Fofefa: The Book of Good

By Heiti Kender

Dudub@, the Friendies, Porobubu the burrow deer, Bububunny, Voldemar the doggo – all members of the Adib@ Gang – will take you on an incredible adventure around the world and beyond. One good deed at a time, they help to make the world a better place.

Throughout their adventures, the Adib@ Gang introduces the reader to different fields of science, including mathematics, physics, astronomy, and biology. All that in an easy and friendly way – to nourish the mind and feed the interest.

Among other things, there is a lot of talk about the importance of helping others, showing empathy, learning, and being kind. And cookies.

Yes, lots of cookies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tablo Publishing
• Release date: Mar 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9789949886012

Book preview

title

© 2019 Heiti Kender

Translation by Liis Tiirmann

Illustrations by Mari Pakkas

ISBN 978-9949-88-599-2

ISBN 978-9949-88-601-2 (epub)

Contents

1 The Outset

2 Dudub@-s, Plushies

3 P@, b@, softieb@, bi-bi-bi

4 When Dudub@ Has Come

5 The Story of Bububunny – Part Un

6 The Story of Bububunny – Part Deux

7 Bububunny – Macbook

8 About the Adib@ Gang

9 The Genesis of the Friendies

10 The Friendies Travel the World

11 The Friendies and Prime Numbers

12 The Friendies and Infinities

13 This is a Story Aquabubu Would Have Told

14 The Friendies and Adding Hours and Minutes

15 The Friendies Along the Elliptic Curve

16 The Agency Attempts to Capture the Friendies

17 Good Memories Keep Us Alive, Ad Infinitum

18 The Friendies Along Aurora Borealis

19 The Friendies and Songs of Distant Lands

20 Rendezvous with Rudolph!

21 The Friendies Pick Up the Pieces of a Broken Heart

22 The Friendies and Rubik’s Cube

23 Dudub@ and Multiplying Numbers

24 The Friendies Factorize

25 The Friendies, a Baldhead, and a Dreadhead

26 The Hidden Bibi-s and B@b@-s around Us

27 Bububunny’s New Old Radio

28 Bububunny Has Her Radio Fixed

29 The Friendies Celebrate Holidays

30 The Friendies and The Dentist

31 The Friendies and Christmas Elves

32 The Friendies Observe Rainbows

33 Bububunny and Ricardo

34 The Man Who Speaks Steelish

35 The Big B@

36 JE and CA – Somebody Has to Fetch the Gong

37 Why One Shouldn’t be Afraid of the Dark – The Friendies

38 The Friendies Ring Bububunny’s Doorbell

39 Bububunny’s Grand Plan

40 Bububunny’s Declaration to All

41 The Friendies and The Race

42 Do The Friendies Ever Get Mucky?

43 Beware of the Good Dog!

44 The Curious Case of the Lost iPhoneb@

45 Bububunny’s Manifesto in the Name of the Adib@ Gang and the Fofefa Foundation

46 The Friendies Go to the Outset of All Words

47 The Friendies on the Event Horizon

48 How Does Gold Get into Earth?

49 The Friendies Study a Supernova

50 What Color is Red? But What About Yellow? Part I

51 What Color is Red? But What About Yellow? Part II

52 Why is the Sky Blue?

53 Why is Water Blue?

54 Bububunny and Dudub@ Visit the Ancients

55 What Causes the Different Colors in Fruits and Veggies and Berries?

56 The Friendies Riding Bicycles

57 The Friendies Helping All Pioneers

58 Do Stars Twinkle?

59 Why Do We Yawn?

60 Dudub@ and the Friendies Go Fetch New Old Songs

61 The Friendies Keep the Radio Static-free for Teddy Bear

62 Bububunny and Radio Static

63 The Adib@ Gang Goes on Vacation

64 Dudub@ Brightens Up the Night Sky

65 If All Metals Are Gray, Then Why is Gold Yellow and Copper Red?

66 The Friendies and the Dice or the Friendies

67 Dudub@ and Bububunny Observe Absolute Zero Temperature

68 Where Do We Go When We Sleep?

69 Bububunny and the Garden of All Flowers

70 Porobubu and the World’s Meanest Boss

71 Which Side is Left and Which is Right?

72 Bububunny Encourages Everyone to Get in Contact

73 The Friendies Adjust the Clock

74 The Friendies Pretend to be Petrified

75 Bububunny Thinks About Numbers

76 Bububunny is Worried about Silence

77 Bububunny Asks Tom Kibble for Help

78 CARDINAL STORY: The Friendies Preventing Nuclear War

79 The Tales of True Heroes

80 Dudub@, the Friendies, and Freedom

81 Alpha, Beta, Gamma

82 The Adib@ Gang Takes a Group Photo

83 Possibilities and Probability, Three Teacups

84 Lead and Clair Patterson

85 The Friendies on a Rescue Flight

86 Playground Play

87 Porobubu and the Surprising Numbers

