Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

[birdy]

Ah was just reminded of some other minor strangeness at home this week.

We have (had?) two tin openers, one crappy plastic which doesn't actually open tins anymore, and one metal sort of classic style one which works a treat. Unfortunately the metal one seems to have dematerialised, we have a really small kitchen and it's absolutely nowhere to be seen, boyfriend hasn't seen it (he's not really a 'kitchen type') so didn't even know we had one, let alone two).

Last night I went to wash my hands while cooking and couldn't find the pump-action soap dispenser which lives by the sink. I know it hasn't been used up and thrown away, I haven't done this and it was fairly new, again boyfriend didn't know it even existed.

Who is stealing things from my kitchen!

We do have a cat but it's not really her style to go pinching things from the drawer and the soap container is too big to have gone underneath anything if she'd been brave enough to get near the sink.

 

[birdy]

Unplug it from the wall. Turn off the amp and unplug that too.
See what happens.

It stopped when the plug was pulled out of the socket, but back when plugged back in without turning on the power at the wall.

As for the fridge suggestion; The noise was definitely coming from inside the turntable, inside the casing and on the side in which the cable to the plug runs. BF has been using it tonight and no sounds other than the glorious wails of Kate Bush emanated.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Unplug it from the wall. Turn off the amp and unplug that too.
See what happens.

It stopped when the plug was pulled out of the socket, but back when plugged back in without turning on the power at the wall.

OK, sounds like the flat's wiring is shot - the earth probably isn't working or there's a short somewhere. Or the wall socket needs replacing.

Get it checked out.

 

[birdy]

Thanks! Will report to the landlord, I imagine the wiring is to blame, if it's anything like the plumbing. The 'maintenance' guy seems to think everything (including slipping stair carpets and torrents of water running down walls below us) can be fixed with silicone sealant.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Thanks! Will report to the landlord, I imagine the wiring is to blame, if it's anything like the plumbing. The 'maintenance' guy seems to think everything (including slipping stair carpets and torrents of water running down walls below us) can be fixed with silicone sealant.

Water leak in the flat below? Could be rising damp affecting the wiring. Surprised a fuse hasn't blown yet, if that's the case.

 

[rynner2]

It may not be the wiring (although it should be checked out, just in case).

Electromagnetic resonance can also link different pieces of equipment. I've reported before how my computer would sometimes pick up transmissions from a local taxi firm.

The amplifier may have picked up other electrical equipment in the house.

It stopped when the plug was pulled out of the socket, but back when plugged back in without turning on the power at the wall.

This suggests that the electrical circuits in the house are acting as aerials for electrical signals. (No surprise, some systems make use of this property!) You could try plugging the amp in, and then switching off other electrical appliances (fridge, freezer, cooker, computer, etc) to see if the source of the resonance can be identified.

(My computer used to create interference on the TV - maybe it still does, but I no longer have a TV!)

 

[Cherrybomb]

Just a little oddness from way back when I was about 4 years old (1984/5). I went to a small primary school and in the first few weeks of being there two minor but odd things happend.

All us lil kiddies had to remain in our seats at lunchtime until we were called by our teacher to come and stand in line for our food. Well, I got called and stood up and walked to the teacher, however when I looked back to my desk, my chair had gone and been replaced by a large marble. This marble was the size of my school chair, & it was bright blue. When I returned after lunch my chair was normal again, however when i told my teacher this she gave me a smack for my trouble! Nothing too odd, but it's always stayed with me. Why did it change? Did anyone else see it or was it just me being a silly kid? However my teacher dishing out the slaps stopped me ever asking anything more about it.

The second minor strangeness happend at the same age as above, but I was sat on the loo at home and I looked down at the weighing scales and to my surprise, it turned into a wooden orange/fruit crate. It was empty apart from the blue paper they used to pack oranges in. I remeber touching it and feeling the cheap wood scrap my fingers.

I might well have been ill at the time & had a fever that I don't remember, but it still feels like it actually happend. :?

 

[GNC]

That's a terrible thing to slap a child for - talk about an overreaction.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Just a little oddness from way back when I was about 4 years old (1984/5). I went to a small primary school and in the first few weeks of being there two minor but odd things happend.

