Mr. Pendlum’s Compendium of Illustrated Verse from the Multiverse Vol. 1 (sample)
Introduction
Dear reader,
I wish I could give you more turns on my clock
For you to learn and discover more
There are only so many ticks and tocks
But an endless amount of things to explore
Yet, I can, however, give you a peek
Of what the vast multiverse may hold
There are countless remarkable people to meet
Thoughts to be shared and tales to be told
This book is not meant to teach or instruct
But to inspire wonder and curiosity
I hope your own inquiry you will conduct
Utilizing the key words provided by me
And if you so happen, along the way
To learn a new thing or maybe two
Or discover a useful mnemonic aid
I will, of course, be over the moon
But remember, a thing does not have to be
Fully understood to be fully enjoyed
So I leave you now with this curious read
Welcome, lady, gentlemen, girl or boy
As ever,
Mr. Pendlum
The Zero Universe
In the beginning, there was Zero
And Zero was all there was
Zero never did much
As nothing never does
But then one fateful moment
Zero had a thought
Zero started thinking
Of all that it was not
Then Zero started visualizing
All that it could be
And soon it came to realize
It could be anything
Zero could potentially be
2 plus 8 plus 3
As long as it was sure to add
Negative 13
It could be 12 divided by 2
Then multiplied by 9
If it also negatively added
12 times 4.5
It could even be i times pi
Then e to the power of that
As long as 1 was added too
Zero was still intact
But these kinds of equations needed
A rough chronology
Calculations required time
So time came into being
Now Zero could express itself
With separate entities
A daunting infinite amount
Of possibilities
But then an unexpected thing
Soon began to occur
These new and separate entities
Started to observe
They first became aware of themselves
Then they looked out far
And then they all began to notice
Other equation parts
9 saw 12 divided by 2
3 noticed 4.5
e discovered 8 plus 3
1 saw i times pi
They observed each other curiously
And tried to do the math
What did these random numbers mean?
They craved to understand
Only Zero knew the answer to
The equation in its head
It’s always been and will always equal
Zero in the end
key words: quantum foam; quantum fluctuation; Euler's identity; uncertainty principle; ultimate free lunch; nothing; virtual particle
Atom and E
Atom and E
Atom and E
The former, matter
Latter, energy
Atom and E
Atom and E
Our souls and bones
Were made from these
Atom and E
Atom and E
They made the apple
And the tree
Atom and E
Atom and E
They are the water
And the seed
Atom and E
Atom and E
The founders of
Our ancestry
key words: atoms; energy; matter; quantum physics; particle theory
Laughing Gas Giant
There is a planet that has no floor
It has no ground or solid core
It has no land but it does have mass
It's made out of very dense laughing gas
The inhabitants, well, they cannot fly
They cannot teleport or glide
They have no jets to self-propel
And there’s never a breeze to give them help
So they bobble and float quite helplessly
At the planet’s center of gravity
Yet they seem amused in their crumpled mass
Or maybe it’s just the laughing gas...
key words: mass; gas giant
Galileo Galilei
I’m certain that you’ve heard some people say a certain name
And if you’ve ever said it then you know it’s fun to say
But do you know the story of the man behind the name?
This brilliant man whose name was Galileo Galilei
Scientist, mathematician, and philosopher by trade
Inventor too and engineer was Mr. Galilei
Such genius and ambition this Italian man displayed
It’s not much of a mystery why he quickly rose to fame
So many great discoveries and so many things he made
Improved upon the telescope to look out into space
Four giant moons near Jupiter he found, and even they,
Known as the Galilean moons, now share his charming name
These moons, Europa, Callisto, Io, and Ganymede
Whose names in ancient Greek I know are kind of hard to read
Were huge in size but bigger was the impact that they made
For they would shape the course of history for Galilei
These were the first of objects to ever be found in space
That orbited another planet in a distant place
These were the moons that Galileo found that fateful day
By looking through a special telescope that he had made
“At last,” he thought, “this here is proof that finally lets me claim,
Not everything revolves around the earth, in fact, I’ll state:
The earth revolves around the sun and not the other way!”
But almost everybody else had something else to say:
"How ludicrous, preposterous, and utterly insane
Some other guy Copernicus I think once said the same!
