Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

[stu neville]

Slight follow up to this one..

To set the scene - our lounge and dining room are knocked into one another. The kitchen is an extension from the latter, and is 50% visible from the lounge. It has a stone-tiled floor.

At 2.40 this afternoon (23/8/11)I was sat in the lounge, reading. Everyone else was out, and the cat was asleep on the dining room table. Abruptly, the cat ran into the lounge, leapt up onto the sofa alongside me, and stared fixedly at the back door (into which his cat-flap is set). A second later, no more, there was a massive crash from the kitchen, exactly like a dinner service being dropped onto the floor (don't ask me how I know, suffice to say it's a sound you never forget..)

I ran out to the kitchen - nothing. No rubble, no collapsed cupboard shelves, nothing that could explain such a destructive-sounding crash. Then the rain started, very heavy, out-of-blue-sky type rain we get quite often on North Somerset/South Bristol. Ran outside to get washing in - next door neighbour was doing the same. She'd heard no thunder or anything either, just the sound of heavy rain on the skylight.

Are there geographic/acoustic properties that can explain thunderclap-silencing or morphing of said sound to make it seem very localised but allowing the full effects of such sonic pressure?

(edit - getting tags right.. stu)

 

[rynner2]

Are there geographic/acoustic properties that can explain thunderclap-silencing or morphing of said sound to make it seem very localised but allowing the full effects of such sonic pressure?

Maybe there was no thunder, but the cat heard the rain coming, hitting nearby houses before it reached yours.

Which doesn't explain the crash from the kitchen, however... :?

 

[stu neville]

I'm no closer to discovering what that was. The only thing I can think of is that I had actually dozed off momentarily, the cat dashed in for reasons best known unto himself, waking me up in the process, and the crash was some sort of hypnopompic effect.

There's certainly no physical cause I could find.

 

[GNC]

I'm no closer to discovering what that was. The only thing I can think of is that I had actually dozed off momentarily, the cat dashed in for reasons best known unto himself, waking me up in the process, and the crash was some sort of hypnopompic effect.

There's certainly no physical cause I could find.

Bird hitting the window? Pigeon, maybe?

 

[Mythopoeika]

I'm no closer to discovering what that was. The only thing I can think of is that I had actually dozed off momentarily, the cat dashed in for reasons best known unto himself, waking me up in the process, and the crash was some sort of hypnopompic effect.

There's certainly no physical cause I could find.

Bird hitting the window? Pigeon, maybe?

Yeah, that can make a major thud.

 

[rynner2]

Bird hitting the window? Pigeon, maybe?

Yeah, that can make a major thud.

A thud, yes (I've experienced several), but not a "massive crash [...] exactly like a dinner service being dropped onto the floor"!

 

[rynner2]

Recently I bought a 'six-pack' of chocolate mousse. I put it in my bag with the rest of my shopping and went home.

When I unpacked the shopping, however there seemed to be choccy mousse smeared over the pack. I assumed one of the plastic containers had been split, or had its foil lid ripped, but when I wiped it all clean, all six containers appeared to be intact. But there was nothing else in my shopping that resembled chocolate mousse, and the 'leakage' certainly wasn't there when I went through check-out. A bit of a mystery... :?

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

Recently I bought a 'six-pack' of chocolate mousse. I put it in my bag with the rest of my shopping and went home.

When I unpacked the shopping, however there seemed to be choccy mousse smeared over the pack. I assumed one of the plastic containers had been split, or had its foil lid ripped, but when I wiped it all clean, all six containers appeared to be intact. But there was nothing else in my shopping that resembled chocolate mousse, and the 'leakage' certainly wasn't there when I went through check-out. A bit of a mystery... :?

Errrmmmmmmm......................do you want to tell him or shall I? :lol:

 

[rynner2]

Errrmmmmmmm......................do you want to tell him or shall I? :lol:

Nothing wrong with my sense of smell...

 

[Ringo]

My wife and I were sitting in next to a lake today on a patch of grass. There was a lot of clover around and I was picking at it as we talked. I suddenly spotted a clover leaf that was a perfect little "grey" alien head - upside-down teardrop complete with two eyes.

I picked it to show my wife this strange leaf and she noticed that not only was it an alien clover but it was also a four leafed clover!

Here are two pics from my phone although the quality isn't great.
Picture 1
Picture 2

Edited to change pics into links

 

[Dingo667]

Ha, that's brilliant! Four leaves and and alien face. I'd keep that one

 

[Ringo]

I kept it with me but after only a few minutes it had withered and curled up on itself.

 

[liveinabin]

Recently I bought a 'six-pack' of chocolate mousse. I put it in my bag with the rest of my shopping and went home.

When I unpacked the shopping, however there seemed to be choccy mousse smeared over the pack. I assumed one of the plastic containers had been split, or had its foil lid ripped, but when I wiped it all clean, all six containers appeared to be intact. But there was nothing else in my shopping that resembled chocolate mousse, and the 'leakage' certainly wasn't there when I went through check-out. A bit of a mystery... :?

