# Unexpected things that mezmerize you... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 18, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508 "2007-12-18T22:04:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/1 "2007-12-18T22:04:57Z")
Underwater film of obese people swimming. (like watching a lava lamp) Slow-motion-centrifugal-human-lip-movement. (that one is highly amusing) extreme-slow motion anything. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/2 "2007-12-18T22:15:34Z")
A young woman walking on the sidewalk along a four lane street, perhaps a hundred yards away. There was very little traffic and it had just rained. She was carrying her shoes. She stooped, picked up something and placed it either out of the way or where someone looking for it would be able to see it. I watched her until she passed behind a building, out of sight. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/3 "2007-12-18T22:30:43Z")
A guy at work yesterday was a wearing a shirt and pants. Nothing special about that. However, he had jacked his underpants up way above his pants, and had then tucked his shirt into his underpants. That left me mesmerized for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/4 "2007-12-18T23:02:26Z")
Things filmed on slow, so that when the film is played at regular speed you can see flowers opening and clouds boiling by and stuff. Bubble wrap. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/5 "2007-12-18T23:30:47Z")
Birds mesmerize me. I mean, can you imagine a world without birds flying about and hopping about in the branches or swimming in the water and making any number of sounds? What a much duller place this planet would be without them, my friend. Also, sparkly things mesmerize me. Come to me, my preciousssss! ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/6 "2007-12-18T23:38:53Z")
Wow. I came here to mention birds. I spend a small fortune on different seed mixes, suet, feeders, socks, etc all so that I can watch birds feed. ---
**Author:** ![yearsofstatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/779978/32.png) [@yearsofstatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearsofstatic)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/7 "2007-12-18T23:54:28Z")
Was flipping around channels while in Atlanta one night and came across this public access show. People were singing religious songs on a stage and guys were walking back and forth in front of the stage clapping their hands. There were only about 6 guys because they kept repeating. And every now and then it would cut away to some women dancing while ringing these little bells. It was the oddest thing I’ve ever seen and yet I couldn’t change the channel. I would so buy the DVD. . . ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/8 "2007-12-19T00:04:49Z")
I know they are widely reviled as lawn-befouling poop factories, but whenever I hear Canada geese honking, I always have to stop and watch the skein until they fly out of sight. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/9 "2007-12-19T00:17:34Z")
The sound of wind on the trees. Screensavers, no matter how sucky. Walking through a computer store is next to impossible to me. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/10 "2007-12-19T02:38:31Z")
I was mesmerized today by the sight of my dog ripping up a cardboard tube. She just held it between her paws and happily ripped of pieces and spit them on the floor. I decided I could watch her do that for hours. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/11 "2007-12-19T03:47:20Z")
Rain falling on an airconditioned greenhouse as the wind whips the pines out back and Sam Cooke plays on the stereo. “There was a woman, in the olden days…” The giant AC masks most of the sound from the storm and it as if Fantasia visits you in a distinctly cooler manner. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/12 "2007-12-19T03:52:04Z")
Not really unexpected, but totally mesmerizing: Soaking in the natural world at a campsite…say, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on a weekday morning. The comings and goings of the local fauna, the previously mentioned wind in the trees, the _shushburbleshushshush_ of the little creek that runs just over there. Heaven on earth. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/13 "2007-12-19T03:55:14Z")
The gurgling of my humidifier. The water vapour swirling on the river when I bike in the morning. Carbon dioxide bubbles in drinks. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/14 "2007-12-19T03:56:50Z")
There is an animated gif of a dancing banana that practically hypnotizes me, nonetheless mesmerizes me. I could also watch the fish in my aquarium all day. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/15 "2007-12-19T04:03:05Z")
shushburbleshushshush ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/16 "2007-12-19T04:52:18Z")
Oh, also, the curling of incense smoke around my oil lamp. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/17 "2007-12-19T04:53:55Z")
shushburbleshushshush ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/18 "2007-12-19T05:04:03Z")
A scene in the Planet Earth nature specials we TiVoed this summer. Some kind of seabirds have dived deep into the ocean to catch fish being herded up by dolphins. The seabirds are now deep underwater, where they will certainly die, unless they reach the surface and air. They rise slowly, holding their wings open, borne upwards by their last breath, racing against their their next, toward the silver underside of the sky, silently, each bearing a fish which is rising toward its own death. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/19 "2007-12-19T05:11:49Z")
At last count, well over 100 Welwitschia mirabilis slowly extending two silly leaves, perhaps for several centuries, that were the results of my pollinations. Over the years, this has proven to be a very fulfilling thing to do with my free time. > **[Welwitschia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welwitschia)** > > Welwitschia is a monotypic genus (that is, a genus that contains a single recognised species) of gymnosperm, the sole described species being the distinctive Welwitschia mirabilis, endemic to the Namib desert within Namibia and Angola. Welwitschia is the only living genus of the family Welwitschiaceae and order Welwitschiales in the division Gnetophyta, and is one of three living genera in Gnetophyta, alongside Gnetum and Ephedra. Informal sources commonly refer to the plant as a "living fossil... ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508/20 "2007-12-19T05:19:24Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] At last count, well over 100 Welwitschia mirabilis slowly extending two silly leaves, perhaps for several centuries, that were the results of my pollinations. Over the years, this has proven to be a very fulfilling thing to do with my free time. > **[Welwitschia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welwitschia)** > > Welwitschia is a monotypic genus of gnetophytes containing only the species Welwitschia mirabilis. It is named after the Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch, who documented the plant in the 1850s. In common use, it is sometimes referred to as the tree tumbo. It is native to Angola and Namibia, where it grows in the extreme conditions of the Namib desert, tolerating high heat and low precipitation. Welwitschia is the only living genus of the family Welwitschiaceae and order Welwitschiales,... [/QUOTE] That is beyond cool. My hat is off to you, sir or ma’am. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-things-that-mezmerize-you/430508.md?page=2)