All us lil kiddies had to remain in our seats at lunchtime until we were called by our teacher to come and stand in line for our food. Well, I got called and stood up and walked to the teacher, however when I looked back to my desk, my chair had gone and been replaced by a large marble. This marble was the size of my school chair, & it was bright blue. When I returned after lunch my chair was normal again, however when i told my teacher this she gave me a smack for my trouble! Nothing too odd, but it's always stayed with me. Why did it change? Did anyone else see it or was it just me being a silly kid? However my teacher dishing out the slaps stopped me ever asking anything more about it.

The second minor strangeness happend at the same age as above, but I was sat on the loo at home and I looked down at the weighing scales and to my surprise, it turned into a wooden orange/fruit crate. It was empty apart from the blue paper they used to pack oranges in. I remeber touching it and feeling the cheap wood scrap my fingers.

I might well have been ill at the time & had a fever that I don't remember, but it still feels like it actually happend. :?

Wow, sounds like a couple of glitches in the Matrix.
Or you had LSD in your diet.

 

[Iris]

I think that young childtren are able to visualise random thoughts whereas adults might think " What if...?"
Some adults just don't know how to handle anything that might be outside the way they perceive things to be normal.
I was about your then age at school doing bunny hops for p,e. when another child came up and whacked their head on mine.
Everything went black and I could see soldiers shooting guns, then I came to saying " I'm so glad I was born a girl this time" ,with blood running from my nose, and the teacher telling me to go and wash my face.
I thought at the time, I am a girl, why on earth did I say that? I never told my Mother as she was already convinced I was the spawn of the devil for other things I'd said.
Maybe this is why they say children grow out of experiences but perhaps they just keep it to themselves because of negative reaction.

 

[PeniG]

Well, you do grow out of it. But growing up has two parts - the physical and the social. You learn to keep your mouth shut about certain things; but your brain is continually growing in new parts until your early 20s, when it has all the cells it's going to get and starts sorting through all the connections it's made during the years. Connections that don't get used, get discarded. This is why it gets harder and harder to learn new things, but easier and easier to recognize the similarities between superficially disparate situations and apply a skill learned in one situation to another situation.

So it's not surprising that, if one way of perceiving the world doesn't get reinforced, it quietly drops out in favor of ways that are of more use to the individual.

 

[Spookdaddy]

Rewinding a little:

...was actually the record player (plain old turntable) which is separate to the whole lot and wasn't connected to anything at the time. It was plugged in but completely off, off at the wall and switched off with no led lights on.

Can anyone explain why it could have been buzzing so loudly?!

What rynner said; although it certainly wouldn't do any harm to get the circuit tested, I can't help thinking that Myth might be leaning towards the drastic - certainly as a first response.

One potential explanation is earth loop hum, which is a pretty common problem with all kinds of audio equipment, and turntables are notorious for it. When I had a similar issue with my own a few years ago it turned out to be a problem with the turntable's own earth connection to the back of the amp (as opposed to the household supply earth). As far as I'm aware (and I stand to be corrected) an earth loop can be created simply by connecting various pieces of equipment together - in which case each individual item does not have to be powered up for a problem to occur.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Rewinding a little:

...was actually the record player (plain old turntable) which is separate to the whole lot and wasn't connected to anything at the time. It was plugged in but completely off, off at the wall and switched off with no led lights on.

Can anyone explain why it could have been buzzing so loudly?!

What rynner said; although it certainly wouldn't do any harm to get the circuit tested, I can't help thinking that Myth might be leaning towards the drastic - certainly as a first response.

Oh, I know my recommendation was a bit drastic, but when playing with electrics I think it's usually better to err on the side of caution.

 

[Iris]

It was quite cold this morning and my daughter and I were having a coffee at the local shopping centre before we did the grocery shopping.
My daughter said quietly to me to look and there was a 20ish chap with curly brown shoulder length hair, matching beard, short sleeved top and a dark brown kilt and no shoes and socks walking past.
He stopped briefly , looked at us and strode on. We were rather bemused as it was really quite cold out and a kilt is something we have never seen before in this area.
Oddly enough, noone else seemed to even notice him even though it's very multicultural here and everyone else was warmly rugged up.

 

[Draenog]

A fun bit of coincidence for you that happened last week.

Having seen a TV programme about the Antikythera Mechanism, I set about explaining the object to my wife over a nice cup of tea on the following day. She did a good job of feigning interest but as her eyes finally glazed over I decided to leave the poor woman in peace and return to the novel I had last been reading a few days before. I found my place and began to read. There, in the middle of the first paragraph, were the words Antikythera Mechanism. The A.M. wasn't featured anywhere else in the book, it was just mentioned in passing.

I like those little random coincidences that appear just a bit too random.

