Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Sweet Mysteries of Life

Thought for the day:  It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit. [Antoine Rivarol]



For those with an inquisitive mind, life offers an almost endless stream of mysteries, curiosities, and phenomena worthy of some serious chin-scratching.

Shall we consider a handful of them?






How about those intricate crop circles that have appeared in fields all over the world? What's up with them? Aliens? Hordes of drunken frat boys? Just one big bogus joke?

Beats me.



How about the Voynich manuscript? Ever hear of that? Named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired it in the early 1900s, this detailed 240-page book contains still-colorful drawings, and is written in an unknown language and unknown alphabet. It includes astronomical charts and diagrams, and illustrations of plants unknown to modern botanists. Carbon dating places the book's origins somewhere between 1404 to 1438. Who wrote it? An alchemist, maybe? Where did the language come from? Did he make it up to hide his secrets?

Beats me.

I'm sure you've heard of the Bermuda Triangle. Over the years, many ships and planes have mysteriously disappeared when attempting to navigate through this area. Where did they go? Alien abductions? Is there a huge junkyard of shipwrecks and downed planes at the bottom of the sea there? Is it all a big fat fraud?

Beats me.

Ever hear of the Taos hum? It's a low-pitched humming sound that can be heard in certain parts of the world, mainly the US, UK, and northern Europe... and it can only be heard by some people. More than 2000 people, dating back to the 1940s, have reported hearing the maddening sound in London and Southampton. And I do mean maddening. Tales indicate that the sound has literally driven some people insane. Yet, others can't hear it at all. The most infamous site for the humming sound is in Taos, New Mexico. Ergo, the name. However, the humming has also been identified by other geological locations, as well. Like the Bristol hum. Sorry, I couldn't find an image to illustrate this mystery, but I did find a couple videos on Youtube. Although they were supposed to be recordings of the Taos hum, I couldn't hear a doggone thing. (Maybe I'm already mad?) So what's the source of this mysterious hum only heard by some? (But not me.)

Beats me.


Here's another lulu. Ever hear of the WOW signal? In 1977, SETI (Search for Extraterrestial Intelligence) volunteer Jerry Ehman received a loud 72-second signal with the radio telescope at Ohio State University. The signal appeared to have originated in the constellation Sagittarius — 120 light-years away. The intensity of this signal was more than thirty times greater than normal deep space signals, as evidenced in the figures Ehman circled on the printout, along with his notation WOW! Since then, attempts to relocate the signal have been fruitless. So what was it? Who or what generated it?

Beats me.


Here we have the Georgia Guidestones. This mammoth granite monument is engraved in eight languages, and each presents ten directions for an Age of Reason. Also called the American Stonehenge, the stones are also aligned to include astronomical features. Shrouded in mystery since it was commissioned in 1979, no one knows exactly who commissioned it or why. (If you're interested in more details about this monument, you can find it right here on an earlier post.)

So who was that masked man the mystery man representing that mysterious group, and why did they pay a huge amount of money to have this monument erected? And why in a field in rural Georgia?

Beats me.

Have you ever wished there were well-defined markers pointing the proper path to take through life? Well, guess what? There are! Yep, mysterious concrete arrows, as much as seventy feet in length, can be found all across the United States. Some of them are located in the middle of nowhere... even in the desert. What gives? Who laid out all those arrows for us? A benevolent God? A rich prankster? Drunken frat boys? Is it all a ridiculous plot to drive us crazy? (Just in case we can't hear the hum...)

Beats... No, wait! Actually, I know the answer to this one. When the United States opened its first coast-to-coast airmail delivery route in 1920, it wasn't able to deliver mail much faster than by ground. Why, you ask? Because there weren't any good aviation maps in those days, so pilots had to rely on visual landmarks to find their way, which meant flying during bad weather or at night was nearly impossible.

The solution? The Postal Service installed lit beacons every ten miles all the way from New York to San Francisco, each comprised of a bright yellow concrete arrow and a fifty-one-foot tower topped with a generator-powered rotating beacon. The project started in 1923, and by 1929, the massive illuminated arrows spanned the entire continent. In the '40s, as other technology took over and aviation maps improved, the beacons were decommissioned, and the towers, torn down. The yellow paint is long gone, but guess what? Believe it or not, the arrows... are still there.

