That reminds me of an anecdote from this weekend when my mother and I were walking through Rockefeller Center. My mom: worst Gawker Stalker ever.
My Mom: Do you watch Gray's Anatomy?
Me: Not really.
Mom: It's a really good show. I think you would like it. (Goes on about it for a couple of minutes. We get sidetracked and talk about a number of other topics.)
[About 15 minutes and many blocks later]
Me: Why did you ask me if I watched Gray's Anatomy?
Mom: Oh! Because that actor from the show – Patrick something? – was standing across the street.
I also have the time estimation talent you mentioned. I'm good at remembering conversations and often repeating them verbatim, which is helpful as I don't remember names or faces, so sometimes when someone I'd swear I'd never spoken to before says, "we talked about..." I instantly know who they are and repeat the conversation back to them, and so prove that I hadn't entirely forgotten them. Also, I'm good at predicting who will be eliminated on American Idol.
I have a notoriously bad sense of direction (once in college I was trying to get from one building to another that was maybe two and a half football fields away, but I set off in the opposit direction and I wound up, 40 minutes later, at a supermarket a half mile away, when I finally got my bearings and managed to get back to campus), but I'm good at following my nose around NY's Chinatown and locating restaurants I've eaten at before, which is maybe not a great talent in the scheme of the universe, but in the scheme of me it's astonishing.
On trips of up to 30 miles where I've travelled the route before, I can usually estimate to within a minute how long it will take to get someplace. (Not just "oh, about 10 minutes", but "Given that it's 5:30 and that's it slightly misty out, I guess it'll take about 17 minutes to get to the movie theater.")
If I know what time it is when I go to bed, and when I need to get up, I will wake up within minutes of that time without an alarm clock. Whether I actually get up or just go back to sleep is a different mater, though.
I can barely see what's in front of my face, but I always know which way north is. I have wonderful container-volume estimation abilities, but usually spill most of whatever I was transferring. I pack well, but unpack horribly. I'm a slow, plodding reader, but I have great textual intuition. I'm good at picking menu items, but terrible at picking restaurants. I'm a great hitter, but a mediocre catcher. I can speak marvelously off-the-cuff, but with a script I am a wreck. What am I?
I have a terrible sense of direction. Could be worse than Tia's. I'm, huh, I can read mystery novels really fast. Oh, and like Matt F I can usually wake up before my alarm goes off (in part because I try to schedule things late enough so that I don't have to set an alarm).
Also, I guess this falls under the rubric of more conventional "talents", but since it tends to shake out as kind of a party trick, here it is: I can play most any song on the piano after one or two hearings. (I usually need a little more time when it comes to figuring out intricate piano parts, but the chords, bass, rhythm, and song structure imprint themselves pretty quickly.)
I'm not coming up with much, beyond an extremely retentive memory for odd facts (combined with a terrible memory for names, faces, where my keys are, and what my boss expects me to have done by today.)
I fall well -- I'm a terrible klutz, and have consequently picked up an ability to shake off impacts that would worry most people. If you know me for long enough you'll see me tumble down a flight of stairs or something, and bounce up and walk on as if it hadn't happened.
Popular, as a rule, but the chords/bass/structure thing holds true for shorter classical pieces as well. Like, I could play, say, the overture to the Marriage of Figaro so you'd recognize it, but it wouldn't have Mozart's voice leading.
With Bach, of course, this kind of cheating is impossible.
18: The food is quite good for pub fare, but I thought of O'Reilly's because of the convenient shift between dinner and drinks. I think I meant that I have a hard time picking restaurants; it takes me a long while.
When I was 16, I could do an Irish accent that upped my sales on a job where I was telemarketing to Americans. Probably couldn't do it any more -- I haven't been to Ireland recently enough.
Funny you should have started with the pouring: my dad, who was a chemist, was very proud of his ability to pour, and could always transfer fluid from the unlikeliest containers without spilling a drop. It must have cost him some to learn, because he had acid burns on the backs of his hands. He used to say the trick was commitment, and that most dribbling was due to over-tentative caution.
I can sight read piano music pretty well. With piano skills it's hard to say really well, because playing the piano well is so incredibly hard, and I still have a lot of room to improve.
But I've never been able to improvise or play by ear at all.
28 -- If you're interested in learning to do a little improvisation, find a guitar player who likes to play blues and jam with him. Simple chord structure and improvising is really easy -- even I who do not play piano can do a little bit with a 12-bar blues. And you can do it for a long time without it losing its appeal (to the players -- listeners will quickly lose interest in repetitive blues played by non-outstanding musicians).
27: Ugh. That reminds me of way back when I was a biochemical technician. I was at the lab alone on a Saturday making up a big batch of buffer. I filled a liter flask full of HCl and then walked across the lab with it held out in front of me. Nothing happened at first, but then the fumes suddenly ate into my mucous membranes and I nearly dropped the acid all over myself. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to set it on a nearby counter before having a near-death fit. I count that among my talents; having presence of mind even while in terrible pain. I do not count among my talents being careful against bodily harm.
I'm a decent saxophonist. I can sit in with a jazz band and play a fairly solid collection of charts. We should jam some time, Labs.
But a skill I value more frequently is social planning. It's only a minor asset and something that I'm sure everyone prides themselves on, but I think I'm a good judge of chemistry and can usually organize happy hours and barbecues for diverse lots that I'd like to think are well received. My friend set comprises political journalists and artists, and I think I've done a good job at meshing elements of each.
Obviously, this is only a priority if, like me, you are terrified at the prospect of being alone.
My mother praised my sister for her skill at folding towels, and she really admired the way I cleaned the leftovers out of the refrigerator, too. This is when my sister and I were both in our fifties.
I am lost pretty much constantly, even on the grid. The cardinal directions do not map over my understanding of the DC grid whatsoever. I have friends who are better able to get along in a forest than I am in the city.
38 -- I think this is a matter of self-selection. That is to say, your "most other blogs" s/b "most other blogs I read comments on" which I would estimate to be a small minority of blogs.
A thing that made me fall in love with my GF is her parallel parking prowess, made all the more impressive given that she honed her abilities in Texas. There's no sizing up the space or checking the mirrors—she simply parks. It is a second nature to her; it is awesome.
42: Of course, the blogs you or I read tend to be even more elite than average, but I think the bigger effect is the level of literacy required to read and enjoy and participate in blogs and comments at all. LGF commenters may not be as literate as Unfogged commenters, but they're still probably much more literate than the average American.
My wife is a much better parallel parker than me. One time she parked in a spot with about 2 inches combined leeway on both sides. That did take a while though.
My Philly trip is now just going to be the 25th and I think I'm going to push my D.C. trip a weekend so I'll probably be around on the 26th and the 1st and 2nd. Not that I'm advocating changing the date of the Wednesday thing. Just offering information in case it is helpful.
