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What Common, Everyday Occurrence Do You Find Strange?

intaglio said:
I once spent a wonderful half hour listening to an Open University program saying that the Poem "To His Coy Mistress" was an extended metaphore for the English Civil War. That definitely missed the point. That sort of over analysis I definitely find strange.

My own view? It's a lovely way of saying "get yer knickers off"

here's a link

That's exactly my reading of it, too: a modern version could be called "Let's get on with it, cos the footie's on in a minute" or similar.

Dirty old bugger, that Marvell.
 
A Reminder At Last

Glad to have reminded you. Wouldn't do to have you forget, after all, now would it?

Actually, what Clarke says is one of my prime lessons in life. His main concern these days? That our species simply won't survive religion and it's attendant horrors. I suspect he's right, and I also suspect it'll serve us all right for being such idiots.

As for Marvell's poem, it might well be both, and is also a zilliad other things besides, as each reader and often each reading brings what ever they've got to any work of art.
 
Yep, the guy is saying how he would love her forever and go to the end of the world for her and such. But he is kind of busy so how about they just have sex.
 
I've always loved that Marvell poem, it's very realistic and yet very passionate. If you want some really pervy 17th century stuff try Robert Herrick, he goes on and on about his Julias orbs, her lips and the laces of her corset but it's all very nice........
 
I'm amazed that this thread went from singing guitars to swearing to poetry. This is like the "phone game" in action. :D
 
What about people who talk to themselves, in front of other people? That always worries me.
 
A Brief Tribute To Clocks

Einstein disagreed about clocks. He said time is the fourth dimension, imperfectly perceived. To show this, he used the example of meeting someone in a big city. You can give the three usual coordinates, and find the right spot, but unless you also know the TIME, your chances of actually meeting remain random. So, for two people to converge at a street corner by prearrangement, time must be measured well.

Clocks make that possible.

However, yes, I'd certainly agree this is passing strange.
 
mike_legs said:
What about people who talk to themselves, in front of other people? That always worries me.

I do that... I just keep coming up with really amusing puns and observations and such and feel the urge to utter them, just to make them real so that I can remember them. That and I don't have many people to actually talk to when I'm not at work. Sigh.
 
Great Minds Sink Alike?

Inverurie - That's how Robin Williams developed his stage act, he claims. He'd always muttered amusing things to himself, and one day simply spoke more loudly and clearly, and was soon the class clown.

Who knows? You may have a career waiting for you as a stand-up comic, social commentator, or fast-patter politician.

Besides, they say it's not a worry that you talk to yourself... until you begin to answer back, or argue...
 
I like clocks, 'cos they're mechanical. Jodi's old man is an horologist, which isn't what I thought she said...
 
garrick - I think I read you. You're on about how we define time. Is a nanosecond the decay of a cesium atom? Is the blink of a royal's eye a second? Why are there sixty of them in what we choose to call an hour, and who says, and so what?

Is that your focus?
 
mike_legs said:
What about people who talk to themselves, in front of other people? That always worries me.

Happens more and more often, with the fad for hands-free mobiles. Usually worries me, though, until I notice the cable coming out of the person's ear.
 
I have a talent for absentmindedly whistling a tune which will have been playing in a co-worker's head mere seconds before; or saying what a friend's going to say before they say it; or thinking of someone out of the blue minutes before they telephone/e-mail/bump into me on the street; or if my partner points to the TV and says "who does that guy remind me of?", I'll tell him, no matter how obscure it is.

Everyone gets this once in a while with people they're close to, but I tend to get it almost every day with a variety of people I can have known for years or just hours.

It doesn't tend to work with people I don't *like*, so it's probably some sort of intuition. It can get quite annoying and I haven't made any money out of it. Yet.

Incidentally, I find the daily ability to go to willingly commit the majority of one's day to banal meaningless tasks in a harshly-lit environment for a nominal fee an amazing feat. Work, I think it's called.
 
The Hand Is Still, The Clock Is Moving

garrick - Then never visit a Foucault's pendulum at an observatory or museum, it may make you so dizzy you fall over.
 
Orbyn, my mum does that. She can actually respond to thoughts I have in my head (quite disturbing to think about.) Also, at her old job, she had the ability to know who was calling the office without picking up the phone (they got zillions of calls a day, but she always knew when one of her kids was calling).

As far as time goes, if i dont have immediate access to a watch, clock, sun dial, etc, I go even insaner then usual.


What I find pretty neat about time is the faster I go, the slower time seems to go. For example if I'm doing 60 mph, it feels like it takes longer for a minute to go by (glancing at the clock every so often), then if im doing 20 mph. In the latter case, it'll feel like that minute flew by while in the former, it feels like the minute took forever.

It's definately not a relativity thing. I think of it as a psychological thing...faster I go, the more scenery passes. Soooo when i think back to a minute ago, i was much further back if i was doing 60 then doing 20.

Hmm, I can't explain it at the moment but if anyone wishes to read my thoughts, you'll get a much clearer explanation (and a possible freakshow). The point is: time passes slower when I'm driving faster.

