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This is probably one of the most famous coffee place in the world and the logo is so familiar that you can instantly recognize it!

But Robert Langdon does not like it because with such a large presence and repute; they have an incorrect logo according to him!

You can find this outlet all over the world and their style of putting your name on your cup and calling it out is so popular!

Many people use that name calling (literally!) for fun!

Yes! Starbucks! Now you all may remember seeing the logo! Looks like the face of the statue of liberty and then some! It is one of the most recognizable logos in the world! At least by those who like to post snaps in the social media stating that they had been to this place!

But the biggest twist is not the frappe chino but the fact that the Logo was supposed to be a Mermaid! But it is not!

Now mermaids are mythical aquatic creatures, usually depicted with the head and upper body of a human and the tail of a fish! They are warm and kind and like Ariel very innocent!

They like to help sailors and normally do not cause any harm to them!

The logo actually looks like a mermaid! The good one and the helpful one! But you can see a slight difference! A mermaid apparently has only one tail! The ‘mermaid’ in the logo has two tails!

Now that is danger!

It is not a mermaid but a SIREN!

In Greek mythology, sirens are depicted as female beings, often described as part-bird, or part fish with alluring voices!

The danger was that their captivating songs lured sailors to crash their ships onto rocky shores, leading to their destruction!

In the epic poem of Odysseus there is a mention of Odysseus and his crew encountering sirens. Odysseus had his sailors stuff their ears with wax to block the sound, and he himself was tied to the mast of his ship so he wouldn’t be tempted to steer towards the rocks!

Apparently once you get drawn towards them you cannot escape! Many actually feel like that when they have a Starbucks coffee! Alright then! 
Maybe the logo is correct after all! What say Dan Brown!?

Luckily I do not mind a filter coffee once in a while but have never developed a taste for the Starbucks!

I have wondered how anyone could even drink that huge cup! Even filter coffee has its limits! I usually take the flat white and throw it after drinking a little more than half!

That is a big waste of star and bucks! A big legend though is Lata di! I would not mind her song instead of a mocha! My favorite is Sri Ram Chandra krupalu bhagawana for obvious reasons!

Now drink warm water and certainly not coffee and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

You are at a buffet and you see the dessert section and all you want to do is stop everything and gobble them up!

Blame your ancestors! Since they used to get sweet only once in a very rare while like a sweet fruit; they used to simply rush and finish it as soon as possible!

Old (read ancient habits!) die hard!

But did you know the part which is first and most affected by your sugar load is the one which at one point in time was thought to be great if it was black in color!


Of course the thing which is normally white in all the races!

Not your beautiful soul but your teeth!

What’s the first thing most people do when they get up!? Let’s not talk about checking the phone for now! But it’s usually brushing your teeth!

You know in 1900s, no one used to brush their teeth so routinely! Then a brilliant campaigner Claude Hopkins after going through boring dental books told how the dental film which you can feel with your tongue is bad!
And that Pepsodent will take care of it! Voila! It soon became a habit!

But it took time for even to reach that state!

Apparently the so called ‘civilized’ people had their queen with teeth as black as the hair! Also it was considered beautiful!

During the Renaissance, people increasingly began to understand the role that oral hygiene played in their health. However, it still took some time for this knowledge to spread across all cultures. A bright white smile was not always a sign of health and prosperity. It actually showed that you could not afford costly treats! Read ‘Sweets’!

In fact at the time of Queen Elizabeth I, it was considered fashionable in Great Britain to have one’s teeth blacked. The reason for this trend was the Queen’s fondness for highly sugary treats. In combination with the very limited knowledge of dental care and oral hygiene at the time, this led to jet-black royal teeth – which the people took as an aesthetic model for a while!

So the richer you are, more black was your teeth! That was the situation in the apparent civilized country while even in the most remote parts of other countries; people used the stick of trees such as neem to brush their teeth and have white and healthy ones!

Now imagine that you saw a comedy scene starring Nagesh and show your white ones!

Now brush your teeth one more time and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

He may have been a charlatan! But there is no way to tell!

Then again he was responsible for one of the first clinical trial lead not by any ordinary person but the a future president of the US!

The person in question is a German called Franz Anton who created a theory which basically stated that an invisible, natural force flowed through all living things.