I'm extraordinarily good at describing people so that someone who has never seen them will know exactly who they are. I imagine this will come in helpful if I'm ever mugged. I'm good at planning shit, but I suck at follow-through. I'm a great judge of character. Cats like me. I'm good at getting women to buy good bras. I'm good at clothes.
Great, I sound like some frivolous socialite.
I'm also really really good at finding the cloud surrounding every silver lining. Oh, and polemic.
I am a terrible judge of character. Almost all of my closest friends are people I hated when I first met them. My best friend from college and I so hated each other that we sabotaged each other's experiments in biology lab.
That you disliked someone at first, and later came to like them, need not imply that you were a poor judge of character either at first or in the long run.
I can find things catchy that, apparently, no one else finds catchy, and will hum them incessantly. For example, the beginning of the national anthem. This isn't so much a talent as a curse. I'm told that I can sort of even stay in tune, though I wouldn't know. (I was once told, while humming something, that it's difficult to tell if what I'm humming has an unusual chord progression, or if I'm just getting it wrong—it turned out with that particular song (Arbete och Fritid's "European Way") that I was getting some stretches right, then falling off by half a step every now and then, and then remaining off.)
I have a good sense of direction if I'm in Chicago, and can sight CTA buses from far away by the distinct distance between their headlights.
Like LizardBreath I have a great memory for unusual/trivial facts -- especially pop cultural facts. I don't make any effort to remember them, I just do.
I have a tremendous short term memory generally -- I can read huge swathes of stuff and then churn it out near verbatim in, for example, exam conditions. I need this to compensate for my poor advance planning skills.
I can play the guitar quite well -- classical, rock, funk, jazz, etc. I have a bunch of recordings online which I can link to if anyone is remotely interested. I can also sight read on the guitar -- which is not a common thing for guitar players.
On the other hand, I am really crappy at remembering people's names and terrible at handling money.
While I am quite a social person -- I like being around other people -- I'm a really shitty networker. I'm the person who will spend an hour chatting with someone about something really interesting and then forget to exchange numbers or email addresses.
#53: Distance between headlights could be deceiving, due to perspective unless other vehicles were around, but the distinctive movement pattern, moving out then back to the curb is usually conclusive. Seen from that far away, you have plenty of time to think about how late you're going to be.
"I'm good at remembering conversations and often repeating them verbatim, which is helpful as I don't remember names or faces"
"an extremely retentive memory for odd facts (combined with a terrible memory for names, faces, "
This describes me as well -- a great memory for words, a terrible memory for names, dates, and faces.
I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that this combination is far more common on a blog than in real life (and people wonder why none of us have social lives -- it's because people IRL foolishly expect to be remembered for their face rather than hanging a placard with their name on it around their neck like sensible people do).
I have a decent jump shot (decent compared to the rest of my athletic abilities that is).
I am above average at catching things that I drop before they hit the ground.
I have an extremely visual memory, but somewhat inconsistent. For example, I'll sometimes remember the page number of a recipie I saw once, a long time ago. Often remember page numbers of books I'm reading, but trying to do this doesn't improve it. I don't forget faces, ever, really.
I also have a pretty good sense of direction & spatial relationships, which means combined with visual memory I can usually find my way around quite easily. I can usually find somewhere I've been once, even years later. However, it's hopeless to ask me directions unless you navigate the same way, and I often don't learn street names nearly as quickly as I should for others directions to help me.
I can pack the hell out of a truck/box/suitcase (spatial, again). I know when I've heard a piece of music before, but am hopless at remembering the names. I occasionally get short, essentially perfect audible memories, which is a bit freaky (like listening to headphones, without the headphones), which might be connected. I occasionally get mild synaethasia, also.
I can wiggle my ears, and also make my irises vibrate at high speed.
These are perhaps not so much talents as evidence of evolutionary forks not taken.
Also, I can easily remember the first name of the person who wrote a book I'm trying to find in a library. This is, as you will appreciate, useless on a truly gargantuan scale of inapplicability.
I have a good memory, especially for places. I have a good sense of direction as long as I don't lose continuity with the last direction I've gone. This means I can keep my sense of direction leaving a subway station if I remember which direction the train was going, but if I go around enough halls/stairs to lose that information, I can end up going the wrong way when I get to the street.
I'm good with names and faces, but not always good at matching them to each other. I can't sing in tune, but can match the timing of recorded songs pretty well. I can't write poetry, but I can mess with the words.
I think like most people who play an instrument I can usually remember melodies pretty well.
I'm killer at spotting all the times someone plagiarises the shit out of some piece of obscure music or where that wierd sample comes from in that hip-hop record, or whatever. A lot of musician friends can also do the same.
My memory for thoughts and arguments is very closely linked to what I was seeing, often completely unrelated, when I thought/heard them. So that a thought heard or remembered instantly recalls a stretch of road, or halfway up a flight of stairs, or something. And the reverse is true, that going down a road can replay the thoughts associated with it. I could recall vast parts of my adolescence I've forgotten if I drove around my home town.
I'll third or fourth having a ridiculously good memory for trivia, minutiae, and personal details of other people. Like where they grew up, their children's names and ages, the sorts of things that come up quickly in conversation.
This is combined with a great memory for names but a horrible memory for male faces. Guys would be easier to tell apart if their hair came in more lengths and varied colors.
I can type in l33t pretty quickly.
I have no ability to retain jargon at all. This is both a blessing and a curse in philosophy. It's a curse because I am often lost in technical conversations, but it's a blessing in that I've managed to figure out how to ask questions that appear to be penetrating rather than merely lost.
Also, I can easily remember the first name of the person who wrote a book I'm trying to find in a library. This is, as you will appreciate, useless on a truly gargantuan scale of inapplicability.
My special library/book talent is that I can remember the color of the cover and the general location of the book on the shelves (but not the call # range). Also where on the page and in which part of the book the quotation I want is, but not, of course, the page number. This works great in my home library, and functions in a university library that I know well, but really sucks if I ever have to deal with a new place. And sadly, few refereed publications are willing to accept citations like "The purple book that's above my head on the left three rows into the stacks, lower left-hand corner of the page about 2/3rds of the way through."
76: I think this is common amongst musicians, yes. I wonder if it is something you pick up just by interacting with music a lot, or if having this sort of innate wiring means you are more likely to become a musician....
Also where on the page and in which part of the book the quotation I want is, but not, of course, the page number
God, me too. What a pain. ("I know it's on a right-hand page, in maybe the second full paragraph, in a sentence that begins near the left margin. Well, that means only 254 pages to skim through....")
I have no ability to retain jargon at all. This is both a blessing and a curse in philosophy. It's a curse because I am often lost in technical conversations, but it's a blessing in that I've managed to figure out how to ask questions that appear to be penetrating rather than merely lost.