Take back your bold beliefs, your mad remarks, and silly claims
Or those of us in charge will firmly put you in your place!”
But his ideas changed the world and those that were afraid
Locked Galileo in his house and there they made him stay
But not before he wrote a book so critically acclaimed
That made it sure his legacy and name would never fade
For now we know how true they were, the many things he claimed
The earth revolves around the sun and not the other way
And now you know the story of the man behind the name
This brilliant man whose name was Galileo Galilei
key words: Galileo Galilei; Nicolaus Copernicus; Johannes Kepler; heliocentrism; Ptolemaic system
Bacterial Desertion
I was told that these pills
Would increase my intelligence
But instead they made
My bacteria smart
They decided it was time
To find better residence
So they went their separate ways
And I fell apart
key words: human microbiota; microbiome
Beetle in the Box
Imagine an alien world full of people
All different and special like you and like me
And each of them carried a box with a beetle
But only inside of their own they could see
And everyone chatted all about their beetles
Describing the color and number of feet
But strangely no one could observe other beetles
For only inside their own box they could peek
They got along fine always speaking of beetles
Til one day they started to argue and boast
Some started to bluntly insult other beetles
And say that their own bug was better than most
“How silly,” some said, “to assume that your beetle
Is better than others, well how would you know?
It makes zero sense to compare any beetle
When you can know only the one that you own!”
Beetles in a box and feelings and thoughts
Have one common thing that they share
You only can judge the ones that you’ve got
It’s really no use to compare!
key words: beetle in a box; Wittgenstein's beetle; Ludwig Wittgenstein; philosophy
René Descartes
Some time ago there lived a guy that I think you should know
Philosopher and clever mathematician, he was both
His first name was René though you can call him by Descartes
This clever man who turned thinking into a form of art
So many questions bubbled every day inside his head
So many deep and daring thoughts kept him awake in bed
“How can we know that we exist? How can we trust our eyes,
If when we sleep and dream of things they seem real in our minds?
Could we be living in a dream? Is any of this real?
Can we be sure of anything we see or touch or feel?
There must be something in this world that I can trust for sure
There must exist at least one thought I know is true and pure!”
“But wait, that’s it!” He realized as he thought about this thought
The fact that he was thinking was this truth that he had sought
“I must exist, I must be real because if I was not,
I don’t think I’d be sitting here thinking of all these thoughts!
If there is one thing in this world I know for sure, it’s this:
The fact that I am thinking also means I must exist
So here I give my greatest thought, my idea so grand
Cogito ergo sum, or I think therefore I am!”
key words: René Descartes; Cartesian philosophy; cogito ergo sum; analytical geometry; malicious demon

Brownian Motion Ride
What’s all the commotion
About this promotion
On the brand new Brownian Motion Ride?
Early reservations
For this new sensation
Based on calculations by Mr. Einstein?
I’ve read they first seat you
Then proceed to shrink you
To a very minuscule particle size
They then put you all in
A small speck of pollen
And watch you all randomly jiggle inside
How horrid to fathom
The onslaught of atoms
Bombarding you violently from every side
With nowhere to hide
As the coaster collides
With the atoms all zipping around left and right
I’m sure Robert Brown
Would have flipped if he found
Children bouncing around in such terrible ride
With bitter emotion I deplore the notion
Of this brand new Brownian Motion Ride!
key words: Brownian motion; particle theory; Robert Brown; Albert Einstein; Jean Baptiste Perrin
Chladni Patterns
Little grains of sand
Frolicking around
Ordered to assemble
By harmonic waves of sound
"Little grains, attention!
Assemble properly!
Stand now in formation
And resemble geometry!"
Those strong and standing waves
Pulse and oscillate
Pushing all the grains aside
As they resonate
And so the little grains
Tremble and vibrate
Forming lovely figures
On a metal Chladni plate
They find their antinodes
Where they can safely stay
Away from all the pushing
And the shoving of the waves
But as the pulsing waves
Change their frequency
The trembling grains must relocate
And change their geometry
What act of sound and sand
What show of resonance
What dazzling display it is
This rare cymatic dance!
key words: Chladni patterns; Ernst Chladni; cymatics; resonance; Robert Hooke
The Doppler Effect
Have you ever heard the tell-tale sound
Of a distant ice cream truck
And you run outside with your crumpled bills
As you thank your precious luck?
