Wednesday, December 28, 2005

3 Points of Contact!

In the 50s and 60s, some smart group of people came out with a general formula/theory that anyone in the world can be related to another person by means of a series of 5 acquaintances.
That means that through 5 other people forming the intermediate nodes, anyone can be linked to me. And it can be anyone in the world that you can be connected to via 5 people.

This came to be known as the Six Degrees of Separation.

Dwelling my thoughts and braincells on this, I started to think of a chair. During my tertiary education in the UK, someone once mentioned to me that any objects, as long as they have 3 points of contact to any solid surface, they are more stable.

Consider this example, a chair with 4 legs, 4 points of contact. If any of the legs are shortened, the chair becomes unstable. And it takes quite a bit of effort to make it stable again, either by means of adding paper to the shorter leg or by shortening other legs.

Now look at the 3 legged chair. No matter which leg is shortened, it remains stable. This explains why camera and video tripods only have 3 legs. Even when I was standing a while ago, with 2 legs on the ground. Leaning towards a wall and allowing my elbow to contact the wall for side support gave me a more stable standing than just 2 legs alone.

3 points of contact forming stability.

Let's look at it from a non-physical angle.
A promise.
When you make a promise, you tell yourself that you will achieve some goal.
Ultimately the 3 points of contact can probably help to make it a more sturdy goal.
When you wed someone, you don't just keep the promise of faithfulness to yourself and your spouse, you ensure that the parents are aware of the promise as well..
3 Points of Contact.

Another example.
You and your best friend.
No one will really know until a 3rd party is aware.
3 points of contact.

A journey.
A journey is never complete without the 3 important criteria.
Start point.
End point.
Path to be taken.
3 points of contact.
Without the 3, the journey will have no start, no end and no direction. Completely unreliable.


Today is 28th December 2005.
Time is 0934hrs.

A creature that when young walks on 4 legs, in adulthood walks on 2 and in old age walks on 3.
When that creature does walk on 3 legs, it is a time when it is most wise and calm.


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