My thought would be that one of the other packs in the shop had split smearing it's chocolaty goodness all over the ones you bought and therefore all over the rest of your shopping.

 

[Pete Younger]

Takes a woman to think of the obvious.

 

[rynner2]

Recently I bought a 'six-pack' of chocolate mousse. I put it in my bag with the rest of my shopping and went home.

When I unpacked the shopping, however there seemed to be choccy mousse smeared over the pack. I assumed one of the plastic containers had been split, or had its foil lid ripped, but when I wiped it all clean, all six containers appeared to be intact. But there was nothing else in my shopping that resembled chocolate mousse, and the 'leakage' certainly wasn't there when I went through check-out. A bit of a mystery... :?

My thought would be that one of the other packs in the shop had split smearing it's chocolaty goodness all over the ones you bought and therefore all over the rest of your shopping.

You did not read wot I rote:

..the 'leakage' certainly wasn't there when I went through check-out.

I assumed that the mix of cans, jars, packets, etc, in my shopping bag had caused some damage to the mousse cartons in the course of my journey home.

So far I've eaten three mousses out of the six cartons - none have shown any sign of damage, although I wouldn't have been surprised if they had.

 

[stu neville]

Have you checked to see that all the lids were completely sealed down? I had a yoghurt not long ago that appeared undamaged, but when the pot was squeezed some dribbled out from beneath the lid (and liberally painted the inside of my rucksack..) In a shopping bag, amongst heavy tins etc, could one of the pack been jostled enough for that to happen?

 

[rynner2]

Have you checked to see that all the lids were completely sealed down? I had a yoghurt not long ago that appeared undamaged, but when the pot was squeezed some dribbled out from beneath the lid (and liberally painted the inside of my rucksack..) In a shopping bag, amongst heavy tins etc, could one of the pack been jostled enough for that to happen?

That's what I thought at first had happened, but so far there's no evidence that it did. Also, mousse is not liquid like yoghurt.

 

[Dingo667]

This is a very minor strangeness but it puzzled me enough to write it down. This morning I am sitting at the table, watching the guinea pig which is situated on a chair [with cage of course] at the other end of the table. I'm amused because he's on his side, still eating hay, when all of a sudden the right side of the cage looks as if it is [and this is hard to describe] melting, wobbling, falling?! Immediately as I see this [I didn't move at all, holding a cup of tea in my hands, just observing], the guinea pig jumps up [shocking me] and runs to the other side of the cage, just as if the thing is really falling. I am up off my seat to maybe stop it...nothing of course. I go over to check if it is maybe wobbly in any way but it is solid and safe. Just as always.

Very idiotically minor but both the guinea and myself saw/ noticed something strange. His name by the way is Quetzalcoatl or Quetzy for short 8)

 

[locussolus]

This is a very minor strangeness but it puzzled me enough to write it down. This morning I am sitting at the table, watching the guinea pig which is situated on a chair [with cage of course] at the other end of the table. I'm amused because he's on his side, still eating hay, when all of a sudden the right side of the cage looks as if it is [and this is hard to describe] melting, wobbling, falling?! Immediately as I see this [I didn't move at all, holding a cup of tea in my hands, just observing], the guinea pig jumps up [shocking me] and runs to the other side of the cage, just as if the thing is really falling. I am up off my seat to maybe stop it...nothing of course. I go over to check if it is maybe wobbly in any way but it is solid and safe. Just as always.

Very idiotically minor but both the guinea and myself saw/ noticed something strange. His name by the way is Quetzalcoatl or Quetzy for short 8)

Really interesting that it seems you and Quetzy noticed the same thing. Lessens the chances of hallucination on your part. Something more mysterious indeed. An ancient Aztec God trying to get his namesake free, perhaps?

 

[SHAYBARSABE]

when all of a sudden the right side of the cage looks as if it is [and this is hard to describe] melting, wobbling, falling?!

If the cage is made of metal, this could be an electro-magnetic incident. The cages for guinea pigs that I've seen have horizontal wires quite close together.

I'd think about moving the cage.

Of course, naming the guinea pig after an Aztec god may result in some problems.

 

[Dingo667]

Sorry I forgot to mention, the cage is actually made out of plastic. The top is see through and the bottom isn't. Its actually really important to mention this as it makes it maybe easier to imagine the 'melting'. Sort of the wobbling when looking at something above a heat source plus the feeling you get from vertigo but confined just to the one side of the cage. Heck it is difficult to describe. As for the Aztec god, this little guinea is one of the cleverest I've ever had. He's a right character. He listens to music [Rammstein, he can't stand Jean Michel Jarre ].

 

[Mythopoeika]

Perhaps little Quetzy has developed psychic powers and was just melting the cage. He stopped when you made sudden movements...

 

[SHAYBARSABE]

Sorry I forgot to mention, the cage is actually made out of plastic.

I'd think about moving it, anyway.

