The Life Experience ~ Winter '11

[bloodyrosemccoy]

What I Learned Since The Winter Solstice:

• Clarence “Ducky” Nash not only voiced Donald Duck in English; he also did the voice on all the dubbed shorts Disney made so that the voice would remain consistently unintelligible across all languages.
• Before she became a TV cook show hostess, Julia Child INVENTED SHARK REPELLENT.
• Shakira sings very differently in English than she does in Spanish—to an amazing degree. In English, she sounds like so many other Madonna clones; in Spanish she’s got that rich and confident voice. I’d never listened to one of her songs’ English and Spanish versions back-to-back before, but it’s amazing how different it is.
• Drawing something that looks like text without being legible is called “Greeking”—the written equivalent of “rhubarb.”
• Generally speaking, the human brain can only really count up to 4 at a glance. Numbers beyond that slow us down.
• Cookie Monster’s name in Hindu Hindi is Biscuit Badsha.
• BONUS EDIT WITH NEW LEARNED THING: Hindi is the language; Hindu is the religion.  I never was really sure of the difference in the terms.  Thanks, sriti !
• It’s incredibly convenient to have a portable musical instrument to carry around and practice when you’ve got a few minutes, instead of having something too huge to lug around.
• There is an explanation for my complete inability to ever adhere to the crazy raw food diet so many of our library patrons seem to be interested in starting up: Oral Allergy Syndrome. (I’m sure those raw food books would assure me that I wouldn’t have this syndrome if I just ate enough raw food to detox, but fuck ’em.)
• You can get hives ON YOUR GOD DAMN EYEBALL.
• There are a few drawbacks to nuclear power. [/understatement]
• Mushrooms grow fast.
• Calendars generally follow three main types: lunar, solar, and lunisolar.  A great deal of work goes into keeping calendars on track, especially the lunisolar ones.  Some calendars also have a really complex way to make the weekdays dependent on the date and even more complex astrological positions.
• The term for the shaved head, or part of the head, of a monk is tonsure.
• It is possible for me to find stars in the sky if I concentrate!
• Also, Betelgeuse really does look orange.
• The effectiveness of toilet paper follows a bell curve along its price range. Too cheap and it’s painful and thin; too expensive and it’s so pumped with lotions, layers, and moisturizers that it forgets its function as, well, toilet paper, and winds up just waving at your butt as it goes by.
• There are Geno fans on the internet. I should have known.
• Pizza sauce is a lot simpler than I thought, but crust is still a bit tough to work out.

Comments

I love these Wrap-Up posts.

[lycheetwist.livejournal.com]

Hey, have you posted pictures of your mushrooms and I missed them? I'd like to see how they're going. I don't know anything about your spores and buttons, either. I've seen pictures of Oyster mushrooms grow, and, man, they do grow fast.

These posts are always something I look forward to, especially now since you've graduated from school.

Re: I love these Wrap-Up posts.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Well, I WANTED to post pictures of my mushroom log, but the damn things grew too fast, and before I knew it I was harvesting them and totally forgot to get the camera. They were Blue Oysters, too--more fun to grow than to eat for me, but still darn entertaining.

I'm hoping to get a second flush of mushrooms, but this being Utah they might just shrivel and die from lack of humidity.

Re: I love these Wrap-Up posts.

[lycheetwist.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with the "Fun to grow, not to eat" part. Mushrooms are gradually getting more tasty, but finding them is a lot more fun.

No big deal on not having any pictures. I know those suckers grow fast. Where did you get your spores from?

[ellixis.livejournal.com]

Rhubarb?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Supposedly sound mixers for movies and TV create general crowd noises by having extras mutter "rhubarb, rhubarb" (or "peas and carrots") out of sync with each other. I don't know if the story itself is apocryphal or not (you'd think it'd just wind up sounding like a bunch of guys muttering "rhubarb"), but either way it's where the term for indistinct background dialogue gets its name.

(MST makes fun of this, too--in some of the Japanese movies Mike and the Bots will mutter "bok choy, sashimi, ramen" during crowd-chatter scenes.)

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Dunno about TV, but it's "rhubarb" and "peas and carrots" are standard on-stage things for "making it look like you're talking in a crowd scene without saying anything in particular.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

The "Rhubarb" thing works better than you might think. Usually creates an angry mob or argument sort of vibe. I've also heard of "walla walla" being used for regular background conversation.

