I can do that; I’ve taught people to do it as well (my sister, and some dude in school).
I shall try to teach the readers of the SDMB.
Remove any glasses you may be wearing, move head to within 1 foot of target (the computer monitor will do). It’s easier (for me, anyway) when the target is this close.
Focus on the target, then intentionally use eye muscles to make the target as out-of-focus as possible, but keep looking at the target.
Just do it; wiggle them eyeballs.
If you feel you succeeded, try it on a nearby victim (your SO, children, mental health specialist) for confirmation. Enjoy your newfound hobby.
I can hear the sound of touching too also since I was a kid. I used to think it was something everyone sensed but most never noticed. Maybe it is…everyone give it a try and report back with your findings.
I also hear/feel the TV thing…computer monitors as well. Those old Apple II monitors were LOUD. We used to have a few at work (many years ago) and I could hear them all the way across the building.
One - Everytime I pass by a door that leads outside in my apartment, I have to check to see if it is locked. Everytime. I can’t sleep at night if I haven’t checked them.
Two - My left hand is double-jointed, my right isn’t. I really have no idea why, they’ve always been like that.
On a side note, I could do the TV thing too until I was a roadie for a heavy metal band in the 80s and spent too much time next to the speakers during their concerts. darkrabbit
Holy cow, AmbushBug, thanks. Now I have to tape myself to see what it looks like. I read through your instructions, and thought ‘just do it’ was a stupid instruction, but it works…
I used to be able to hear the high frequency of CRTs, but I’ve damaged my hearing pretty well since then. Do a search in GQ on flyback transformer and you’ll see all kinds of things about it.
When I was a kid, I wrote a program in Basic that would output sound to the computer speakers. It would start at the highest pitch the computer could do, like 40khz, then start dropping the frequency. As soon as the testee could hear it, they’d hit a button. It would then jump back up some distance (1000 or 500 hz, I don’t remember) and then more slowly drop. They’d hit a button again when they could hear it again, and the program would then display the frequency. I was quite amazed at the difference in ability to hear high frequencies between my parents and my siblings.
When the first TV remote control was developed, it was just a few rods in a box that were struck by hammers when you pushed the button. Each rod would have a different frequency for it’s function. They started out at 18000hz, but that annoyed a young woman who worked with the inventors, so they wisely decided to increase the base frequency. It’d suck to be both annoyed by the TV whine and the remote control sound.
It seems most people with good hearing can hear high pitched TV whine. (I can also hear the lower-pitched incessant warble from TVs with the volume up, but that’s another issue.
Another note about hearing sounds, my dad is incapable of hearing a beeping wristwatch alarm. I guess a few years of mortar fire and tank engines, followed by many years of belt-sanders, table saws, air compressors, and pneumatic drills can kinda cut out some of the higher tones.
I am guessing that the ability to hear the high-pitched sounds emitted by a TV or any CRT device isn’t all that uncommon given the number of people posting here who say they can hear it. I can hear it as well. I remember as a kid (mid to late 70s) being in Sears. When I walked past the TV department The TVs all running at the same time sounded really loud to me. Today I can still hear several TVs going at once when I go past this department in any store, but it doesn’t pierce my eardrums like it once did. I don’t know if this is because TVs are made better these days such that they don’t emit as much of this sound, or if I have listened to too much heavy metal or that it’s just because I am getting older.
As for special abilities, I don’t think anyone here has mentioned having perfect pitch. I can identify any tone I hear and tell you which note it is. Since I don’t know anybody else who can do this I have no way to prove it. If I tell someone his car horn honks in F sharp, for example, he’ll just go, “okay…I’ll just take your word for it.” It’s like trying to explain to a blind person that a car is blue.
I was a drummer with a few rock bands in my past. Anytime there was a break in the song where no music was played, I’d always rap my sticks together to keep the band on the same beat while saying “two three four” (or, however long the break was).
GrizzWife tells me that, when I listen to music, I still do that by tapping my fingertips against whatever’s handy and, almost inaudably, say “two three four…”. I never even realized that I did that.
