October 1, 2026
Andrzej, Bendrzej and the Black Holes
Conversations Overheard at the Hop Czyk Czyk Leadership Bar
By Bob Molenda, Likes to go from nothing to something
9 min read
Written by
Bob Molenda
Why We Go There
You might be thinking that what you say or do at the Hop Czyk Czyk Leadership Bar should stay at the Czyk. That isn't the way things work over there. Like a black hole, the place sucks up information. People come there to converse, listen and drink, of course. Nothing you say or do there is a secret for very long.
Listening
The two brothers, Andrzej and Bendrzej (Pronounced Anjay and Benjay) were overheard in conversation at their table a few days ago. Most listeners did not know what the hell they were talking about, but a select few were tuned into their quiet chat as they enjoyed their mugs of Empathy and Vision Pale Ales.
Depends on What you Need
Stasiu, the barkeep liked only a few key words, while Bruno and Old Man Sowa listened carefully to their entire spiel at the nearby table. Sometimes they got annoyed by the loud Polish Muzyka coming from the juke box. Bruno served the fusion pizza, made with Polish sausage, and that thin Italian crust.
Insight Helps Everyone
Yes, it was theoretical physics, but it seemed to make sense when you listened to the conversation between the plumber and the lawyer. Besides, they weren't selling anything and those who listened were the intruders anyway.
The Flies on the Wall
Their backs were turned and you could not see who was saying what, but you could hear the combined conversations. Bruno, Stasiu and Old Man Sowa strained to hear what was being said.
Last Bus Ride
The two brothers started to talk, "Funny things are Energy and Information. It takes Energy to do anything, including making Information, changing it or getting rid of it. Einstein created a relationship between Mass and Energy. If anyone can create a relationship between Energy and Information we could have some fun with it. We know we can store information."
"There are people who store bits and bytes all the time and they know how much energy it takes to store a bit."
Is There a Limit, a Constant?
"Yeah, they are cramming more bits into chips all the time. Information and Energy seem spiritual to me. I mean we can see the effects of what they do, but their essence seems to be intangible! Maybe they are gateways to the material world that we live in?"
"I mean, you can't see Energy either, but you can feel it. What do you think the essence of Information is?"
Spirit, Matter or Both?
"Are you able to feel information? Can you touch it? How much does it weigh? Does it have a relationship with Mass? We know we can store it. We know we need it. If information becomes Insight or even Understanding, do conscious beings feel it? Is it like love? Does it hurt?"
A Real Hero
"What an interesting guy!"
"He suffered from a terrible disease. His mind was alive with great ideas, yet his body needed assistance for him to take what was in his mind and explain it to others. He also had a great sense of humor, another one of those intangible things that we can sense, but not touch, taste or smell."
"Black Holes?"
(Inches)² vs (Inches)³
"Yeah, they also said that the amount of information storage is proportional to the surface area of the event horizon. In fact, they even thought a little black hole can be created if we try to add even one bit of information to an information storage medium that is at its maximum capacity."
"I thought we were measuring the amount of storage in a volume of matter?"
"You're right, but Hawking and Bekenstein said that unlike matter, volume does not matter when it comes to black holes. They hung around and they did a lot of Entropy and Thermodynamic things together."
"Area matters more than volume?" but Area is only (Inches)², while volume is (Inches)³."
"Cubic inches are less important than square inches when it comes to measuring Information."
"Yeah, when it comes to Information and Black Holes, square inches of surface area are all that you need to know."
"Tell me more about the Event Horizon. What the hell is that?"
What Stasiu Heard
Stasiu leaned a little closer and almost fell over the bar when he heard about Black Holes and Event Horizons. Y'see, he has been looking for a name for his newest craft beer. He liked the idea of people drowning their problems in a mug of Black Hole Dark Ale, never again having to worry about real problems after throwing them into the black hole of this new beer.
