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What Common, Everyday Occurrence Do You Find Strange?

Post Script: my medical missus says that in fact non-oxygenated blood is more a dull maroon colour, not blue - the iron content keeps it more reddish than blueish. Suffocated people only look blue cos anoxia makes the skin take on a blueish pallour.

Mea Culpa!
 
It isn't necessarily the contents of the veins we see under the skin that make them blue. It could be the outside structure of the veins that's blue.
 
beakboo said:
It isn't necessarily the contents of the veins we see under the skin that make them blue. It could be the outside structure of the veins that's blue.
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IIRC, it's the red blood absorbing red light that makes veins appear blue.... or something like that.... my sister's a midwife, and probably knows, but if I 'phone her after midnight, I'll be on a slab by breakfast-time.....

There again, there are nurses on the Board..... Telll us! Please!
 
Why Oh Why?

I make a superb jest and it's ignored in favor of picayune detail concerning blood color.

Why has no one topped me, and inspired further grand jests?

Why?

Oh why?

*sobs, withdraws*
 
Don't cry, Frater old pal. No one's topped you because we don't know your address. ;) :D
 
Gremlinclr said:
But that doesn't prove that our blues are the same. Everyone "knows" the sky is blue(i know its not really just water reflected stay with me)but that doesnt mean I'm not seeing it as green. *shrug* Theres no way to prove or disprove it either way, darnit. :)
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Our blues are the same. We agree on which things are blue, therefore we have a common experience of what is blue. If you saw it as green, then surely you'd call it green.

Now, where we have the difficulty is that you can't see my perception of blue, and thus have no idea if this perception matches your perception of green or vice versa. There is no way to know the answer to this since we can't exchange that perception in any meaningful way.

As an example, look at this discussion. You think we're discussing colour perception, but for all you know, I'm talking about sexual reproduction in slime-moulds. You can't see inside my head, so you don't know for sure. (Before you worry too much, I'm in the same boat.) What you do know is that we have a shared experience of a discussion that (hopefully) made sense to each of us.

To paraphrasesome of the great philosophers: don't let it get to you, there are more important things to worry about. (I'm sure at least one of them said something like that at some point.)
 
Me, Either

beakboo said:
Don't cry, Frater old pal. No one's topped you because we don't know your address. ;) :D
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I'm so relieved. Strange thing is, though, I haven't a clue of my address, either. I think ashcroftian forces have contrived to disappear it, so it can be tortured and executed by a secret military tribunal.
 
Freq Me Out

Colours are defined by frequency of vibration. It's nailed down very specifically and isn't up to an individual's perception.

How closely calibrated any given set of eyes/brain may be to the established scientific definitions of colour is a different question. I'm sure no one is exactly matching their experience to the spectrum science insists upon.
 
I remember contributing to a discussion on colour perception on some other thread, but which one?!

But the fact is we don't understand consciousness. You can measure frequency (and wavelengths), but you can't explain the difference in perception of red and green, say. Where does the redness or the greenness come from?

There's a posh word, 'qualia', used by people who discuss these things, to refer to qualities that we all experience but which cannot be measured by scientific means.
 
Qualia's New CD

Originally posted by rynner
[B
There's a posh word, 'qualia', used by people who discuss these things, to refer to qualities that we all experience but which cannot be measured by scientific means.
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What an excellent name for a group, eh?
 
I find it weird when you walk into some one and then dance around them in the street. Ive been teaching myself to stop and let them pass.

Also ive noticed on country roads that one car doesn't come once in a while a series of cars do. something to do the with law of physics.

and humans are the only animals to have sex purely fo pleasure but still might be odd if all men went south for the winter and arrived at the phillipines to mate with females in the summer.
 