 

[Hypermetropia]

I am currently embarking on divorce and next spring, when the house is hopefully sold, I will need a home and a job, not easy at 61.

I idly logged onto a local job website with the thought of finding a local part time job. I looked at the first job, just been posted on the site. It was a really good, well paid live-in nursing job only 40 minutes from my current home. I thought to myself "There's a bit of serendipidy for you - it was Meant to Be". I decided to reply, and not bother looking further until I got some feedback.

I applied online and then the advertiser gave me a phone call. After saying my qualifications, age, experience and character were just what he was looking for he said: " Yours was the first response, when I read your email, I had a real gut feeling that this was 'Meant to Be'. So much so I have not yet replied to the other emails I received.

I did not tell him I was having a Fortean moment just in case he thought he was employing Mystic Meg :lol:

 

[ramonmercado]

Great!

 

[Mythopoeika]

Amazing!
Glad to hear that worked out for you.

I once had something similar happen to me.
In 1990, I was made redundant. The first thing I did the day after was to get out the Yellow Pages, and flipped the pages randomly. I found a section that had something to do with computers, and the first thing I looked at was a software training centre run by the council.
I thought 'oh well, I'll probably have to call loads of these places before I get a positive response' and dialled.
Immediately I got through to the boss (which was unusual in itself), and mentioned that I was looking for a job. He said 'funnily enough, we are recruiting for a software trainer - your timing is amazing'.
So I went for an interview the next day and got the job!

Funny how this never happens to me these days...

 

[SHAYBARSABE]

I applied online and then the advertiser gave me a phone call. After saying my qualifications, age, experience and character were just what he was looking for he said: " Yours was the first response, when I read your email, I had a real gut feeling that this was 'Meant to Be'. So much so I have not yet replied to the other emails I received.

Good for you!

 

[AngelAlice]

I am currently embarking on divorce and next spring, when the house is hopefully sold, I will need a home and a job, not easy at 61.

I idly logged onto a local job website with the thought of finding a local part time job. I looked at the first job, just been posted on the site. It was a really good, well paid live-in nursing job only 40 minutes from my current home. I thought to myself "There's a bit of serendipidy for you - it was Meant to Be". I decided to reply, and not bother looking further until I got some feedback.

I applied online and then the advertiser gave me a phone call. After saying my qualifications, age, experience and character were just what he was looking for he said: " Yours was the first response, when I read your email, I had a real gut feeling that this was 'Meant to Be'. So much so I have not yet replied to the other emails I received.

I did not tell him I was having a Fortean moment just in case he thought he was employing Mystic Meg :lol:

It's hard to go with those moments and not second guess and doubt - but you did and you were right.

 

[Hypermetropia]

I applied online and then the advertiser gave me a phone call. After saying my qualifications, age, experience and character were just what he was looking for he said: " Yours was the first response, when I read your email, I had a real gut feeling that this was 'Meant to Be'. So much so I have not yet replied to the other emails I received.

Good for you!

Thank you all for the thumbs up........ do you want the reality check?

Third World attic living quarters that apparently would be taxed as a perk? 24 hour care expected with no sleeping-in duty payment, and employer totally unable to give a clear response to how much are you actually paying? and when do I get ANY time off? Only response was ........ 'it's all flexible'. 41 responders to the ad, most from Eastern Europe.


Welcome to the Wonderful World of post-recession job opportunities - Laugh! :lol:

 

[Hypermetropia]

Amazing!
Glad to hear that worked out for you.

I once had something similar happen to me.
In 1990, I was made redundant. The first thing I did the day after was to get out the Yellow Pages, and flipped the pages randomly. I found a section that had something to do with computers, and the first thing I looked at was a software training centre run by the council.
I thought 'oh well, I'll probably have to call loads of these places before I get a positive response' and dialled.
Immediately I got through to the boss (which was unusual in itself), and mentioned that I was looking for a job. He said 'funnily enough, we are recruiting for a software trainer - your timing is amazing'.
So I went for an interview the next day and got the job!

Funny how this never happens to me these days...

Bless you........ it hasn't happened to me either, it transpires!

 

[AngelAlice]

Amazing!
Glad to hear that worked out for you.