The other great advantage of being crap at jargon is that you can write clearly, which earns you a lot of praise later on.
Dude, I wasn't enumerating my talents, I was commiserating with Cala about being unable to remember jargon (which might not be a talent, either). My talents appear above in 72.
fruit basket! yay!!!! ihanfi how you all find those old threads though....
ben: annoyingly, although I both do the remembering page numbers thing, and remembering spatial location of an equation or whatever, it rarely works at the same time. bother.
#93: Agreed, but this kind of writing, which eschews jargon, is often considered lightweight by insiders, or often merely pointless and annoying, because they have to translate back into the jargon they think in, or else arouses resentment at giving away tradecraft (an unconcious reaction, rationalized as opposition to oversimplification).
The other great advantage of being crap at jargon is that you can write clearly, which earns you a lot of praise later on.
Me too -- this is often embarassing in conversations about the law, but does get me credit for analysing legal situations in a penetratingly simple and clear way. I wouldn't need to be penetrating if I could remember the jargony way to put stuff.
bitchphd: in my field a certain amount of jargon is literally unavoidable, but I think overuse is regarded as a sign that you don't really understand what you are talking about. most of the really deep people I've talked to are very precise, but quite clear.
102: Actually I find that it's usually pretty well-respected by big muckymucks.
I find this too. Unfortunately there is a class of people who think they're muckymucks, but aren't—let's call them "mucks"—and those people think jargon is a sign of professional competence. Some such mucks have been known to muck up hiring, tenure, publication, and other peer-review processes. Stupid mucks.
115--I certainly wouldn't be supporting you in that.
And like everyone else, apparently, I remember the visual location of a piece of text rather than the page number.
I managed to beat "hermeneutic" and "synecdoche" by writing short definitions of these and some other recurring problem words on a piece of paper that I stuck directly at eye level in my workspace.
eb--Being able to touch one's nose with one's tongue runs in my family; it's apparently a dominant allele, seeing as my dad can, my mom can't, and all three children can. I need to survey the grandchildren now.
I could stand on jackmormon's toes and touch with the tip of my tongue her nose, without matches or lighter, without having to look up the words hermeneutic or synedoche, but only if she'd let me.
Re 120: I don't think that's evidence for it's being a dominant allelle. If Touchnose were recessive and your Dad had 2 copies of it, and your mom had one Touchnose and one Notouchnose, there would be a 1/8 chance of 3 kids all having 2 copies of Touchnose. Hardly insuperable.
118: Before you even said this I was thinking, "I can't believe I forgot to mention that I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. I could even pick my nose with my tongue, should the need arise.
If it were dominant and dad has 1 TN + 1NTN and mom has 2 NTN, there is again a 1/8 chance of 3 kids all having TN. Only if dad has 2 TN do your odds improve.
I don't know if my family has a lot of people who can touch their (own) noses with their (own) tongues, but there do seem to be a lot of people with double-jointed fingers and thumbs. I used to be able to touch my index fingers to the back of my hand and can still bend all my fingers back pretty far.
I'm very glad to see this thread get away from academic jargon.
We saw some kids doing Rubick's on TV the other day and Sylvia asked me if I could get one of those for her sometime, "like maybe for my birthday". So I reckon I will. I never was able to figure out how to solve more than 2 sides, perhaps I will get better at it if there is one in the house.
For the record, because I fear lesser abilities are getting conflated with my own superior one, I can not just touch my nose with my tongue, but touch the very end of it.
eb: i haven't played with one for ages, but I remember it wasn't too bad to work out, but the fast methods aren't so intuitive. There is some nice group theory associated with them...
Right ear independently, yes. Left ear, no. Possibly "handedness" extends to "earedness"?
I have a vision of a couple dozen people dispersed around the globe, sitting at computer monitors, experimentally twitching their facial features and finger joints.
134 -- I don't know that that qualifies as a talent for the guy with three thumbs; but having known him certainly does not qualify as a talent for you.
I think I can wiggle my right ear, but every time I do it someone says, "You're cheating! You're moving some other muscle in your cheek!" But I thought that was the way you wiggled your ear. Can anyone do it while keeping every visible muscle stationary?
The only person I ever remember seeing wiggle his ears did it by moving his entire scalp -- the effect was as if someone were pushing a wig back and forth.
My college boyfriend, the one who had a talent for being a prick about everything, once said to me, "No matter what goes wrong in life, you can take comfort in knowing that you have a long and agile tongue." He was attempting a joke, but still.
I should note that I originally said tip of my nose in 118, so I'll match my tongue with yours, Tia, IYKWIM. Also, I barely move my scalp when I move my ears.
On the other hand, I am really crappy at remembering people's names
I tend to remember not only names, but faces, where I met the people, whole conversations, interesting stories about their friends and relatives that I may or may not have heard from them. It's mainly a memory for gossip, for social networks and relations. I have to tone it down a little when talking to people who don't know me well, or they get a little freaked out.
I'm pretty sure I'm good at fixing miscommunications as a third party. That is, pointing out to one party in a conversation that the the other party is either using or understanding a term in a different way than they are.
Generally bad with faces and names, but can tell people I know well stories about their own lives that they've forgotten and which I wasn't present at.
No musical skills whatsoever, unless being really consistently off-key is a skill.
Good at eavesdropping, also at picking items off a menu.
Just tested, and can still touch my thumb to the inside of my wrist, though it feels tighter than it used to. I also can't remember if everyone can do that.
I can generally say whether I've met a person or not, in most instances, even if I've forgotten the name and don't know where I met said person, or what he or she is like at all.
In instances where I do not remember said person, but he/she remembers me, I am capable of pretending that I remember said person.
82: I'm working in a special collection at this very moment, and a guy just left who said, "I need this pamphlet. It's a little one, and it's like, either a guide for people coming to the American colonies for the first time or maybe a thing on how to be a soldier? Like, for foreigners, in English? Also, it may have a hard cover. I forget. Someone showed it to me, but I forget who it was or what was in it. But that's the book I need." Fine, the collection I work in only has two thousand or so items, and I know most of them from memory, but the kinds of details that non-literary non-historians provide are fucking ridiculous and useless.
I ran into a college friend--or what I thought of as a college friend, more of an acquaintance, I guess--at the Armory show over the weekend. She couldn't recall my name. I knew not only her name, but the names of everyone she dated 1989-1992, and could probably tell her fairly intimate details about her personal life at the time, including things she did when drunk and really obsessive, which she herself may have forgotten at this point. But I did not mention this.
I ran into a person at a barbeque just the other day who I did not remember. She apparently knew me in high school. However I pretended to know her very well and even discussed several acquaintances I pretended to care about.