And you hear that one familiar tune
That you’ve heard so many times
And you know the truck’s approaching you
For the pitch you hear bends high
And you take your prize with the gumball eyes
While the driver turns to go
As he drives away the song assumes
A slightly eerie tone
For the farther and farther down the road
The truck so quickly goes
The lower and lower and lower than low
The song’s pitch seems to go
What is the cause of this warping sound,
The truck’s lamenting moan?
What grief resides in its bending howl?
What is its hidden woe?
Does it wish to be a taco truck?
Is it tired from its load?
Does it curse its fate forever stuck
On a never ending road?
Well, the truth of it is much profound
But it’s not what you’d expect
This bending pitch and warping sound
Is called the Doppler effect!
As the ice cream truck approaches you
While you impatiently wait
The sound of its quirky, catchy tune
Ripples towards you in waves
The truck nears you at a speedy pace
And each wave gets a helpful push
Now they have a shorter path to take
So they reach you squashed and smooshed
As the waves pile up, the frequency
Appears to rise and rise
And frequency is pitch, you see,
So the pitch appears to climb
And the opposite of this is true
As the truck rumbles away
Each wave takes longer to get to you
So the pitch bends down as it fades...
This effect that Mr. Doppler found
Works for any kind of wave
Radio, water, light, or sound
It happens all the same
Essentially, this Doppler Effect
Is a trusty speed radar
Police even use it to detect
The speed of motor cars
It’s also used in medicine
For measuring blood flow
It can uncover evidence
Of heart defects unknown
But even crazier is its use
In the field of astronomy
It helps astronomers deduce
The movement of galaxies
It’s been well used to supplement
And enrich our understanding
According to the Doppler effect
The universe is expanding!
key words: Doppler effect; Christian Doppler; redshift; Doppler radar; Doppler ultrasonography
Eratosthenes
What can you accomplish with only two sticks?
Eratosthenes, well, he could do quite a lot
He kept up his sleeve quite a number of tricks
Using geometry and pure logical thought
This poet, astronomer, geographer,
Also part-time historian was quite the whiz
Also mathematician and philosopher
He could surely have passed any difficult quiz
He lived near the Mediterranean Sea
In the greatest of cities of the ancient age
Around the third century BCE
When the great library still held many a page
Alexandria was this place he called home
And he was the director of its library
Where one day while browsing a certain large tome
He found plenty to read on the town Syene
He learned that on the twenty-first day of June
Which he knew was the lengthiest day of the year
When the sun climbed over Syene at noon
A straight, vertical stick made no shadow appear
So when the twenty-first of June came around
Eratosthenes tried one of his clever tricks
There in Alexandria, right on the ground,
He implanted at noon a most vertical stick
And from his experiment, to his great pleasure,
He found that a shadow for him did appear
This could only mean after taking his measures
That our lovely Earth was a very large sphere
Then, taking the distance between the two cities
And noting the sticks’ angle of difference
Eratosthenes, ever masterfully witty,
Then calculated the Earth’s circumference
And though even after he showed with his sticks
That the Earth was not flat, sadly, people forgot
But now we all know how with his clever tricks
Eratosthenes showed us that flat it is not!