88 Bububunny Listens to Newborns

89 Why Can’t We Eat Air?

90 Everyone is Good, Everyone is the Best, and Everyone Does Their Best

91 The Things We Learn and the Things We Pass Along

92 Great Evil Can Be Defeated with Even a Little Bit of Good

93 What Do We Consist Of?

94 Why Do We See In through the Window at Daytime, but Out through the Window at Nighttime?

95 What is Inside the Earth?

96 Why are People Afraid of Spiders and Insects?

97 What if There Was No Moon?

98 Orange snow? – But Of Course!

99 Vitamins!

100 Cords and Cables Get Tangled on Their Own

101 Things Get Messy

102 The Different Colors of Eyes

103 The Colors of Fall

104 Itch

105 The Friendies Shake it Off

106 Vaccination

107 Secrets Trusted with the Friendies Will Always Remain Secret

108 Love and Math

109 Porobubu Wants to Be Like Hunter Doherty

110 Voldemar and Different Types of Light

111 Joy of a Beautiful Day

112 Paris and the Eiffel Tower

113 Freeman Dyson and Project Orion

114 Bububunny, Richard Stallman, Free Software

115 Dudub@ and Bububunny Visit the Masters of Language

116 The Friendies and Feynman

117 Honey Bees and Honey

118 The Friendies and the Tardigrade

119 Dudub@ and the Gentle Giant from Peru

120 Everyone is Different and That’s a Good Thing

121 The Friendies Look Back in Time with Hubble

122 Bububunny Makes Ice Cream

123 The Agency Is At It Again – The Friendies

124 The Friendies and Gagarin

125 The Friendies and the Higgs Boson

126 The Adib@ Gang Visits a Dictator

127 Porobubu and Voldemar Learn Latin

128 The Friendies, the Honey Bees, and an Aircraft

129 Bububunny and Aquabubu

130 Adib@ and Lexusb@

131 We Are All Related to Each Other | Part I

132 We Are All Related to Each Other | Part II

133 The Friendies Go High Above and Deep Below

134 The Worried Snowmen – Global Warming

135 Porobubu Creates Correlations

136 What We Know, and What We Don’t Know

137 When Something Bad Has Been Done

138 Music as a Language, Solresol

139 π

140 The Friendies and the Snowstorm

141 The Friendies and the Infinite Loop

142 Bububunny’s Warning to All Those Who Are Just Doing Their Job

143 SR-71m

144 Possible and Impossible Cinnamon Rolls

145 The Friendies Causing Confusion

146 The Friendies Visit the Tribe of Tea Drinkers

147 Everybody Has to Sleep

148 Secret!

149 If We Had An Extra Day

150 The Rainbow Mountain

151 Don’t Be Afraid to Seek Help from Specialists

152 Bububunny and Douady Bububunny

153 The Adib@ Gang and Antifragility

154 A Human Like No Other

155 Sushuroll

156 School Bullying

157 The Sheep Count Themselves

158 Bububunny – How Much Memory Is Needed to Memorize an Entire Lifetime

159 The Friendies and Mörökölli

160 The Good Lighter

161 Dudub@ Meets With the Tanks

162 The Friendies Rescue Kittyb@

163 Optimus Prime vs. Galvatron feat. Dudub@ and the Friendies

164 Cyber Attack and the Fluffballs

165 A Wall to Separate People

166 The Friendies Travel Along Galaxies

167 I Stand In My Truth. Dudub@

168 Dudub@ Believes What the Children Say

169 If You Happen to Cross Paths With the Friendies

170 All the Sheep Together In One Room, Whoop!

171 Bububunny and the Ever-Increasing Knowledge

172 The Friendies on Their Way Home

173 THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER

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1

The Outset

Somewhere at the headsprings of the Amazon River, where tiny streams meet in forming the great river, there is a special tributary. Dense clouds often appear above this stream, and the Sun shines as if through a haze. The wind makes the leaves on the trees shiver, and with the help of sunshine, a blurred shimmer of patterns is created.

What adds to the uniqueness of this place is the aroma of tea that daily spreads from the head of the stream. Be it classic black tea from Georgia, or rhubarb, or raspberry tea, but the scent of it is surely felt every day.

For this is no ordinary stream, but a hot spring that rises from deep in the bowels of the Earth. Where exactly does it get its warmth is still a secret, but numerous scientists are puzzling over it, constantly doing experiments and hypothesizing on the issue. The locals are just watching, astonished, when yet another group of scientists arrive, but they are kind and welcoming, offering tea and sandwiches to the new arrivals.

