If you are not into mathematics, don't worry – you can skip that part and still understand the discussion. But here are a few items that I find somewhat intriguing, and I hope you do too. The Monty Hall Problem: I discussed this subject on 9 March 2010, so you can read the details there if you wish. Briefly, Monty Hall was the emcee of the game show “Let’s Make A Deal.” The contestant had a choice of three doors to open; behind one was a prize, and goats were hidden behind the other two. After the contestant chose one of the doors, Hall, who knew where the prize was, opened one of the doors behind which was a goat. The contestant was then given a choice: he could either open the door which was his original choice, or he could switch and open the other closed door. Not surprisingly, most people opted to stay with their original choice. It seems logical that since there are now only two doors from which to choose...
My alarm clock goes off every morning at eight, except for the few times when I have a breakfast date. Usually I wake up about an hour before that, or at least I partly wake up. It is important that I remain in a “not quite awake but not quite asleep” state, because I consider that time as the germination period for whatever seeds happen to have blown into my head.