Demon Avenger said:
Also ive noticed on country roads that one car doesn't come once in a while a series of cars do. something to do the with law of physics.
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You get a slow 'visitor' holding up the locals

Demon Avenger said:
and humans are the only animals to have sex purely fo pleasure
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No, bonobos (pigmy chimps) do as well


/edit
Bugger, I must learn to type faster...
edit/
 
I am a confirmed pedestrian and as such have to spend a fair amount of time watching traffic. (so's I don't get splatted) Quite often I notice what seems to be a clustering of colours, sometimes in the moving traffic, sometimes in parked cars. For example I noticed during the World Cup that quite often the stream of traffic in both directions consisted of vehicles coloured red, white or blue. Or I may pass a carpark in the bus and most of the cars in it are red, or white, or whatever. One day last week I stopped at a pelican crossing and every vehicle in the queue at the traffic lights was multi-coloured - either vans with lettering in a contrasting colour or cars with stripes etc. I've gotten so used to seeing this phenomena now that as I leave in the morning I wonder what colour the traffic will be that day.
Obviously some days are a full mix of colours and I'm not keen enough to do a survey.
 
Jaywalking

Be grateful you live where walking and even biking is possible.
 
Susan Bulmer said:
...Quite often I notice what seems to be a clustering of colours, sometimes in the moving traffic, sometimes in parked cars...
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I've also noticed something similar. When I, or friends/relatives, get a new model of car, I start to see more of them on the road. For instance, before my brother got his first car (an 8 year old Renault 18), I hardly saw any, then I started to see more and more of them (in all colours and both the estate and the sedan). Previously, I'd seen plenty of Renault 12s and 16s, but not 18s. It could be that I only really became aware of what an 18 looks like when he bought it, but that doesn't explain the sudden increase in dark blue Toranas I saw when I bought mine, or the sudden surge of MX-5s that turned up when a friend bought his.

(Well, it probably does, but it's still creepy.)
 
I was mortified to find that the courtesy car I was given whilst my own was in for repair was a Micra, ever since they have been breeding like Rabbits.
 
Signal & Noise

If you begin smoking a pipe, you'll suddenly notice how many people smoke pipes, where before you never noticed them. It's selective perception. Same with colors, symbols, or body types.

Figure and ground are continually shifting to emphasize what we have experienced lately.
 
p.younger said:
I was mortified to find that the courtesy car I was given whilst my own was in for repair was a Micra, ever since they have been breeding like Rabbits.
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My God, that is worrying. If they continue on uncontrolled, no doubt there will be a plague of small cars clogging up the roadways of Great Britain. Has the government introduced plans to cull them? You must act now, before the Micra problem approaches the proportions of the Rabbit or Mouse plagues here.

One possible solution that occurs to me: Replace the local fox hunt with the Micra hunt. Surely that's something both the aristocracy and the Animal Liberationists can compromise on?

Obviously, you couldn't use dogs to hunt with, maybe you could use Monster Trucks, or rejects from Robot Wars? Just an idea.
 
D. (no B.) Cooper

All part of BMW's nefarious plot to re-introduce the Mini Cooper.
 
Children. Children are weird. They find the most mundane things hilariously funny. They can dissolve into gales of uncontrollable laughter over a gob of mashed potato falling onto the tablecloth. "My" kids went into virtual hysteria over hearing the name "Francesca" for the first time.

They also get upset over the weirdest things. Little sister refuses to get dressed because big sister won't wear exactly the same outfit as her. Big sister gets in a sulk because little sister (Horrors!) wants to sleep in her own bed for a change.

They not only talk to themselves, they see nothing strange about carrying on entire conversations with themselves. They acquire and shed phobias as though they were viruses, turn their noses up this week at last week's favorite food, and will suddenly, for no apparent reason, decide something they've been doing without effort for a year and a half is too hard.

Their understanding of the word "fair" is often in direct opposition to what it really means.

They just aren't like normal people.

Nonny
 
Kids Progress

And then the children become adults, which are just kids writ large, and they end up in charge of governments, corporations, and churches, and that's why the world is so terrifically fucked the hell up.

What a great plan the gods had, letting us defeat best intentions with kids.
 