Now this hot river is just around 80 degrees. This is perfect for taking a cupful and infusing it with tea leaves or tea bags, in case you do not like crumbs of tea getting stuck in your teeth. You could also use a tea strainer, of course. After that, while the tea brews and cools down, prepare a couple of sandwiches – either with buttered whole grain bread topped with cheese or cucumber, or, if you like white bread, then spread it with butter and top it with slices of cheese and tomato, and season lightly with salt and pepper. These go well with enjoying the sounds of rippling water and the roaring jungle, and watching the blue sky through the faint haze.

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Once upon a time, a long time ago, back when the first humans had long roamed the Earth, the ever increasing problem was that the larger the brain grew and the more thoughts humans had, the harder it was to stay clear-headed. For some reason, after three impossible and two average-sized thoughts had been thought, humans’ heads would start to ache, or they would begin to yawn, or a bird would sing an exceptionally beautiful melody, and the ongoing thought would get lost. There were occasions when someone, upon hearing strange noises coming from nearby bushes, would lose their train of thought out of fear. Quite often, it happened that some pretty good ideas were lost. The wheel, for example, would have been invented remarkably earlier, but exactly at the time when the shape of the wheel had almost been contrived, somebody came along and said that the raspberries had ripened, and invited the inventor to eat. Or somebody would cough and this would be the cause for the loss of focus. It was clear that something needed to be invented for helping thoughts take root.

On one beautiful day, something happened at this river that changed the entire World. On this day, the Sun shone at an angle that was just right, and the cloudage of the sky was befitting, and the wind moved the leaves of the trees just enough to make several spots of light fall on the surface of the stream and reflect back into a spot in the sky that was just perfect.

The people of the riverside village had just gathered up for communal teatime, and were singing a song that was sung almost every time they drank tea, the name of the song being Oh, Every Act of Kindness Has a Soul… They all were in a good mood, as they were thinking, not exactly the same, but quite a similar thought about life being wonderfully beautiful. And at that exact moment, with all those things coinciding, a lightning struck, the cloud of haze above the river densified, and a sort of ball lightning appeared at the intersection point of the rays of light. A small puff was heard, and when the clouds dissolved, and the rays of light no longer intersected, an exceptionally cloud-like phenomenon appeared. White and fluffy, round in every respect, and seeming to have no particular shape – where the air and cloud began and the phenomenon ended was not clear.

The villagers fell silent, because they had also heard this strange sound and admired the play of light. The first one to compose himself was the head of the village, who had spent long days by the riverside for decades, observing the essence of the Sun as well as the clouds. Indeed, he had seen some similar moments, but never something quite like what had just happened. But as he was brave and curious, he stood up and went to examine this phenomenon more closely. By that time, the cloud had reached the ground, and was briskly walking toward the villagers.

It went without saying that this cloud would join the villagers for tea – they made room for her and placed a small white cup with red dots before her.

The important thing about drinking tea is taking pleasure in it, and this is the reason why the villagers stayed calm and composed, chatting on and letting the newly arrived guest drink her tea in peace, which she calmly did. Everybody did notice, however, that as the evening arrived, everyone felt an unforeseen exhaustion. By this time, usually a headache would have arrived, or a larger bonfire would have been lit in order to have something else to do than gazing the stars at night.

Finally, the village head spoke up, asking the guest where did she come from, and whether she travelled inside the clouds or on them. The cloud-like being answered that she did not travel, sort of, adding that she had always kind of been there, but now she materialized, because the humans had a problem – they could not memorize what they had learned, and they were often grumpy. She also said that with her arrival she had decided to solve this problem.

Namely, she is an expert in a revolutionary thing, which she will soon introduce to the villagers. Specifically, after the tea is finished and the last of the cookies have been eaten, one should lay down, put their hand or a pillow under their head, pull on a blanket, and close their eyes. Then, one should think beautiful thoughts, and let the previous day go through one’s head, thanking all the good people they met, and smiling in their thoughts on the idea that tomorrow would be at least as good as today was, be the weather sunny or rainy. And after that, one should count all the sheep, who graze grass in an imaginational garden, and then –

...

By that time, everybody was fast asleep. Sleeping is crucial, because during this, the brain has time to memorize the events, memories, and new knowledge of the day. The whole body has time to rest, and sense organs, such as the ears and the eyes are shut down, as well as time perception. The reason for all this is to wake up fresh and well-rested the next morning, with a brain that is ready to take in more and more new experiences.

On the next day, the villagers noticed that although they did not dream about a hot pursuit or some other big adventure, their hair was very-very messy. Some humans’ hair was so tangled that regardless of what they did with the comb, the coiffure would only get better. Some people’s hair was so messy that even the rakes of the comb got tangled. This bed head was made by the enigmatic guest herself, who was waiting for them at the meeting place in the morning. When everybody had woken up and arrived at the place to drink their morning coffee, the cloud introduced herself to everyone, saying, B@b@b@b@ b@@@b@b@b @b@b@b@@. By the way, @ is pronounced as the a in the at sign.

