This guy is just fascinating and the latest of his books after Tipping Point and Blink is just a pleasure to listen to. Enjoy…

In art “imagination” is everything. Well you can say image is everything. And as one quintessential part of a bands image you have to have the right name. The below are 11 names of rock bands that were changed at some point during their existence.

And believe me you will only know the later names. The results are hidden in the same line as the old names just in the same color as the background – simply highlight them with your cursor and you shall see.

1. Carl and the Passions – The Beach Boys
2. Johnny and the Moondog – The Beatles
3. Artistics – Talking Heads
4. The Elgins – The Temptations
5. The New Yardbirds – Led Zeppelin
6. Composition of Sounds – Depeche Mode
7. Polka Tulk – Black Sabbath
8. Tom and Jerry – Simon and Garfunkel
9. Primettes - Supremes
10. Falling Spikes – Velvet Underground
11. Big Thing – Chicago

image by eye2eye

The Sound of Women

A 2005 study by the University of Sheffield has shown that “The female voice is actually more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between women and men, and also due to women having greater natural `melody´ in their voices.. This causes a more complex range of sound frequencies than in a male voice.

“When a man hears a female voice the auditory section of his brain is activated, which analyses the different sounds in order to `read´ the voice and determine the auditory face.

“When men hear a male voice the part of the brain that processes the information is towards the back of the brain and is colloquially known as the `mind´s eye´. This is the part of the brain where people compare their experiences to themselves, so the man is comparing his own voice to the new voice to determine gender.

Thus the brain gets tired quicker and the man doesn’t really listen to the woman anymore.

Solutions

The probably biggest false assumption in man woman conversation is that men think that a woman wants answers, solutions or a plan to solve the problem she is bragging about. This is fundamentally wrong. This might sound like a paradox to you – if you are a man – but you will have to live with the fact that even the best plan or solution – if taken to your female conversation partner will only result in the woman thinking she and her problem is not taken seriously.

So in short solidarity and compassion but no solutions or god beware antagonism.

Listen Actively

The American Psychologist Carl Rogers did come up with the concept of active listening. He states that authenticity and a open mind are fundamental basic requirements for a successful conversation. In fact good listening is 50% of the whole way – he says.

• Hearing is the first step -pay close attention to make sure you hear the message correctly.
• Interpretation: Make sure your understanding of the speaker’s message is accurate
• Evaluation. Ask questions, don’t jump to conclusions.
• Respond. Let the speaker know that you have heard them.

Another guru in listening and teaching of the dos and donts is the American Dale Carnegie – who’s books I love. He has a list of points to follow for good listening as you can see below.

• Stay focused on the conversation
• Listen for the important points
• Use eye contact and body language to show that
• you are paying attention
• Prevent yourself from interrupting
• Understand the other person’s point of view
• Ask clear, direct questions to gain understanding
• Use leading questions to gather more detail
• Hear buying signals every time
• Listen for and understand the importance of
• what’s not being said
• Practice patience when you listen
• Understand the prospect’s feelings
• Encourage prospects to talk freely
• Formulate solutions as you are listening (only when talking to male beings)

Now you would have to be a Monk to be so self centered and calm to follow all the rules – even so they all make sense if you read them.

The best advice is to stay calm and be aware of the fact that women are different.

Here is the list of these famous people and some of the names really sound very weird and strange as one is so used to the “right” name we all know them with.

1. Albert Koch (Einstein)
2. Isaac Ayscough (Newton)
3. Johann Sebastian Laemmerhirt (Bach)
4. William Arden (Shakespeare)
5. George Ball (Washington)
6. Thomas Randolph (Jefferson)
7. Johan Wolfgang Textor (Goethe)
8. Wolfgang Amadeus Pertl (Mozart)
9. Napoleon Ramolin (Bonaparte)
10. Ludwig Keverich (van Beethoven)
11. Abraham Hanks (Lincoln)
12. Charles Wedgwood (Darwin)
13. Charles Barrow (Dickens)
14. Karl Pressburg (Marx)
15. Sigmund Nathanson (Freud)
16. Charlie Hill (Chaplin)
17. Ernest Hall (Hemingway)

The number zero was the the number that enabled the denominational number system and therefore the basis on which modern mathematics was built. Numerous old cultures did not have an equivalent for the zero like for instance the Romans.
Its origin and thus the origin of the decimal system dates back to India in the 3rd century before Christ. Back then the numeric symbol however was different for every order of magnitude.

The number zero has quite a few specific attributes. It is a “neutral” element of the addition, as a zero added to any sum does not change the value of the sum. It is also called an “absorbing” element in a multiplication as everything multiplied by zero is zero. The division by zero is not yet described and thus stays undefined in mathematics.

This number ϕ is also known as the golden section and is commonly accepted as an expression that describes the perfect proportions in architecture or anatomy. In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the smaller. The golden ratio is a mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887.

e the Euler’s number is named after the Mathematician Leonhard Euler who lived in the 18th century. It is foremost used to describe growth processes like for example the growth of bacterial cultures.