I don't know Nonny, I don't like the company of children at all and hated being one, but some of the things you describe sound very like me! I think being changable, imaginative and open minded is a good thing (a fortean thing of course as well), and these are habits shed by far too many people when they reach their mid twenties. That's the behavior I find inexplicable. Why can't I sit on the ground at a bus stop, just because I'm 39? Why shouldn't I hold conversations with the cats/tv/radio? Why do I have to wear shoes?
 
Just to make things clear, I adore kids. (Well, most kids, anyway. Some kids, I want to throw out a high window to see if they bounce, but that's usually the result of brain-dead parents.)

I just think it's fascinating to watch these little people who haven't yet internalized all the little rules and inhibitions we've picked up along the way. I envy them. Wouldn't if feel nice to run along flapping your arms and pretending to be a butterfly, without having to worry about getting carted off to the nuthouse?

Nonny
 
Nonny Mouse said:
Wouldn't if feel nice to run along flapping your arms and pretending to be a butterfly, without having to worry about getting carted off to the nuthouse?
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You mean I shouldn't be doing that in the front yard?
Oops... my bad! ;)

TVgeek
 
I do that once a week in Dance lessons. :D I got to pretend to be rowing around the hall last week.
I love kids. They are so free of all inhibitions, say what they think and help you to see the world with new eyes.
 
After a childhood of physical and mental abuse I was genuinely surprised to learn that parents are supposed to be kind to their children and resolved to be extra kind to any kids I might have.

I am proud that, for example, any child travelling with me is treated with understanding about travel sickness and not humiliated over it as I was. I say, 'I am travel sick sometimes too, so I know what to do!'

I've worked with abused kids who suffered far worse abuse than I ever did. They turn out to be no-goods themselves because they feel worthless.

I don't know how I managed to break the cycle but I'm glad I did.

My parents are alive and can't understand why I don't go see them!
 
Wow, I'm so pleased to read that Escargot. :)
I have to deal with all the problems that come from abusive and demoralising parents, and its pretty hard to undo any trauma once they get to school. The children come so unhappy that they aren't ready to learn. I do so much work on boosting morales and self esteem!
 
Spooky, it's like wading through treacle sometimes! Couldn't you just shake those parents!

As a kid I mistrusted all adults because I was used to kindness from my parents turning out to be false. What a handicap for a child trying to get an education!

Gave me a powerful insight though. I'm certain that there are people in the world who one day will remember me as someone who got through to them, just as some adults got through to me.

One of my jobs used to be talking kids to sleep. They were teenagers who'd been so badly abused, usually in their own beds and in silence, that the only way they could relax was to hear a woman talking about nothing.

I'd tell them all about my old camper van and how it broke down in Wales, and the mechanic who came to fix it stayed for his tea on Shell Island overlooking the sea.... and how my son burned the kitchen out at home by accident with the toaster and how I wasn't angry because, hey, nobody was hurt and he's my lovely son and he was sorry.... and how I had seven cats because people know I love them and would bring me strays and one lady tracked her cat all the way across town to me because it had been chased off by a big dog and ended up at my house and she brought a photo of the cat to prove it but I knew it was her cat because it made a fuss of her and I felt it was saying, what took you so long? and the lady cried for joy....
...and how my big son tried a little shoplifting in his school uniform and was chased across town and finally caught by a wheezing policeman who arrested him and the lad was cautioned, which did him a lot of good in the long run, and he joined the Army and the policeman became a family friend...

All ordinary family stuff, boring in the extreme. But boring is what these poor kids needed. Makes my blood boil. I HATE people who are rotten to kids.
 
I've been wondering for the past few days what to write on the "What is the meaning of life" thread, but I think escargot has got it just right:

Gave me a powerful insight though. I'm certain that there are people in the world who one day will remember me as someone who got through to them, just as some adults got through to me.
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Leave the place a little better than when you found it :)

That's completely off-thread I know but I think it had to be said, and quoting between threads is considered rude in this strange world of ours.

Jane.
 
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