Quantum mechanics seems a little bit less weird and counter-intuitive now than it did before November. Since around last Thanksgiving a scientific paper has been making the rounds, and gradually it has become grist for science journalists Now the idea has come to you, via my humble blog. The Cheshire cat and its smile do not actually separate in the quantum world. It has long been thought that certain subatomic particles can be in one place and that certain of their properties can be in another. Ah, what a mystical idea! what a contribution to the reputation of quantum mechanics for sheer weirdness! Indeed, no less a physicist than Albert Einstein objected to the "spooky stuff" in quantum mechanics in its early development. Einstein wasn't wrong. There is spooky stuff and it does make quantum physics look like something less-than-ultimate, something that will be explained by something else deeper as thought progresses. If Einstein turns out to be right about that, thou...