1 EAGLETON NOTES: Where's Schrödinger’s Cat?

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Wednesday 26 August 2020

Where's Schrödinger’s Cat?

In the 5 months up to the beginning of August I had used the car for a handful of miles - principally for medical visits in Stornoway. In the last three weeks I have driven around 1500 miles including two round trips to Glasgow. In the next three weeks I will make another two trips to Glasgow and Ayr to have my two pre-op appointments and my kidney stent replaced. In between I will have to isolate for 14 days at home on Lewis. I've gone from the peace and quiet of lockdown with no deadlines to meet or appointments to keep to a hectic 'up at 4am to catch the morning ferry' lifestyle again. I know which I prefer....and it isn't the latter.

So my recent visits to Blogland have been few and far between and my life is the poorer for that.

However I did visit Bob's post "I wish they would tackle world peace instead." which, as the title might not readily suggest, was partly about the Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox. 

I have, on several occasions, with Wendy (of my New Zealand Family) sat up into the wee smae hours with a bottle or two of New Zealand's finest red discussing the topic. So the post made me sit up and take notice. The first thing I did was go to a particular place on my bookshelves for the book entitled "Schrödinger’s Cat" or something containing those two words anyway.


To my puzzlement it wasn't there. A search of the rest of the bookshelves and the shelves in the loft all drew a blank. I'm not going to pretend that the loss of the book about Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox is going to change my life.  However the fact that a book, any book, is missing from its proper place is disturbing. What next?

41 comments:

  1. The fact that the book isn't available for observation doesn't mean it doesn't exist. This is Schrödinger’s brilliant thesis. The fact that you can't see the fourth dimension is your fault and not the books.

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    1. True, Adrian. I just wish that I had the power of psychic tracing.

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  2. Good to see you posting whenever you post
    I expect the book is in a box somehere. I'd also check any flatten boxes that might be in the recyle bin.

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    1. Maywyn, whatever I've done with it, or whoever I've lent it to I just wish that I had some memory of it.

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  3. {{tongue very firmly in cheek}}
    Graham, perhaps you should not have looked for that book and then it could be both on your shelf, and somewhere else . . .

    Sorry you are back on the hamster wheel, but all for good reason and your blog friends will all wish you well for a successful op. Thanks for taking the time to check in - I was wondering how you were. x

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    1. Jayne, you are absolutely correct. If I had not looked for the book then I would have known that it was on the shelf where it lives. As it is only the book itself knows where it is.

      Thank you for your kind comment.

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  4. Yet another book that fails to deliver what it promises.

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  5. what next, indeed. It is 2020 after all

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    1. Surely not, Kylie. I'm still living in some alternative time, space continuum.

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  6. Personally I would be quite happy to see that the book was missing, my brain is unable to cope with such things as quantum mechanics etc.

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    1. Cro, I'm sure that I will never open the book again even if It does ever re-appear.

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  7. That happens to me all the time. Sorry to hear that your peaceful life has been interrupted with medical issues.

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    1. Thank you, Diane. I'm glad that I'm not alone.

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  8. Wishing you all the best with all your health stuff and hope everything goes well and your life will soon be calm and peaceful again. Hugz xx

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    1. Margaret, thank you so much. I'm looking forward to all this being over I have to admit.

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  9. I was beginning to think I should send you an email, asking how you were, as there had not been any new posts from you in a while. Good to know you were simply busy!
    Funnily enough, all I know about Schrödinger's cat is from a book of crime fiction where the main characters discuss it at length.

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    1. Thank you, Meike. In which case, if you've memorised the information you have probably remembered more than I have.

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  10. Get another copy from a bookshop or Amazon and you will then certainly find the original. But the real story of S's Cat has to be updated with episodes of Star Trek, Red Dwarf and Harry Potter for explanation.
    Best wishes for your medical attentions.

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    1. Potty, thank you. Even if I could recall the actual title I wouldn't get another copy. My brain is too tired for anything so esoteric nowadays.

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  11. I don't think I'd ever even heard of Schrödinger’s Cat before. I followed the links and read (glanced through) the article. Now I rather hope I'll soon forget all about it. Perhaps you felt the same at some point?? (i.e. got rid of the book) ;)

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    1. Monica, if it wasn't for the fact that I was absolutely convinced that I'd see the book recently I'd have agreed with you about having got rid of it. Now I'm beginning to wonder but as there have been no charity shops open until very recently I'm perplexed. I would never throw a book away and I'm sure I've seen it more recently than lockdown. Of course it may just be that my memory is playing tricks with me.

