestinians who've lost loved ones in the crisis between their peoples" and are featured in the documentary Encounter Point. It's amazing to listen to people who have suffered and lost so much and who seem they should be trapped in a conflict between peoples come to an understanding, take responsibility, and begin to take constructive action that could lead to improvements in the condition of all people. Puts the importance we place on less significant problems into focus (if they can achieve that, we should be able to...).

Already looking forward to next Sunday's program, which will feature Einstein's God, Krista Tippet's new book. The promo promises an inspiring and stimulating discussions on the interplay between scientific and religious inquiry featuring some of today's greatest thinkers, including Freeman Dyson, Paul Davies, Mehmet Oz, Sherwin Nuland, and many others. A fascinating look at the intersection of our deepest questions about science and the human spirit

Sound Waves Being Used to Treat Strokes

Neurologists have built an ultrasound device which uses focused sound waves to destroy stroke-causing blood clots in brains. The procedure is non-invasive—requiring no drugs or surgery—and is already being tested on patients.

The machine and procedure allows doctors to "surround the head with an array of transducers that can focus ultrasound beams on a single spot in the brain without damaging the skull." This means that diseased tissue could be destroyed without any collateral damage or risky surgery. [Technology Review via Pop Sci]

Seems like real progress; too bad the stroke I experienced was caused by bleeding, not clotting.

Unexpected Uses of Food: Thinking About How You Eat Can Make You a Better Speaker

You want to learn how to make a good presentation?

Who better than Cicero himself could teach you?

Here is the recipe of Chef Cicero, the master of Rhetoric in Ancient Rome:

Serves a small meeting as well as a thousand people conference. Adapt the length of the cooking to the length of the speech. Now and then, stir the pot. Adapt the cooking temperature and seasoning (delivery, especially) to the type of audience and the result expected...

First find the ingredients  

  • Fresh and juicy Arguments
  • Piquant and sharp Counter-arguments
  • Toothsome Ideas
  • Scrumptious Examples
  • Sweet Anecdotes
  • Spicy Stories
  • Mouth watering Savory metaphors
  • Peppery Data
  • Gustatory Images

I found this appetizing piece on Marion Chapsal's blog via a post in which Kathy Rieffenstein suggests blogs you shouldn't miss. Maybe this isn't such a novel idea, though. I was also struck by a piece on Lifehacker recently which suggested structuring meetings like dinner parties for good results.

3 March

I found another reference to this theme at Presentation Advisors.

 

In Case You Ever Wanted to Calculate the Speed of Light

You might already know that the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second, but now you can confirm that number by playing kitchen scientist and melting chocolate. And then you eating the results.

The folks at Wired think that this physics experiment is ideal for all the leftover Valentine's Day candy, but I think it's great all year round.

This is what you'll be doing:

  • Make sure the candy is in a microwave-proof box. Better yet, take the chocolate out and put in a microwave safe dish.
  • Remove the turntable in your oven. (You want the candy to stay still while you heat it.) Put an upside-down plate over the turning-thingy, and place your dish of candy on top.
  • Heat on high about 20 seconds.
  • Take the chocolate out and look for hot spots. Depending on the candy you use, you may have to feel the candy to see where it has softened. With the cherry cordials we used, we saw several shiny spots and one place where the chocolate shell melted through, releasing the sweet syrup inside.
  • Measure the distance between two adjacent spots. This should be the distance between the peak and the valley (crest and trough) of the wave. Since the wavelength is the distance between two crests, multiply by 2. Finally, multiply that result by the frequency expressed in hertz or 2,450,000,000 (2.45 X 109)

Ta da. In this example, the final number was a bit lower than the actual speed of light, but it's still pretty darn close considering the difficulty of finding the exact "hot spots" to measure from. And the difficulty of sacrificing chocolate to science. [Wired]