Random Thoughts

Richard Feynman is one of my heroes, as much for his brilliance and creativity as for his sense of humor, his matter-of-fact view of the world, and his unassuming and, well, human personality. Years ago, as I read his autobiography, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, I couldn't help thinking I would have loved to work with him. Maybe, just maybe, I might have absorbed some of the Feynman genius (or at least some of the Feynman humor) through osmosis. But I also wonder if he'd approve of my curiosity and quirky thoughts, or if he'd just shake his head and wonder if I'd ever get it right. The first chapter of his autobiography is titled "He Fixes Radios by Thinking!" But my version, one of the highlights of my career, might've been called "He Fixed a Critical Product Flaw by Accident."

Stealth Education

A post stolen from one of my comments on this discussion from a LinkedIn group called The Math Connection.

My kids and I play games all the time. Not the formal, "official" kind, but little impromptu ones that present themselves throughout the day. We try to make words from the letters on license plates. We make up new lyrics to songs. We may very well be responsible for the Worst. Puns. Ever.

 We play "what if" all the time, which leads to fascinating discussions!

• What if nobody ever died?"

We talked about what it might be like to get older and older, and whether our bodies would age.We talked about all the things we could learn if our lives lasted forever. We even wondered if people would ever learn to get along peacefully, knowing they'd have to live with each other forever. And what would we do when the world filled up with people?

• What if ice were heavier than water?

We talked about lakes freezing from the bottom up, instead of from the top down, and how fish and the other plants and animals would need to adapt to survive freezing. We talked about ice cubes sitting at the bottom of a glass. We talked about carrying ice from place to place if it were much heavier than water, which is already really heavy.

We ask silly questions.

• How did Mommy and I know your name when you were born? Maybe we were wrong and your name is really Sandy.

• Aren't we lucky that the family dog understands English? What if he only understood German?

We ask questions about the way the world works.

• Why do we ask you to clean up your toys?

We talked about safety. We talked about the importance (and convenience!) of being able to find things when you want or need them. We talked a little about inventory, and how it's hard to know what you have if it's disorganized.

• Why does it cost more money to have a mortgage than to just pay for a house, and why is it worth it?

We talked about how expensive houses are, compared to salaries. We talked about investing, and about the time value of money. We talked about whether they'd pay a little extra for a toy if it meant they could have it sooner.

We play all sorts of math games.

One of us will pick a number and the others will try to guess it. We'll estimate the number of cars that travel on a highway in a day, or the amount of water we drink in a year. We figure out how long it will take to save up for a new toy.

My wife and I share the belief that learning is—and should be—fun, and our kids have never known differently. To them, learning is just another game.

One day I was trying to show them that they can multiply in their heads. 3 × 1 was easy, as was 3 × 5 when they remembered they have 5 fingers on each hand and 5 toes on each foot. But 3 × 100 baffled them. So I asked, "What's 3 times a hot dog?" They answered, "3 hot dogs!" Then I tried, "What's 3 times a giraffe?" Getting the hang of it, they yelled, "3 giraffes!" "Right. What's 3 times your sister?" Silence for a moment, then, "A big pain in the neck."

Ubarn Leendgs, Selpling, and Why Yuo’ll Bleivee Antyhnig

This has been going around the Internet:

AOCDRNDICG TO RSCHEEARCH AT CMABRIGDE UINERVTISY, IT DSENO'T MTAETR WAHT OERDR THE LTTERES IN A WROD ARE, THE OLNY IPROAMTNT TIHNG IS TAHT THE FRSIT AND LSAT LTTEER BE IN THE RGHIT PCLAE. TIHS IS BCUSEAE THE HUAMN MNID DEOS NOT RAED ERVEY LTETER BY ISTLEF, BUT THE WROD AS A WLOHE. IF YOU CAN RAED TIHS, PSOT IT TO YUOR WLAL.... OLNY 55% OF PLEPOE CAN.

After looking at the words more carefully, it started to dawn on me that something wasn't quite right. Here's my initial response to the person who posted the fascinating tidbit:

Vrey cevelr, but lkie the mairtjoy of uabrn leendgs, tllaoty irconcert. It semes to be ptetry esay wvnheeer the wrods are sroht, or wehn you cosohe the "ionccerrt" oderr of toshe ltreets emertlexy clefaurly. But as you can see, all it teaks is a few leongr wrods, or a lses convirted onderirg, and it bemoecs fartsnurtig and ducliffit to utsandnerd.

Like so many of the "facts" we find on the Internet, this one simply isn't true. Anyone who wants to "prove" an idea can invent studies and statistics, and it's usually not too difficult to create a supporting example or two. The time invested in the hoax pays off when it goes "viral" because people who find it interesting can spread the misinformation immediately and virtually effortlessly. My counter-example took a bit of work, and I'm not completely sure I caught all the typos, but I'm still snickering at fartsnurtig, ducliffit, and utsandnerd.

I won't go into all of the telltale signs of a hoax, but two glaring give-aways are a very vague citation of a reputable authority (Cambridge University, here) and an amazing statistic that makes you feel special or superior but simply doesn't make sense if you think about it:

Wait: if the oerdr of the ltteres doens't mtater, then why can olny 55% of plepoe raed it? Does taht maen the oethr 45% are illeritate? Or is it poorf that 87.6% of all statistics are mdae up on the sopt?

One of my favorite quotations of late is David Comins' observation that "People will accept your idea much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first."  It's even more true if you butter them up and they trust you.

This is one of the simplest forms of social engineering: a technique for gaining control of something by cajoling or fooling the people responsible for it. Social engineering is disturbingly effective; it's behind phishing scams, identity thefts, credit card frauds, and corporate information leaks. We're bombarded every day by so much "information" that we can't possibly verify it all... and in most cases there's no reason to do so because it doesn't matter very much. But it's a good habit to "filter" the things you read or hear by asking yourself two questions:

1. Does this make sense?
2. What does the "informer" stand to gain if you accept the information as fact?

I almost closed this note by telling you that social engineering costs $3 billion in the US alone, and that 45% of corporate losses are due to some form of social engineering. But that wouldn't have been fair because you might have believed me, and I just made up those statistics. So, pelase, keep yuor eeys and yuor mnid oepn!

And remember: "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet." – Abraham Lincoln