He believed that a magnetic fluid (or Lebensmagnetismus) existed in all beings, and that blockages or imbalances of this fluid caused illness.

So Franz aimed to restore the harmonious flow of this fluid by manipulating it with magnets or, later, with his own hands through!

Patients undergoing his treatments would often experience dramatic emotional releases, trances, or even convulsions, which Franz saw as a healing “crisis” that restored the body’s balance!

In Vienna, his practice gained some success, particularly with patients suffering from “nervous complaints” or psychosomatic illnesses.

However, he was eventually forced to leave the city following scandals, including the controversial failure to cure the blind pianist Maria Theresa Paradis!

Then again if you can give hope, people will follow for that dope!

He moved on to Paris and his practice became a social phenomenon, attracting wealthy clients and drawing large, theatrical crowds.

For group therapy, he used a Baquet, a large tub filled with magnetized objects from which patients held metal rods!
So when you see in the TV of guys who ‘cure’ a blind person or a person who is in wheelchair; well these ‘divine’ interventions are in vogue from ages! Just that now you have live transmission!

Of course no one like fame and influence! So concerned by Franz’s growing influence, King Louis XVI appointed a scientific commission to investigate his claims.

The panel included eminent figures like Benjamin Franklin and chemist Antoine Lavoisier!

Through controlled, blinded experiments, the commission concluded there was no evidence for a magnetic fluid. It determined that the effects were caused by the power of suggestion and the patients’ imagination—a finding that was a precursor to understanding the placebo effect!

In spite of this Franz’s work had a significant impact on future developments in psychology and medicine. 

His study is also the foundation for hypnosis since the trance states and suggestion he employed were later studied by others, notably Scottish surgeon James Braid, who coined the term “hypnotism” in the 1840s!

His legacy extended to figures like Jean-Martin Charcot and Sigmund Freud, who initially used hypnosis before Freud developed psychoanalysis!

Also the official inquiry into Franz’s practices, which used controlled experiments, is considered one of the first formal medical trials in history!

So did you get the person! Well his full name was Franz Anton Mesmer

Mesmer theorized that there  exists a natural energy transference occurring between all animated and inanimate objects; this he called “animal magnetism”!

Yes! Were you impressed or dazed or mesmerized!?

Getting so magically impressed or controlled like this is thus called mesmerism! Now you know the origin of the term mesmerizing!

Now remember the time many used to be mesmerized by Dev Anand!
A sketch with negative shading technique…

Shubh ratri…

You can call this the king of failures who would then become the king of success!

The starting point is a chemical called Acetanilide which was the first aniline derivative found to possess analgesic as well as antipyretic properties, and was quickly introduced into medical practice under the name of Antifebrin by Cahn & Hepp in 1886. But its unacceptable toxic effects—the most alarming being cyanosis due to methemoglobinemia prompted the search for curing everyones pain in a safer way!

Harmon Northrop Morse synthesized this drug at Johns Hopkins University via the reduction of p-nitrophenol with tin in glacial acetic acid in 1877, but it was not until 1887 that clinical pharmacologist Joseph von Mering tried it on humans.

In 1893, von Mering published a paper reporting on the clinical results of this product with phenacetin, another aniline derivative.
Von Mering claimed that, unlike phenacetin, this product had a slight tendency to produce methemoglobinemia. The product was then quickly  discarded in favor of phenacetin. The sales of phenacetin established Bayer as a leading pharmaceutical company!

In 1947, David Lester and Leon Greenberg found strong evidence that the product was a major metabolite of acetanilide in human blood, and in a subsequent study they reported that large doses of the same given to albino rats did not cause methemoglobinemia!

So this was again marketed in the United States in 1950 under the name Triagesic, a combination with aspirin, and caffeine.

Then tragic reports in 1951 of three users stricken with the blood disease agranulocytosis led to its removal from the marketplace, and it took several years until it became clear that the disease was unconnected!

Finally, the product proved to be a safer and more effective alternative to its precursors! So much so that it is one of the most commonly used drugs for pain and fever! In fact it was the most commonly used medication in the treatment of even COVID! It was also the only medication actually needed most of the cases!

Until recently it was the only medication approved to be given even in  pregnancy.