Everybody immediately knew who she was. Dudub@.

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2

Dudub@-s, Plushies

And the mission, alias task, alias goal of a dudub@ is simple: to help people get a good rest. And everyone who knows how rare good sleep is – the kind after which you wake up in the morning, all fresh and rested – knows how to appreciate it.

A good sleep begins with falling asleep easily. Sometimes, you are in the middle of reading a good book, sometimes there is a freshly made biscuit cake in the fridge, waiting for the next day, sometimes there is a crow croaking outside, and sometimes you just feel excited. You have to let go of all this, and instead think about tomorrow being just another good day, with the crow either gone or stopped croaking, the biscuit cake cut into pieces and eaten cold, a nice cup of tea perfectly accompanying it. And excitement is a great thing, but only when it comes during daytime.

It is pointless to take a book or your phone with you when you go to bed. Do your reading somewhere else, and the same goes for chatting on the phone. After finishing, leave the book or the device behind, and brush your teeth. While brushing, think about how many songs you can recall that contain the word yesterday or tomorrow in their lyrics. Or how many bibib@-s make up one b@b@b@. But don’t you dwell on that for too long, we are going to calculate a precise answer!

And sometimes it happens that Dudub@ comes to us way sooner than we had planned! In such a case, we have to be careful and think whether it is reasonable to go to sleep right away, or whether it is wiser to wait a bit – so that we wouldn’t go to sleep too early, and mess up our sleep schedule by waking up in the middle of the night.

But when everything seems to be in order, and Dudub@ comes at the right time, then it is time to go to bed. It is important that everybody goes to sleep at the same time. For this, one needs a dudub@, a plushie, or someone very special who likes to go to bed at the same time as them. It is the easiest with a dudub@ and a plushie – they should at least exist in one’s mind, and even better if they exist in reality.

The idea of the plushies was born approximately at the same time when the first dudub@ came into being. Indeed – the Dudub@ we met in the previous chapter is not the only dudub@ who came into being on that beautiful evening in the Amazon River. The tiny miracle of the creation of a dudub@ has occurred many-many times, and nobody knows for sure how many of them there are in the world! And how many plushies! The main idea of plushies is that when dudub@-s bring good sleep, then plushies help to maintain this good sleep. Indeed, it can be said that there is a worldwide network of plushies.

And when we look at how sweet and deep is the slumber of a child, and how much an adult tosses and turns while asleep, then it is clear to all that in the case of the latter, we are dealing with a severe lack of plushies and dudub@-s. On the one hand, more and more dudub@-s come into being, and almost every child gets a plushie, but on the other, when children become an adults, they scare dudub@-s away by going to sleep at irregular times, and they forget their plushies somewhere, be it a suitcase or a shelf. For this reason, it is important that children help their parents to find their plushies, even if this requires turning the house upside down. And if the plushie has gone missing, or the parent has given it to their child, one must quickly get a new one. True, it can be bought, but it is much better when you make it yourself. Scientific research has confirmed that handmade plushies guarantee a slumber that is at least 27% better. True story!

It might happen that you have a dudub@ at home! For a good night’s sleep, it doesn’t matter if a b@b@b@ is done by a dudub@ or a plushie – deep sleep is guaranteed either way. And it has to be kept in mind that although dudub@-s are not able to get everywhere and hush everyone to sleep, they exist in this world to do as much good as they can possibly do. And good sleep is definitely a very good thing to do and bring. All humans should follow their example. But humans have a flaw of being lazy.

Now, it feels like Dudub@ has come to me… I have to go to sleep. Everyone is sleeping. B@b@b@.

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3

P@, b@, softieb@, bi-bi-bi

A p@ can be done to every animate or inanimate being. Just put your thumb in your fist, leave other fingers straight, and wave – with your palm in the direction of the recipient of your p@. For example, you can do a p@ on a cheek by placing your hand gently on the cheek. A b@ is basically the same thing, but it has a higher magnitude of gentleness than with a p@. It feels just like a touch by a soft feather on the cheek. And softieb@ is, again, a tad softer than a b@. Done extremely gently, it is almost as if not touching at all, it is felt very subtly – but still clearly.

The meaning of the word magnitude can be explained by comparing one apple to ten apples. Or count one coffee bean and ten coffee beans. And then count a hundred coffee beans. One and ten are different by one order of magnitude, as are ten and a hundred. This means that one and a hundred differ from each other by two orders of magnitude. Look at those piles of coffee beans, a hundred beans is just two orders of magnitude bigger than one bean, but there are a hundred beans already. Three orders of magnitude would mean a thousand beans, but in order to count all those, one should have a sandwich and a cup of tea to be able to keep going. But let us return to b@-s.