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  12. Well, I could make the joke that I bet everyone else has made (I haven't read the other comments here yet) and I could say that it is impossible to tell if the book is there or not. But actually it is bothersome to know something is there and yet not be able to find it. I think that occasionally one has an absent minded moment, thinking of something else perhaps, and the book gets put in the wrong place. 25 years ago I think I must have given away all my favourite LPs to the charity shop. I remember taking a load in for my friend and a few of my own... or so I thought. But I don't have a single one of those LPs now, and I know I would never have thrown them away.

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    1. Jenny, I have to admit that the book is almost certainly somewhere but I'm as certain as I can be about anything theses days that it's not there. A few years ago I decided that, apart from a few sentimental ones, I would get rid of all my LPs and was astonished to find that the Oxfam music shop in Glasgow was over the moon. There is a further irony in that I have well over a thousand CDs and I rarely play them now because I transferred them all to my computer/iPod in the days when I lived in New Zealand and now I play them through Apple Music. But (never say never) I've no intention of ever getting rid of the CDs. I do have all my parents' old 78s too.I also have Mum's old gramophone on which to play them.

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  13. A busy life and a busy brain. I'm waiting for my old camera to reveal itself to me, figured that was less stressful than worrying about forgetting where I put it. Good to see you back even with your fine puzzlement.

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    1. Pauline, you are, as always, the pragmatist. I decided to adopt the 'wait and it will turn up' when I lost a favourite ball point pen recently. After a while I replaced it and it turned up, bold as brass, the next day. It's a funny old world.

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  14. Maybe it'll turn up in a weird place or maybe you can read it online. I have my favourite books that I find interesting enough to re-read over and over again.

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    1. Amy, the strange thing is I doubt I'll ever read it again even if it was there. It's not actually a book you read as in read and enjoy anyway.

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  15. If, as you said to Cro Magnon, you are sure that you will never open the book again even if it does ever re-appear, why do you care where the book is?

    Having said that, I must now confess that we are having two similar dilemmas in our own household currently, one involving the Whereabouts of dog’s leash and the other involving a snapshot of my beloved wearing a yellow dress, taken on Easter Sunday 1963 at Lake Eola in Orlando, Florida.

    Note. Predictive text wanted to change Lake Eola to Lake Ebola.

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    1. Bob, I don't actually care where the book is. I care about the fact that I don't know why the book is not where it should be. It's my mind I'm concerned about, not the book.

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  16. Peace and quiet is what I prefer, too...


    I went in search of a book the other day...and couldn't find it...very annoying, indeed!

    Take care, Graham..all the best. :)

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  17. Schrödinger’s Cat - also known as Tibby is probably away mousing or listening to Cat Stevens on his/her i-pod. Best wishes with regard to your upcoming health appointments but please don't listen to "Bat Out of Hell" by Meatloaf when driving to Glasgow and Ayr or you'll be off the road!

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    1. Serendipity, YP. I attached my iPhone to CarPlay in the car yesterday so that I wouldn't miss a call from the hospital (my phone won't accept any messages/calls in the car except hands-free) and all of a sudden it started to play Cat Stevens' "Wild World" from Tea for The Tillerman. As for Meatloaf and 'Bat out of Hell' I used to play that along with Laura Brannigan, Bonnie Tyler and The Cowboy Junkies incessantly.

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    2. Oh baby, baby it's a wild world...
      It certainly is - especially since COVID, Brexit, Trump and Johnson came along.
      It's hard to get by just upon a smile.

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  18. I now have to call in to work and tell them I can't come in because my brain imploded. Tried to read that article, and... POOF. I think the cat ate your book, GB. Look, is that a chicken on the ceiling? WAKA WAKA WAKA ding dong rolllipolllliiiiii. I need a sandwich.

    (this is your brain on quantum physics)

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    1. Marcheline, if your brain imploded then how do you think mine felt?

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  19. Every time I misplace something, Graham, it's usually found in the last place that I look. Now WHY can't that be the first place? Perhaps the same will happen for you and the book. Perhaps it's in an alternate universe since many things are not as expected this year.

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    1. Beatrice, I've decided tat the only way to say sane is to forget that I ever had the book.

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