260

In this blogposting…
*A Simple Question
*AGM XXV
*Viral Lies?
*Quotes
Now - cry ‘Havoc!‘ and let slip the dogs of war…

A SIMPLE QUESTION
In posting 259 I asked ‘a simple question’; if you want to know what it was, take a look at the posting. In the comments box, you’ll see that Vivienne and Margaret both suggested answers to the problem.

First of all, then, congratulations to Margaret, who seems to have come up with a new theory of cognition. Her theory suggests that, when confronted with a stationary image of an object normally seen in motion, and in the absence of any contra-indication, the onlooker assumes that the object was moving from left to right when the image was captured.

I think she may have something. I asked a startled and puzzled friend to email me pictures of trains, trams and cars in situations where it was difficult or impossible to tell which direction they were travelling in. It took him ages!

I then asked my neighbour to look at them and tell me which direction each vehicle was travelling in when the picture was taken. In 12 cases out of 15, he said they were moving from left to right. When I asked him why, he couldn’t really explain. It just seemed ‘obvious’, he said.

So congratulations, Margaret. I feel fairly certain that one of the many esteemed university professors of psychology who read this blog is bound to put in an immediate application for research funding on this fascinating new theory.

However, until the research is concluded and published, the laurels must go to Vivienne, who was absolutely correct. The children assumed the bus was travelling to the right because there was no door on the drawing.

Well done, Vivienne. If there was a Truckshunter Award For Sheer Brilliance, you would get it.

The award would normally be shared with Peter, who emailed me with the same explanation. He queered his pitch, though, by being sarky. He said the drawing looked more like a caravan…

Thanks also to Vivienne for sending me the photos above, of AGM XXIV. Speaking of which…

AGM XXV…
...will take place at 1100 on Wednesday 23 March at Saltwell Towers in Gateshead.

Naturally, a splendid time….

VIRAL LIES?
The redoubtable Dave Shannon sent me this list of statements, under the heading True or False? Take a look; try to decide which of them are true before you look below the list…

* Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
* Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button..
* A 20-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 years.
* People do not get ill from cold weather; it's from being indoors a lot more.
* When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop - even your heart.
* Only 7 per cent of the population are cuddywhifflers.
* Babies are born without kneecaps; they don't appear until we are 2-6 years old.
* The toothbrush was invented in 1498.
* The average housefly lives for one month.
* A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.
* Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than any other time of day.
* Most of us have eaten a spider in our sleep.
* The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water.
* The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their heads are the rabbit and the parrot.
* Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same aeroplane, just in case there is a crash.
* The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburettor.
* Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana; they were 7th cousins.
* If colouring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.

According to Dave’s email, they are all true.

As soon as I saw the list, my ‘viral lies’ radar went on full alert. Dozens of ‘well-I-never’ lists like this have been circulating on the internet for years and most of them are a load of dingo’s kidneys. This one, however, contains at least three facts which I know to be true. Does that make all the others just as true?

If anyone would care to do a little research - well, alright then, a lot of research - I would be very grateful!

QUOTES
Finally, another big Thankyou to Peter, in South Shields, for sending me a list of some of his favourite quotes. Take a look; there’s some inspiring and thought-provoking gems here.

‘Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.’

‘We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.’

‘...So I wait for you like a lonely house till you will see me again and live in me. Till then my windows ache…’

‘A dead fish can float downstream but it takes a live one to swim upstream.’

‘Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.’

They’re good, aren’t they?

Unfortunately, Peter doesn’t give the origins of these quotations. If you know who said what, please get in touch.

And I’d be happy to share your favourite quotes here, too. This one was included in a txt Hildie sent me recently: ‘There is no education like adversity.’ Disraeli said that, and he should know.

CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me: truckshunters@googlemail.com