It is clear that every living being does not have hands, and that paws are not big enough (with the exception of bears and lions), and that bugs, for example honey bees, do not have paws at all! But this doesn’t mean that they cannot do a b@.

A honey bee flying nearly at its top speed equals to a b@. But since it is not nice to fly onto someone’s cheek like that, and the one who receives the b@ might get startled, the honey bees have a habit of doing b@ with one of their front legs. But it is so tiny, and almost invisible, that it more or less equals to a bi. And, to be completely clear, honey bees do bi three times in a row: bibibi.

Should you wish to know more about it, you could try to do a b@ with your ring finger (this is the one next to your pinky). Bibib@!

A b@ is suitable for all sorts of occasions. For example, I am glad to see youb@. Or, You look so goodb@. Or simply, I am happyb@. The best b@-s are those done in the same way as dudub@s do them. Before going to sleep. When you are already in bed, feeling nice and warm, and someone does a b@ to you, so you doze off into a deep and restful sleep. Moms often cuddle with their children, and then do them a b@. Dads also cuddle, but they are more likely to do a p@. In both cases, the sleep will be very good.

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4

When Dudub@ Has Come

We often hear people say that they need to sleep or that they are sleepy or that they are fatigued or feeling drowsy. Nowadays, people also say things like I feel the dudub@ coming or I have the dudub@.

You can immediately tell if dudub@ has been to a person, or is currently there by taking a look at the person’s hair – when the hair looks messy, resembling a pack of spaghetti that has fallen off the counter, then it is clear that the person has recently met a dudub@. It is equally interesting to witness the moment when dudub@ comes. At meetings, we sometimes notice someone yawning. Or at the work desk. Or while being at the wheel, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. Sometimes we yawn at the school desk. Sometimes without any specific reason.

Usually, this is is not given much attention, or it is simply said that yawning is contagious, as others will soon be yawning, too. But one should look past the yawner so that the yawner is in sight only partly, as a side-glance. And sometimes, especially when the light shines from behind the yawner, it is visible that, indeed, the yawner has a dudub@. There she sits and gently tousles the hair to guarantee an enjoyable slumber.

Sometimes, the same thing happens during important meetings, as someone is speaking about critical or urgent matters, but at the same time, especially when you peek at the listeners, dudub@ arises behind them, softly but steadily. Just like the rising Sun, but soft and sedative. And dudub@ definitely does not blind. It is nice to sit there, as it is warm and your tummy is full. It is full of cookies and tea, which are always available in meeting halls. And sometimes there is honey and lemon to go with the tea, and the cookies are always soft and crumbly.

Honey, and cookies – aka bickies – are exactly what attract dudub@-s. And, of course, sleepy people. And somnolent speech. A dudub@ comes unnoticeably, as always. First, she sits on the speaker’s shoulder for a moment and does a softieb@ on their cheek in order to check if the speaker is still awake, or if they are already asleep, just speaking in their sleep.

Then, she jumps over to each listener and does a b@ to everyone. Especially those who have some cookie crumbs on their lap. Some notice that the speaker has become a bit more muted, but some do not, because they are already somewhere in dreamland. The speaker, in case they are not too fascinated by their own voice, will notice that some listeners are looking at the ceiling, eyes closed, because the lighting of the ceiling lamp is blinding, and some are looking in front of them – most likely at the cookie crumbs that lie on their lap. And some listen to the long speech with their eyes closed. And this is the right thing to do, try it out whenever someone reads you poems. When you close your eyes and the poem is any good, a motion picture will unfold in front of your eyes immediately.

Dudub@ jumps from one listener to another, and sometimes also to the speaker, and the meeting room becomes more silent by the minute. The speaker attempts to make a conclusion, but the numbers on the paper are running around, and cookie crumbles have changed each letter into an accented one. B@b@b@.

After the meeting, everyone feels different. Some feel well-rested, but some are right in the middle of a good sleep, and therefore dudub@ is still in their heads. And so they go back to their desks, move the computer mouse a bit, get into a better position on the office chair, and roam their dreamland with dudub@.

When at work or at school you see someone sleeping, do not run to wake them up. They might just be in the middle of a bigger dream, and nobody wants to be interrupted in the middle of a movie. This is also a clear sign that the person is tired, and instead of organizing long meetings, we should think about how to ease people’s workload and make working more efficient. Likewise, having more pillows – and crumbly cookies – in the lounge area of the workplace ought to be taken back into consideration.

