It’s that time again! I’ve learned ten new things! And this post makes a ridiculous cool 100 things you’ve learned reading Zebra Sounds. Clearly, you can feel good about the time you waste spend here!
- The good news? We are not becoming isolated individuals with smaller social networks, as some killjoys might have you believe. Our total number of friends doesn’t change much over our lifetime. The bad news? We’re fickle. A new study suggests that we lose and replace about half of our friends every seven years. (Time to check your friends’ expiration dates.)
- Off the coast of California, there have been more and more sightings of giant squid. Theories abound as to why that is. We here at Zebra Sounds just thought you should know. We’re that way. We like speaking of ourselves in third person plural. The royal we makes us full of ourselves and we like that.
- A study by Duke University shows that the ability of wild things to stay alive in our urban jungles depends on their ability to differentiate human faces. I think it’s cool that animals can do that, and sad that their lives depend on it.
- Sand castles. I recently posted a link to some truly amazing sand sculptures, which ultimately led me to this site of tips and tricks for building castles in the sand. Summer is about to begin, kids! I think we should all build castles, and post our pictures here like a great big virtual crazy j beach party. What do you say?
- In Russia there are 460 jobs women can’t do. And by can’t, I mean they are not allowed to do them. Jobs like chimney sweep, fire fighter, blacksmith, steel worker, and metro train operator, for example. You’ll be happy to know they can drive buses, trams, and trolleys. Good thing. I thought they were being unreasonable there for a second.
- I learned this fact from Terre Pruitt. Before she enlightened me, I thought humming birds worked their beaks like straws, but in truth they have freakishly long tongues! She has a great picture of it – better than any I found on the web – but I forgot to ask her if I could link to it on my blog. Doh! (Maybe she’ll comment?)
- According to the WSJ, for the first time ever, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not has a shortage of oddities. That actually makes me happy. I never liked Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. As a kid, it freaked me out. I was more a Mad Libs kind of girl. Still am.
- In an earlier 10 Things List, I wrote about the largest prime number and the ongoing worldwide search to find the next one. I may have made some sort of snide remark about prime number hunting as a pastime, or maybe I just thought it. In any case, the 47th Mersenne prime has been discovered! (Imagine much fanfare, please. A parade. Ticker tape. Remember you heard it here first.)
- Apparently, one of the ways that acting how you want to feel (which is one of my personal commandments) works is that it tricks your body. Our bodies are not able to differentiate between acting and being, so, physiologically, it’s all the same. Act unstressed, be unstressed. How cool is that?
- And I’m back to kissing! (A much better pastime than searching for prime numbers!) Did you know that people are twice as likely to tilt their head right when they kiss as left? I’m definitely a right-tilt kisser. I’m also right handed. I have no idea if there is a correlation. Any lefties want to weigh in?
And there you have it, ten more things to make you the most interesting person at your next party (which hopefully is being held on a beach where you are building sand castles and taking pictures for me).
12 responses so far ↓
John Pruitt // June 16, 2009 at 9:47 am |
I’m a nose avoider. I go in right but if there is an overly left leaned target, collision alert horns and red lights go off in my head. I call for evasive maneuvers while my helmsman cranks the wheel left. If there is a near miss I wait till I’m alone and break down what went wrong with the kiss that lead to this near miss disaster.
Oh, and Terre married a giant squid. She wouldn’t mind at all if you used her hummingbird shot with the wackie straw tongue.
peggi // June 16, 2009 at 9:55 am |
I’m in for the castle building event – any rules such as size limitations, does it have to be done at the beach or will a playground or litter box be okay?
Christie // June 16, 2009 at 10:04 am |
Judy –
Christie really liked #2 – she can totally relate and is looking for friends to agree so she can be a “we” as well.
Speaking of friends, since we just got back in touch, does that mean our seven years starts now? I mean can you lose and find the same friends over again every 7 years (or denomination thereof). In fact, if we lost each other at 17, then we are just starting another cycle, but I won’t say how many we have gone through because we don’t need to be bothered with all that stuff…
judy // June 16, 2009 at 10:09 am |
John, I especially like the idea of you, by yourself, a giant squid, analyzing what went wrong with the kiss. THAT is the visual earworm of the day!
Peggi, Kitty litter sand castles are encouraged, but if you use the poop to represent, oh, fallen soldiers, or to perhaps as a retaining wall around your moat, please use gloves in the making.
Christie, Yes, let’s avoid math with numbers (especially when it involves our ages) at all costs. Good plan. Our counter is definitely starting over!
Christie // June 16, 2009 at 10:21 am |
I just realized that I may have meant multipliers of 7 or maybe it is denomination – who knows. In any case, maybe I should be bothered with that stuff, since I don’t seem to remember anything I lernt in skool
karen from mentor // June 16, 2009 at 11:51 am |
Judy,
I’m going to look into all ten of these things in grave and intense detail…. tomorrow. I have a house full today.
I did lol at the randomly generated possibly related posts i.e. ..10 things you shouldn’t say to a guy before sex..
Also? I KNOW about one of your things!! And I mean in DETAIL….the whole mind/body connection thing…I live that stuff, I teach that stuff, and I write about that stuff….woo hoo….ok, time for less caffeine and a nap. Where’s my kindergarten mat?
cmw // June 16, 2009 at 1:43 pm |
great post. fun post!
I especially find it fascinating that the mind can so easily be tricked. good to know! I am not craving two enormous scoops of chunks-o-chocolate chocolate icream….hey it works! ;)
cmw
terrepruitt // June 16, 2009 at 3:49 pm |
Funny Girl, I had put the link to the Hummingbird picture right on your FB wall. This is our bird “Fat Bird”.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/terrespictures/2827696827/in/set-72157607108108996/
judy // June 16, 2009 at 4:19 pm |
Christie, I do all my math without numbers. SO much easier that way.
Karen, I’m afraid. But only a little. I am fascinated by the mind-body connection. More talk off-blog, baby!
cmw, Yeah. Good luck with your mind over ice cream matter!
Terre, I know! But I didn’t know if that meant I could post it here where oh-so-many loyal readers will see it. (“Oh so many” being a math-without-numbers term.)
janebretl // June 16, 2009 at 7:35 pm |
Like always, just getting my daily news, one tidbit at a time… FUN list!
terrepruitt // June 16, 2009 at 9:46 pm |
Judy, you are so funny. I LOVE math-without-numbers. That is the BEST.
Hummingbird Tongues « Terre Pruitt’s Blog // June 19, 2009 at 12:55 am |
[...] my friend who writes Zebra Sounds included the fact that hummingbirds have tongues in her ”10 things you might not know“ post recently. I learned this after having watched them at our feeders (about 10 years [...]