One final mystery before I bid you all adieu.  Can you tell me why...  can anyone tell me why...




... why do people of a certain gender leave the lid up on the toilet? And worse... the seat?

Not that it's a problem for Smarticus and me, mind you. In all these years together, in all these years of gaping toilets left to wake my startled butt up in the middle of the night, I've only succumbed to that nefarious trap twice.( The simple solution? A night light.)

Oh well. I suppose people of that certain gender probably wonder what's the point in closing the lid when you're just gonna use it again later. (sigh)

Ah, what the heck! Vive la difference. Just one more sweet mystery...



                                                         Didn't you just love this lady?


                                                          This here is one smart dude!


Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

109 comments:

  1. So many mysteries; so many frat boys. I'd not heard of the illustrated book before.... Hmmmm

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    1. Yep, blame it all on the frat boys.

      There's a lot of info and other pictures to be found on the Internet about that old manuscript. A lot of info, but no real answers. Fascinating stuff.

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  2. Very interesting stuff...never heard of the arrows.

    I gave up the toilet seat thing long ago, but could never figure out why putting it down is any harder than for us to lift it up.

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    1. Cool. I'm glad you found it to be interesting. The pathway of arrows is called the Transcontinental Air Mail Route. You can find lots more pictures of the arrows online.

      Touche! 'Tis true, but if the seat is left down in the middle of the night, the only unpleasant result might be a nasty wet toilet seat; if it's left up, one might end up with a nasty ticked-off wife or wet kid.

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  3. So many mysteries, so little time. The Voynich manuscript is the one which intrigues me most.
    And I did enjoy Elizabeth. And wondered how her fiance was going to compare...

    On an unrelated note, I started Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade last night - and am loving it. As I expected.

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    1. I only read about the Voynich manuscript a short while ago, and couldn't believe I'd never heard of it before. (Or maybe I heard at one time and simply forgot? That's entirely possible...)

      I loved just about any character Madeleine Kahn played.

      Woo HOO! Glad to hear it! I'll be looking forward to hearing your thoughts when you finish.

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    2. Review on Amazon. I didn't do rather a lot of things on my to-do list yesterday - and you are too blame. Thank you. Lots.

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    3. Thank you so much for the lovely review, Sue. You rock! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book. (Color me smiling.)

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  4. I read about the Voynich MS recently, but didn't know about it before. I love the song by Brad Paisley. So true.

    Those arrows would be intriguing - glad you explained that one. I've never heard of those Georgia Guidestones - probably commissioned by a wealthy patron who may be buried beneath. Has anyone checked?

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    1. I'm glad to hear you've read about the manuscript only recently, too. (How could we have not heard about it before now?)

      As for the Guidestones, I explained a lot of it in the earlier post, but to make a long story short, no one is buried there. A mysterious stranger, thought to be in disguise, went to this small rural town as a representative of a larger group. He worked through a local banker, who he swore to secrecy, and set up the account, provided full instructions, etc. The details of this monument, and the directions written on them, are quite intriguing.

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  5. Oh My Goodness this is such an interesting post today.
    I have never heard of the Voynich Manuscript but it looks wonderful.
    Japanese son got me interested in the SETI. When you live in the Southwest the sky and stars get in your soul. When you look up all you see are the stars at night (except for Phoenix, yuck) with the moon so bright and how beautiful they are.
    My father worked on the first telescopes for Kitt Peak Observatory. I look back and I think maybe I could have had a career in Space.
    Great post today !

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

      The SETI project is pretty cool, isn't it? Oh, how wonderful that you live in an area where you can really see the night sky. If we lived somewhere like that, I'd have to have a good telescope. We had a fairly good one, but we get so much light from surrounding cities, it didn't do us much good. So we gave it to our son to amaze his kids at night. (A lot darker in his area.) A meteor shower would really be something to see from your place, I'll bet. Worth staying outside late into the night.

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  6. What a fascinating post! I always love a good mystery and you've provided several that I haven't heard of before - like the Voynich Manuscript. Ironically, I saw something on TV a few weeks ago about the Georgia Guidestones. It might have been on the Travel Channel.

    I've heard of the strange Taos Hum. It can also be heard in Sedona, Arizona.

    It should be mandatory to have a urinal in every residence when a man lives. It's impossible for us to pee in a regular toilet. Especially if we're drunk.

