# Obscure mundane things that kind of blow your mind sometimes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249 "2022-02-10T21:57:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/141 "2022-02-28T12:19:33Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > > [@pullin](#): > > > > Not the book you mentioned, but there’s one called _[Fata Morgana](https://www.amazon.com/Fata-Morgana-Steven-R-Boyett-ebook/dp/B0718X8TN4)_ that tells the story of a WWII B-17 bomber crew who are suddenly transported to another universe/time. > > Looks interesting, pullin. Just bought it. Hope you like it. I enjoyed it, but the author has a bit of Stephen King in him. Fantastic story ideas, great start, but it seemed he wasn’t sure how to end it. JMO, though. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/142 "2022-02-28T12:31:27Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Weaving. Or really, the whole process of making vegetation wearable. And animal hair. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/143 "2022-02-28T13:44:39Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > But what appears to me to be the leap to weaving, of suddenly being able to manufacture this flexible, reasonably durable, malleable material just from an elaborate game of cat’s cradle is baffling. Less baffling when you know that early humans lived in the same area as these guys: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/AQ8A1606.jpg/512px-AQ8A1606.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/AQ8A1606.jpg/512px-AQ8A1606.jpg) It’s small steps from seeing weaver birds at work to basketry (in fact, just last season’s nests make wonderful baskets as-is), and from basketry to textiles. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/144 "2022-02-28T14:47:06Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It’s small steps from seeing weaver birds at work to basketry (in fact, just last season’s nests make wonderful baskets as-is), and from basketry to textiles. Thank you, I knew there must be small steps, and this fills in the blanks wonderfully. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/145 "2022-02-28T16:00:32Z")
@pullin @enipla Your discussion reminds me of a book series I read 10-20 years ago. You may already be aware of the “1632” series by Eric Flint, in which a modern midwestern town is hit by some sort of techno-babble technology (like a quantum bubble or some such) released as a joke by an alien species, and transported / transplanted into the middle of continental Europe during the 30 year’s war (or just before it). The entire town; townspeople, cars, buildings, etc. Fertile ground for exploring what-if scenarios, as in how modern technology and mature enlightenment ideas coming a bit sooner than they did historically. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/146 "2022-02-28T16:32:40Z")
An interesting contrast would be the _Dies the Fire_ series by S.M. Sterling in which the modern world is trying to recover from a mysterious event which suddenly alters physical laws so electricity, gunpowder, and most other forms of high-energy-density technology no longer work. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies\_the\_Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_the_Fire) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/147 "2022-02-28T16:58:04Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > You may already be aware of the “1632” series by Eric Flint, in which a modern midwestern town is hit by some sort of techno-babble technology I’ve read that series by Eric Flint and liked it very much. And I see the connection you are making. My deceased father said that information was going to be the next commodity. He later said he wanted to write a book. But all he had was a title which was going to be “More and more about less and less”. And interesting idea IMHO. > [@dorvann](#): > > An interesting contrast would be the _Dies the Fire_ series by S.M. Sterling That looks interesting too dorvann. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/148 "2022-02-28T17:01:03Z")
One thing that occasionally blows my mind is the fact that our brains, these grey blobs of stuff, can do so much. Sometimes if I’m in a meeting (pre-Covid at this point) with maybe ten people around the table problem-solving, I’ll try to picture ten brains just hovering there causing these amazing things to happen. Another one for me is the bicycle, this inherently unstable thing that can do so much and multiply an individual’s locomotion. Once, a long time ago on a racing bike, I was descending this long hill and I hit 90 km/hr, just sitting on a collection of tubes and two really skinny wheels. How cool is that? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/149 "2022-02-28T17:16:51Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > That looks interesting too **dorvann**. They aren’t. The first 3 books are OK, but Stirling then drives the whole mess over a cliff onto a pile of jagged rocks, then sets fire to everything. The only redeeming thing about it is that the base idea also spawned his “Islands” trilogy, which starts excellent and ends up pretty good. It also has a sequel hook. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/150 "2022-02-28T20:19:01Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > Fertile ground for exploring what-if scenarios, as in how modern technology and mature enlightenment ideas coming a bit sooner than they did historically. Robert Adams (author of the _Horseclans_ books) had a short series of books using this plot called _Castaways Of Time_. I read them long ago so I don’t remember exactly how the cross dimensional thing happened, but one weird thing was that water and electricity still worked in the houses even tho they weren’t connected to anything in the new dimension. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/151 "2022-02-28T21:59:03Z")