I once had something similar happen to me.
In 1990, I was made redundant. The first thing I did the day after was to get out the Yellow Pages, and flipped the pages randomly. I found a section that had something to do with computers, and the first thing I looked at was a software training centre run by the council.
I thought 'oh well, I'll probably have to call loads of these places before I get a positive response' and dialled.
Immediately I got through to the boss (which was unusual in itself), and mentioned that I was looking for a job. He said 'funnily enough, we are recruiting for a software trainer - your timing is amazing'.
So I went for an interview the next day and got the job!

Funny how this never happens to me these days...

Bless you........ it hasn't happened to me either, it transpires!

That's the World of Strange for you. It seems to offer then takes away again. never trust the bastard. :-(

 

[Iris]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this.
Must be something about our local shopping centre. I wrote the other week about the strange chap we'd seen on a cold day there.
Anyway my friend was there on Saturday and went to wash her hands. A teenage girl was there. She seemed over friendly and said to her that she really loved her necklace.
She said " Thankyou'' and left and then realised that it was under her windcheater so it couldn't be seen.
She went into KMart and there was the girl again with a group of other girls and this girl said to them " There's the lady I met who had the nice necklace".
My friend thought it was just too odd and wondered why they were being so friendly, so she left.

 

[ramonmercado]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this.
Must be something about our local shopping centre. I wrote the other week about the strange chap we'd seen on a cold day there.
Anyway my friend was there on Saturday and went to wash her hands. A teenage girl was there. She seemed over friendly and said to her that she really loved her necklace.
She said " Thankyou'' and left and then realised that it was under her windcheater so it couldn't be seen.
She went into KMart and there was the girl again with a group of other girls and this girl said to them " There's the lady I met who had the nice necklace".
My friend thought it was just too odd and wondered why they were being so friendly, so she left.

Odd, sound like some kind of scam. Or maybe it would have resulted in an offer to attend some religious meeting/service.

 

[SHAYBARSABE]

Good for you!

Thank you all for the thumbs up........ do you want the reality check?

Third World attic living quarters that apparently would be taxed as a perk? 24 hour care expected with no sleeping-in duty payment, and employer totally unable to give a clear response to how much are you actually paying? and when do I get ANY time off? Only response was ........ 'it's all flexible'. 41 responders to the ad, most from Eastern Europe.


Welcome to the Wonderful World of post-recession job opportunities - Laugh! :lol:

Uh-huh. Mine's not so bad as that; but, I do spend 9 1/2 hours a day at my desk. In theory, we have two 15-minutes breaks during the day and an hour for lunch; but, in practice, that doesn't happen. Plus, I work in a what was meant to be a storage closet--no windows. However, these days, having a job at all is something.

 

[Hypermetropia]

Good for you!

Thank you all for the thumbs up........ do you want the reality check?

Third World attic living quarters that apparently would be taxed as a perk? 24 hour care expected with no sleeping-in duty payment, and employer totally unable to give a clear response to how much are you actually paying? and when do I get ANY time off? Only response was ........ 'it's all flexible'. 41 responders to the ad, most from Eastern Europe.


Welcome to the Wonderful World of post-recession job opportunities - Laugh! :lol:

Uh-huh. Mine's not so bad as that; but, I do spend 9 1/2 hours a day at my desk. In theory, we have two 15-minutes breaks during the day and an hour for lunch; but, in practice, that doesn't happen. Plus, I work in a what was meant to be a storage closet--no windows. However, these days, having a job at all is something.

I know we are not discussing minor strangeness - more like major misery...... but your work conditions are grim. Have you thought of working in a Blacking Factory? Dickens can highly recommend the pay and conditions.

At least we are not in Greece, lining up for a bowl of soup. After witnessing a Greek female Communist politician being given a vicious slapping by a Neo Nazi 'politician' - I feel WWIII brewing.

 

[special_farces]

Flamin' sun... better late than...

Work got a bit complex, then I accidentally zapped my iPhone, so posting pics of sun icons took a back seat.

But here it is:

Up the street
Face on

Note the typical weather conditions.

And the day after my last post I got a card through the letterbox promoting this event:

Sprungg Green Gathering

which features that icon again.

 

[Mythopoeika]

The sun plaques were quite common in the 19th century, as Sun Insurance sold them to their customers.
Customers of Sun would display the plaques on the house to indicate to the fire services that the owner was insured.

That may have started off the trend originally, and people carried on doing it.

Example here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwphoto_kent/1020634492/

 

[Mystereaux1]

There's something in the garden eating the heads of the slugs. There is a hedgehog out there but in my experience they eat the whole slug, this thing is just taking the heads and leaving me with the bodies to clear up. Nothing more to add, I just thought it was weird.