Happy Vernal Equinox, everyone!
What I’ve learned since the solstice:
- People with perfect pitch have an advantage when learning Mandarin.
- Rowlf the dog might have become my favorite Muppet, up there and maybe even surpassing Kermit the Frog, my first crush.*
- You can see some interesting bits of human nature by just working at a cash register:
- If there is a bagger standing behind one side of the counter, people will invariably approach the opposite side.
- When a customer takes a pen out of the cup provided and it does not work, the standard practice is to say “This pen is out of ink” and then put it back in the cup with the other pens for the next guy to find.
- Hawaiian uses three different demonstrative pronouns/adjectives: kēia, kēnā, and kēlā, which respectively refer to something near the speaker, something near the listener, and something far away from both of them. This isn’t the first time I’ve run across something like this, and ever since Spanish’s esto, eso, and aquel I’ve been thinking of them as “hither, thither, and yon.”
- Despite having spent some years as Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Wesley Crusher, Wil Wheaton’s actually a pretty cool guy.
- Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman is a popular book for anthropology courses. And well it should be.
- Synesthesia is the standard Fun Fact About Me that I pull out when asked for something memorable.
- In the Agta tribe there is very little division of labor: women are just as likely to hunt as men.
- Sometimes even a step you know you’re going to take can be painful when addressed the wrong way.
- The Movius Line is a theoretical line dividing two technologically distinct groups of human ancestors.
- Luna Bars is some nasty shit.
- If you have forgotten to take your Fukitol, do not spend even a small amount of time the next evening playing Tetris on your phone, because when you stand up the next thing that will happen is that you will fall down.
- Apparently people do use roses in tea—thank the gods!
- Pediophobia is the official name for the fear of dolls. I was totally unsurprised to learn that this was an official phobia, because I know many people who have it to some extent,** and it seems like a logical phobia. (Logical because of their resemblance to humans while being stylized and distorted in some ways—same reason coulurophobia is so prevalent.)
- It is possible to burn Pasta Roni.
- Going by one theory in evolutionary biology, a possible reason for kinship closeness is a built-in tendency in our species to recognize genetic closeness. By this logic, full siblings are emotionally closer than half siblings, and identical twins are closest of all. There’s no word on why fraternal twins are often close. Probably environmental cues.
- The reason you barf after being on a crazy tilt-a-whirl ride is that your perception of vertigo it instills (by sloshing up the fluid in your vestibular system) mirrors the effects of some toxins (which slosh up your neural systems). And when you’ve ingested a toxin, what’s the fast and easy way to get rid of it?
- Some mugs have built-in tea strainers. These do not work.
- Asian sauces are awesome for cooking.
- Vintage anime is crazy.
- E-mail friendships are a lot of fun, but sometimes you want to hang out with them in person, which is what the Craft Center’s classes are for.
- Somebody who wrote for Star Trek: Voyager was a huge Alien fan. You can tell by the number of times that the crew finds themselves in a creepy abandoned setting with possible Creatures just around the corner. Also by the number of times Janeway whips off her jacket, slings a really big gun to her hip, and goes off to kick some alien ass. Also, I swear at one point Harry Kim tries to recreate the "Six meters! That’s in the room!" scene.
- Don’t go into a used bookstore during finals week, especially not if you want to keep your money.
*I was four. Give me a break.
**Even somebody like me, who loves dolls, may find that certain face sculpts or eye types are CREEPY AS HELL. I think it’s the ones who look like they could be possessed and might come eat your soul at night.
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