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5

The Story of Bububunny | Part Un

The story of Bububunny goes as follows: Once, there was a tiny bunny, who loved grazing on grass, and munching on carrots, and, if the opportunity presented itself, some cables, too, because that was always interesting – why is this cable here, winding across the floor? Since devices such as an ammeter or a voltmeter were not available, the cable had to be closely investigated by carefully removing the isolation in order to see what is inside. And, should she continue to chew on the cable, it usually led to a device shutting down – for example, almost translucent double-cables that contain copper were likely to be loudspeaker cables. After chewing on those, one or several speakers would shut down, making the music stop. But sometimes it was all for nothing – there was a cable and all, but after chewing on it, nothing happened. A lot of homes have cables that run into the kitchen and the bathroom, or even to the shower room, but there are no speakers attached to the cables.

Bububunny always steered clear from chewing through round black cables – first, it was extremely difficult chew them up, and second, they could give a massive electric shock. But they definitely had to be chewed on – just a little bit – in order to test the teeth.

Of course, Bububunny also attempted to fix those cables, but it proved to be rather difficult without tools such as soldering paste, a soldering station, or a tin-lead solder. Bububunny tried to fix the cables using her paws and teeth, but this always ended up an even bigger mess. But we cannot say that she didn’t try!

Once, Bububunny fell severely ill. Nobody was sure whether it was the cold wind from the open window, or if some germ had found its way into her ear, but she caught labyrinthitis, more commonly known as inflammation of the inner ear. This was extremely painful and irritating, and she had to hold her head on the side just to be able to exist somehow, and, when she held her head like this, she lost her balance and everyone thought Bububunny was constantly turning somersaults and had gone mad. This is why it is always important to pay attention before giving evaluations or forming opinions on anything. For example, when someone is lying on the street, then a lot of grown-ups think that it must be a drunkard, and pay no attention to them. But it might also be that this person suffers from a heart condition or something else, and that he or she needs an ambulance. And this is why it is always important to make sure what has happened, and then act accordingly.

Bububunny was hospitalized and the doctors immediately begun to examine her. Being learned persons, they delved into looking for an answer to the problem, and examined her thoroughly to see why the seemingly ordinary Bububunny holds her head on the side like that. They took blood tests from the bunny, and examined her neck and ears, and when the blood tests detected an inflammation, they already knew that it was labyrinthitis. Luckily, the duration of the treatment was only one week, by which time Bububunny felt pretty good. But her neck stayed a bit crooked from constantly holding it on the side, and since then she holds her head a bit askew.

Nobody knows for sure whether it was the inflammation, or the treatment, or the high quality rabbit food she was given while hospitalized, but after the illness, when she was able to hold her balance again and ran to the food bowl, she felt that something was very different. She remembered everything very clearly from the previous day. She remembered her whole life – all the cables she had chewed up, all the carrots she had eaten, all the droppings she had ever left anywhere – some had been hidden so cleverly that they would come out years later, when her previous home would go through remodeling, and the couch would be moved.

This condition is called hyperthymesia, which means that you will remember everything you ever experience. In the following days, Bububunny learned the Latin alphabet – from A to Z, and also all those strange crooked letters, she remembered the password with which to log into the computer. With the help of Google, she learned to speak English, Spanish, French, and Russian, got to know the basics of electronics, and learned how to pick locks—just in case, although she completely trusted her doctors. Because now she could perfectly understand what they were saying.

The doctors had a problem – what to do with Bububunny now that she is well and healed? She cannot stay at the hospital forever. Bububunny did what she could, uploading a picture and a description of herself on Facebook – saying she is a common rabbit who loves fun and cuddles. She did not write about having absolute memory, because she was very modest.

There was one thing her memory was hazy about. You know the feeling when you have the answer to a question on the tip of your tongue, but you cannot say it. For her, It was the moment of her birth, and what her mother told her then. And she was absolutely certain that she said something, because she so clearly remembered her voice.

Bububunny spent hours and hours on trying to remember, often even stopping crunching on her carrots while doing it. When you take a look at some rabbit then it is clear that they do, indeed, sometimes stop everything they were occupied with and stand, motionless, just as if trying to remember something. Did I turn off the lights when I left home? or Did I lock the car? or Is today someone’s birthday and I have forgotten it? And on the next moment they think, Hey, I am a rabbit! I don’t have electricity at home, I live in a burrow, I don’t have a car, and we do not celebrate birthdays!

But our Bububunny thought, deeply, but couldn’t remember. And then, one day, she happened to read an online forum about dudub@-s, and why sleep is beneficial and how it increases memory capacity.

But how do you sleep when you are not sleepy! Hardly had she thought of it when the door of the study opened silently, and Bububunny knew exactly who stood at the entry. It was Dudub@!

Dudub@ came to Bububunny, did her a b@, and whispered the sweetest and softest things that exist in this world into her ear. After this, Bububunny put her head on her paws, closed her eyes, and slept for several hours. During this time, the doctors went to see if it is really so that the energetic rabbit is sleeping through the day!

