Of Latitudes and Attidudes

An excellent excerpt from a New Yorker article: "This phenomenon of simultaneous discovery—what science historians call "multiples"—turns out to be extremely common. One of the first comprehensive lists of multiples was put together by William Ogburn and Dorothy Thomas, in 1922, and they found a hundred and forty-eight major scientific discoveries that fit the multiple pattern. Newton and Leibniz both discovered calculus. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace both discovered evolution. Three mathematicians "invented" decimal fractions. Oxygen was discovered by Joseph Priestley, in Wiltshire, in 1774, and by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Uppsala, a year earlier. Color photography was invented at the same time by Charles Cros and by Louis Ducos du Hauron, in France. Logarithms were invented by John Napier and Henry Briggs in Britain, and by Joost Bürgi in Switzerland. "There were four independent discoveries of sunspots, all in 1611; namely, by Galileo in Ital...

Several weeks ago I had a wonderful opportunity to get a hug from the "hugging saint" aka Ammachi aka Mata Amritanandamayi . This was my first time, so naturally there was an element of curiosity fueling my visit. While I was waiting in line for a token, there was amazing music flowing out of the meditation hall where Ammachi was seated. Other than the sheer warmth of the 'hugging' experience, I was told that the best part of attending Ammachi's events is the music and they were right. The voice was absolutely melodious; the lyrics I didn't understand much but the sounds emanating from the hall into the open arena put me right into a state of bliss. Somehow my attention was drawn to the couple behind me in the line. The female seemed hearing impaired so her companion was explaining the process of tokens, etc. to her. I felt for her. It hit me that a big reason of my current happiness was because of the music and she can't hear a thing! How deprived must...