Blindfolded people can't walk in a straight line

I was watching QI the other night and I discovered that nobody knows why blindfolded or blind people are unable to walk in a straight line. Now I never actually knew that when you were blindfolded that it is impossible to walk in a straight line, as the only times that I have tried was to hit a pinata, play pin the tail on the donkey, or  play other games indoors where there are things to walk into, so it is impossible to walk in a straight line anyway. So when I heard that it was impossible, I was intrigued. Apparently it has been tested that if somebody is blindfolded, told to walk in a straight line and set loose in an open space, they always walk with a curve to one side, even though they are convinced that they are walking in a straight line.

QI informs me, as well as a brief Google search, that science is unable to solve this mystery. Now I am not concerned that this puzzle is not solved by science because, if you have been reading my blog previously you might already know, I think spending science dollars to research inconsequetial facts such as this, is a waste money. Especially when you consider that there are cures still to be found to many fatal diseases and much poverty in the world. However that fact that people are unable to walk in a straight line whilst blindfolded is intriguing and I feel that I want to test this theory myself. I think it might be fun to try and prove people wrong by walking in a straight line whilst blindfolded. Even if they are most likely correct, it doesn't mean I try to be the exception to the rule!

Cat games on ipads

I was chatting to a friend of mine at lunch the other day and she was telling me about a game that you can get for your ipad, which is made for cats. Basically the game consists of a mouse running around the ipad screen and the cat has to hit the mouse with its paw. It is a very simple concept and apparently cats love it. My friend told me her friend's cats play it all the time, often enough that the protective casing on her ipad is covered in scratches.

At lunch there was also a little girl, who I noticed could use an iphone more adeptly than I can, and also seems to know how to do more things on the iphone than I do. I am ok with a child being better at using technology than myself, because nowadays they are probably already using them in their cradles, however hearing about this new electronic game for cats depressed me a little, because now I can see a future, in my lifetime, where not only will children be better with technology than I am, but where pets will be better with technology too. I just don't think I am ready for that future! I still remember a time before there were VCRs, and when the walkman was the coolest invention ever!

The Sinking Library

I was watching How I met Your Mother the other night, and Ted was telling Robin about an architect who designed a library, however when he was doing the calculations he forgot to factor in the weight of the books, and as a result the library started to sink a little each year, until it was eventually condemned. I thought that this was an interesting story, so I decided to Google a little more to discover where that library was built and who designed the building. If the story was true I was sure Google would have the answer. What I discovered however, was that the whole story was an urban legend, apparently for years there have been stories floating about regarding how libraries across the world had been the victims of this architectural flaw. However the few libraries that have actually been sinking were always found to be the result of faulty materials, shoddy workmanship, or poor investigation of the soil prior to building the library.

I must say that I was quite disappointed that this story wasn't true. I had once heard a story about an architect who built a supermarket, and had used all available space to maximise the shop floor to fit in more goods, however didn't provide an access point for disabled people, and so the company had to purchase land next door in order to fit in a ramp for disabled access. This bluder cost the site construction a few delays and a decent chunk of money, however it didn't result in the building being unusable. So I guess I wanted to hear a story about a bigger blunder, and was disappointed that I hadn't found it in the sinking library story. I suppose I will just have to settle with the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

Flexible e-paper

I read a little while ago on The Age website, about a new product being launched by LG. The product is an Electronic Paper Display (EPD) product, basically it is like an e-book but is 0.7 millimetres thick, can almost fit into the palm of your hand (it is only 1024 x 768 screen size) and can be bent up to 40 degrees. Apparently it can also survive a drop of up to 1.5 metres height without sustaining any damage. Currently it is only available in Europe with no set dates for release in the United States or Australia, however this new product could compete very well with the popular e-books currently on the market.

