# A comment on the Eye shimmy article **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 15, 2000, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289 "2000-11-15T10:22:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ashleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Ashleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashleth)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/1 "2000-11-15T10:22:08Z")
About 4 years ago I found out i could do the eye shimmy by unfocusing my eyes and doing something that results in me winning staring contests hands down. All I know is that it gives me a hell of a headacke. Also in the stupid human trick catagories I can vary my pulse rate (also passed out in a biology class in high school doing it got a headacke there too, head hit desk as pulse rate dropped to 35 or so… Not something i repeated [I’m not a total moron]) and I have also been able to, at least a few times cause my pupils to change dialation under constant lighting postions [while holding my head still]. End result, if you get bored enough in class you can train your body to do anything. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/2 "2000-11-15T13:40:41Z")
Until a moderator gets here, let me pretend: Thank you for posting to the SDMB; please stick around. To keep everyone on the same page, it’s nice to include a link to the _Straight Dope_ column you’re responding to. In this case, it’s [I can make my eyes shimmy. Is that normal?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_264.html). And we’re all thrilled about your odd physical attributes! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/3 "2000-11-15T16:14:17Z")
Let me add a few phrases from my well-rehearsed moderator shtick: To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). The column can also be found on pages 264-265 of Cecil Adams’ book «[_The Straight Dope_](http://www.straightdope.com/otheroutlets/books.html)». And also - thank you Da Ace for providing the link. It makes my job so much easier! (sobbing with gratitude) * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/4 "2000-11-15T16:18:36Z")
Ashleth, I hope that after reading The Straight Dope column you know call your mutant ability by its proper name, nystagmus. And of course, since as a moderator I stand _in loco parentis_ at the SDMB, let me add the obligatory admonition that perhaps you should be paying attention to the teacher in class instead of praciticing the odd body olympics which doubtless grant you the admiration of your peers, but should best be kept as an after-school pursuit. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/5 "2000-11-15T22:42:13Z")
Hey, I just wanted to say that I, too, can do the “eye shimmy”. Though calling it nystagmus seems wrong - if nystagmous is _involuntary_ eye movement and the eye shimmy is voluntary. ---
**Author:** ![Ashleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Ashleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashleth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/6 "2000-11-18T21:04:34Z")
Umm, Why should I be paying attention in a class where the instructor didn’t teach. She just played the videos of the guy who wrote the physics text book teach the material to one of his classes at the community college where he taught at… I figure if she didn’t teach us, I didn’t have to learn. Ah, public education. Also, I would have called it by the proper name, butI agree with Irishman… We can do it at will, so I don’t think the name nystagmus correct either… Now what kinda worries me; does anyone else get a headacke after doing this? ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/7 "2000-11-19T16:52:08Z")
I can see why you are possibly getting a headache as you are putting the muscles under unusal strain. I can also accomplish this parlor trick at will, but I don’t get a headache from it. I noticed my ability to relax my pupils so they dialate, this makes the room brighter or dimmer. I got this insight working at a mundane job where I stared at the flourescent lighting and made it dim. No doubt the wasted time made me a bit dim too… The reaon I’ve focused on my vision/eyes is that I have a lazy eye, a misnomer really as it is more of a conscious choice of which eye I use. I use my right eye for reading/computer work and my left eye for distance. When I’m tired the eye not in use drifts towards the periphery more noticeably. Will effort I can bring both eyes to rest on a single point, but this gives me a headache after a while. The problem is my right eye is myopic and the two ‘pictures’ differ in their focus, so the strain is not worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/8 "2000-11-19T17:43:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ashleth \* > Umm, Why should I be paying attention in a class where the instructor didn’t teach. Because it builds character! Now drop and give me twenty. Sheesh! These kids nowadays, I remember in my day … ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/9 "2000-11-19T17:44:35Z")
P.S. How about the name “voluntary nystagmus” ? ---
**Author:** ![Corixidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Corixidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corixidae)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2000, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-on-the-eye-shimmy-article/41289/10 "2000-11-21T19:47:59Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried_ > P.S. How about the name “voluntary nystagmus” ? Hmm… seems to me, using [this Dictionary.com entry](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=nystagmus) as a reference, that **nystagmus** specifically refers to involuntary eye movements. So _voluntary nystagmus_ would a paradox. I can do horizontal and rotational rapid eye movements, purely voluntary, without difficulty – start and stop at will, no headache or other effects. Although it is great for winning staring contests as someone else mentioned…