But by how much? I just read a story about dogs taking the subway to scavenging grounds during the day, then going back to the suburbs for shelter at night.
I also heard a story about crows. One was given a test: A small bucket of food was placed in a tube, and several items were left lying around. Within one minute, the crow bent a pipe cleaner and used it to fish out the bucket.
Both of these stories make me think there are people I've met who couldn't figure this out. We like to think of ourselves as the smartest out there, but animals have solved problems we have trouble with (like turtles migrating across thousands of miles of ocean to a tiny island by magnetic fields alone). What is the net value of the intelligence/skills they have that we don't? Sure, as a race we can do things they can't, however, is there some serious overlap?
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Practical science
While using the toddler-height urinal at work yesterday, I remembered something odd I once heard from (or about) a girl: she could tell a man's penis size just by listening to him pee. The louder the noise, the longer the hose, she claimed. Why? Because the closer the stream starts to the bowl, the harder it hits the water.
Hmm. So many routes to take on the how-can-you-be-so-wrong train ...
1. Anyone who's been in a pissing contest can tell you that their stream is not faster than a speeding bullet. In fact, a quick back-of-the-napkin calculation shows an approximate exit speed of 5mph. Water's freefall speed is 10-15mph - the stream would hit the bowl harder if gravity's allowed to act on it for a while (exactly contradicting the basis of her evaluation).
2. The noise is probably impacted by the flux of the stream (essentially, the cross-section of fluid) which could vary dramatically from man to man.
3. The noise is also impacted by where in the toilet he's aiming. Perhaps he's playing target practice against the side of the bowl?
4. Perhaps the man was not standing entirely straight up, thus decreasing the distance?
5. Perhaps the bowl was less full, thus increasing the distance?
6. Perhaps her estimate of just where the spout starts is a bit off ... we do have different length legs after all!
7. Perhaps there's different ambient noise, changing the perception of the stream impact?
The first point requires some physics knowledge and will therefore not be accessibly to most people. The second requires a realization about anatomy, that again, could be tricky. The third could be something women don't think about, but any man could clarify. The last several may sound jokey, but this is a scenario where being off by a few inches could lead to serious mis-evaluation (and surprise/disappointment) ... and these are also things that anyone should be able to come up with to realize their foolproof penis evaluation system is just foolish.
Teach science. Teach math. Teach logic. Teach critical thinking. Measure penises with a ruler.
Hmm. So many routes to take on the how-can-you-be-so-wrong train ...
1. Anyone who's been in a pissing contest can tell you that their stream is not faster than a speeding bullet. In fact, a quick back-of-the-napkin calculation shows an approximate exit speed of 5mph. Water's freefall speed is 10-15mph - the stream would hit the bowl harder if gravity's allowed to act on it for a while (exactly contradicting the basis of her evaluation).
2. The noise is probably impacted by the flux of the stream (essentially, the cross-section of fluid) which could vary dramatically from man to man.
3. The noise is also impacted by where in the toilet he's aiming. Perhaps he's playing target practice against the side of the bowl?
4. Perhaps the man was not standing entirely straight up, thus decreasing the distance?
5. Perhaps the bowl was less full, thus increasing the distance?
6. Perhaps her estimate of just where the spout starts is a bit off ... we do have different length legs after all!
7. Perhaps there's different ambient noise, changing the perception of the stream impact?
The first point requires some physics knowledge and will therefore not be accessibly to most people. The second requires a realization about anatomy, that again, could be tricky. The third could be something women don't think about, but any man could clarify. The last several may sound jokey, but this is a scenario where being off by a few inches could lead to serious mis-evaluation (and surprise/disappointment) ... and these are also things that anyone should be able to come up with to realize their foolproof penis evaluation system is just foolish.
Teach science. Teach math. Teach logic. Teach critical thinking. Measure penises with a ruler.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Red, Yellow, Blue and Green
I recently took Insights training at work. It's a system that assesses personality types. In case you're thinking "this is kinda kooky", the dimensions were referred to as "color energies", which made me think of Jane Lynch's character in A Might Wind explaining that they were part of WINC: Witches in Night's Colors. It's crazy to worship some man with a beard in the sky. They are simply just in tune with the 47th vibration of nature. Anyone who gives these things a thought would surely come to the same conclusion.
Each color represents a personality dimension; each color has a tagline as well.
Red: "Be brief, be bright, be gone". Alternatively, "let's get this done and move on"
Yellow: "Involve me"
Blue: "Give me details". Alternatively, "I want to consider all my options"
Green: "Show me you care"
A personality profile is the measured percentage each of these applies. I was red=75, yellow=67, blue=63, green=21.
As you may have guessed, engineers are heavily blue. Probably three quarters of our class (70 people) were at least 50 percent blue. Maybe a third of us were 50 percent red. This may be why I hate the 6 engineers order 3 pizzas scenario.
Surprisingly I found that people's colors really did line up with what I thought of them, and the recommendations the accompanying packet had for how best to and not to interact with me also made a lot of sense. I even cross-checked for the horoscope approach (put a little bit of everything in there, jumbled up and sliced this way and that so that everyone finds something they identify with) and didn't find it in there. The most interesting one of these was "do let him know he's in control." At first I resisted being portrayed as domineering, but then took it another way: don't involve me unless I have some control over the outcome. It's true! This is one of my pet peeves from both angles: why would you waste your time getting my input if you don't really need it? How does it help you get where you need to go? Yep, I'm red... and that other guy, clearly blue :)
Each color represents a personality dimension; each color has a tagline as well.
Red: "Be brief, be bright, be gone". Alternatively, "let's get this done and move on"
Yellow: "Involve me"
Blue: "Give me details". Alternatively, "I want to consider all my options"
Green: "Show me you care"
A personality profile is the measured percentage each of these applies. I was red=75, yellow=67, blue=63, green=21.
As you may have guessed, engineers are heavily blue. Probably three quarters of our class (70 people) were at least 50 percent blue. Maybe a third of us were 50 percent red. This may be why I hate the 6 engineers order 3 pizzas scenario.
Surprisingly I found that people's colors really did line up with what I thought of them, and the recommendations the accompanying packet had for how best to and not to interact with me also made a lot of sense. I even cross-checked for the horoscope approach (put a little bit of everything in there, jumbled up and sliced this way and that so that everyone finds something they identify with) and didn't find it in there. The most interesting one of these was "do let him know he's in control." At first I resisted being portrayed as domineering, but then took it another way: don't involve me unless I have some control over the outcome. It's true! This is one of my pet peeves from both angles: why would you waste your time getting my input if you don't really need it? How does it help you get where you need to go? Yep, I'm red... and that other guy, clearly blue :)
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