True story: My adviser once e-mailed to advise me to read a book he described as "A [nationality] book whose title I'm blanking on." Knowing the topic, I e-mailed back a few minutes later to ask: "Is it [title]?"
I am very good at deprecating my own abilities.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 7:42 AM
I have an excellent sense of direction. I'm not great at money management, but am training myself to be better.
Weird, but true: I'm good at picking the best thing on a menu at a restaurant.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 7:46 AM
I'm good at spotting wildlife.
Me (while driving): Look! A hawk!
The Mrs.: Where?
Me: On that tree branch!
The Mrs.: Where?
Me: Back there!
The Mrs: How do you notice things like that?
Me: It was just sitting there! How could you not notice it?
Posted by My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 7:49 AM
1: I've seen better.
Posted by Matthew Harvey | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 7:57 AM
I can cross one eye and look at someone with the other. I can look at two different people with one eye each.
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:07 AM
That reminds me of an anecdote from this weekend when my mother and I were walking through Rockefeller Center. My mom: worst Gawker Stalker ever.
My Mom: Do you watch Gray's Anatomy?
Me: Not really.
Mom: It's a really good show. I think you would like it. (Goes on about it for a couple of minutes. We get sidetracked and talk about a number of other topics.)
[About 15 minutes and many blocks later]
Me: Why did you ask me if I watched Gray's Anatomy?
Mom: Oh! Because that actor from the show – Patrick something? – was standing across the street.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:08 AM
I also have the time estimation talent you mentioned. I'm good at remembering conversations and often repeating them verbatim, which is helpful as I don't remember names or faces, so sometimes when someone I'd swear I'd never spoken to before says, "we talked about..." I instantly know who they are and repeat the conversation back to them, and so prove that I hadn't entirely forgotten them. Also, I'm good at predicting who will be eliminated on American Idol.
I have a notoriously bad sense of direction (once in college I was trying to get from one building to another that was maybe two and a half football fields away, but I set off in the opposit direction and I wound up, 40 minutes later, at a supermarket a half mile away, when I finally got my bearings and managed to get back to campus), but I'm good at following my nose around NY's Chinatown and locating restaurants I've eaten at before, which is maybe not a great talent in the scheme of the universe, but in the scheme of me it's astonishing.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:09 AM
I spot wildlife fairly well, too.
On trips of up to 30 miles where I've travelled the route before, I can usually estimate to within a minute how long it will take to get someplace. (Not just "oh, about 10 minutes", but "Given that it's 5:30 and that's it slightly misty out, I guess it'll take about 17 minutes to get to the movie theater.")
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:10 AM
Spotting double entendres.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:13 AM
If I know what time it is when I go to bed, and when I need to get up, I will wake up within minutes of that time without an alarm clock. Whether I actually get up or just go back to sleep is a different mater, though.
Posted by Matt F | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:13 AM
Also, I'm really, really good at procrastinating.
Posted by My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:15 AM
I can barely see what's in front of my face, but I always know which way north is. I have wonderful container-volume estimation abilities, but usually spill most of whatever I was transferring. I pack well, but unpack horribly. I'm a slow, plodding reader, but I have great textual intuition. I'm good at picking menu items, but terrible at picking restaurants. I'm a great hitter, but a mediocre catcher. I can speak marvelously off-the-cuff, but with a script I am a wreck. What am I?
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:18 AM
I have a terrible sense of direction. Could be worse than Tia's. I'm, huh, I can read mystery novels really fast. Oh, and like Matt F I can usually wake up before my alarm goes off (in part because I try to schedule things late enough so that I don't have to set an alarm).
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:19 AM
What am I?
A white bear?
Posted by My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:20 AM
Also, I guess this falls under the rubric of more conventional "talents", but since it tends to shake out as kind of a party trick, here it is: I can play most any song on the piano after one or two hearings. (I usually need a little more time when it comes to figuring out intricate piano parts, but the chords, bass, rhythm, and song structure imprint themselves pretty quickly.)
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:21 AM
I only have a good sense of direction in New York--not just the grid, though, three of five boroughs.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:23 AM
I can do an Irish accent that fools Irish people.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:25 AM
Yikes! A White Bear describes herself as "terrible at picking restaurants" and yet we have gone along with her location selection for the B-Wo meetup!
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:26 AM
I'm not coming up with much, beyond an extremely retentive memory for odd facts (combined with a terrible memory for names, faces, where my keys are, and what my boss expects me to have done by today.)
I fall well -- I'm a terrible klutz, and have consequently picked up an ability to shake off impacts that would worry most people. If you know me for long enough you'll see me tumble down a flight of stairs or something, and bounce up and walk on as if it hadn't happened.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:29 AM
15: Is that for popular and classical songs, or just popular?
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:29 AM
Popular, as a rule, but the chords/bass/structure thing holds true for shorter classical pieces as well. Like, I could play, say, the overture to the Marriage of Figaro so you'd recognize it, but it wouldn't have Mozart's voice leading.
With Bach, of course, this kind of cheating is impossible.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:32 AM
18: The food is quite good for pub fare, but I thought of O'Reilly's because of the convenient shift between dinner and drinks. I think I meant that I have a hard time picking restaurants; it takes me a long while.
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:34 AM
I can do an Irish accent that fools Irish people.
When I was 16, I could do an Irish accent that upped my sales on a job where I was telemarketing to Americans. Probably couldn't do it any more -- I haven't been to Ireland recently enough.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:36 AM
22 -- just joshin'
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:37 AM
Were it not inconveniently located, I would suggest doing the meetup here. (Never been, but would be appropriate.)
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:37 AM
25: I've been inside, and lived to tell about it.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:41 AM
Funny you should have started with the pouring: my dad, who was a chemist, was very proud of his ability to pour, and could always transfer fluid from the unlikeliest containers without spilling a drop. It must have cost him some to learn, because he had acid burns on the backs of his hands. He used to say the trick was commitment, and that most dribbling was due to over-tentative caution.
Posted by John Tingley | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:44 AM
I can sight read piano music pretty well. With piano skills it's hard to say really well, because playing the piano well is so incredibly hard, and I still have a lot of room to improve.
But I've never been able to improvise or play by ear at all.
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:45 AM
9: That's not the only thing you're fond of spotting.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:47 AM
I can't sight read worth a damn, so there you go.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:47 AM
28 -- If you're interested in learning to do a little improvisation, find a guitar player who likes to play blues and jam with him. Simple chord structure and improvising is really easy -- even I who do not play piano can do a little bit with a 12-bar blues. And you can do it for a long time without it losing its appeal (to the players -- listeners will quickly lose interest in repetitive blues played by non-outstanding musicians).