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    1. I meant to say "WHERE a man lives", not "when a man lives". I constantly make mistakes when I type quickly
      (and yes - - I'm sober)

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    2. I'm glad to hear some of the mysteries were new to you. Oh, very neat to hear the Guidestones made it onto a TV show. Sorry I missed that one.

      HA! I'll vouch for that "if we're drunk" part. We used to have frequent get-togethers at our house, and evidently, some of the men had difficulty hitting the commode after consuming one too many. Come to think of it, so did our sons when they were growing up, and alcohol had nothing to do with their aiming difficulty. Must be a guy thing. So maybe your idea about installing urinals is a good one. (Okay if we stick some plastic flowers in them to pretty 'em up a little?)

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  7. I can answer the crop circles - they're a Wiltshire phenomenon, so we get summer visitors tramping all over the fields without asking farmers to look at them. There are those who still believe they are aliens - but most know they are lads with planks on their feet tramping out designs they've worked out on computer. Some are clever, but the farmers are so fed up with it!

    (ps - I love Wiltshire, when I'm not Over the Hill and Far Away!)

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    1. Very interesting about the plank-pranks. (So I wasn't too far off with my "drunken frat boys" remark, eh?) I'd think the farmers would be way beyond fed up by now. Both with the pranksters, and with the inconsiderate gawkers.

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  8. I love this post! Fascinating stuff!
    And now, Mr. Google is luring me... calling me! But I don't have time for him!
    I'm outta here, before I'm tempted to give in------
    Writer In Transit

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    1. Thanks! Glad to hear it.

      Be strong. Be very very strong. The call of Google is like the siren's song, but we can resist. (Or so I've heard...)

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  9. Love Brad Paisley!
    All the other chin scratchers are the work of aliens, except the Georgia Guidestones. That's my work,I built those.

    Just kidding.
    Aliens.

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    1. HA! Gotcha. Aliens did it. They did it all. (I'll bet they're even responsible for those mysteriously disappearing library books when I was a kid...)

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  10. I have a feeling that, deep in the night, the hubs is listening for the squeak that means I've dropped several inches lower than planned. I imagine he stifles a chortle, then, calls out innocently, "you okay?". It's alright....I'll get even with him (and he knows I will), it's part of the 'game'.

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    1. HA! Well, I quit playing that game long ago. Each of our bathrooms has a night light in it. And when we travel? I carry a night light with us. Nobody's waking MY butt up in the middle of the night with that unexpected drop anymore!

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  11. You know, you really don't hear much about the Bermuda Triangle anymore do you? I remember growing up and hearing all sorts of theories and such surrounding the supposed disappearances but these days I never hear it mentioned. I think there was even a TV movie!

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    1. You're right! In the seventies, talking about the Triangle seemed to be all the rage, and it was featured in numerous movies. I reckon it's "passe" now.

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  12. Only true way to solve the toilet problem. I have my own bathroom, but I still have to clean theirs (hubby & two sons) some one please create a self-cleaning bathroom. I'm thinking magic blue light that cleans, disinfects, makes it all sparkle again. PLEASE!

    Love the other mysteries, especially the book - wow! Great subject for a book about a mysterious book!

    And Elizabeth, that scene is so hilarious! Thanks for making me smile!

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    1. Since my hubby and I are the only ones left in the house now, we kinda have "his" and "hers" bathrooms, too, but I still keep a night light in each of them. Hey, we've had self-cleaning bathrooms for years. Just like our self-cleaning oven. (Yep, I clean 'em myself...)

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  13. Who doesn't love a mystery and isn't it wonderful that we don't have all the answers? Not even the all knowing Google. We need to be fascinated by the unknown as it keeps us on our toes, makes us think, and gives us a tingling feeling in the pit of our stomach. Cue the Twilight Zone music.

    Great post, Susan!

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    1. Not knowing all the answers helps keep us humble, too. Still, I hope we get to know the answers some day. This inquiring mind wants to know...

      Thanks! Glad you liked it.

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  14. What a great post Susan. I am one of the hum hearers. I've head the low-frequency hum for years but at its loudest while living on Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama. I chalked it up the tenitis which I have, or to the myriad coal mining tunnels in Red Mountain amplifying the sound. Whatever, I can still hear it, sometimes louder than others.

    As to the toilet seat thing. SOME people lift both seats so as not to pee in the seat on which their beloved sits. However, real men sit down to pee thus avoiding the whole nasty business in the first place.

