A Bright Idea

The richest man in a Chinese town many years ago was old and ill. He called his three sons to him and said, “I have a challenge for you. “I’ll reward the son who is the most intelligent.Each of you take one coin and buy something that will fill my room.”

The oldest son went to the market, but at first he could not decide whether he should buy flowers or straw. Finally he thought, “Flowers take up less space than straw. And they are more expensive.” So he bought straw. The second son also went to the market but he could not decide whether to buy paper or feathers. “Feathers are lighter than paper. And they are cheaper.” So he bought feathers. The youngest son thought and thought, “What can I buy with this coin that will fill a whole room?” At last he found his answer and bought something.  

That evening, the three sons returned to their father’s room, each with his gift. The oldest son spread his straw, but it covered only one small corner; the second spread the feathers, but they filled only two corners. Quietly, the youngest son showed a candle and lighted it with a match. The whole dark room filled with a warm glow.

The old man smiled and said, “You are my youngest son, but you are the cleverest. The reward is yours.”

You Will Never Feel Lonely

In an interview with Amyr Klink, after the Brazilian navigator had arrived from one of his solitary sea adventures, a reporter asked him if loneliness had been his biggest obstacle. Amyr answered that although he had spent one hundred days alone, he had never actually felt lonely, as he knew that so many of his friends were thinking about him and wishing him success. And he added, "The sea is not an obstacle. It is a way".

After two months of adventure had gone by, I started thinking about the meaning of loneliness. An inner feeling that is not necessarily caused by distance or insolation, a sense of emptiness that invades you and that no human company or presence can ever satisfy.

Loneliness was the only thing I did not feel after I had left. Never. Not even once. What I did feel was an overwhelming sense of homesickness. I felt homesick for everything and everybody, I missed things and people I had not seen for so long.

Homesickness, however, is good for you heart. It enhances feelings, lights up hope, erases distance.

And then there is friendship. If you have a friend, even if just one, no matter where he or she is, you will never be alone. You may die from homesickness, but you will not be feel lonely.

The Universal Language

Mathematics is the only language shared by all human beings regardless of culture, religion, or gender.

Pi, a number used in mathematics, is still approximately 3.14159 regardless of what country you are in. Adding up the cost of a basket full of groceries involves the same math process regardless of whether the total is expressed in dollars, euros, or reais.

How can math be so universal? First, human beings didn't invent math concepts; we discovered them. Also, the language of math is numbers, not English or French or Portuguese. Very few people across continents and through time. It is what links ancient scholars and medieval merchants, astronauts and artists, peasants and presidents.

With this language we can explain many of the mysteries of the universe or the secrets of DNA. We can build computers and transfer information across the globe. We can understand the forces of planetary motion, discover cures for catastrophic diseases, or calculate the distance from Boston to São Paulo.

Math can help us in our daily lives, by helping us make important decisions and perform everyday tasks. Math is not just for professors and scientists. It's for all of us. And it's not just about calculating difficult equations. It's about making better daily decisions and, hopefully, leading richer, fuller lives.

Magnets and the Power of Attraction

A magnet is an object that attracts certain metals, such as iron, nickel and cobalt. All magnets have North-seeking (N) and south-seeking (S) poles. When magnets are placed near each other, opposite poles attract and like poles repel each other.

A magnet is a metal that can pull pieces of iron toward itself and make them cling to it. A magnet pointed at a clip will make it jump up from a table and cling to the magnet until it is pulled off.

A horseshoe magnet has two poles, or ends - a positive and a negative one. If you put the two positive poles of two magnets together, there is no attraction. But if you touch the positive pole of one magnet to the negative of the other, you feel a strong pull. This is because opposite poles attract each other.

The reason the magnet attracts iron objects is that it sets up an invisible atmosphere around itself called a magnetic field. When a pm or nail is in that field, it becomes a little magnet too.Ordinarily, the billions of atoms in the nail are packed in a scattered way, but when the nail enters a magnetic field, more and more of its positive atom poles point in one direction - toward the negative pole of the big magnet, and more and more of its negative atom poles point the other way - to the big magnet’s positive pole.Since these opposite poles attract each other, the nail will now jump up and cling to the magnet.

The largest magnet in the world is the Earth itself, because the hot nickel and iron at its core pull everything towards it!