I also growl, bare my teeth and flare my nostrils when I get angry. Again, I never noticed that I did it until GrizzWife pointed it out to me.
I have this very odd habit that I was telling a friend about just last night. It only happens when I live alone.
I watch the Today Show in the morning as I get ready for work. My quirk is that I can not turn off the television until I have my briefcase and purse in hand and keys out. I have to be ready to walk right on out the door before I turn of the television. If I turn off the TV and then realize I forgot to grab a diet coke out of the fridge, I will first turn on the TV, grab the soda and then turn off the television. I just can’t stand for the place to be dead silent for the last few minutes before I leave - and it has nothing to do with what is on TV. Another weird thing - I’m only like that in the morning when I am leaving for work.
I have an OCD thing like that with personal grooming. It takes me forever to brush my teeth because I feel I must brush both sides evenly and I keep jumping back and forth to make sure it feels that way. Deodorant is tough too, and I used to have to count the strokes on each underarm. Thank goodness for those clickable clear gel sticks where I can click each side the same number of times and when I’m done applying each, that’s it. Whew.
I can hear TV’s too, but only if I’m listening. Its very high pitched so I try to ignore it.
I can make my eyes shimmy too. I have indepentent control of both eyebrows. I can flare my nostrils. I can pop boths thumbs out of their sockets. I can turn my arm 360 degrees. I can bend my leg back so the base of my foot is in line with my stomach.
OK, so I’m officially a freak…
I can also hear TVs. We have a little TV that we sometimes take on roadtrips that only plays those small little tapes. We keep it up in the playroom on a shelf, and everytime my brother watches a tape on it, he leaves it on. Immediately when I enter the playroom, I can tell that its on. I can’t hear it, it’s more like I can “feel” an electric charge in the air.
I do that too, especially when i’m laying down. Other times when im laying down I bend my feet so the bottoms touch each other and lace my toes together like fingers…its weird.
Oh and I did get my eyes to vibrate! It hurt, though.
I’m also incapable of putting eye drops in just one eye. If I have something in my eye and put drops in it, my other eye gets jealous and I have to put some in it too, even there is nothing in it.
Wow. I really thought I was the only person who could hear TVs even when there’s no volume. When I was growing up, my parents and siblings said I was making that up; my husband and daughter just say I’m crazy. I can also hear alarm systems and dog whistles.
The only other really odd thing I can do is taste smells and vice versa. This is just about impossible to explain to people who can’t do it themselves. My senses of taste and smell have got to be off the charts (assuming there are charts for this sort of thing.) I once got into an argument with someone about a bottle of wine. I was absolutely certain that I could taste the smell of nasturtiums in the wine. My friend said there was no way I could taste it even if there were, and no one would use nasturtiums as a wine additive. We ended up writing a letter to the winery - there are no nasturtiums in the wine, but the vineyard has several beds of nasturtiums growing about near the grapes. I can’t even imagine how much more I would be able to taste and smell if I was not a smoker.
I’ll throw in a “me too” for being able to hear tvs/monitors/“sound free” pest controlers/dog whistles etc.
If I “shoot” with my thumb and forefinger, the joint cracks to provide the “bang.”
I’m not sure why, but it really bothers some people that I can make my toes move semi-independantly from one another. It feels good to spread them out and wiggle them, dammit
Certain sharp sounds, like motors kicking on and other assorted bangs, are white. I think that’s why I like Moth’s song " I see sound" so much. Fortunately, the SD has taught me that there are lots of people who perceive sounds as colors and so on, so I know I’m not completely insane.
My brother and I enjoy making up odd skits we share with no one. The one we’re currently working on is about God calling someone collect to ask “waaaassssupp?” Pervious one included things like one of the resue rangers gunning down people in a bank and so on. Some of the older ones are on tape.
I can control the muscles on the left side of my face perfectly. can twist my face in all sorts of weird ways, pulling with the muscles in my cheeks and neck. can’t do that with the right side of my face. just have normal control with that.
its good for doing a dr jekel/ mr hyde thing. twist up one side of my face… but not the other. looks pretty darn scary
