# 10 Human Oddities (some very interesting) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 19, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032 "2008-07-19T08:33:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/21 "2008-07-24T16:25:37Z")
Back when I was a kid, I remember hearing/reading/seeing on TV a story about a woman who was virtually infallible with names. If she had ever been introduced to you, she supposedly remembered your name forever; if she saw you twenty years after the introduction, she could call you by name. My own memory is so bad that I can’t remember her name or anything else about her. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/22 "2008-07-26T11:26:57Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Do you have something against Oliver Sacks? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/23 "2008-07-26T11:31:08Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] She’s contrasted with an 85 year old man who has big holes in his brain due to syphilis and remembers with clarity his life before 1960 including his WW2 experience, his marriage til then, etc., but nothing between 1960 and things that happened a few moments ago. In his mind when he wakes up each morning he’s 38 years old (though in an 85 year old body he can’t explain) and each day his caretakers, who he sees everyday, have to introduce themselves to him as he can’t remember them from the night before- sometimes he can’t remember them from earlier in the day, ala _Memento_ and _50 First Dates_. [/QUOTE] My father in law had a stroke and had much the same reaction with his memory. He forgot major events (such as his son’s suicide). So he starts asking “where’s Scott?” My MIL points upward and say, “Dad, you know…” (implying that Scott’s in heaven). My FIL replies, “What’s he doing in the attic?” ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/24 "2008-07-26T23:15:41Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Do you have something against Oliver Sacks? [/QUOTE] I think it’s a whoosh. He’s rolling his eyes at you for being starstruck and speechless just like[B]pseudotriton ruber ruber\*\* did when the lady in his (?)story was starstruck and speechless when meeting Oliver Sacks. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/25 "2008-07-28T20:32:32Z")
_Pointy things and pain:_ My HS zoology teacher, Leo Sanders, was fond of keeping our attention with gee-whiz stunts. One day, talking about skin nerves, he clamped a big hypodermic syringe into a hemostat. He explained there’s no pain receptors for being stuck with a needle, and with a flourish, smacked the needle into his arm. :eek: He went on to calmly say that the contact with the air would sting when he took it out. A girl in class fainted. He assigned 4 boys to pick up her chair to carry her to the school nurse, all with the needle and syringe stuck into his arm. Later in the day, I made $5 popping a thumbtack into my forearm on a bet. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/26 "2008-07-28T20:46:18Z")
So how come it hurts when you get an injection at the doctor? And no, I don’t mean it hurts afterward, I mean it hurts when it’s going in. It’s bearable, but I definitely feel _some_ pain. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/27 "2008-07-28T21:05:14Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] _Pointy things and pain:_ My HS zoology teacher, Leo Sanders, was fond of keeping our attention with gee-whiz stunts. One day, talking about skin nerves, he clamped a big hypodermic syringe into a hemostat. He explained there’s no pain receptors for being stuck with a needle, and with a flourish, smacked the needle into his arm. :eek: He went on to calmly say that the contact with the air would sting when he took it out. A girl in class fainted. He assigned 4 boys to pick up her chair to carry her to the school nurse, all with the needle and syringe stuck into his arm. Later in the day, I made $5 popping a thumbtack into my forearm on a bet. [/QUOTE] There may not be as many pair receptors in the forearm as elsewhere, but you’ll certainly feel it if you’re stuck with a needle there. The “no pain receptors there” assertion doesn’t make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/28 "2008-07-28T21:19:09Z")
How does magnet man explain being able to pull a car with a chain attached to a plate attracted to his chest, and then being able to remove the plate from his chest later? ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/29 "2008-07-28T21:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=astro] There may not be as many pair receptors in the forearm as elsewhere, but you’ll certainly feel it if you’re stuck with a needle there. The “no pain receptors there” assertion doesn’t make sense. [/QUOTE] Yep. Aside from being too light to donate blood safely, I know I _definitely_ feel some discomfort when geting pincushioned in the vampire bus. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/30 "2008-07-28T22:01:55Z")
[QUOTE=lizardling] Yep. Aside from being too light to donate blood safely, I know I _definitely_ feel some discomfort when geting pincushioned in the vampire bus. :dubious: [/QUOTE] The vampire bus, is that what they’re calling it these days? For a second, I thought vampire bus referred to your butt, or your neck, or something. I’m assuming you mean the blood donation mobile? ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/31 "2008-07-28T22:18:19Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Did anyone else think of that dead "[bear whisperer"](http://www.shewolfworks.com/wolfsong/news/Alaska_current_events_815.htm) when they saw the “lion whisperer?” [/QUOTE] Sadly, yes. All I thought was “hasn’t been attacked, _yet_.” > [@Terrifel](#): > > I like the upbeat attitude of the cartoon-eyed Brazilian guy: “I can pop my eyes out four centimetres each, it is a gift from God, I feel blessed.” I would, too. Beats working. 😃 or should it be: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/32 "2008-07-28T22:27:33Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] A [National Geo article on memory](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/11/memory/foer-text) a few months back profiled a 41 year old woman called “AJ” who remembers every day of her life for the past 30 years- literally, every day of her life. If you ask her what she did on October 15, 1982 she’ll tell you who she talked to, what she ate, what she watched on TV (one of the things you can verify- not just that she watched _Gimme a Break_ [or whatever- no idea what was on that night] but which episode it was and what the commercials were). She’s been tested for accuracy and it’s believed she has the best memory on earth- and she’s not autistic or an otherwise impaired savant but a normal functioning human being who just doesn’t forget anything. [/QUOTE] AJ identified herself as Jill Price earlier this year when her memoir, _The Woman Who Can’t Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science_, was published. She was interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air and she sounded so dejected and just plain tired of living with this condition, that I felt very sorry for her. She remembers events with the emotions as fresh and painful as if it just happened. That’s like my personal definition of hell. > [@Sampiro](#): > > She’s contrasted with an 85 year old man who has big holes in his brain due to syphilis and remembers with clarity his life before 1960 including his WW2 experience, his marriage til then, etc., but nothing between 1960 and things that happened a few moments ago. In his mind when he wakes up each morning he’s 38 years old (though in an 85 year old body he can’t explain) and each day his caretakers, who he sees everyday, have to introduce themselves to him as he can’t remember them from the night before- sometimes he can’t remember them from earlier in the day, ala Memento and 50 First Dates. And that would be another permutation of my version of hell. Geez. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-human-oddities-some-very-interesting/457032/33 "2008-07-28T22:52:57Z")
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