My thoughts are that eventually this new technology could lead to the creation of e-books that actually feel like you are reading a real book. You could buy a book with 100 flexible e-pages and flick through the electronic display pages of your favourite novels as if they were in real books. A newspaper sized e-paper could also be developed that could replace what we currently know as reading the paper. There would be no more trees cut down to make a paper everyday, and no more newsprint on your fingers when you read. I do however, wonder how you would fill in your crossword or sudoku, because you wouldn't be wanting to draw all over your screen because it would ruin the next page of reading. However since this new EPD is also scratch resistant, perhaps you could just wipe the answers away before you read the next page of the paper. Who knows really what the future may hold!

If you would like to read the article, check out The Age online.

Worm Grunting

I was watching QI the other day and I learnt about an obscure hobby called worm grunting. Now generally people who participate in worm grunting, or worm charming as it is also known, are people who are looking to obtain worms for fishing. However, there are a few of these grunters who are actually in it for the competition, and to whom it is considered a sport. I had never heard of this hobby, let alone the fact that it was a sport previously, but I learnt that some people in Britain, Canada and America compete in worm grunting competitions every year.

Basically the sport consists of people vibrating the soils in order to collect the most worms in a set amount of time and they are usually given a space of three square yards from which they can obtain their worms.  Apparently the reason that worms come to the surface when the ground vibrates, is that they believe that there is a mole in the vicinity, because the vibrations created are similar to the disturbance a mole causes, and moles prey on earthworms. The sport is not considered to be a mainstream sport, so I doubt that it will be making an appearance in the Olympic Games any time soon, however the skills are passed down through the generations in order to preserve this dying pass-time. I  expect that there are few, if any, physical benefits to worm grunting, so I don't see myself trying it any time soon, but you never know what the future may bring (I'm fairly certain I know what it will bring on this particular topic though).

Sharks have no backbones

I was watching QI the other day and I learnt an interesting fact, sharks don't have backbones. Their skeleton is not made of bone but of cartilage. The reason for this is that it allows the shark's body to be more flexible, which enables it to have greater movement in the water. However, since their 'spine' is made of cartilage and not bone, I guess in essence you could consider a shark to be spineless. Now a spineless creature, to me, has always been defined as one lacking courage, a real coward. However, sharks are not considered to be lacking in courage, and are in fact a creature that instils fear and scares away cowards, so does this mean that we should redefine what spineless means?

I suppose when they created the term spineless they were thinking of creatures such as worms or snails, creatures that don't instil fear, and that hide away when they sense danger. The fact of the matter is though, that there are other spineless creatures that will attack rather than hide, such as the scorpion. So perhaps more work should have been done when creating the term spineless, to see if it is really an accurate portrayal of all spineless creatures. In this instance though, since this term is already in effect, I guess we just need to accept that they are wrong but let them have their way.

Japanese Spider Crabs

I was speaking to my travel agent the other day and she emailed me a picture of these giants crabs that, I will admit, freaked me out a little. To be fair, she did warn me that these crabs freaked her out also, so I knew what I was getting myself into when I asked to see a picture of the giant crab. Now the main reason that I was freaked out, was because they looked like a spider, and spiders have always been creepy to me, ever since I saw the movie Arachnophobia when I was younger! The official name of these giant crabs, is actually the Spider Crab, another inventive name, and they can have legs up to 3.8 metres long and can weigh up to 19 kilograms! However the average length of their legs is generally 1 to 1.2 metres. Thankfully these creatures are mainly found off the coast of Japan, which is a decent distance from Australia, so there is no need for me to start expecting to see them if I swim in the beaches around Victoria.

One thing that is a little worrying is that they can have a life span of up to 100 years! That really is a long time for a spider looking creature to live. The one thing that I like most about spiders, is that they usually have a life span of only two years, often less. However spiders are much more prolific breeders than Spider Crabs, so I think that it probably evens out a little in the end. To be fair it is said that the Spider Crab has a gentle disposition, which means that I really shouldn't be worried about getting attacked by one, so their lifespan shouldn't disturb me or even concern me. However that doesn't stop them from looking creepy!

To see a picture of the Spider Crab check out Google Images, or to read more about them check out Wikipedia.