Cheers!
 
Static Zoom

Basic Einstein: Time slows the faster you go until it stops just before the speed of light is reached.
 
Time Sense Enhanced?

pooter - Shouldn't be, but perhaps you're exceptionally sensitive to such matters.

garrick - Does this detestation of yours extend to digital and water as well as hand clocks? How about sundials? Hourglasses? (Depends on whose, yes, we know...)
 
I never thought of it that way, althought I do think its a psychological effect of comparing how much scenery passes when im traveling fast compared to when I'm traveling slow.
 
(Perhaps we should transfer this discussion to the "Googly from Left Field" thread, having completely derailed this one!)

What? Surely unrelated posts should go on my very own (and sadly unregarded) "I was born under a wandering thread". :D

Oddly enough though this thread seems to have got back on track, despite our best efforts.

Another strange thing - talking about mobile phones: why do people assume you can't hear them and willingly talk loudly about their personal problems, work issues, and even give out personal information such as credit card details? And why does nobody in horror movies ever have one of the blasted things when their trapped in the room with the beastie coming to get them?

And why does nobody (especially me) know when to use "their", "there" or "they're"?

Jane.
 
On the subject of telephones, why is it that when a phone rings people feel compelled to answer it, over & above anything else they are doing????

You can be having an important meeting & the phone rings, everyone looks at it & finally someones nerve breaks, they pick it up & spend the next ten minutes answering an inane question!!!

I was in the bank last week, a dozen people in the queue & only one desk open, in the end I nailed the manager, (that's what the b*gger's there for after all) & he says the extra person fir the desk was answering a tellephone enquiry. So I pointed out that that was just one person at the other end of the phone, why not offer to phone them back shortly, what about the other dozen people here in person, don't they count???

I suspect it dates from the time when a telegram then later a telephone conversation, was an important event. But, that was in the past, so why can't people break thenselves of the habit of having to instantly stop what they are doing & grab the phone?
 
People who ring expect the phone to be answered. I had one person the other day who said "I want a credit, there were six rings before you answered". 6 rings is less than 12 seconds
 
I have to answer my phone very quickly or my dog hoOooOooOoowls.... arooOoorooroo...
 
Some Telephonic Thoughts

Ah, the dreaded telephone. One thing to think about is the fact that the little buzzing one hears on the dialer's end is not related to the ringing at the receiver's end whatsoever. It's put in to keep you happy, purely a psychological device to assure you things are working.

I suspect people talk loudly in public on cellular phones not because they think you can't hear them, but because they've made an assessment and figure the person at the other end is far more important. It's a value judgment and you should definitely feel slighted.

As to why many are compelled to answer the telephone no matter what, it could be curiosity. If they didn't answer, they'd nag themselves wondering who it might have been.

Also, since answering machines, it's not as urgent in my household. We'll either get it or not.

And finally, the sound of a ringing telephone is so annoying one will do anything to get it to STOP. Hence the haste to answer.

By the way, this thread hasn't been hijacked, as we're still talking about quotidian things we find strange: Ourselves, primarily.
 
I think people talk loudly in public on cell phones for a few reasons...

1. The general poor quality of cell phones (compared to land lines) makes them feel that they need to talk louder to be heard.

2. Being that they are in a public place, chances are the the ambient noise in their environment makes the person on the other end harder to hear, so as a reflex they talk in a louder tone of voice.

3. General discourtesy to their neighbors. :D
 
Regarding people talking loudly on mobiles, perhaps it would be fun to repay the discourtesy by carrying a little notebook, and, with a mad glint in your eye, pretend to write down everything they say - and make sure they see you doing it!

(Or you could really write it down, if you can be bothered. After all, you never know when you might want someone else's credit card details...)
 
David said:
On the subject of telephones, why is it that when a phone rings people feel compelled to answer it, over & above anything else they are doing????

Stuff that - if a person has taken the time and trouble to come in person, they deserve to be dealt with before a telephone call! I've had many arguments at work in the past for ignoring a phone call when dealing with a visitor
 
rynner said:
Regarding people talking loudly on mobiles, perhaps it would be fun to repay the discourtesy by carrying a little notebook, and, with a mad glint in your eye, pretend to write down everything they say - and make sure they see you doing it!

I did something similar on a long train journey opposite one arrogant braying yuppy whose phone conversation went something like "neau, yah, neau, yah, neau it was taytally *mad*..", etc while staring quite openly at my cleavage the entire time.

Usually if i HAVE to answer my phone in a public place I try to restrict my repsonses to quiet, tortured "yes" and "no"s, but on this occasion I was more than happy to prattle away about loud braying idiots on trains, much to the bewilderment of my friend on the other end, who just wanted to know what time the train got in...
 
Clocks are the devil's work, ticking away the seconds of your mortal life. i won't have one in the house.
sorry no capitals, i have one arm trapped under a cat. :(
 
I liked what someone said about those headset cell phones. That people who talked to themselves made them nervous, untill they saw the cable coming out of their ear. Just seemed sort of surreal :D
 
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