The mathematical constant e is the unique real number such that the function ex has the same value as the slope of the tangent line, for all values of x. More generally, the only functions equal to their own derivatives are of the form Cex, where C is a constant.
The numerical value of e truncated to 20 decimal places is 2.71828 18284 59045 23536….

In the preparation of the Google IPO the company announced it wants to raise $2,718,281,828.

PI is the most famous quotient in Mathematics and often described as the most beautiful number in the universe.

Pi or π is a mathematical constant that represents the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, which is the same as the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius. It is approximately equal to 3.14159. Pi is one of the most important mathematical constants: many formulae from mathematics, science, and engineering involve π.

A team of Japanese mathematicians headed by Yasumasa Kanada in 2003 rendered the number to the record of 1.241 billion digits a number so big that it would fill a book 135 times as thick as the Eiffel tower is high. It would take 40.000 years to read it out loud.

Since Pythagoras the number 5 is called the perfect number of the human microcosm. Symbol of this harmony is the Pentagram. Aristotle added a fifth element to the 4 elements of ancient Greek nature studies – the Ether. From this derived “quintessential” in its origin the life generating spirit amongst Alchemists and later in the meaning of the central part of most importance.

The number five is also the holy number of of discordianism a jocular pseudo religion made popular through Robert Anton Wilson’s Illuminates books. The followers of this religion pray to Eris, the Greek goddess of dissension.

The discordian law states that everything that happens in the universe has a connection to 5 or a multiple of five.

The number 7 has a special place in various cultures based on its relative frequency. Scientific experiments have shown how favorable this number is chosen by participating humans. It is the most frequently selection if people are asked to name their favorite number. As blue is as often chosen as the favorite color the phenomenon is also called “blue-seven” phenomenon.

Another finding by the cognition psychologist John Locke in the 17th century shows that in human perceptivity most people could remember 7 objects after a brief look at them.

Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything – see the bible – ehrm the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

“Six by nine. Forty two.”

“That’s it. That’s all there is.”

The number 47 appears in unnaturally high frequency in almost every episode of Star Trek: The next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. The reason being that Joe Menosky one of the series authors was a member of the 47 Society at the Pomona College in California – its members believed that the number 47 does appear much more frequently in nature than any other natural number.

The origin of this theory is believed to date back to 1964 when a mathematical theory by Professor Donald Bentley showed that all numbers equal 47.

According to Rick Berman, a co inventor of Star Trek 47 is 42 corrected by the inflation rate.

666 does play a special role in mystic and the occult that are well known and documented. But one of the meanings that recently came to more attention is the one related to the internet. In Hebrew the number 6 equals the letter W. So 666 could be seen as WWW – and thus the internet would be the last emperor. Other more recent interpretations include the name of “Wiliam Gates III”, “MS-DOS” or “Windows 95″ where you can get to 666 with divers numerical operations.

43252003274489856000 is the total number of configurations of the Rubik cube.

This number is called a Googol. The terminus was established by Edward Kasner. He did allegedly ask his nephew to come up with a name. The number did not only help Google to its name but also the cinema is Springfiled – the Simpsons one – called Googolplex.

Googolplex is the number 10^Googol. The Google offices are called Googleplex based on this.

Named after the American mathematician Ronald L. Graham born in 1936. According to the Guinness Book of Records the Grahams Number is the biggest number ever used in a mathematic proof.

Fantasticatillion is the number needed to calculate the assets of SCROOGE McDuck. (Sorry for the Donald Duck)

More >> 11 Alternative J. F. Kennedy Assassins

I LOVE ROLLER COASTER! Period!! The next adventure I will treat myself with is the Expedition Everest. I’ve always been fascinated by the stories around the highest mountain on this world and although the travel industry has done its bit to destroy the magic of the BIG adventure I think that the Disney ride will be just that – An awesome adventure!!!!

Expedition Everest is often compared to the 1959 Matterhorn Bobsleds roller coaster at Disneyland, which also features a snowy mountain setting and an “abominable snowman” figure throughout the ride.

Although moderate in height and length by contemporary roller coaster standards, Expedition Everest is unique for having its trains travel forward and backward as a result of the yeti’s interference with the journey. This is accomplished through two sets of rotating track segments on pivot before and after the backwards segment. In its publicity material, Disney pointedly has described the attraction as a family thrill ride.

Expedition Everest is the tallest of the artificial mountains at Walt Disney World Resort, joining Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mount Gushmore, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Mount Mayday on the list of Disney-built peaks. According to Imagineering, it is Disney’s 18th mountain-themed attraction. If the Expedition Everest mountain were real, it would be ranked fourth on the list of the highest summits in Florida at 320 feet (98 m) above sea level.

The Last Supper in München I just love this location, we had a great eve. Hope it was not the ultimate last supper – as I guess I’ll be in Munich from time to time…

Well not really this week – but anyway. Really really nice Spanish place, not very traditional – but great tapas and nice crowd. And its round the corner of the office – big plus … Go there and have a pitcher of San Miguel.

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Hank Hill speaks his mind about President Bush, the Iraq war, Terrorism, 911 conspiracy, your rights, the Constitution, and what it all means for you.