Quick solution found today; not yesterday

[Iamme]

Isn't it odd how one day...it might be yesterday, a week ago or last year, you had a problem that needed solving? Then, today, out of the blue, the solution is right there. You don't even have to think about it. you just DO it.

Then it dawns on you. You go, "Saaaaay...I had the same situation last year, and I went through some rigamajig to come up with a solution. Why didn't I think to do last year, what I did today?!"

I wish I could remember some prime examples of what I'm talking about. All I can offer is one that occured to me today: I was cleaning up furnace condensate water around the furnace, which had backed up. The installer tied the condensate hose to the drain cap which has holes in it. But, the drain cover is crowned. A lot of the drain water runs off the cover, all over the floor. What I have done in the past is eliminate the cover and jam the hose down the drain. Trouble is, the hose bulges up when you do this. If you just let the hose lay across the open drain, invariably, water tension causes water to NOT just come out the end of the hose and go down the drain.

So what did I do today, which was like some automatic reflex? I simply dented in the crown of the cover. Duh. Why didn't I think to do that when the same situation arose in the past? Why does this happen to us? I have had MANY such instances as this.

Care to share any of your own? Go ahead. Let us know how dumb you can be sometimes. That's Ok; I'll forgive you.

 

[clk]

I remember reading a story about Roger Penrose, who is a famous physicist. Many years ago, he was dealing with a particular physics problem that he had trouble figuring out. One day, he was walking across town with a few of his friends, and the solution to the problem suddenly came to him. However, this was during the middle of a conversation, and right before they were going to cross a street. When they reached the other side of the street, the conversation resumed, causing Penrose to forget the solution altogether! Later on, when he got home, he felt this strange feeling of hapiness, but he couldn't figure out why he felt that way. Then he started thinking about his day and what could have happened that would have caused him to feel like that. It was only then that he remembered that he figured out the solution to the problem. What was the problem that he figured out, you ask? Well, he proved that a singularity must occur during a graviational collapse. He had discovered the black hole.