    I have got to get up there and check out the Georgia Guide stones.

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    1. BTW... When I read your post title the scene from Young Frankenstein where Madelyn Kahn sings out O Sweet Mystery of Life I've Found You as the Monster with the enormous schwanstucker mounts her jumped right into my head. Made me laugh all over again for the hundredth time.

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    2. How interesting! So you hear the hum, huh? I have tinnitus, too, and that constant high-pitched noise is enough to drive me batty; I don't need the low frequency to go along with it.

      As for the toilet seat, I LIKE the way you think, Mr. C. (Although I understand that certain dangly parts can make that an untenable solution after a certain age...)

      I'm glad the title made you think of the Madeleine Kahn scene. (That's why I included that scene in the post!)

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    3. Ha, that's what I get for being in a hurry and not watching the video.

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    4. HA! No biggie. What can I say? Great minds obviously DO think alike.

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  15. Dear Susan,
    so many questions! As I have the hearing of a bat, I listened to the youtube sounds - could hear it very well, but think it is someone scratching with a soft needle lihgtly on a plastic record... maddening, if the record was a good one. Or sort of whistle on a kind of flute - but not melodious. One neighbour of us had a metal pole with a little hole in it for a chain in front of his garage - when wind came up it sounded like Taos hum - have to inform our neighbour, the mayor of Hildesheim, that we don't have only 2 World Cultural Heritages, but also a Hildesheim hum).
    The Voynich manuscript is very impressive, and as to the Bermuda triangle: I hope that our houseboat next week will remain in the UK...

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    1. I'm glad you could hear the hum on that Youtube recording. I have such a loud ringing in my ears, it made it even more difficult for me to pick out anything on there that I'd characterize as a hum.

      HA! I hope your mayor has a good sense of humor.

      I'm sure your houseboat will be just fine. With you at the helm and a healthy anchor to keep you in place, you'll be just dandy. (Have fun!)

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  16. Totally haven't heard of a few of these--they are totally random! I kind of think the arrows are neat. I never would have guessed the postal service, that's for sure!

    As for the toilet seat, yep, one of life's big mysteries. I have no idea! (Granted, I've trained said spouse to put it down...it works sometimes at least :).

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    1. Glad some of the stuff was new to you. The mystery of the toilet seat, however, is one most of us know all too well...

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  17. SUSAN ~
    I'm pretty sure that drunken frat boys are responsible for every one of the mysteries you mentioned... except for the gigantic arrows. Drunken postal workers were responsible for those. (Did you know that it has been shown statistically that from 1923 to 1929, there were fewer postal worker shootings than at any other time? It's because most USPS employees were out carving arrows and rarely encountered each other in the offices.)

    Now here are two more mysteries that have me scratching my chin...

    Why did that Frankenstein monster remind me so much of a famous TV series father? No, not Herman. FRANK (Barone).

    Why do I always return to find the toilet seat down, when I expressly left it up for my next visit to the bathroom? It's maddening, maddening, I tell you!

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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    1. Yeah, I was suspicious of those drunken frat boys, too... You could be onto something there. Maybe some postal workers should be sent out to paint the arrows, or something. Might as well. They're not all that busy delivering the mail.

      HA! I have no idea why that Frankenstein monster reminded you of Frank Barone. Robert's closer to the right size...

      Have you ever seen the old movie "No Time For Sergeants"? Andy Griffith gets "permanent latrine duty" and he rigs up all the toilet lids to raise in a "salute' when the sarge comes in to inspect his work. Hilarious! Bottom line? Don't worry about whether or not your seat is up or down; just be concerned if it salutes you.

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    2. I am very much familiar with 'No Time For Sergeants' and the toilet seat salute. Ha! (In fact, trivia question answered: It was in the 'No Time For Sergeants' production where Griffith met Don Knotts for the first time, and remembered him later, when looking for an actor to play the nervous 'Barney Fife' character in his TV series 'The Andy Griffith Show'.)

      You're correct, Robert was closer to the right size, but Peter Boyle had the perfectly shaped head:

      http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001967/?ref_=tt_cl_t2

      He had a big "FRANK" thang.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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    3. I shoulda known you'd be familiar with that movie. It's a classic. I forgot that little tidbit about Griffith meeting Knotts in that movie, though. (And ya never can tell when that kinda info might come in handy...)

