We were pleased to note...

We got our car registration renewal in the mail, including that sticker with the two digits of the year that you gotta stick in the upper right-hand corner of your license plate.

In our state, that registration sticker has always had a seven-digit number printed on it. To find out if a registration sticker belonged on a particular plate, the police would have to enter that seven-digit number into a database search. This was not convenient, especially since it appeared that there were some individuals who pilfered stickers, instead of paying their renewal fees.

So, we were pleased to note that our new sticker bears, as its sticker number, not some "random" seven-digit number, but rather the license plate number! It matches!

Much more sensible.

However, as we have argued before, it would be even more sensible to abolish not just the registration sticker number, but also the license plate number. They could both be replaced with the driver's cellphone number – and this would make our roads much safer and more courteous.

Values as Visuals

My new article explores the use of new tools for articulating values, vision, and mission.

Imagine using the Dialoogle and Picture Your Legacy cards with colleagues, helping to commence group discussions, and to move into collaborative problem solving. Imagine using the iPhone app to spark your own creative ideas, or conversation with a friend.

Magnetic fields: Threat, or menace?

I have worked with magnets for over thirty years, yet I admit that I'm not sure if magnetic fields are real.

Now, they tell you that the magnetic field is real, real like the river's undertow that pulls you past the eddies beneath the sharp rocks and beats you down, but it's not. Not really. You feel magnetic forces, to be sure, but the magnetic field is not the fundamental truth. The truth is the magnetic vector potential. And this is not just my opinion; this has been known for over sixty years.

The magnetic field (what you hear about) is written as B; the magnetic vector potential (what you perhaps never heard about before today) is written as A. They are related by:

B = ∇ x A

("The magnetic field is the curl of the magnetic vector potential.")

The truth is revealed by the Aharonov–Bohm effect, in which particle traveling past a long thin solenoid experiences a phase shift, even though the magnetic field is confined to the interior of the solenoid, which the particle never enters! Why does this happen? It happens because the particle sees the magnetic vector potential outside the solenoid. (A cool animation is available.)

So, A (the magnetic vector potential) is what's true and real and actually felt by the particle, while B (the magnetic field) is sort of an emanation, or a mathematical device, that almost always gives you the right answer (except in clever made-up configurations designed to demonstrate the Aharonov–Bohm effect, that is), and is handy. I suppose an attorney might say that while the magnetic field is (usually) a truth, it is not the whole truth.

Perhaps it's like your car's engine, where horsepower is what you read about, but torque is what you feel. The magnetic field is what you read about, but the magnetic vector potential is what you feel.

[Please note: Persons seeking legal advice should consult a member of their state Bar Association; we may in the future discuss an alternative approach to interpreting the Aharonov-Bohm effect, which does not appear to to rob the magnetic field of so much of her charm; post title refers to this.]

FigRobins.

We planted fig trees in order to grow figs, not robins:

[Please note (for the robin-obsessed): If you bookmark & reload this page, the small slideshow above should update to include the latest photograph(s); clicking on the slideshow itself takes you to the Picasaweb album; clicking here takes you to a full-window Picasaweb slideshow.]

[Late edit: A story about these birds (or one person's view of them) is told...]

The Eötvös effect.

To lose weight, you need only head east.

I have had it with these #@$&! snakes in this #@$&! scanner!

How does the brain encode courage in a real-life fearful situation that demands an immediate response? In Fear Thou Not: Activity of Frontal and Temporal Circuits in Moments of Real-Life Courage, volunteers who fear snakes had to bring a live snake into close proximity with their heads while their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Oh, do watch the video.

the G20 & the NC20

The G20 meets this weekend. That's the "group of twenty finance ministers and central bank governors", representing 19 countries plus the European Union. In alphabetical order:

• Argentinia
• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• European Union
• France
• Germany
• India
• Indonesia
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• United States

As it happens, per google analytics, in the past couple of weeks, NeuroCooking has been read in 20 countries. In alphabetical order:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Chile
• France
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Israel
• Italy
• Mexico
• Philippines
• Romania
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

Inspired by the ongoing World Cup, we are tempted to ask: Can our 20 beat their 20? Can the NeuroCooking20 beat the G20? I'd think so – after all, we've got Belgium and Bulgaria!

[Please note: Use of trademarks does not imply endorsement or sponsorship.]

First Cousins?

Just for the record, we wish to make it clear that...

We planted fig trees in order to grow figs, not robins.

[Photo: Backyard, yesterday evening.]

"The Secret Powers of Time" & "A Geography of Time"

If you've not yet seen this illustrated lecture by Prof. Philip Zimbardo on "The Secret Powers of Time", you should:

In the talk, Prof. Zimbardo refers to experimental data reported in the book _A Geography of Time_ by Prof. Robert V. Levine. A preview of the book is available:

[Please note: The book preview does not contain the data cited in the talk; the appearance of corporate logos does not imply endorsement or sponsorship of or by designated entities; persons needing legal advice should consult a member of their state Bar Association; NeuroCooking cannot be a source of financial or investment advice; read at your own speed.]