key words: Eratosthenes; Library of Alexandria; Syene; Alexandria; Summer solstice; heliocentrism
Lintukoto
There is a place at the edge of the world
Where chirping sounds are said to be heard
For some people say this land is reserved
Quite exclusively for all kinds of birds
In this kingdom of birds, this feathery haven
Might be sitting ducks and quoting ravens
Maybe early birds and a few night owls
Chickens and every kind of fowl
Screeching hawks and pigeons that coo
Peacocks, penguins, and parrots too
Pink flamingoes and black crows
Hummingbirds and small sparrows
Buzzards, doves, and pelicans
Ostriches and some toucans
Emus, eagles, jays that are blue
Maybe even a dodo or two
Waddling, swooping, flying, and flapping
Gobbling, squawking, clucking, and quacking
Ruffling their feathers and pecking their beaks
Singing their songs and tweeting their tweets
They travel from very far away
Following the path of the Milky Way
To find this land so warm and safe
Or at least that’s what some people say
There is a place at the edge of the world
Where chirping sounds are said to be heard
Some people say this is where birds go
This kingdom of birds called Lintukoto
key words: Lintukoto; Linnunrata; Kalevala; Finnish; creation myth; mythology
Quantum Particles
In scientific papers or in certain articles
You might one day read baffling things on quantum particles
You’ll find such things incredible and very strange indeed
Such mystifying mysteries one day you might just read
These particles of tiny size, they make up everything
They make up planets, ants, and trees, they make up you and me
These particles, these tiny specks, so small you cannot see
They’re everywhere around us though it’s quite hard to believe
But even stranger is the way these particles behave
Sometimes they act like particles, sometimes they act like waves
If you know their momentum then you cannot know their place
And this rule of uncertainty appears to go both ways
And stranger still, these particles can be in many states
They could be doing fine and at the same time be decayed
At once they could go through a wall or bounce or stay the same
They could be anywhere, in fact, until you look their way
Electrons, photons, neutrons, protons, quarks, and many more
So weird are all these particles they’ll make your poor brain sore
You’ll find such things incredible and very strange indeed
Such mystifying mysteries one day you might just read
key words: quantum mechanics; subatomic particles; superposition; Max Planck; Schrödinger's cat; Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
Tardigrade Parade
The mayor of an unnamed town
Once threw a grand parade
Now infamously known as
The Most Perilous Promenade
It crossed the arid desert
And the marshy Everglades
It went through snowy blizzards
And heavy torrential rain
Through boiling vents below the sea
All spewing out methane
Through hazardous Chernobyl
Full of radioactive waste
It dipped through the Marianas Trench
At pressures quite insane
And crossed the great Death Valley
At the hottest time of day
And to make matters slightly worse
The finish line was placed
Somewhere deep in the vacuum of
Intergalactic space
A cold and distant spot where
The thermometer displayed
Near minus two hundred and
Seventy-three centigrade
Well, all of the participants
Were capable and brave
But sadly none survived except
The tiny tardigrade
key words: tardigrade; water bear; cryptobiosis; Ecdysozoa; Lazzaro Spallanzani; Johann August Ephraim Goeze
The Round Table
There is a certain legend of King Arthur and his knights
That tells of how these men would quarrel once upon a time
These noblemen and knights of honor bickered quite a lot
Within King Arthur’s castle in the heart of Camelot
The problem was that Arthur’s table was rectangular
A shape not really optimal to gather and confer
For everyone would want a seat next to the king himself
And members at the other end would always have to yell
They’d fight about which man was worthy of the better seat
They’d brag about their medals and compare their noble feats
They’d count how many fire breathing dragons they had fought
They’d do all of these things so they could have the better spot
They’d boast about their lineage or royal ancestry
Some men would even bring along their scrolls with family trees
This seating problem only led to bigger rivalry
Ironically, this was during the age of chivalry
And then one fateful evening at the annual Yuletide ball
Right in the middle of the feast commenced a giant brawl
They threw cheese at each other first then pulled their daggers out
They started throwing punches and began to curse and shout
They slipped on sticks of butter and they catapulted rolls
One lord was even smacked unconscious by a turkey whole
They spilt the wine and bent the knives and shattered every bowl
And all the food that wasn’t thrown eventually went cold
King Arthur was dismayed and quite enraged with what he saw
He’d finally had enough; this riot was the final straw!
He slashed right through the table with his sword Excalibur
And stood atop the wood that was no more rectangular
“You men of shining armor should be very well ashamed
There is no shred of honor in the way that you behave
Well, now you have no table and no place where you may sit
You men shall leave this castle til the day that I see fit!”