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:49 AM
27: Ugh. That reminds me of way back when I was a biochemical technician. I was at the lab alone on a Saturday making up a big batch of buffer. I filled a liter flask full of HCl and then walked across the lab with it held out in front of me. Nothing happened at first, but then the fumes suddenly ate into my mucous membranes and I nearly dropped the acid all over myself. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to set it on a nearby counter before having a near-death fit. I count that among my talents; having presence of mind even while in terrible pain. I do not count among my talents being careful against bodily harm.
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:51 AM
32: What was your mistake here? Not covering the flask before moving it, or not holding it out to the side, or something else?
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:56 AM
I'm a decent saxophonist. I can sit in with a jazz band and play a fairly solid collection of charts. We should jam some time, Labs.
But a skill I value more frequently is social planning. It's only a minor asset and something that I'm sure everyone prides themselves on, but I think I'm a good judge of chemistry and can usually organize happy hours and barbecues for diverse lots that I'd like to think are well received. My friend set comprises political journalists and artists, and I think I've done a good job at meshing elements of each.
Obviously, this is only a priority if, like me, you are terrified at the prospect of being alone.
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:57 AM
My mother praised my sister for her skill at folding towels, and she really admired the way I cleaned the leftovers out of the refrigerator, too. This is when my sister and I were both in our fifties.
Posted by John Emerson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:59 AM
Smasher, are you going to make it to the meetup?
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 8:59 AM
I am lost pretty much constantly, even on the grid. The cardinal directions do not map over my understanding of the DC grid whatsoever. I have friends who are better able to get along in a forest than I am in the city.
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:00 AM
I think it's interesting to note that pretty much every commenter here (and on most other blogs) is pretty elite with the verbal skills.
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:01 AM
It's on Wednesday, right? Can't make that. But if at some point there's hott Unfogged action on the weekend I'll make the trip up.
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:02 AM
#6: Umm, seriously, WTF? Now you're hiding mom stories in the comments? That's front-page material. It's gold, I tell you. GOLD!
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:03 AM
I'm good at pointing out that other people aren't good at doing things.
You'd think they'd be grateful.
Posted by Anthony | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:04 AM
38 -- I think this is a matter of self-selection. That is to say, your "most other blogs" s/b "most other blogs I read comments on" which I would estimate to be a small minority of blogs.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:04 AM
My mom was a very intelligent, well-read women, BTW, but she was terribly easy to please.
Posted by John Emerson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:08 AM
A thing that made me fall in love with my GF is her parallel parking prowess, made all the more impressive given that she honed her abilities in Texas. There's no sizing up the space or checking the mirrors—she simply parks. It is a second nature to her; it is awesome.
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:08 AM
42: Of course, the blogs you or I read tend to be even more elite than average, but I think the bigger effect is the level of literacy required to read and enjoy and participate in blogs and comments at all. LGF commenters may not be as literate as Unfogged commenters, but they're still probably much more literate than the average American.
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:13 AM
33: Yes, yes, and yes.
38: Yeah, but weird niche verbal skills.
39: Yup, and to whoever has the calendar, my Thursday night interference is now a Sunday (3/26) interference.
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:17 AM
AWB -- 'sokay, both Thursday and Sunday were already objected to by others besides you. Wednesday it is!
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:20 AM
RE 44
My wife is a much better parallel parker than me. One time she parked in a spot with about 2 inches combined leeway on both sides. That did take a while though.
Posted by Joe O | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:41 AM
My Philly trip is now just going to be the 25th and I think I'm going to push my D.C. trip a weekend so I'll probably be around on the 26th and the 1st and 2nd. Not that I'm advocating changing the date of the Wednesday thing. Just offering information in case it is helpful.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:45 AM
I'm extraordinarily good at describing people so that someone who has never seen them will know exactly who they are. I imagine this will come in helpful if I'm ever mugged. I'm good at planning shit, but I suck at follow-through. I'm a great judge of character. Cats like me. I'm good at getting women to buy good bras. I'm good at clothes.
Great, I sound like some frivolous socialite.
I'm also really really good at finding the cloud surrounding every silver lining. Oh, and polemic.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:50 AM
I am a terrible judge of character. Almost all of my closest friends are people I hated when I first met them. My best friend from college and I so hated each other that we sabotaged each other's experiments in biology lab.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:54 AM
That you disliked someone at first, and later came to like them, need not imply that you were a poor judge of character either at first or in the long run.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 9:56 AM
I can find things catchy that, apparently, no one else finds catchy, and will hum them incessantly. For example, the beginning of the national anthem. This isn't so much a talent as a curse. I'm told that I can sort of even stay in tune, though I wouldn't know. (I was once told, while humming something, that it's difficult to tell if what I'm humming has an unusual chord progression, or if I'm just getting it wrong—it turned out with that particular song (Arbete och Fritid's "European Way") that I was getting some stretches right, then falling off by half a step every now and then, and then remaining off.)
I have a good sense of direction if I'm in Chicago, and can sight CTA buses from far away by the distinct distance between their headlights.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:24 AM
European Way.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:27 AM
I can light fires several different ways without matches or a lighter.
Posted by Matt F | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:28 AM
Like LizardBreath I have a great memory for unusual/trivial facts -- especially pop cultural facts. I don't make any effort to remember them, I just do.
I have a tremendous short term memory generally -- I can read huge swathes of stuff and then churn it out near verbatim in, for example, exam conditions. I need this to compensate for my poor advance planning skills.
I can play the guitar quite well -- classical, rock, funk, jazz, etc. I have a bunch of recordings online which I can link to if anyone is remotely interested. I can also sight read on the guitar -- which is not a common thing for guitar players.
On the other hand, I am really crappy at remembering people's names and terrible at handling money.
While I am quite a social person -- I like being around other people -- I'm a really shitty networker. I'm the person who will spend an hour chatting with someone about something really interesting and then forget to exchange numbers or email addresses.
Posted by Matt McGrattan | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:30 AM
I can both scream and shreik at a pretty high volume.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:30 AM
55: Matt F is also very good at convincing his parents he's gay and on drugs.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:31 AM
i before e, ben.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:31 AM
57 - Got an mp3 for that, too?
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:32 AM
#53: Distance between headlights could be deceiving, due to perspective unless other vehicles were around, but the distinctive movement pattern, moving out then back to the curb is usually conclusive. Seen from that far away, you have plenty of time to think about how late you're going to be.
Posted by John Tingley | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:32 AM
57: Oh, those are charming talents.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:33 AM
heh @ 57
Posted by Matt McGrattan | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:35 AM
I can make ben scream at a pretty high volume without matches or a lighter.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:36 AM
"I'm good at remembering conversations and often repeating them verbatim, which is helpful as I don't remember names or faces"
"an extremely retentive memory for odd facts (combined with a terrible memory for names, faces, "
This describes me as well -- a great memory for words, a terrible memory for names, dates, and faces.