After a few hours, she woke up from her slumber, feeling well-rested, yawned, then stretched her front paws, and rear paws, after which she arched her back – she had read from a yoga webpage that it is very important to pandiculate. She then happily jumped over to the food bowl, where the doctors had left her some fresh hay.

Scents have the quality of bringing back old memories. For example, when you are already an adult and go to work, and are generally very busy all the time, then try this – park your car somewhere, and should there be a puddle near there, preferably with muddy water, take a stick and stir the water. During the stirring, the smells of rain, dirt, dust, and mud come up, and you will remember how you ran or rode a bike just through puddles as a kid, making the water would splash around, and after this your clothes would be stained with mud and smell just like this.

Bububunny sniffed the fresh hay and remembered the moment she was born, into the fresh hay, nosing at the scents of the new world! And her mother looked at her with a loving gaze and said, You, bunny, are special. And your name shall be Alexandra. May you have a long and happy life!

Alexandra! My name is Alexandra! Bububunny murmured to herself. But is it written with a ks or an x? Most likely it is written with an x. She also had a nickname, used by her mother’s acquaintances – Saša. And she had a special nickname – Sanja – used by her family members.

Her mother, of course, used all of those names according to occasion. When she had been a good bunny, then she was Sanja. But when she had been a bit mischievous, then mother called her Saša. And when she had been a bad bunny, then mom would say, Alexandra, please come here, I want to talk to you. And you could be sure that in such a case mom wouldn’t want to ask whether Sanja wants kibbles or carrots for breakfast. Alexandra smiled upon that memory and started to crunch on her carrots.

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6

The Story of Bububunny | Part Deux

Alexandra had one big problem. She didn’t know where to go after she gets out of the hospital. It is clear that for a tiny little bunny, it is extremely difficult to get by alone in today’s society, even if you have absolute memory.

Then, she got a great idea. When it was evening time again, and everyone had left the hospital, she came out of her cage and jumped onto the computer table. She opened a web browser. Luckily, the Facebook account of the hospital was logged in, and Bububunny methodically – that is, very precisely – begun to browse the people that had added the pet hospital as a friend. She made notes about people that stood out in a separate file. Soon, she had 11 names. Now, it was time for the more difficult part. She posted an advertisement under the hospital’s Facebook account in such a way that only those 11 people were able to see it. An advertisement about a bunny, Bububunny, to be precise, who loves to cuddle and who is very friendly and lovable. Bububunny, being very modest, even laughed a bit – it was weird to write stuff like that about herself. But since she was truly very lovable and cute, then why not. She added the hospital’s phone number to the ad. The ad went up online on Thursday evening. Alexandra even managed to find a picture of herself, nicely sitting on the lap of her doctor, still recovering from the illness and medications. She does remember wanting to wave to the camera, but since she was still so sleepy at the time, the picture just shows that one of her paws is in movement.

All that was left to do now was to wait. And you know how hard it is to just wait. Bububunny thought about learning the first hundred digits of Pi: 3.1415926535 and so on. But this turned out to be a bummer, because her absolute memory enabled her to remembered all the numbers after reading them just once. But then she started looking for where this Pi occurs, and it turns out it occurs at a lot of places! Starting from the quotient of a circle’s circumference and diameter, and ending with Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, which says that it is impossible to simultaneously know the exact position and speed of a particle – an electron, for example. You can know either one or the other, or both, but then only approximately. And then there are fractals. It is like Pi is everywhere.

She then tried to guess what are the 101st, 102nd, and so on digits of Pi. She did some thinking, thought of a number, wrote it down in order to not deceive herself, and then checked her answer. She nailed only as many numbers as probability theory allows, which is 1 out of 10. When she reached the 200th digit, still none of those 11 people who were able to see the advertisement had contacted her.

Then she jumped onto the windowsill, looked out the window, and saw children playing, precisely 23 children. She proceeded to think about how big is the probability that two of those children have their birthday on the same day. After doing some calculations, she reached a conclusion that this probability is 50%, which makes it quite high. And then the computer made a ding! as someone had sent an email to the hospital!

Bububunny’s nose and paws were trembling with excitement. And, indeed, one of those 11 persons wished to take Bububunny in! And then another email! And another! Bububunny answered to them all with a polite note to call during working hours at the given number. This was necessary to cover the tracks. Bububunny waited until midnight, and by then, 7 out of 11 had sent an email. Then she went back into her cage and tried to fall asleep, because the next day promised to be very eventful, and she would do well to rest up for that.

Her slumber was, of course, restless, and she was wide awake by sunrise, so Bububunny took a carrot and chomped on that to make time go by faster. Then the Sun started to shine into the room, and sunrays danced on the glass of the hospital’s devices in such a way that the light broke onto Bububunny’s nest and made a full spectre of light on it.

