Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Why do digital things bounce up and down when you eat something crunchy and other things do not?
Dear Matthew Alice:
Try this: Eat something crunchy (such as corn chips) while staring at a digital clock (such as on a microwave). The numbers bounce up and down! Why is this? And why don't other objects bounce up and down when you eat crunchy food things?
-- Lisa Urmston, Mira Mesa
The elves say that for entertainment value it will never replace Nintendo. But they sat on the kitchen counter and crunched for a while, until Grandma shooed them off. Can we assume you were waiting for the nacho sauce to heat up when you discovered this, Lisa? Anyway, we dialed up Dr. Peepers, our staff eyeball checker, and he filled us in on the reason why. Seems that when we chew, especially something crunchy, vibrations go through our head bones and jiggle our eyes. Light zinging into our eyeballs is trying to hit a moving target, so it registers on our retinas at slightly different locations. Which also explains why you can't jog and study for an exam at the same time. But wait, there's more. A digital display appears to be steady light, but it actually flickers like a fluorescent bulb. So the jumpy light and your vibrating retinas combine to make the numbers appear to hop around. If you're willing to spend hours every day eating Fritos and staring at the microwave, Dr. Peepers says your brain eventually would compensate for slight movement and the numbers would sit still. Then the only question is whether boredom, indigestion, or a big old headache would get to you first.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Why do digital things bounce up and down when you eat something crunchy and other things do not?
Why do digital things bounce up and down when you eat something crunchy and other things do not?
Dear Matthew Alice:
Try this: Eat something crunchy (such as corn chips) while staring at a digital clock (such as on a microwave). The numbers bounce up and down! Why is this? And why don't other objects bounce up and down when you eat crunchy food things?
-- Lisa Urmston, Mira Mesa
The elves say that for entertainment value it will never replace Nintendo. But they sat on the kitchen counter and crunched for a while, until Grandma shooed them off. Can we assume you were waiting for the nacho sauce to heat up when you discovered this, Lisa? Anyway, we dialed up Dr. Peepers, our staff eyeball checker, and he filled us in on the reason why. Seems that when we chew, especially something crunchy, vibrations go through our head bones and jiggle our eyes. Light zinging into our eyeballs is trying to hit a moving target, so it registers on our retinas at slightly different locations. Which also explains why you can't jog and study for an exam at the same time. But wait, there's more. A digital display appears to be steady light, but it actually flickers like a fluorescent bulb. So the jumpy light and your vibrating retinas combine to make the numbers appear to hop around. If you're willing to spend hours every day eating Fritos and staring at the microwave, Dr. Peepers says your brain eventually would compensate for slight movement and the numbers would sit still. Then the only question is whether boredom, indigestion, or a big old headache would get to you first.
Comments