Stasiu also liked Event Horizons as a neat name for different rock and polka bands coming to the Hop Czyk Czyk Leadership Bar. Trendy, a little Entropy, a pinch of Science, a tad of Equlibrium and Less Uncertainty too, he thought!
We could also sell the hell out of our beer by calling the beer foam "Event Horizons" for the drinkers, too. "Sorry, but I got distracted", said Stasiu.
How Much are the Tickets to go There?
"Tell us more about the Event Horizon, dammit, 'Co to, do diabła, jest?'" "(What the hell is it?)" yelled Stasiu from across the bar.
The Strongest Force
"Well, black holes have gravity forces that are so strong, that everything nearby gets sucked into them, even light itself. That's why they are black holes. Light can't come back after it gets sucked in."
"If they are black, how the hell can we see them?"
"They have so much gravity that they bend other light that has not yet been sucked into the black hole! Some friends of Hawking measured the bend that was formed when a beam from a star passed by a big black hole."
Equilibrium and Thin
"Every black hole has a distance from its center where the forces outside the black hole are equal to the forces that are trying to suck things in. That is where the Event Horizon is. Information is there, but it is in equilibrium between getting sucked into the center and going outside the hole's reach. It is just stuck there in the Event Horizon."
"That means that it must have some property that is affected by gravity."
Surface Area?
"If you add one more bit of information to what is already there and the event horizon happens to be filled, that's when you lose the bit. That is the limit of Information Storage in the Event Horizon! It is dependent upon the surface area of the Event Horizon! It's probably a constant."
Which one of these is Bigger?
"Volume, Area, Spheres and Cubes! Tell me, If I had a cubic inch of something that was shaped like a cube and the same cubic inch of something shaped like a sphere, which of the two has more surface area?"
"A cubic inch of anything has more surface area than a sphere that has a volume of a cubic inch. Do the math!"
"Why aren't black holes cubes instead of spheres?"
"Gravity, man! It must be the damn gravity!"
"Can a little black hole become a big black hole? That would increase its surface area!"
"Stuff has to get sucked in to make the black hole bigger."
Minimize Surface Area in Gravity
"It seems like there should be an Event Horizon for everything. A lot of us are living in our Event Center right now. I gotta minimize my surface area. I feel like I get closer to being a sphere as I get older!"
"How do I get outta an Event Horizon and go somewhere else?"
"I don't really know, but it will take some energy if we can find any. Besides, none of us can find anyone else while we're running around in two dimensions."
"It might take more energy than we think because of Entropy."
Sooner or Later
"If we just sit around here in the Event Horizon, it's just a matter of time before we get sucked into the black hole."
What About Time?
"By the way, what the hell happens to Time itself as it gets sucked into a black hole?"
"It probably becomes nothing! Time slows down when you approach the speed of light."
"Does it become Eternity?"
"Naw, It's probably Entropy."
A Funny Place
"It probably is, but even if it isn't, you can probably see both from where you sit on the Event Horizon. Light only travels in one direction if you are on the wrong side of the Event Horizon. It's dark on the wrong side."
Chaos is the Destiny
"Watch out! I think I see a cloud of Entropy coming out of our conversation, just over your head. It's just a measure of Energy that is lost to the Universe, probably running around getting more disordered."
Bull?
"It sounds a little like BS."
"It probably is, because Truth would appear more organized and probably lower Entropy than BS. That means that lies are full of Entropy."
"I think Entropy is full of BS!"
"In fact, think this whole story is a lot of BS!"
"Some people think BS has more Entropy than a lie, any lie."
"Is that better than being full of BS?"
They both took a sip of beer, laughed and continued.
You bring up a good point about lies and Entropy. I thought about it and think that the Entropy of a Lie grows when it gets propagated by everyone who hears it. It's sort of like how things look after a pillow fight. Entropy is how much energy it would take to put all the feathers in the pillows back in exactly the same position and order they were in before the pillow fight.