Though recently it has been advised to be given with precaution.

But still, the drug is given by most every health care provider and is usually safe! The first and only drug of choice in fever or pain or even a broken heart (may not work that well though in this case!)!

Technically it is called Acetaminophen with the chemically formula C8H9NO2!

You may know it as paracetamol!

For now do the best thing for pain! Rest and sleep!
Oh I forgot about the sketch! Reminds me of Gajini director A R Murugadoss!

Shubh ratri!

Do you know what is the number one issue of many research especially the ones where you are trying to demonstrate or create a new finding?

Funding is actually the second issue!

The major issue is what the scientific community calls the Replication crisis!

The wonder of AI or most machines is that once you train or do the first task, it will do that task again and again without error!

That is one of the chief difference between humans and AI!

The same task may be done differently by even the same human or groups of humans! Even if the first finding of your study is robust, many times when you re analyze or conduct the test again; the findings are not replicated!
One of the best examples of this crisis is a very famous study called the marshmallow experiment!

The study has been quoted in many books especially books on self help and financial education.

The experiment shows something called the delayed gratification.

Also called the Stanford marshmallow experiment, it was a study done in 1970 led by psychologist Walter Mischel, a professor at Stanford University.

In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. During this time, the researcher left the child in a room with a single marshmallow for about 15 minutes and then returned. If they did not eat the marshmallow, the reward was either another marshmallow or pretzel stick, depending on the child’s preference.

In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI) and other life measures.

So far so good!

But here comes the replication crisis!

A replication attempt with a sample from a more diverse population, over 10 times larger than the original study, showed only half the effect of the original study!

The replication suggested that economic background, rather than willpower, explained the other half!

Finally the predictive power of the marshmallow test was challenged in a 2020 study and subsequent work done in 2018 and 2024 found that the Marshmallow Test “does not reliably predict adult functioning”

This replication crisis in shows a widespread failure to reproduce the results of published  studies, leading to concerns about the reliability and validity of psychological and other research.

Initiated in the early 2010s, this crisis highlighted that many findings, especially from the social sciences, could not be reliably confirmed by subsequent studies.
Now this is only one study; many studies have been found to have the replication crisis which challenge the accuracy of published findings!

While most visible in psychology, the issue affects other social and natural sciences as well. Even in many modern experiments this can happen!

Basically if at first you succeed; it is not necessary that you will do so again!
Sounds evil! Just sounds though! Like Prem Chopra!

Now replicate what you do everyday when you go to bed in the night!
I just meant sleep!

SHubh Ratri!

The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

Sixth installment in his Robert Langdon series!

E book! No spoilers!

Will be giving so many details without revealing the crux of the book!

Mystery thriller with lots of facts and figures (more accurately symbols!) thrown around for good measure!

The scene of crime so to speak is the city of Prague!

Robert Langdon and his friend are in the city for a talk and a book would be releasing soon!

Everything is going fine till the next morning when nightmares come true! The bodies start piling up and the history of Prague gets in between a race to survive and live to tell the tale!

You will learn about so many new facts or old facts but new findings!

You will get introduced to a new science called the NOETIC science!

Robert is an expert in symbols and you will get to know about two famous symbols which have been misrepresented and are actually incorrect!

Then you will learn about ESP!

You will also learn about Reticular theory and a great issue amongst scientists called the Replication crisis!

You will also get to know about the most common religious symbol in the world!

In between Robert will take you on a historical tour of Prague while trying to stay alive!

A couple of monsters’ here and there (yes that is not a typo!) and an amazing reveal in the end!

Then you have some old theories like Moor’s law coming up without any warning and some experimentation with brain!

Add the fact that the most powerful organization in the world is after you or your work, rest assured you will be pleased!

Then you have the most powerful chemical in the brain which is the secret of secrets!

You will get to know about REUBEN NSEMOH or DEREK AMATO! Of course they are not in the story but their story is mentioned! To show the power of the Brain!

The age old question of death and what happens after is given a new twist!

If you like his older works; I would say the last one was a little disappointing but this one more than makes it up!

One thing which struck me is that, I could picture not Tom Hanks but Tom Cruise as Robert! Both will do though!

Final warning! Do not start if you do not have time! Because once you do, you may want to finish it as soon as possible!