[ellixis.livejournal.com]

So that's where "rooba rooba" comes from. I've been edumacated!

[asqmh.livejournal.com]

The Buttwipe Bell Curve is absolutely correct.

Also, OAS is the reason I can't eat cats. Not even raw cats. >_>

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Too bad, that. Cat fur is a good source of vitammin D. (COMPLETELY TRUE RANDOM FACTOID.)

The bell curve also works for Kleenex. I swear to god I have found FLAVOR CRYSTALS in my nose wipes.

[sriti.livejournal.com]

Okay couple of comments:
a) I never knew there was such a thing as a shark repellent! What a helpful thing to have!
b) Its 'hindi', not 'hindu', the former is the language, whereas the latter is the religious sect (like muslim), and lastly,
c)I always love to spot these two red stars in the sky. I can't tell you exactly where they are (I don't know the names of the stars at all!) but one is right beside the middle of these three lined stars. Ever see them?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the correction! I have learned another new thing today! I'll fix the entry.

I couldn't tell you which stars they are; I'd have to see them. But that's cool--I'm just realizing that the stars actually do have color to them.

[beccastareyes]

I've had friends with oral allergies. It's a shame, since there's so many veggies around Ithaca when there's not snow on the ground. OTOH, most of them time I couldn't have a raw food diet because my CSA gives me so much leafy veggies that if you don't cook them or blanch them for later cooking, then it's just very expensive compost. As is, on the weeks we get lettuce, I'll usually have 'ginormous salad' for at least one meal.

(That and most of the greens taste too strong raw -- I just discovered while I don't care for raw arugula, it's not bad cooked.)

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

get a bunny

[piccolo-pirate.livejournal.com]

I discovered OAS last fall. For all the years before that, I just assumed everyone got weird itchy bumps on their lips when they ate apples. Go figure.

If you have a local Trader Joe's, they make delightful toilet paper that's cheap, partially recycled, and falls in just the right place on the bell curve. :)

[van.livejournal.com]

Re: the TP, is it at a Trader Joe's brand? I'd love to get some good nice, cheap toilet paper that doesn't turn shred on my butt but doesn't wave as it passes either.

[piccolo-pirate.livejournal.com]

Yup, it is. Neither shreds nor waves. If I remember correctly, they sell it in packs of 12 rolls for something like $2.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Batman owes Julia child big time.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I was THIS close to saying she invented Shark Repellent Bat Spray, but as I understand it the sharks she repelled did not actually explode.

*is baffled**

[sofish-sasha.livejournal.com]

Toilet paper in the US contains lotions and moisturisers?

I mean, what? Why? What's wrong with plain ol' paper?

Re: *is baffled**

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I really don't know. I think it's crazy capitalist competition, trying to get an edge over one's competitors with Added Features. Thing is, there is not a whole lot you can do with just toilet paper, so they get creative.

There was one commercial where they claimed they went across the country and interviewed a bunch of women about what they wanted from a toilet paper, and I was thinking, "Probably something that gets your ass clean." (I was also thinking, "Why did they feel the need to only interview women? Do men not use toilet paper? Yuck.")

Re: *is baffled**

[sofish-sasha.livejournal.com]

And the result is MOAR CHEMICALS being - literally! - flushed down the drains, for no good reason. *headdesk* As if those utterly pointless thingies that make your toilet smell like artificial freesia or ocean breeze* weren't bad enough.



*By the way, how come nothing labelled ocean/sea breeze ever smells like actual ocean/sea breeze? In my experience, ocean breezes smell like salt, rotting sea weed, dead fish, sea floor sludge, and - on one memorable occasion - dead porpoise. No sea I've ever been near has smelt like the vaguely pleasant and almost criminally inoffensive scent you get from products with an "ocean breeze" label.

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

I love your "learned since" entries. They're exciting and fun and just all-around cool. Plus I usually learn something. *makes note about Shakira*

I've got an oral allergy to mangoes, walnuts, and kiwi. All of which I love, mango especially, so this make me sad.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's rough. I love quite a few of the things that swell up my lips or send burning and itching up into my ears. I tend to suck it up sometimes and eat 'em anyway, but it's always preceded by a cost/benefit analysis.

