“Remove all the space within the atoms making up the human body, and every person that’s ever lived would fit inside a baseball.”
—NPR’s Robert Krulwich explains.“The media is biased. Not in the way that people think it is, but it's certainly biased towards tension, it’s biased towards surprise. And so, there might be some kind of bias that leads us all towards a result that is counterintuitive and exciting. ”
—Radiolab host Jad Abumrad, who dropped by last week to talk about the Decline effect, which is when results from scientific experiments become less and less replicable over time.“When you are trying to create a version of yourself that will one day make you happy, half the battle is know your insides — know your pleasures. And the other half is to know your outsides — to find allies, partners, mentors. You don't become yourself by yourself. You become you, boosted on others' shoulders, buoyed by others' smiles. You may be a singular person, but your success will always be plural.”
—NPR and Radiolab’s Robert Krulwich, in his commencement address to the College of the Atlantic. It’s about designing your life, getting up when you’re knocked down, and learning for life.
It’s called “The Chumbawamba Principle”. Read the whole thing. It’s simply wonderful.
What Is It About Emily?
npr.org
Robert Krulwich wrote about me on his NPR blog today — I made it to the front page.
I don’t have a lot of words right now, and I can’t remember where I bought the earrings. The face staring back at me from the cover a national news organization’s website is one comprised of many hours of volunteer work, and many, many people who have helped me live this incredible life of mine and make all of this possible.
How much does the internet weigh?
npr.orgThe question seems a bit absurd, since we don’t think of the internet as a physical entity. However, we know that the information that comprises the internet is stored as electrons, and Einstein told us that electrons have mass. Therefore, neglecting the servers that the internet is stored on, the internet has a specific mass. A random email, say, is roughly 50kb, and that amounts to about 8 billion electrons. That may sound like a lot, but that amounts to only two ten thousandths of a quadrillionth of an ounce.
If an email is that light, how much does the whole shebang weigh? As you might suspect, scientists disagree over the best way to calculate the mass. Richard Seitz, on his blog Adamant, claims that the web is about 2 ounces - or roughly the mass of a plump strawberry. Others, however, say his estimate is too high; the true value may be much smaller, closer to the mass of a grain of salt!
That just goes to show how a massive amount of energy need not weigh very much. And that, fellow short people, is why no one is allowed to make fun of us again, according to science!
“What you love can differ, but the love, once it comes, that feeling of waking up with a kind of eagerness, a crazy momentum that pushes you into your day, an excitement you realize you don’t ever want to go way… that’s important. If you don’t have that feeling, maybe you’re lucky. You can lead a more sane life. But if you do – I say congratulations. You have what it takes to begin.”
—Robert Krulwich, in his 2011 commencement speech to the graduating calss of Berkeley’s Journalism school.“The most and the least important event I witnessed in 2012. I’m walking past a school. Two girls, maybe six years old, wearing parkas, carrying bookbags, come flying out the school door, step in front of me close enough for me to hear, and one of them leans toward the other says says, “What if you’re a serial killer? Who’s going to be your friend then?” I turn. The two girls are weighing this question. Having friends—this is a thing they know. Everybody needs one, even the nastiest among us, but this is a toughie. They stop to mull: Who might like a serial killer? “Maybe…” says the second girl, “other serial killers?” They look at each other, uncertain. (Not a big enough pool? Is that what they’re thinking?) Then the first girl says, “I know!” “What?” says the second. “How about just…killers?” More to choose from! They hug. Problem solved. They walk up the block holding hands. Friends are the solution to everything. This is their news. This is what they know.”
—Gold from NPR science correspondent and storyteller extraordinaire Robert Krulwich.
“Suppose, instead of waiting for a job offer from The New Yorker, suppose next month, you go to your living room, sit down, and just do what you love to do. If you write, you write. You write a blog. If you shoot, find a friend, someone you know and like, and the two of you write a script. You make something. No one will pay you. No one will care, No one will notice, except of course you and the people you’re doing it with. But then you publish, you put it on line, which these days is totally doable, and then… you do it again.”
—NPR’s Robert Krulwich (via Discover)
An inspiring read! Find out more about the craft of writing by taking my writing workshop in NYC.