It would take a lot to put things back!
What's a better answer?
Integrity! Don't be a Liar and always search for the Truth.
Lies, BS, Truth and Entropy
"Lies are telling people something that you know not to be True. BS is when you don't even care about the Truth. So, some BS can sound better than the Truth! That's why a little BS mixed in with some Truth can go a long way."
"Does a lie create more Chaos than BS? Does it have more Entropy?"
Risible
"Maybe that's why people like BS more than lies? Yeah, Chaos and Entropy always create surprises. Surprises are be backbone of humor. People like to laugh when they have a surprise in a story."
A Little is Good
"Maybe we need more Entropy around here? Entertainment requires Entropy. Money and Value require less uncertainty."
The Elusive BS Detector
"Speaking of BS makes me wonder if we can smell Entropy when it is nearby. It seems to me that you are looking for the famous most needed invention of all time."
"What would that be?"
"That would be the theoretical BS detector. It would ring a bell every time it heard some small amount of BS in a story."
"Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang g g g"…..The AI Detector Goes Off!
"What the hell is that ? Oh, that is just the AI detector bell. It goes off every time it reads AI instead of some human stories. Editors use it for detecting the difference between a story written by AI and one written by a human."
"Maybe we could use the same AI device to detect the small amounts of untruth in BS found in some stories?"
"It might work for lies, but when it comes to BS, nobody has figured out how to detect anything when there is less than 15% untruth in any story. Human sourced BS is safe for the foreseeable future!"
Louder "Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang g g g !!!!!!!"
Bruno and Old Man Sowa laughed while listening to these two fellow bus passengers. Sowa said that he thought they just might have figured out the way to back up currency anywhere in the Universe. "I can see the pathway to Less Uncertainty in Currency. It's Energy and Information. We might be able to get there with Black Holes and Event Horizons. Get a pitcher of Less Uncertainty Pale Ale and let's share it with them!"
Notes:
The story and the prompt used to generate the graphics are original and sourced from the author. The author has no graphic talent to produce the graphics and is grateful for the capability used by Google Nano Banana 2 to generate the bar room scene entitled, "Andrzej and Bendrzej Having a Discussion". The graphics were produced on September 29, 2026 and the prompt used appears below:
Draw me a picture of this scene: Andrzej the plumber and Bendrzej the skeptical lawyer having a conversation about black holes and event horizons, trying to understand them better. They are brothers from an old Polish family. They are sitting at a table at the Hop Czyk Czyk Polish Bar in South Chicago, drinking some pale ales named after Leadership Characteristics. They were indulging in mugs of "Vision" and "Empathy" along with some kind of fusion pizza. Stasiu the barkeep was watching and listening from the nearby bar, while Bruno the bus driver and Old Man Sowa the Philosopher also started to listen to the two brothers from another table. Stasiu was looking for some catchy names for a few new beers he was brewing and liked hearing about "Black Holes" and "Event Horizons". He liked the idea of hops getting sucked into a black hole as the mug of beer became empty. The "Event Horizon" sounded like a good name for a rock or polka group. He listened carefully, trying to learn more about what Andrzej and Bendrzej were talking about. Bruno the bus driver was fascinated by these two regular passengers of his, because they were talking about backing up currency with Energy and Information just a few days ago. Bruno gave Old Man Sowa, the philosopher the 'look' and they both listened to the two brothers discuss what they knew about Steven Hawking, Albert Einstein, Black Holes and Event Horizons. There were at least 50 spigots that served the different Leadership Characteristic Beers. Everyone came to the bar to try to become what they drank. There was a lot of Integrity left, but the Polish bar was running low on Patience. The bar was a polka joint at one time. There were lots of Neon Signs with different sayings on them in Polish. There was a big sign over the bar that said, "Hop Czyk Czyk Leadership Bar". Another banner read, "You can become what you drink!" "Try the Creative Climate Ale".