I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that this combination is far more common on a blog than in real life (and people wonder why none of us have social lives -- it's because people IRL foolishly expect to be remembered for their face rather than hanging a placard with their name on it around their neck like sensible people do).
I have a decent jump shot (decent compared to the rest of my athletic abilities that is).
I am above average at catching things that I drop before they hit the ground.
Posted by NickS | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:37 AM
oooooooh, can I play even though I'm new here?
I have an extremely visual memory, but somewhat inconsistent. For example, I'll sometimes remember the page number of a recipie I saw once, a long time ago. Often remember page numbers of books I'm reading, but trying to do this doesn't improve it. I don't forget faces, ever, really.
I also have a pretty good sense of direction & spatial relationships, which means combined with visual memory I can usually find my way around quite easily. I can usually find somewhere I've been once, even years later. However, it's hopeless to ask me directions unless you navigate the same way, and I often don't learn street names nearly as quickly as I should for others directions to help me.
I can pack the hell out of a truck/box/suitcase (spatial, again). I know when I've heard a piece of music before, but am hopless at remembering the names. I occasionally get short, essentially perfect audible memories, which is a bit freaky (like listening to headphones, without the headphones), which might be connected. I occasionally get mild synaethasia, also.
blah. that was long.
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:40 AM
I'm pretty good at ping-pong and cribbage.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:40 AM
58: Yes, I'm particularly proud of that talent. Requires no effort, either. Even with all those years of teetotallry, I managed to keep up the ruse.
Posted by Matt F | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:40 AM
Cribbage! Now there's a game.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:41 AM
Also I can please the ladies.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:42 AM
64: You've demonstrated, but even though I hate to ruin a good time, could you keep it down?
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:42 AM
I can wiggle my ears, and also make my irises vibrate at high speed.
These are perhaps not so much talents as evidence of evolutionary forks not taken.
Also, I can easily remember the first name of the person who wrote a book I'm trying to find in a library. This is, as you will appreciate, useless on a truly gargantuan scale of inapplicability.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:43 AM
I am unusual, but perhaps less so among bloggers, in that I can often remember the lyrics of a song I've heard but not the melody.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:43 AM
I have a good memory, especially for places. I have a good sense of direction as long as I don't lose continuity with the last direction I've gone. This means I can keep my sense of direction leaving a subway station if I remember which direction the train was going, but if I go around enough halls/stairs to lose that information, I can end up going the wrong way when I get to the street.
I'm good with names and faces, but not always good at matching them to each other. I can't sing in tune, but can match the timing of recorded songs pretty well. I can't write poetry, but I can mess with the words.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:44 AM
could you keep it down?
I've answered that previously, Tia.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:45 AM
I think like most people who play an instrument I can usually remember melodies pretty well.
I'm killer at spotting all the times someone plagiarises the shit out of some piece of obscure music or where that wierd sample comes from in that hip-hop record, or whatever. A lot of musician friends can also do the same.
Also useless in the grand scheme of things.
Posted by Matt McGrattan | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:46 AM
My memory for thoughts and arguments is very closely linked to what I was seeing, often completely unrelated, when I thought/heard them. So that a thought heard or remembered instantly recalls a stretch of road, or halfway up a flight of stairs, or something. And the reverse is true, that going down a road can replay the thoughts associated with it. I could recall vast parts of my adolescence I've forgotten if I drove around my home town.
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:46 AM
I'm a gifted boudoir photographer.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:46 AM
Ants love me.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:47 AM
#77 me.
#78: Show us, don't tell us.
Posted by John Tingley | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:47 AM
I'll third or fourth having a ridiculously good memory for trivia, minutiae, and personal details of other people. Like where they grew up, their children's names and ages, the sorts of things that come up quickly in conversation.
This is combined with a great memory for names but a horrible memory for male faces. Guys would be easier to tell apart if their hair came in more lengths and varied colors.
I can type in l33t pretty quickly.
I have no ability to retain jargon at all. This is both a blessing and a curse in philosophy. It's a curse because I am often lost in technical conversations, but it's a blessing in that I've managed to figure out how to ask questions that appear to be penetrating rather than merely lost.
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:48 AM
Also, I can easily remember the first name of the person who wrote a book I'm trying to find in a library. This is, as you will appreciate, useless on a truly gargantuan scale of inapplicability.
My special library/book talent is that I can remember the color of the cover and the general location of the book on the shelves (but not the call # range). Also where on the page and in which part of the book the quotation I want is, but not, of course, the page number. This works great in my home library, and functions in a university library that I know well, but really sucks if I ever have to deal with a new place. And sadly, few refereed publications are willing to accept citations like "The purple book that's above my head on the left three rows into the stacks, lower left-hand corner of the page about 2/3rds of the way through."
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:49 AM
76: I think this is common amongst musicians, yes. I wonder if it is something you pick up just by interacting with music a lot, or if having this sort of innate wiring means you are more likely to become a musician....
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:49 AM
81: "hair" s/b "schlongs"
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:49 AM
#81: George W. Bush apparently thinks he has that last talent, for seeming to ask penetrating questions, as well.
Posted by John Tingley | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:50 AM
Most of the time I can chew gum and type at thes mmt
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:51 AM
I've been told I have a talent for making my friends feel free to be themselves around me, and seeing through many attempts to hide feelings.
This does not improve my sex life as much as I would wish.
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:51 AM
78 -- do you take pictures just of the rooms, or of their contents?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:51 AM
80: 78 s/b 79
useless on a truly gargantuan scale of inapplicability lol brilliant
oooooooh, can I play even though I'm new here? Sure Unfogged loves newcomers! esp. lightly roasted with a nice tomato sauce
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:51 AM
82: oh, i do that too! imagine my dismay when my favourite bookstore expanded and reorganized *all* of their stacks. I couldn't find anything......
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:52 AM
Also where on the page and in which part of the book the quotation I want is, but not, of course, the page number
God, me too. What a pain. ("I know it's on a right-hand page, in maybe the second full paragraph, in a sentence that begins near the left margin. Well, that means only 254 pages to skim through....")
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:53 AM
Also: I can do "around the world" with a yo-yo as long as it is a Duncan Butterfly(tm).
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:53 AM
I have no ability to retain jargon at all. This is both a blessing and a curse in philosophy. It's a curse because I am often lost in technical conversations, but it's a blessing in that I've managed to figure out how to ask questions that appear to be penetrating rather than merely lost.
The other great advantage of being crap at jargon is that you can write clearly, which earns you a lot of praise later on.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:53 AM
Unfogged loves newcomers!
Complimentary fruit basket for soubrizquet!
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:54 AM
Also where on the page and in which part of the book the quotation I want is, but not, of course, the page number
Can't everyone do this?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:55 AM
I have no ability to retain jargon at all
I can't count the number of times I had to look up "hermeneutic". Dammit, I think I probably have to look it up again.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:55 AM
I can't count the number of times I had to look up "hermeneutic".
