More Useless Facts

It's been a while, so let's do another list of useless facts that will not get you the job, impress potential partners, or get you that awesome gig at the AI development firm.

But they are fun nonetheless;

Earth's rotation is changing speed. It's actually slowing, and this means that, on average, the length of a day increases by around 1.8 seconds per century. C'mon, I don't have all second!

Allodoxaphobia is the fear of other people's opinions. It's a rare social phobia characterized by an irrational and overwhelming fear of what other people think. So keep your opinion to yourself.

M&Ms are named after the businessmen who created them. Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie. Just a few handfuls for me, thanks.

The world's longest walking distance is 14,000 miles. You can walk from Magadan in Russia to Cape Town in South Africa. It requires no flying or sailing—just bridges and open roads. Bring comfy shoes.

A jiffy is an actual unit of time. It's 1/100th of a second. And a peanut butter brand.

The shortest commercial flight in the world takes place in Scotland. Regional airline Loganair flies between the islands Westray and Papa Westray. The journey is just 1.7 miles and takes 90 seconds. Baggage claim is about 90 minutes.

There are more than 1,000 types of bananas growing in the world. These can then be divided into 50 categories. Gonna need a bigger freezer.

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Two Wheels and a Trunk

I was thinking about a situation that happened a couple of years ago that sucked. Life moved on but I still think about it. I've asked numerous people if they have events they relive in their heads over and over again. The answer is almost always yes because most of us do. But why is that?

I'm not suggesting we don't relive happy memories, but the challenges seem to cut deeper for some reason. Is it perhaps because we are still learning a lesson? I know this, the more we try and not think about those events, the more we think about them. If I was to ask you to not think about an orange elephant riding a motorcycle – good luck getting that image out of your head!

Beware of the Lizard Brain

I'd consider myself a fairly smart dude, so why can't I just tell myself to stop letting something that has already happened, which I cannot change, continue to bug me? It has to do with the part of the limbic system in our brains that is in charge of fight, flight, feed, fear, or freeze. It is our survival mechanism which decides what we do next if we are experiencing stress. It's why we can't seem to get started on the project even though we know the deadline looms.

If we have a situation, current or past, real or imagined, it will react immediately. If we are experiencing or have experienced pain, it will focus solely on that moment. When I think of that event, it's as if I am reliving it over and over again. 

Negative vs Positive

Perhaps this is more prevalent in Western culture, but we seem to do it more often when remembering negative situations over joyous ones. Do we think we don't deserve joy and need to pay for pain? I'm obviously not a psychologist but I think there's something to that. Our frontal lobe is in charge of reasoning, motor skills, higher level cognition, and expressive language. So our complicated brain starts to fight with itself. 

I've started an exercise and like most when you begin, I'm terrible at it, but I'm trying to think of five positive things in my life or events that have happened whenever a negative thought or memory crosses my mind. When I can do it successfully, it actually works. So perhaps you can try it if you can't seem to get past a negative event in your past.

I wonder how the elephant balances on that motorcycle? 

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Scratch N' Hope

I was in a store last week buying milk. The woman in front of me had about a dozen plastic envelopes and the clerk had a stack of lottery tickets she had processed on the desk. Winner, loser, free play, ten bucks, play again, loser, rinse repeat. The lady stood patiently as it was tallied. $238 was her take. She said it was a good week.

She then started reciting what she needed for her next haul; and don't forget those scratch tickets! She placed each ticket into its corresponding labeled envelope, paid her money, and she was on her way. I wonder what would happen to these people if they ever won the big one. Would they retire from their career of buying lottery tickets? 

Motivating factors 

This has happened before; perhaps it's happened to you. You just want to get your stuff and get home but I was fascinated by this woman. What was her motivation? She can't be up after all the weeks or months or even years she's been doing it, so she is spending money to lose money to spend more. That makes perfect sense. 

On my first trip to Vegas, the two guys behind me on the flight were calculating how much they were willing to lose. They knew it was doubtful they'd be coming home with more money than they went down with but they seemed okay with it. A buddy once remarked on the shuttle driver's comments on his first trip there who said; "Welcome to Vegas, folks. Please keep in mind this city was not built on the backs of winners." 

I've been there twice, both on business trips, and I've spent about $50 on blackjack. My short-lived Vegas career has me up about $450. One night, I hit a bit of a lucky streak. My two buddies kept saying I should keep going. I grabbed my chips, stood up, and walked away. You might win some but the house will eventually beat you. Breakfast on me in the morning and let's go home. 

Gambling on real life

How often do we go for that gig that may be a bit out of reach; ask that woman for a date who may say no; sell the house and move to a new town where we know no one for a chance at a new venture?

We know as we board the plane that we won't be playing Phil Ivey in the World Series of Poker final at the Bellagio but we go anyway. The woman in the store knows her odds and keeps playing. Is it lunacy or hope? Is it the thrill of the chance or the chase of a dream? It does bring up one important question.

How often do we place that bet on ourselves?

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Embrace the Impossible

Think back when you were a kid. You weren't focused on failing on your way to having fun, exploring, and learning. Now look back to a time a bit more recent when you dismissed an idea because doubt and fear stepped in or you opined someone may have thought of it before you.

Perhaps if you shared it, someone would laugh or think it wasn't possible. These are the barriers we put on ourselves within the confines of our comfort zone.

Let Ideas Fly

Regina Dugan served as the first female Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Since last March, she has had an executive role at Google.

Regina is deeply curious and explains in her TEDTalk the necessity for us to embrace failure on our way to advancements and discoveries.


Kneale Mann

TED | Regina Dugan