 

[rynner2]

Recently I bought a 'six-pack' of chocolate mousse. I put it in my bag with the rest of my shopping and went home.

When I unpacked the shopping, however there seemed to be choccy mousse smeared over the pack. I assumed one of the plastic containers had been split, or had its foil lid ripped, but when I wiped it all clean, all six containers appeared to be intact. But there was nothing else in my shopping that resembled chocolate mousse, and the 'leakage' certainly wasn't there when I went through check-out. A bit of a mystery... :?

I've just eaten the last mousse, and I can state that none of the containers were damaged, and all of the foil tops were intact and sealed. Also, the surface of each mousse was smooth and level as it should have been.

TBH, I'm disappointed not to find an explanation. Now I have to wonder, is my perception or memory at fault? I've got no way to verify that things happened as I reported them. (I even threw out the rubbish soon after I got the shopping home, so I couldn't even double-check the paper kitchen towel that I'd cleaned up with.)

I'm beginning to think I should wear a video-cam on my head all the time to record what I see and do...


A couple of days ago I experienced an interesting coincidence: I came across three examples of women in wheelchairs, being pushed by men (presumably the husbands). The first example was just ahead of me in a checkout queue. The second example, shortly after, was just outside the supermarket. The third example came when I was riding a bus: I'd been sitting on a fold-down seat in the area reserved for pushchairs and wheelchairs, but when a crowd of passengers got off I moved to a better seat. Among the new passengers to board was a man pushing a woman in a wheelchair, which he parked in the position I'd just left!

Naturally, I thought of posting this in coincidences, but then, because I'd been musing on the Chocolate Mousse situation, I began to doubt what I'd seen. Did I really see three wheelchair couples, or could the first two have been the same pair, who waited for a taxi after their supermarket trip? At the time I'd thought they were a different couple, but not realising the bus pair was still to come, I didn't pay much attention...

A head-cam could have resolved all that!

Or maybe not - the Cosmic Joker's a tricky type. Either nothing of interest would occur to me again, or if it did the head-cam would malfunction in some way!

 

[tamyu]

I think that cams have a wonderful way of preventing anything odd from happening. If anything, they should be considered protective devices. It seems that if you are running one, nothing will happen while it is watching.

Take the shadow while I was in the bath thing. I kept the camera up and going until last week when my husband needed to take the laptop on business. Not a single odd shadow the entire time, and the most entertaining video was of one of our cats wandering through and being startled when a bit of water hit the door.
Two days after it is gone though, and I see a very obvious and large shadow... Jump up and look out immediately, but nothing was there.

I am now sitting the iPad on the counter filming just as "protection" as, of course, it will never catch anything.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I think that cams have a wonderful way of preventing anything odd from happening. If anything, they should be considered protective devices. It seems that if you are running one, nothing will happen while it is watching.

Take the shadow while I was in the bath thing. I kept the camera up and going until last week when my husband needed to take the laptop on business. Not a single odd shadow the entire time, and the most entertaining video was of one of our cats wandering through and being startled when a bit of water hit the door.
Two days after it is gone though, and I see a very obvious and large shadow... Jump up and look out immediately, but nothing was there.

I am now sitting the iPad on the counter filming just as "protection" as, of course, it will never catch anything.

A similar principle can be applied to umbrellas, which I call 'rain-scarers'. Take an umbrella with you anywhere, and it will rarely rain. However, when you don't carry an umbrella, it can be reliably predicted to rain.

 

[SHAYBARSABE]

A head-cam could have resolved all that!

You'd probably look splendid in this one:

http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/baseball-cap-camera.html

 

[rynner2]

A head-cam could have resolved all that!

You'd probably look splendid in this one:

http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/baseball-cap-camera.html

Not sure it's quite my style, though.
I rarely wear headgear, apart from a thermal hat in cold weather.

I'd probably look like a looney whatever I wore, so I might just go for something like this:

Digital Head cam video camera - Extreme sports climbing, sky diving, base jumping, snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, bmx, cycling.

Image Sensor: CMOS 1.3MP Pixels
Standard storage media: SD Card ,support 32GB SDHC
Recording Time: Unlimited until SD memory capacity used up
Video Resolution: 640 x 480 (VGA), 30fps
Audio Recording: Built-in Microphone with 12ft range
Focus Fixed, Auto-Focus
Other function: White LED
Output: USB
Power Source: 2 AAA Batteries (not included) Camera
Accessories: Helmet Band Attachments, User Guide, USB Cable
The camera will record 120 minutes of footage to a 4GB memory card.
Dimensions 9 x 5x 4cm 75g

http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/digital-hea ... ebase#desc

That should clear up a few anomalies! 8)

 

[disgruntledgoth]

It was about 4am this morning, I was walking up the stairs, and got hit in the back of the head by a £2 coin :/

 

[rynner2]

It was about 4am this morning, I was walking up the stairs, and got hit in the back of the head by a £2 coin

rynner makes note to self: get two headcams, wear one looking backwards...