Eclectic Views

    
What intersting thing have you learned?  Recently or not.
  

    
Last week I loaned my DVD of 2001 to my co-worker from Bulgaria.  I thought
she'd like it, but I had an ulterior motive:  I have always wondered what
the Russian scientists say after they chat with Dr. Floyd.

Both her Russian and her English are not up to UN simultaneous translator
standards, but she can get the drift.

Male scientist:  "It's going to be very difficult for him." Female
scientist:  "Yes, it is."

I've been wondering that for 39 years.  All this timne I was sure they were
saying thigs like "I don't believe him" and "He's lying."

What little mystery have you learned the answer to?
  

    
Well, it's not a mystery that was solved, but it's a piece of trivia
that I enjoy.  Florida panthers, the cat not the team, are the only
large cats that do not roar, they purr.
  

    
If someone is holding a weapon to your chest or throat, and you move
with no telegraphing whatever, you can knock it aside before they can
react. Literally before they can react: human reaction time is about .2
second, and a quick circular flick of the arm from the elbow takes
less than that amount of time. You can practice this with a magic
marker. All the other person has to do is leave a dot on you. Most
times they won't be able to.
  

    
I knew a boxer once who could give you a friendly slap and you'd never
know he had moved his hand.
  

    
I recently read that over half of all Americans believe in
creationism.  And this is the 21st century.

Since this isn't so far off from the mindset that led to dunking
witches in Salem, I now better understand why we torture confessions
out of suspects.
  

    
re: The boxer who could slap you-- I'm thinking it's because he's learned 
to suppress the normal cues that people give when they are about to do 
something.

When F. Mathias Alexander (the founder of the Alexander Technique) started 
looking very closely at what people did and how they held themselves, he 
realized that they do unconscious little things before they do something.

People lower their head slightly before they sit down;  before you speak, 
you might tilt your head to one side, etc., etc.  

Microscopic tells.

I'm thinking the boxer has learned to suppress or overcome his tells.
  

    
During WWII Joe Louis used to visit military bases and spar a
round with the local intramural boxers.  After one round he was
heard to tell his opponent, "You should be in the Signal Corps."
  

    
Interesting about those unintended cues. Never thought of that before.


IMO, the best line from the Brown Bomber came right after his '36
fight with Max Schmeling. His mother asked what had happened and JL
said, "He just whooped me, Mama."

Schmeling went on to become an industrialist of some sort, while JL
ended up broke and greeting casino visitors in Las Vegas. The story
goes that he and Schmeling developed a friendship in later years, and
Schmeling helped keep him afloat during hard times, and even, IIRC,
paid for his funeral. 
  

    
If a compound is ordinarily gaseous at the temperature at which water
freezes, and can be liquified at a slightly higher temperature by means 
of moderate pressurization, then it is a potential candidate for use in 
a system for keeping surfaces ice free through the distribution of a 
modest amount of heat on an as-needed basis, determined by the rate of
condensation of the gaseous substance on the inner surface of the 
pressure vessel, in various locations.
  

    

I recently learned that the tune for "It's All in the Game" was written by
the US Vice President under Calvin Cooledge.
  

    

Oh, don't know what "It's All in the Game" is? Here's a link to a lovely
version of it....

   http://www.jamesleestanley.com/eternalcontra.html#game

Just click the green arrow to play it (safe for work...)
  

    
Cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate), that little container that is
found in many kitchen cabinets and used to stabilize and give height to
meringue, angel food cakes and snickerdoodle cookies is really a
by-product of wine.

The tartar crystalizes in wine barrels (or steel tanks) during the
fermentation process and is a result from grape skins and yeast hulls.
You will also find this crystalization on the bottom of a wine cork or
in a wine bottle.  Harmless to the wine and dissipates in the warmth of
a hand.   The crystals are often referred to as "wine diamonds."
  

    
I definitely would have lost any round of Jeapordy that had had that
as the stumper.