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

I eat them too! Well, mango at least. I am pretty sure I triggered the allergy in myself through over-exposure - there are mangoes all over Chicago thanks to the high Indian population, and they are sooooo good.

Walnuts are only considered while at Trader Joe's, where they are a key ingredient in my favorite cookies ever.

It's fun weighing the consequences. "Hmmm. A week of a raw throat and ulcerated mouth, or fifteen minutes of sensual, delicious, drippy, yummy mango?"....consequences, schmonsequences.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Every now and then, I fall into that, and go for something citrus, even though I know it's going to hurt. Just tastes too good to go without entirely.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

I have OAS to a bajillion things, such that pretty much every time I eat I get horrifically congested, and I have a nasty allergy to raw spinach which ensures that never again will I know the delights of a raw spinach salad with hard boiled eggs, mandarin oranges, and warm bacon dressing. *sobs*

Also I appear to be lactose-intolerant or something along those lines, which profoundly sucks but gives me a good excuse to give to my doctor when he complains that I don't drink enough (read: *any*) milk.

[van.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty lactose intolerant myself, but there are pills you can take to compensate. They can be a bit expensive so I ration them out, but if I just HAVE to have a bowl of ice cream, I can pop two-three of them and do pretty well. I've tried a bunch and the ones that work best for me are Malabar's Super Milk Digestants.

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

I so didn't believe that the pills worked (as in the U.S. they have to carry a "This claim has not been evaluated") sticker...but two months ago my partner finally made me try them and...what do you know. It works!

I find they work best if I eat active culture yogurt at the same time.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, thank you. I got out of the milk-drinking habit (probably an unconscious reaction to my body not liking it) but sometimes ice cream is necessary.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

My sister's got OAD and she's finding new things she's allergic to (or things she's newly allergic to) all the time. It started with certain fruits. Then it was pretty much any uncooked fruit. Then perhaps some vegetables. Now, she's found that even using fresh/raw garlic and onions in food and not cooking them enough gives her problems (she does not have problems with the powder forms, or the pre-minced stuff. Yet.). So my sister either has to cook the daylights out of everything or just eat processed foods.

My mom is allergic to corn and corn-derived products and products made with the use of corn-derived products and possibly meats from animals fed a high percentage of corn. Pretty much any processed food, even the 'natural' or 'organic' stuff, uses corn in the food itself or in its production. So my mom is pretty down to making her own food for anything she would eat, and a lot of the time that ends up being raw foods.

As you can probably see, family dinners are quite an affair to fix.


I learned the 'counting at a glance' thing from an SAT test I took years ago! It was in the reading section of the test, and I found it so interesting I kinda took way more time on it than I needed to. :D;


And eyeball hives are quite possibly the worst thing ever. So I've heard.

[willowistari.livejournal.com]

I have oral allergy syndrome myself. If I freeze fruit before I eat it, and steam the veggies, I can usually get around it. Most nuts I have to stay away from totally.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Amen on the TP bell curve thing. I can't stand the high end stuff, but the mid-range is great.

Generally speaking, the human brain can only really count up to 4 at a glance. Numbers beyond that slow us down.

I heard it was more like 5-6 for most people. I know for me, it's 5. The highest I've ever heard of was an Idiot Savant who could count up to 30 at a glance.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Oh, also: The OAS thing sounds almost exactly like the reaction I get from Citrus. But I get that from cooked or processed Citrus as well, so the mechanism must be a little different.

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

I do inventory as a job and I've learned to count up to 8 at a glance. It's done by grouping: if I see six items together, rather than recognising six separate items, I see two groups of three, which I've trained my muscle memory to interpret as a six. Depending on how well organised the items are, I can count groups of up to twelve (two sets of two sets of three), but that takes a bit longer and is harder to work into a counting rhythm.

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

Generally speaking, the human brain can only really count up to 4 at a glance. Numbers beyond that slow us down.

...we're a bunch of rabbits? [/Watership Down ref]

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Turns out the concept of "hrair" isn't just a rabbit thing!

[willowistari.livejournal.com]

Reference win.

[shadesofmauve]

Interesting timing -- I didn't know about the general applicability of counting-4-at-a-glance, but it JUST came up in conversation with my neighbor. he has five dogs, and says #5 was what pushed it from maneagable to a hassle, because he can't do a head-count at a glance.