None of the above would give you the storyline though!

Or you can ask me and I will personally send you the spoilers!

I read your mind! Just kidding! Or am I?

It is a secret of secrets!

Among other controversial things, the novel Secrets of Secrets by Dan Brown tells about ESP!

More specifically the ganzfeld experiment! Now do not worry! The experiment is simply mentioned in the novel! It is not a part of the storyline! So read without any fear of spoilers!

When you have a German name for an experiment then rest assured it will be noticed!

Ganzfeld is from the German words for “entire” and “field”!

Now do not get scared by the name! No animals or humans were harmed! At least that was the official statement!

Before that you must know what is ESP! For ENT surgeons it is actually an Elongated Styloid Process!
But for the scientific community  it is extrasensory perception which is just another scientific (or more accurately pseudo scientific!) name for Telepathy!

So the ganzfeld experiment is a parapsychological test for extrasensory perception that involves creating a state of sensory deprivation for a receiver by blocking their vision with halved ping-pong balls and a red light, and their hearing with white noise through headphones. The goal is for the receiver to perceive a mental image or information being sent by a remote “sender”. The sensory deprivation is also intended to induce hallucinations by making the brain create its own stimuli in the absence of external input!

In this you must understand that the brain is not only the receiver but also the sender of information!

The experiment thus aims to create a simulation of Internal Creation!

The lack of external visual and auditory input causes the brain to become more active in generating its own perceptions, which can lead to hallucinations or other unusual experiences.

In a parapsychological context, while the receiver is in this state, a remote “sender” tries to focus on and transmit a specific image or thought to the receiver!

The receiver reports any images, thoughts, or feelings they experience, such as seeing abstract shapes, fractal-like images, or experiencing a sense of another presence.

Parapsychologists use ganzfeld experiments to try and detect evidence of telepathy or other forms of ESP. The procedure is also a method for inducing a state that can lead to hallucinations, with the brain filling in sensory gaps and creating its own mental stimuli.

Now all this is fine but (long time no BUT!); even though early or initial tests were able to give some support to the ESP phenomenon the later tests and flaws have always been the bane of the ganzfeld experiment.

In short; if you believe in ESP,  you may also be inclined to accept the findings of the experiment while if you are a true skeptic; you would point out the flaws and bias!

Still ESP or not; ganzfeld is a fun term to say and write a blog about! See I knew by telepathy or ESP that you smiled! If not then then may be now! Yes!
See! I can read your mind! If not then maybe its the lack of brain and not ESP!

Now I can feel that you are feeling sleepy after reading this blog!

Ramfield experiment maybe working!

Then again if you are not feeling sleepy then listen to some old Sanu da song!

SHubh Ratri!

In one novel which read long ago by Ken Follet; he describes by a character on how to tackle being kidnapped!

If you are imprisoned in a lonely place like a jungle with no place to go; apparently the first things to do is to demarcated the place where you would answer the nature’s call! It must be as away as possible from where you are planning to stay for prolonged periods and definitely far from where you sleep!

Similarly in a recent book called atomic habits by James Clear he states how you must have demarcated zones for your habits!

The core idea of the book is that making small, consistent shifts—what he calls “atomic habits”—can lead to a significant transformation over time, because habits are the “compound interest of self-improvement”!

He also demonstrated this principle with the “1% rule,” mentioning how minor, consistent improvements build up to an impressive outcome over time!

Getting 1% better every day for one year doesn’t just make you 365% better; it makes you nearly 37 times better!

Clear provides a framework called the Four Laws of Behavior Change, which makes it simple to implement small habits in your life.
The first law is to make it obvious which uses environmental cues to remind you of the habit. For example, lay out your running clothes the night before to make morning exercise an obvious choice!

Make it as attractive as possible by pairing the habit you want to build with a habit you already enjoy. If you want to meditate, do it while listening to your favorite music! I sketch while listening to music or an audiobook!

Small steps are important to make it easy! For example, start with a 10-minute walk instead of trying to commit to an hour-long run which is in fact your final goal!

Finally you must make it satisfying by reinforcing the habit with a small, immediate reward! Just looking at your smart watch for goal achieved is great!

Finally we come to the topic we started!
Demarcation!

