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Trivia ~ People
Page 2
What actually happens when your hand or foot "falls asleep?"
I must have had a pretty vivid imagination when I was a child. I remember my mother explaining that odd tingling numbness that scared me as simply one of my limbs falling asleep. Only slightly reassured that it wouldn't fall off, I immediately began to wonder what a hand or foot might dream about: luxurious gloves and stylish shoes?
Although the feeling caused by this phenomenon has never ceased to feel weird, I now know what's happening to produce it. It's just a nerve compressed between a bone and whatever you've been leaning or pressing against. The numbness can only cause trouble if you try to use your hand for support or your foot to stand on and it gives way because of the lack of sensation in it. Or if the compression goes on long enough to cause a pinched nerve. Otherwise, just wake the little fella when it has to go back to work.
When it comes to belly buttons, what's the significance of
being an "innie" or an "outie?"Navel oranges don't contemplate their navels -- as far as I can tell - but people gaze at theirs. When they do, they're looking at the remnants of a former attachment. No, it has nothing to with an old romance (except the one between your mother and father). The tie that bound was the umbilical cord.
The cord is cut just after birth by placing two clamps on it: one near mom and the other near the baby. Severed between the clamps, the cord leaves a vestige on baby's belly. That leftover, good-for-nothing bit of flesh usually drops off in its entirety in a few days, leaving most people with an indentation. But the healing process sometimes leaves a remnant of the remnant, producing an outie. That's the only significance attached to -- or is it detached from? -- the matter. Being a minority outie is certainly no navel disaster; as an outsider you're simply excluded from the in-group.
Exactly what does it mean to have 20/20 vision?
So many of us are like sheep, accepting this measurement without asking what it means. Do you see my point? If not, put your glasses on or step a little closer.
Actually that's the crux of the matter. The numbers refer to how far away you have to be to read letters on a chart. The particular number 20 is a reference point, the distance a person with normal vision would have to be to read a line on an eye chart. If you have 20/40 vision in one eye, for example (each of your eyes may have different vision) you would need to stand 20 feet from the chart to read print that someone with normal vision could read from 40 feet away.
By the way, whoever writes those charts surely needs glasses. Otherwise why would they write such gibberish?
How can a hypnotherapist tell if a patient is a good candidate for hypnosis?
Some will ask the person to stand with their backs turned to the therapist and then fall backward, taking the therapist's word that he or she will catch them. This supposedly demonstrates a high trust level on the part of the patient.
Cynics, on the other hand, might recognize it as a sign gullibility or a low IQ on the part of these Humpty-Dumpties.
How is "plastic" used in plastic surgery?
It isn't - unless you're counting silicone, the plastic-like implant that some women have used to make themselves, shall we say, more forward-looking.
The term plastic surgery derives from the ancient Greek word plastikos, which meant to shape and mold. A plastic surgeon does exactly that, nudging noses back onto the straight and narrow, tucking tummies and diverting deviating derrieres.
It's too bad plastic surgery can't also be used on personalities. I'm thinking of people who never have anything good to say, or those who are always saying , "have a nice day," "I feel terrific," and "that's terrific," even at funerals. What could be more plastic?
Who has a greater need to be bent back into shape? Just a thought.
Why do many people think of fish as "brain food?"
How smart is any creature be that keeps its mouth open underwater? A, creature, as well, that often ends up in a cooking pot, stewed to the gills, so to speak.
The expression brain food, of course, refers not to a fish's gray matter but rather what eating it might do for your intelligence. After all, if the fish were that bright you would be on his plate, not the reverse.
"Brain food" comes from a 19th century notion promoted by a couple of chemists, who thought that human intelligence was largely promted by the consumption of phosphorous, a substance plentiful in fish. They were wrong, but the mythology has hung around in the "brain food" label. Maybe those chemists should have eaten more fish.
A childhood friend used to get nosebleeds all the time. I figured they were caused by his limited cognitive resources being constantly taxed with the efforts of daily life. Anyway, to stop them, he was constantly lying on his back, hanging his head here and there. This seemed to work, but there is a more graceful way to slow or stop a nosebleed.
You can put a pack of ice on the back of the neck. How does this work? The ice reduces the temperature in the area of the neck that contains the blood vessels that carry blood up to the nose. This causes the vessels to contract--stopping or slowing the flow of blood.
Admit it: you've done your share of imaginary conducting while listening to your stereo. You know, you wave your arms as if the symphony orchestra or big band was bopping along to your very own beat. Well do you know that you can also burn about 50 calories in 10 minutes doing that?
How about if you imagine going ten rounds against Mike Tyson? How many calories would you burn off in an imaginary weight-lifting competition with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Three sets of tennis vs. Venus Williams?
Hey, I bet you could lose five pounds and never get out of bed!
The Social Register; published in local editions beginning in 1887, and nationally since the 1970s, the Social Register records the names of people who count in Society, or should I say $ociety? Actually you have to be "refined" as well as wealthy to get in. That usually means old, East Coast money. Newly minted millionaires don't count.
Members of the 30,000 or so families listed can consult the Social Register to find PLU -- "People Like Us" -- and thus avoid dinner invitations or marriage proposals from those belonging to the wrong clubs. For the rest of us, its utility is confined to providing data about who owns which yacht and cutsiepoo palatial "cottage" at the shore.
Who decides if you are "our kind?" That's kind of a secret. But it helps to know or marry someone already in the
book. Say, maybe it should be called the 'Anti-Social Register'.
I think we all know that the little hanging punching bag we see in the back of our mouths is called the uvula. But do we know what it does?
The uvula flips up to cover the nasal passage when we swallow. This is especially useful when we gargle. Otherwise, it is not a vital item.
As bits of trivia are presented on my e-mail list I will add them here. See them first by sending an e-mail to twotreestrivia-subscribe@topica.com
If you have other good Trivia to add please E-mail me
