Ancora Imparo

This is a story about the counter-intuitive. Actually, it's less than a story. It's more of an anecdote. Okay, maybe it doesn't even qualify as that. It's a blog post. Yeah.

Last night I checked into a hotel, went up to my room and unpacked. The room had a mini-fridge, but it was turned off. I hate that. So I turned the thermostat up to full and stuck a Coke in it. (Remind me to blog about Coke vs. Pepsi.)

This morning I took out the Coke to get an early caffeine fix, and it was frozen solid. Oobz. I turned down the thermostat a bit, and set the Coke next to the computer to thaw.

I've been sitting here, catching up on email and news and blogs, and squishing and shaking the bottle periodically to accelerate the thawing process. I've been able to extrude some cold, caffeinated slushiness for oral administration, but it was going too slowly.

The problem is, the slush kept getting bottle-necked in the, uh, bottle neck, and there wasn't an easy way to keep it moving. Finally, I thought of a method that would work. Something counter-intuitive. And it didn't take any extra tools.

I've always been fascinated with solutions that are counter-intuitive. Like putting salt on watermelon to make it sweeter. Or blowing on a fire to make it hotter. Being hard on a kid to make their future easier. Can you think of other examples?

The brain likes solutions that make sense, that move in the same direction you want to go. It doesn't like going south when your destination is north, even if the northern passage is covered in snow. But there are times you have to take the counter-intuitive approach.

After trying with little success to suck the slush from the upside-down soda bottle, I blew into it. This increased the air pressure in the bottle. The air would push the slush into the bottle slightly, but when I stopped the slush slid back into the neck and sealed it, and then the internal pressure pushed the slush out of the bottle for me.

Sometimes you have to push when you want to pull. Sometimes you have to give when you want to receive. I love counter-intutive solutions. Ancora imparo.


Blog Tag: Chatter