I wouldn't really consider that a talent, slol.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:56 AM
Dude, I wasn't enumerating my talents, I was commiserating with Cala about being unable to remember jargon (which might not be a talent, either). My talents appear above in 72.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:58 AM
fruit basket! yay!!!! ihanfi how you all find those old threads though....
ben: annoyingly, although I both do the remembering page numbers thing, and remembering spatial location of an equation or whatever, it rarely works at the same time. bother.
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:58 AM
96: Lovely. Now I have to look up hermeneutic too. I have, after many years, finally managed to learn synechdoche, though.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 10:59 AM
slolernr: is the irises thing something that not everyone can do? I guess I just sort of assumed it was.....
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:00 AM
#93: Agreed, but this kind of writing, which eschews jargon, is often considered lightweight by insiders, or often merely pointless and annoying, because they have to translate back into the jargon they think in, or else arouses resentment at giving away tradecraft (an unconcious reaction, rationalized as opposition to oversimplification).
Posted by John Tingley | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:00 AM
Oh right, hermeneutic is that bible one. Thought it might be. I give myself five more years of looking it up before it sticks.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:00 AM
ihanfi how you all find those old threads though
There's a trick to it.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:00 AM
The other great advantage of being crap at jargon is that you can write clearly, which earns you a lot of praise later on.
Me too -- this is often embarassing in conversations about the law, but does get me credit for analysing legal situations in a penetratingly simple and clear way. I wouldn't need to be penetrating if I could remember the jargony way to put stuff.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:01 AM
102: Actually I find that it's usually pretty well-respected by big muckymucks.
Or maybe I'm just too lightweight to know who the real muckymucks are.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:02 AM
#104: yeah, it was a lame attempt at a meta
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:03 AM
#106:
Agreed about the top people, and the broad and generous. Not the envious hordes, though.
Posted by John Tingley | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:04 AM
No, it was a fine attempt. I've just been waiting for an excuse to link to that.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:05 AM
erm, meta comment, even.
bitchphd: in my field a certain amount of jargon is literally unavoidable, but I think overuse is regarded as a sign that you don't really understand what you are talking about. most of the really deep people I've talked to are very precise, but quite clear.
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:05 AM
apo: well then, that I can understand! carry on....
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:06 AM
102: Actually I find that it's usually pretty well-respected by big muckymucks.
I find this too. Unfortunately there is a class of people who think they're muckymucks, but aren't—let's call them "mucks"—and those people think jargon is a sign of professional competence. Some such mucks have been known to muck up hiring, tenure, publication, and other peer-review processes. Stupid mucks.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:07 AM
I can stand unsupported on the tops of my toes.
I can tie six basic knots in thirty seconds.
I'm good at finding salvageable free furniture.
I forget memorized information within a week after it is no longer needed.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:08 AM
I can tie six basic knots in thirty seconds.
apiece?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:09 AM
I can also stand unsupported on the tops of Jackmormon's toes. Without using matches or a lighter.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:10 AM
But if she decides she does not want yu there, you're toast.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:13 AM
114--No, total. It was a competitive event.
115--I certainly wouldn't be supporting you in that.
And like everyone else, apparently, I remember the visual location of a piece of text rather than the page number.
I managed to beat "hermeneutic" and "synecdoche" by writing short definitions of these and some other recurring problem words on a piece of paper that I stuck directly at eye level in my workspace.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:17 AM
I can wiggle one ear at a time. I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:17 AM
I can touch the tip of eb's nose with 'Postropher's tongue.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:20 AM
eb--Being able to touch one's nose with one's tongue runs in my family; it's apparently a dominant allele, seeing as my dad can, my mom can't, and all three children can. I need to survey the grandchildren now.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:22 AM
I could stand on jackmormon's toes and touch with the tip of my tongue her nose, without matches or lighter, without having to look up the words hermeneutic or synedoche, but only if she'd let me.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:23 AM
You have grandchildren?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:23 AM
Jackmormon: my sister can, but I cannot. My mother can, but not my father.
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:27 AM
Re 120: I don't think that's evidence for it's being a dominant allelle. If Touchnose were recessive and your Dad had 2 copies of it, and your mom had one Touchnose and one Notouchnose, there would be a 1/8 chance of 3 kids all having 2 copies of Touchnose. Hardly insuperable.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:28 AM
118: Before you even said this I was thinking, "I can't believe I forgot to mention that I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. I could even pick my nose with my tongue, should the need arise.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:30 AM
If it were dominant and dad has 1 TN + 1NTN and mom has 2 NTN, there is again a 1/8 chance of 3 kids all having TN. Only if dad has 2 TN do your odds improve.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:30 AM
I can solve a Rubix cube in less than one minute and thirty seconds. (Not anywhere near professional caliber, I know.)
Posted by Matthew Harvey | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:32 AM
I don't know if my family has a lot of people who can touch their (own) noses with their (own) tongues, but there do seem to be a lot of people with double-jointed fingers and thumbs. I used to be able to touch my index fingers to the back of my hand and can still bend all my fingers back pretty far.
I'm very glad to see this thread get away from academic jargon.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:32 AM
We saw some kids doing Rubick's on TV the other day and Sylvia asked me if I could get one of those for her sometime, "like maybe for my birthday". So I reckon I will. I never was able to figure out how to solve more than 2 sides, perhaps I will get better at it if there is one in the house.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:34 AM
For the record, because I fear lesser abilities are getting conflated with my own superior one, I can not just touch my nose with my tongue, but touch the very end of it.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:35 AM
I'm a good digester and can maintain respiration, even while I'm sleeping.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:37 AM
eb: i haven't played with one for ages, but I remember it wasn't too bad to work out, but the fast methods aren't so intuitive. There is some nice group theory associated with them...
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:37 AM
I can wiggle one ear at a time
Right ear independently, yes. Left ear, no. Possibly "handedness" extends to "earedness"?
I have a vision of a couple dozen people dispersed around the globe, sitting at computer monitors, experimentally twitching their facial features and finger joints.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:37 AM
I knew a kid in elementary school who had three thumbs. His third was growing out of one of the other two.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:37 AM
I could even pick my nose with my tongue
That really shouldn't give me a special feeling, and yet...
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:38 AM
I knew a kid in elementary school who had three thumbs. His third was growing out of one of the other two.
He'd make an awesome movie critic.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:39 AM
130 made me feel funny.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:41 AM
134 -- I don't know that that qualifies as a talent for the guy with three thumbs; but having known him certainly does not qualify as a talent for you.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:42 AM
121--Now that's what I call an offer!
More research clearly needs to be conducted into the Touchnose allele. Soubrizquet's data requires careful consideration and a gigantic grant. ATM.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:42 AM
I think I can wiggle my right ear, but every time I do it someone says, "You're cheating! You're moving some other muscle in your cheek!" But I thought that was the way you wiggled your ear. Can anyone do it while keeping every visible muscle stationary?