(For those who don’t already know). . . Voyager 1 had the option of doing a Pluto flyby after Saturn, but when they altered the course to to a Titan flyby, that course alteration took Pluto off the table. However, if they had sent it on directly to Pluto after Saturn, it would it would have arrived in 1986, 29 years before New Horizons–although, if they had done a Pluto flyby, there probably wouldn’t have been a New Horizons. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/152 "2022-02-28T22:25:37Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > Another one for me is the bicycle, this inherently unstable thing that can do so much and multiply an individual’s locomotion. Once, a long time ago on a racing bike, I was descending this long hill and I hit 90 km/hr, just sitting on a collection of tubes and two really skinny wheels. How cool is that? I used to ride bicycles 3,000 to 5,000 miles every year and have gotten close to that. I don’t remember ever beating that. One of my routes when I lived in a city was to go over a tall bridge, rest at the top, and then go as fast as I could downhill. More fun, though, was drafting trucks and buses. At least until one Sunday morning in downtown when I was drafting one bus that went through a stop light just as it turned red and a crossing bus that was clearly timing the lights came through the newly green light at speed, missing me by about a foot. After that, I quit drafting buses. One day in a smaller city, the traffic was pretty heavy. As I approached a red light, I rode between the cars and it turned green just as I got up behind an RV at the light so I drafted the RV. The car in the left hand lane had to turn so the RV was by itself for a little bit but then a Chevy Blazer came by with two young couples inside going a little faster than the RV and so I moved over behind the Blazer and we passed the RV. Then, I said “Why not?” and pulled out from behind the Blazer into the clear street and passed the Blazer and stayed ahead of it to the next light. At that point, I pulled over to the right and rode about 10 to 15 mph up to the next light after to recover. That felt good – one of my best times ever on a bicycle. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/153 "2022-03-01T01:39:28Z")
Great story! I personally ride a bike in traffic as a vehicle and I ride a lot in downtown Montreal. I have one route which has about a two km descent with some good curves in downtown Montreal, and usually with motor vehicle traffic going about the same speed as my descent. So I’m doing a fair number of lane changes on the way down. It’s an absolute blast, and it basically ends at my favourite coffee places (also licensed to serve alcohol). A few espressos and/or beers I’ve got a flat 15 km cruise home. When everything falls into place, it’s magic! ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/154 "2022-03-01T02:00:49Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > have one route which has about a two km descent with some good curves in downtown Montreal, and usually with motor vehicle traffic going about the same speed as my descent. So I’m doing a fair number of lane changes on the way down. It’s an absolute blast, and it basically ends at my favourite coffee places (also licensed to serve alcohol). That sounds like fun. I read once about some bicycle tour company in Hawaii (probably on Maui) that has a bicycle tour that is pretty much all downhill for something like 20 or 30 miles. Okay. I just did a web search and found it (or something similar) on Maui. From [Downhill Bike Tours](https://adventureinhawaii.com/maui/downhill-bike-tour/): > [@](#): > > The bike trips down Haleakala are the longest in the world … up to 26 miles of coasting and a total vertical drop of 6500 feet! All these rides START at the same place just outside the entrance to Haleakala National Park. The ride itself is exactly the same whether you do the Sunrise or the Day tour. There is a slight difference in route near the end of the ride though, with the route that Mountain Riders takes down to Paia being a little longer than the route that the other two take to their baseyard in Haiku. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/155 "2022-03-01T04:25:26Z")
I did some work on Haleakala, luckily it was mostly at night so I missed the bikers mostly. The few times I had to go up during the day, it was a miserable drive getting stuck behind the bikes. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/156 "2022-03-01T05:05:52Z")
Every so often, I get hung up on how scuba diving is even possible. The water and the pressure at depth affect our bodies in so many ways. We absorb nitrogen that can come out of solution and form crippling bubbles if we come up too fast. We get stupid on the density of the air we’re breathing. We can have seizures from too much oxygen. We have to pee more. We get cold much faster. We can’t see or hear very well. We’re not built for swimming. We’re so vulnerable to very sudden death if something happens to our air supply. We’ve come up with partial solutions to all these problems, but most of those solutions create or contribute to other problems, which require other solutions, which lead to more problems. It just shouldn’t be possible! Someone–Gould, maybe?–once said something about how if you rewound the tape of life on earth and replayed it, the chances of humans existing at all would be nearly non-existent. I like to think of that when I’m mired in self-pity. This bloated, pathetic body, good for basically nothing without the assistance of technology, is the ultimate jackpot in the cosmic lottery. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/157 "2022-03-01T05:14:25Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > That was my reaction when I first saw a 747: Easy to accept that such a thing could be _built_ . But it’s borderline crazy to think it could _fly_ . The Spruce Goose will **really** blow your mind. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/158 "2022-03-01T05:28:51Z")
If it spins fast enough, however - it vanishes. Proving that if you provide enough energy, the matter disappears. I believe this validates Heisenberg’s quantum cat. Probably. ---
**Author:** ![cytop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f17d59/32.png) [@cytop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cytop)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/159 "2022-03-01T05:45:12Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > The Spruce Goose will **really** blow your mind … and the [Antonov AN-225](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya) would have shred whatever was left - but it was based in the Ukraine and the only flying example was destroyed the other day ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/160 "2022-03-01T06:38:13Z")
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