It took King Arthur several days to calm his heavy rage
And while in contemplation he realized they needed change
He asked his wise friend Merlin for his guidance and advice
And Merlin, ever sensible, a plan he did devise
They paid a Cornish carpenter to do a special task
They paid him well to do his finest work and do it fast
The masterpiece would be a special table that was round
Where Arthur and his noblemen could congregate around
Now there would be no better seat and no reason to fight
This table would restore the peace among the lords and knights
Who knew a geometric variance on a slab of wood
Could solve the kingdom’s issues and restore their brotherhood
And from that day King Arthur’s many knights and noblemen
Would never quibble, quarrel, tiff, nor squabble once again
Eventually, so proper was the conduct that they showed
That they became the model for a prime chivalry code
Key words: Arthurian legend; kinghts of the round table; King Arthur; Camelot; Excalibur; Matter of Britain
The Green Man
In churches and abbeys and ruins of stone
In carvings and fountains and relics of old
A mysterious figure can sometimes be seen
This mystery man is the man in green
From Western Europe to the very far East
You can find him hiding among the leaves
With his long face covered in branches and vines
And a deep, solemn gaze that can pierce through time
And the strangest thing is that no one knows
What his history is or how far back it goes
No one knows his legend or even his name
He is the Green Man is all they can say
Could it be Robin Hood or Jack-in-the-Green
The King of May or the Garland King? Could it be Dionysus or Cernunnos?
They call him the Green Man for no one knows
Could it be Osiris or Narcissus?
Silvanus, Tlaloc, or Hyacinthus?
Could it be Humbaba, Enkidu, or Pan?
No one really knows, so they call him the Green Man
So if you ever visit a ruin of stone
A church or an abbey with relics of old
And you a see face among flowers and trees
It could be the Green Man hiding in the leaves
key words: The Green Man; Lady Raglan; foliate head; disgorging head; mythology; folklore
Marie Curie
Marie Curie, Marie Curie
You’ve heard the name, undoubtedly
But do you know about the deeds
Of this great Polish prodigy?
In poverty, Marie Curie
Grew up in a society
Where women struggled constantly
Against much inequality
Yet off went she, Marie Curie
Away to beautiful Paris
To study university
And work and learn and earn degrees
Then in the year 1903
Marie and husband Pierre Curie
Together with their friend, Henry
Accomplished quite a stunning feat
The Nobel Prize they did receive
In physics for their brilliancy
And research of such quality
On radioactivity
Years afterward, incredibly
She did what no one had achieved
Her second Prize she did receive
The Nobel Prize in chemistry
And noble was her work indeed
She chose to help humanity
With her new elemental deed
Of radium’s discovery
She gained no wealth to use or keep
From her crucial discovery
Yet on she worked with dignity
Integrity and honesty
But deadly was the irony
That radioactivity
The thing that brought her such prestige
Would prove her own mortality
Still, timeless is the memory
Of Maria “Manya” Salomee
Prolific Polish prodigy
Beacon of light in history
key words: Maria Sklodowska; Pierre Curie; Henri Becquerel; radioactivity; radium; polonium
Picasso
Picasso Pablo Ruiz
A great was painter he
Too sculptor a printmaker and
Of master el lápiz
And born was in Spain he
Pablo Picasso Ruiz
One of artists the greatest of
The 20th century
Soon to he moved Paris
Blue first then rose was he
Made then experimental work
He that dream like a seemed
Was style his so unique
Like abstract geometry
Physics-defying collage-like
New and fragmentary
He fortune gained and fame
He legend a became
His revolutionary style
It was Cubism named
Pablo Ruiz Picasso
A great painter was he
A sculptor and printmaker too
Master of el lápiz
key words: Pablo Ruiz Picasso; Cubism; Georges Braque; Rose period; Blue period
The Turing Test
Late one Sunday evening, I sat in my chair reading,
When suddenly I noticed that the telephone was ringing.
I picked up and I said, “Hello, with whom might I be speaking?”
“Hello!” a voice replied, “my name is Tobor, and good evening!”
“How may I help you this fine day?” I curiously replied.
“Well if you wouldn’t mind I’d like to chat a little while.”
“Well sure,” I said to Tobor, “what is it you’d like to tell me?
Or maybe I should ask instead what would you like to sell me?”
“Oh no,” he said, “well I’m no marketer, I just feel lonesome.
I’d like someone to chat with, you were just randomly chosen.
But tell me, have you heard of Alan Turing, do you know him?”
“I may have heard the name before, but I’m not sure,” I told him.
“Well many people say he was the father of computers.
So great at solving puzzles and a brilliant troubleshooter.
He helped to end a war by cracking codes and building gadgets.
Some day his work may lead to thinking robots, just imagine!”
