On The Fly

In this special bonus episode, Boy on a Beam. In a world long ago, when the days moved quite slow, Before buzzes and beeps and the fast things we know, A boy sat quite still on a very fine day, Just staring at nothing . . . and thinking away. No tablets! No gadgets! No screens shining bright! No earbuds stuck in from morning till night. No lists, no charts, and no chores to be done. He just sat there thinking—that's quiet-time fun! His name was Young Albert. He sat in his chair, Thinking of things that weren’t really there. “Suppose,” said Young Albert, with eyes open wide, “I ran super fast with my arms by my side! Suppose I ran faster than anyone knew, And caught up to sunshine that zoomed past me—too! If I hopped on its back for a light-speedy ride, What secrets would I find tucked away deep inside?” “Would stars look like sprinkles, all shiny and small? Would UP feel like sideways? Would BIG feel like Tall?” He giggled and wondered and thought, and he dreamed, Till his head fel...

In this episode. The Thought Experiment–Revisited The Boy on a Light Beam In 1895, a sixteen-year-old boy did something we rarely allow ourselves to do anymore. He stared into space and let his mind wander. No phone. No notes. No “Optimization Hacks” for his morning routine. Just a question: What would happen if I chased a beam of light—and actually caught it? That boy was Albert Einstein . And that single act of curiosity—a Gedankenexperiment , a thought experiment—eventually cracked open Newton’s tidy universe and rearranged our understanding of time itself. Not bad for an afternoon of daydreaming. Imagine if Einstein had been “productive” instead. He would have logged the light-beam idea into a Notion database, tagged it #CareerGrowth, and then promptly ignored it to attend a forty-five-minute “Sync” about the color of the departmental logo. He’d have a high Efficiency Score—and we’d still be stuck in a Newtonian universe , wondering why the Wi-Fi is slow. In a post I wrote back in...

In this episode, Your Creative Imagination . . . This week I’d like to revisit a piece we posted in May 2020; it was one of our first episodes. Let's pretend today is your birthday; you received a gift from a loved one that’s beautifully boxed; what’s your first impulse? Would you set the box aside, “I’m busy right now; I’ll get to it later.” My guess is you would enthusiastically open the box. Let me ask you this: What if I told you you’d had the most precious gift in your possession since birth, yet you’ve never taken the time to open the box? I’m referring to the power of your creative imagination. Albert Einstein summarized it best, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.” Let’s examine our daily thoughts; what do you think about it? Seriously, are your thoughts dependent on your reaction to “what’s happening right now” situations and other people? If so, that special gift we’re discussing is not being used. And if we’re not careful, our imagination ca...

In this episode, Who Was Stephen Hawking? . . . We introduced you to the Penguin Random House Books  Who Was?  - Series. With over 250 titles, it tells the incredible stories of trailblazers, legends, innovators, and creators. This week meet Professor Stephen Hawking. A famous physicist and author. His friends nicknamed him "Einstein" as a teenager because he was brilliant. Physics has always fascinated me. As a young college student, it was my subject of choice. After moving to California in 1985, I had a rare opportunity to meet Professor Hawking. During his many visits to the California Institute of Technology (Cal. Tech), Santa Monica City College booked his appearance (Sept. 1991). Like millions, I devoured his best-selling book A Brief History of Time (1988), about the universe's origins, black holes, and other scientific concepts written in everyday language. We hope you enjoy my audio rendition from the children's book Who Was Stephen Hawking? by Jim Gigliotti...

In this episode, the Who Was? - Series . . . With over 250 titles, Penguin Random House Books Who Was?  - Series tells the incredible stories of trailblazers, legends, innovators, and creators. Are you a bibliophile, an individual who loves and frequently reads books (a bookworm)? What is it that compels you to pick up a book? Is it the cover, is it the title, how about an interest in a specialized subject, or just - perhaps it's a whim? One of my ultimate goals with these podcasts is to reach a young audience. I've found that reading children's books is a gratifying and educational experience. Yes, even grown-ups can understand difficult concepts. To my surprise, both children and adults seem to appreciate the experience. With education such a hot topic in the news right now, we need to be reminded that whether it's going to school, visiting a museum, or online learning, the goal of education (both young and old) is to nurture an interest in learning. William Butler Ye...

2018 is upon us, have you taken time lately to gaze at the heavens? During this winter holiday viewing the moons of Jupiter reminded me to  . . . dream lofty dreams. In 1632 Galileo Galilei published his seminal work Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. My 1953 hardcover copy is of the cherished books in my library. It reminds me that persistent efforts leads to discoveries that benefit future generations. In the forward, is a reminder of the power of the written word as penned by Albert Einstein, “A man is here revealed who possesses the passionate will, the intelligence, and the courage to stand up as the representative of rational thinking against the host of those who, relying on ignorance of the people and the indolence of teachers in the priests and scholars garb, maintain and defend their positions of authority.” Galileo is considered one of the most influential thinkers in history, why? First his uncanny ability to use his senses to skillful...

While reading Einstein : His Life and Universe  by Walter Isaacson, I’m captivated by the childlike wonder with which Einstein approached what most overlook as an everyday occurrence:  time. In Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, logic and observation dictate that time is a constant, yet his theory postulates otherwise. Scientific thinkers use self-evident truths that seem reasonable but are not. Einstein at Griffith Observatory Einstein possessed the uncanny ability to focus on problems with singular purpose. His thought experiments allowed him to imagine beyond the principles of his time, envisioning an expansive universe that defied Newton’s laws. Let’s examine his thinking style and how we can apply it to go beyond the confines of our daily existence. Einstein epitomized the logical thinker. Someone who can apply that mode of thinking—about any subject, content, or problem—in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, asses...