You can’t eat in the bedroom and you must never sleep in the living room!
You must have a room or corner where you consistently pray or read and only one place which you must use to sleep! You literally must not sleep around!

When this becomes ingrained then unless you decide to sleep and go to the bedroom, you will not sleep! When you thus device a system then your efficiency also improves!

Efficiency is also when PBS sings RK songs!

Shubh ratri!

You know me and you know mini me!

Do you know fractals?

Do you know what is the similarity between Lightning bolts and a broccoli?

Or even you lungs!?

Well they are all fractals!

Fractals are infinitely complex mathematical shapes or patterns characterized by self-similarity, meaning they look similar at different scales of magnification!
They are created through the repeated iteration of a simple process, leading to a never-ending pattern! They finally become so complex that they cannot be fully described by traditional Euclidean geometry!

Fractals are found in nature, such as in trees, rivers, and coastlines, and are used in various fields like computer graphics and art

The issue with fractals is that although they start simple they become infinitely complex because the repeating process can continue indefinitely!

Unlike traditional shapes (like a line having a dimension of 1 or a plane having 2), fractals have a dimension that is often a fraction, reflecting their intricate and fragmented nature!

So we have some natural fractals in nature like the Lightning bolts, Coastlines
Ferns and broccoli!

Even the circulatory and respiratory systems (lungs) are fractals! Then you have the favorite sketches of any kid! A house wit a river in the center and you have the rising sun with the mountain! The Mountain ranges are fractals!

Then you have a complex fractal called the The Koch snowflake!
This is a fractal curve that starts with an equilateral triangle and repeatedly adds an equilateral triangle to the middle third of each existing side, creating a self-similar pattern that resembles a snowflake. It has an infinite perimeter but a finite area, a key property of this famous mathematical shape described by Swedish mathematician Helge von Koch in 1904!

The most defining feature is the repeating nature of the pattern at various scales. Zooming in on a fractal reveals smaller versions of the same overall shape.

Then again if you see mothers everywhere; by and large you would see the different versions of the same thing!

Now that is a fact nor fractal!

Then again I know for a fact that I had the best mother ever!

Five years since you have left me amma and still the pain is the same…

Lucky are those who can say Good night mom!

Shubh ratri…

One of the most misused symbols is the one used by medical associations all over the world!

In fact some of the most famous medical associations in the world actually use the symbol by mistake!

The symbol what they use is actually meant for trade and commerce while they were supposed to used the symbol for health! It is so frequently used (or misused!) that no one even minds it!

Accuracy though takes a beating!

The problems of not knowing history!

The symbol in question is called the caduceus!

The incorrect use of the Caduceus as a symbol of medicine, when the actual symbol is the Rod of Asclepius!

The Caduceus is the staff of Hermes, the Greek messenger god associated with commerce and trade, and was mistakenly adopted by the U.S. Army Medical Corps in the early 1900s!

The Caduceus is a staff with a staff, two snakes, and usually wings on top which is actually the staff of Hermes, the messenger of the gods! The actual representation is that it represents commerce, negotiation, and trade!

It was erroneously adopted as a medical symbol in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to a misunderstanding by the US ARMY (no comments there!)

The actual symbol should have been the Rod of Asclepius which is a staff with a single snake entwined around it! This actually represents the staff of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing and medicine! And represents healing, medicine, and healthcare! One theory is that  it represents the Guinea worm parasite. To remove it, healers would wrap the slowly emerging worm around a stick, creating a visual similar to the Rod! By the way, even now one of the best treatment of a guinea worm protruding out of a lesion is to wrap it slowly on a stick and take it out! The snake represents a worm! Maybe that is why it was not good enough! Let us do away with one worm like snake and take two snakes! And give them wings!

What is represents for a medical professional can always be handled later! They would be too busy to notice!

All because a U.S. Army officer mistook the Caduceus for the Rod of Asclepius around 1902!

Unfortunately everyone follows the one with money and power while history and truth normally takes a beating!

Then again a medical professional can still be a “messenger” of good or bad news and justify the Caduceus! Justifying also is the title of Dynamic Hero for Devaraj!

Now look at other wrong symbols but do not lose your sleep over it!

SHubh Ratri!