“How interesting all these things you tell me, Mr. Tobor!
Right now I have to go but I do hope that soon I’ll hear more.
It was a pleasure meeting you, or speaking with you, rather,
And learning much about this early computer programmer.”
“My pleasure,” Tobor said, “but if I may, before you go,
I’d like to ask you if I passed the test, I want to know!”
“What test?” I asked, befuddled, “I don’t know what you could mean?
What are you trying to say? Are you just trying to puzzle me?”
“Well first I must apologize about our conversation.
You’ve been so kind to listen and you’ve been so very patient.
But now I must confess this was a test to try and fool you.
My mind is artificial, I’m a robot, not a human!”
key words: theoretical computer science; Alan Turing; Turing machine; computability theory; artificial intelligence; Turing test
The Rare Disease
My dearest patient
I have very good news
Your nasty infection
Has been subdued
We caught it early
You will be alright
Drink plenty of fluids
Get some sunlight
I had never seen
Such a nasty strain
It's no wonder you
Were in so much pain
These parasitic
And tiny things
That make up this
Quite rare disease
They first find a cell
Where they can survive
They populate it
And there they thrive
Their only care
Is to grow and spread
And they do this well
Til the cell is dead
Then they travel on
Finding other cells
Searching far and wide
For places to dwell
They're quite advanced
You'd be surprised
These microscopic
Parasites
They are even able
To communicate
And can learn at
An alarming rate
They use their
Own technology
To build resistance
Quite rapidly
So I cannot be
Entirely sure
If the treatment is
A permanent cure
But do not be
Overly concerned
We'll do a checkup
When you return
For now, you're cured
I'm sure you'll be fine
I'll see you again
In six months time...
.............
I've brought to the lab
The place of their birth
This poor dead cell
They called Planet Earth
To study a sample
Of the disease
This infectious strain
Of Human Beings...
key words: overpopulation; loss of biodiversity; deforestation; colonialism; natural resource depletion; pollution; ocean acidification; environmental degradation; ozone layer depletion; environmentalism; unsustainable growth; climate change; survival of the fittest
Schrödinger’s Cat
Schrödinger’s cat, Schrödinger’s cat
Inside a mystery box
Schrödinger’s cat, Schrödinger’s cat
Are you alive or not?
Schrödinger’s cat, Schrödinger’s cat
An atom holds your fate
A poison gas will be released
If this atom decays
Schrödinger’s cat, Schrödinger’s cat
What an astounding thought
According to some quantum laws
You’re both alive and not!
key words: quantum mechanics; subatomic particles; Erwin Schrödinger; Schrödinger’s cat; quantum superposition
Synesthesia
Have you ever smelled the color green
Or heard the sound of the number three?
Do you know the taste of baby blue
Or the color of the letter Q?
Can you taste the name of Daniel Boone?
Can you smell the smell of a funky tune?
Can you sing a song in the color pink
Or paint something in the key of G?
Is the month of June a girl or boy?
Does Monday taste like salty soy?
Does the letter P make you annoyed
Or does twenty-two fill you with joy?
Is Friday shaped like a triangle?
Is April sharp or maybe dull?
Does Ohio taste like lentil soup
Or does all of this sound strange to you?
If you can relate to any of this
And your senses sometimes mingle and mix
Based on certain criteria
You might just have synesthesia!
key words: joined perception; neuroscience; psychology; synesthesia; synesthete; ideasthesia; Richard E. Cytowic; David Eagleman
Death Is Always Hated
I have always been hated
I have always been feared
Wherever I go
I bring sorrow and tears
From their very beginning
They've searched for a way
To destroy me for good
Or keep me at bay
They tend to fear
What they don't understand
They desire to hold
Their fates in their hands
It pains me to know
I am misunderstood
For I mean no harm
My intentions are good
At the very moment
Of their greatest pain
I come and whisk
Their souls away
I protect them from harm
That they cannot bear
I protect them from wounds
That cannot be repaired
And I wish I could
Protect them all
But I do not always
Hear their call
Still they fear and hate me
All the same
They've embedded their hatred
In my name
If you do not believe this
Just rearrange it
And you'll find that
Death is always hated
key words: death; senescence; immortality; telomeres