Alexandra did not miss a chance as good as that and took a look at how an orange carrot would look in different lightings. And as she was rolling the carrot back and forth with her paws, the door suddenly opened and in walked the doctor with one of those 11 persons! And, to be precise, it was the one person Bububunny had hoped for, the one who had answered to the ad first!

He calmly listened to what the doctor said about taking care of Bububunny, how to feed her, what medications to give her, and what to watch for. Then, he asked a few questions himself, and after listening to the doctor’s answers, it was time for the doctor to make one last observation of Bububunny, and after this she was put into a portable cage, and carried into the car that was waiting outside.

Bububunny noticed that he was wearing white Adidas shoes with fofefa written on them, and the car was a Lexus. A white one, looking very friendly. Bububunny’s nest was fastened with a seat belt on the passenger seat, and the engine started. But instead of driving off, the driver turned to Bububunny and said, Alexandra, you are safe and sound now. Luckily, we found you. You do not have to worry, because you will not be living an ordinary life, for you will get your own little house where you can live as you wish.

Bububunny’s eyes watered up. Heavens, how did they know? And I will get my own house!

One of our members works at an IT-company that maintains the hospital’s computers. He noticed that a computer was turned on late at night when there should be nobody in the building anymore. He logged into the system and launched the web camera. He was astonished to see a bunny – you, Alexandra – tapping on the keyboard! At first, he thought he would upload the video online, but then he thought that the whole world would then come to bother you. But this probably wouldn’t be your wish. You seem very modest.

Bububunny listened in astonishment, and nodded silently. Since she is so tiny, she did not see out of the car windows and therefore did not know where she was driven, but she was not too worried about that – she was quite sure she was safe, and that she would have the best possible future.

Bububunny’s new home was on the porch of the Grandpa and Grandma of a member of the Adib@ Gang. From the porch, she had a private exit into a large garden with an orchard, and different types of berries, including strawberries. Green peas, carrots, potatoes, and turnips grew in the farther end of the garden.

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7

Bububunny – Macbook

All those evenings Bububunny spent at the hospital – when she already knew how to use the computer – were totally worth it. Of course, she knew that she couldn’t stay at the hospital forever. Who knew what plans life had for her – or if she would ever get her paws on a computer again.

So she decided to go ahead and get her own computer. But what should a bunny do to fulfil such a plan? She looked around to see what she really owned in that nest of hers. Was it the hay, the carrot, the pellets? Nobody would give her a computer in exchange for those. Or was there a slight chance?

Bububunny carefully cleaned up her nest, placing hay into one corner, and the carrot in the center. Around it, she put pellets in a way to form a spiral, but only to places that should have a prime number according to the order of numbers. So, the carrot in the middle, next, a pellet, another pellet, then an empty space, then a pellet, and then an empty space – because 6 is not a prime number – then a pellet again, and so on, until all the pellets had been spread around. Now, she took a picture of the scene with the computer’s web camera, adjusted the contrast of the image a bit higher than the original, added a nice frame, and uploaded it to the Internet. She added a comment saying that in exchange for the original image, she would like a cable (1 meter in length), 10 small screws, 2 pieces of aluminium foil, keyboard stickers, one small mirror, and a soap box. Quite a lot of people were interested in the barter, and she ended up also getting an empty foldable draughtboard. But she didn’t have the items sent anywhere – where would a bunny have the stuff sent anyway? Instead, she asked the winner to assemble the stuff in a way so that the draughtboard would be left half-open, inner- and outer surfaces covered with aluminium foil, the keyboard stickers glued to the bottom inner side, the mirror glued to the upper inner side, and the cable attached to the soap box and the draughtboard. This is how a nice computer-like work of art, titled Draughts with Artificial Intelligence was made.

The work of art met with phenomenal success! Immediately, similar pieces were made using a chessboard and all sorts of other varieties, but the original was fancied the most. Some people offered money for it, some offered other fun stuff. Bububunny, however, wanted a small laptop in exchange for the piece. Soon enough, there was an offer just like that, but the owner of the computer told Bububunny that it had had water damage and he was not sure if the computer would work completely fine. He asked Bububunny if this is ok, and she answered, Of course!, because Bububunny had already thought about what she would do if the computer should break.

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Namely, she had gone through all sorts of educational videos online, and when she got to electricity and electronics with her studies, she found Louis Rossmann’s channel on Youtube. His videos were very helpful and fun to watch. This technician is so talented that he even has time to throw in some jokes, talk about his view of life, and share good advice to his viewers while repairing computers.

Bububunny asked the man to send the computer to Louis’ address, while she herself sent him an email saying that this might come as a surprise, and even as a bit odd,