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:42 AM
Can anyone do it while keeping every visible muscle stationary
I think so; could you spot me and say?
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:43 AM
Sure, slol, come on over.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:44 AM
The only person I ever remember seeing wiggle his ears did it by moving his entire scalp -- the effect was as if someone were pushing a wig back and forth.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:45 AM
130--Harumph! My ability is every bit as superior as yours.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:45 AM
could you spot me
There you are.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:45 AM
Proved right again.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:47 AM
Another dubious talent: I can sing The Threepenny Opera from start to finish.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:49 AM
I can not just touch my nose with my tongue, but touch the very end of it.
The top end of it? Damn!
136 made me laugh.
Posted by My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:49 AM
132: Unless there's set theory associated with fingers, ears, and tongues, I'm guessing you meant to address someone who mentioned Rubik's cubes?
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:51 AM
touch the very end of it.
Tia is Toni Carbone!
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:53 AM
My college boyfriend, the one who had a talent for being a prick about everything, once said to me, "No matter what goes wrong in life, you can take comfort in knowing that you have a long and agile tongue." He was attempting a joke, but still.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 11:56 AM
I should note that I originally said tip of my nose in 118, so I'll match my tongue with yours, Tia, IYKWIM. Also, I barely move my scalp when I move my ears.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 12:01 PM
On the other hand, I am really crappy at remembering people's names
I tend to remember not only names, but faces, where I met the people, whole conversations, interesting stories about their friends and relatives that I may or may not have heard from them. It's mainly a memory for gossip, for social networks and relations. I have to tone it down a little when talking to people who don't know me well, or they get a little freaked out.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 12:32 PM
149: whups, yes 132 -> 129
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 12:37 PM
Tia: afaik, when i do the ear wiggling thing there isn't visible movement elsewhere. can't say i've watched, though.
btw, i met a girl who could do both reach both the tip of her nose, and the bottom of her chin. good icebreaker, that.
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 12:42 PM
I'm pretty sure I'm good at fixing miscommunications as a third party. That is, pointing out to one party in a conversation that the the other party is either using or understanding a term in a different way than they are.
Generally bad with faces and names, but can tell people I know well stories about their own lives that they've forgotten and which I wasn't present at.
No musical skills whatsoever, unless being really consistently off-key is a skill.
Good at eavesdropping, also at picking items off a menu.
Just tested, and can still touch my thumb to the inside of my wrist, though it feels tighter than it used to. I also can't remember if everyone can do that.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 12:53 PM
I can't.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:05 PM
I can generally say whether I've met a person or not, in most instances, even if I've forgotten the name and don't know where I met said person, or what he or she is like at all.
In instances where I do not remember said person, but he/she remembers me, I am capable of pretending that I remember said person.
I am able to ride a bicycle.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:05 PM
I can touch my thumb to the inside of the opposing wrist, or to the wrist of some other person, if some other person is available.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:07 PM
82: I'm working in a special collection at this very moment, and a guy just left who said, "I need this pamphlet. It's a little one, and it's like, either a guide for people coming to the American colonies for the first time or maybe a thing on how to be a soldier? Like, for foreigners, in English? Also, it may have a hard cover. I forget. Someone showed it to me, but I forget who it was or what was in it. But that's the book I need." Fine, the collection I work in only has two thousand or so items, and I know most of them from memory, but the kinds of details that non-literary non-historians provide are fucking ridiculous and useless.
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:07 PM
I can place a block on top of another block, and a third block on that block, and so on, until I've built a tower of amazing height.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:09 PM
I ran into a college friend--or what I thought of as a college friend, more of an acquaintance, I guess--at the Armory show over the weekend. She couldn't recall my name. I knew not only her name, but the names of everyone she dated 1989-1992, and could probably tell her fairly intimate details about her personal life at the time, including things she did when drunk and really obsessive, which she herself may have forgotten at this point. But I did not mention this.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:11 PM
I ran into a person at a barbeque just the other day who I did not remember. She apparently knew me in high school. However I pretended to know her very well and even discussed several acquaintances I pretended to care about.
And then I built a tower of amazing height.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:14 PM
True story: My adviser once e-mailed to advise me to read a book he described as "A [nationality] book whose title I'm blanking on." Knowing the topic, I e-mailed back a few minutes later to ask: "Is it [title]?"
His reply: "Yes, you have hidden talents."
I hope this is not too googlable.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:15 PM
147: I do Die Sieben Todsuenden. "Meine schewester und ich standen aus Louisiana..." Can you hear it?
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:15 PM
schewester s/b schwester
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:16 PM
text -- did you use the tower of amazing height to perform unspeakable acts with the woman you met at the barbecue?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:16 PM
I don't understand.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:19 PM
that is, I don't stand under. That way, if the tower falls, the blocks will not harm you.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:21 PM
The tower must not fall!
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:23 PM
But is the tower metaphor or metonymy?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:33 PM
Synecdoche.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:36 PM
sometimes a giant veiny tower with a purple tip is just a giant veiny tower with a purple tip. Or a columnn with those self-same attributes.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:37 PM
162: i wish you could tell me what I did between 1985-92 or so.
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:39 PM
I don't quite recall what I did during those years either, but that's probably because I was in preschool for most of them.
Posted by Matt F | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:42 PM
I want to take back 173.
I just meant to say that I have the motor skills necessary to build a tower and maintain it.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 1:43 PM
I just meant to say that I have the motor skills necessary
Go text.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 2:16 PM
I cannot wiggle either of my ears. I cannot cock an eyebrow - they move up and down symmetrically.
I can wink my right eye, but not my left.
I suspect I may be missing some facial muscles somewhere.
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 3:14 PM
I can cock my left eyebrow, but not my right.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 3:18 PM
I can cock either of your eyebrows, or the bridge of your nose.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 3:58 PM
Schwack.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 4:21 PM
See?
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 4:22 PM
I can cock either of your eyebrows
Yes, but I can cock my own, Peewee.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 5:00 PM
I didn't know this was a flexibility contest, apo....
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 5:03 PM
Is "soubzriquet" the misspelling that stuck, or what?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 5:04 PM
I didn't know this was a flexibility contest, apo
It isn't, but as Tia can attest, it wouldn't be much of a contest.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 5:23 PM
185: sort of; it's apparently an archaic form. It tends not to have namespace collisions....
i kinda like soup biscuit though.
Posted by soubzriquet | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 5:32 PM
Yes, but I can cock my own, Peewee.
Who you callin Peewee? I'm in Minnesota and you're in North Carolina. Yours only made it 3 feet.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 6:25 PM
That was you?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-15-06 6:26 PM