      Okay, ya beat me by a head.

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  18. i got to know a lot of beats me stuff today!!!

    http://www.myunfinishedlife.com

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    1. Hi-ya! Thanks for dropping by. Watch out... here I come! Gonna return the favor.

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  19. Never knew about the book
    Here at my nook
    Interesting indeed
    Frat boys do most crop circles their feed
    Aliens only do them to screw with our minds
    Then when we are dumb as a stump they probe our behinds lol

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    1. So many things we don't know!
      So many things our minds to blow!
      Blame it all on frat boys from outer space,
      Or our own inadequacies we'd have to face.

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  20. I absolutely loved Madelina Kahn ... and when the started singing Ahhhh sweet mysteries of life .. in Young Frankenstein?

    on the floor! I sing the same song... a lot in her style... jeeeeez that was funny.

    Great ponders, Susan... I like pondering ~ keeps the blood moving

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    1. Yeah, me too. I think Madeleine Kahn was hysterical. Like in "History of the World, Part One" where she's walking down the line of men, checking out their "equipment"? (Nope, nope, nope, yes, nope YESSSSSS!)

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  21. I like Brad Paisley. :) The toilet seat thing never bothered me. When the big boys were home the gals were outnumbered quite a bit so we always just expected it to be up.

    The Bermuda Triangle was solved by the new movie Percy Jackson...I saw it w/my own two eyes. ;)

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    1. There ya go. If you expect the seat to be left up, you're never disappointed... but you CAN be pleasantly surprised. Great way to handle it.

      HA! Sounds like we'll all have to see the movie if we want to solve that mystery.

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  22. I COULD explain all the mysteries, but I just don't feel like it right now!!

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  23. I love this post, and I have heard and pondered most of those mysteries. The only one I could solve is the toilet seat syndrome. Think about it. Putting the seat down is worse (for that other certain gender). You end up with a condition known as Mobil Station Bathroom (at least I sold that to my wife all these years).

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    1. Cool. I'm glad you liked it.

      HA! Strangely enough, Mobil Station Bathroom syndrome even exists in the ladies' room. All women, alas, are NOT neat freaks and do NOT follow that old saying, "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat." I know. Scandalous, right?

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  24. Cyg would LOVE this post! Especially the bit about the Voynich manuscript. I actually have the first 30 or so pages of a novel based on the WOW! signal. Pretty cool, huh? I may have to post bits for another False Start run? :)

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    1. Oh, I'm terribly intrigued that you've included the WOW! signal in one of your manuscripts! Matter of fact, I'm tickled you were even aware of it. (That's our girl!)

      Yes, another False Start bloghop would be super.

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  25. I loved Madeline Kahn. Oh, sweet mystery of life at last I've found you. That strange manuscript in the language no one knows? The actress Ann Heche wrote it. Remember how she wrote a memoir some years back? She revealed that she had been so crazy for a while that she believed she came from another planet and had even invented her own language. She could still speak it. Could she have been alive at the time it was written? Beats me.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Yeah, me too. She was in a class of her own. (A reeeeally funny one!)

      Ah HA! Ann Heche, huh? Or at least that's what we call her in her human form.

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  26. Life is filled with impossible questions! I liked the one that had an answer...the airplane arrows!

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    1. Yep, lots of impossible questions, but seeking the answers gives us a sense of purpose... or frustration. Glad ya liked the airplane arrows. Pretty neat, and so few of us knew about them.

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  27. LOL that last one can never be explained. I love mysteries like this. The concrete arrows are totally bizarre and I had no idea they existed! Absolutely love the mystery manuscript in the unknown language. How cool is that?

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    1. Yeah, I just heard about the arrows a couple months ago, and thought it would be a good basis for a blog post. (Voila!) What's interesting is that stories about these arrows started appearing in recent months, as though they're a recent "discovery".

      That mystery manuscript sounds like the basis for a cool book, dontcha think?

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  28. Some mysteries just can't be explained. Loved learning about all this stuff, particularly that book. There are stories to be told from these mysteries!

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    1. Yep, all these things could be the basis for some pretty cool book ideas.

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  29. You had a few mysteries I hadn't heard of. Life is full of them. Earth is full of them--LOL! But best of all--Oh, sweet mystery of life....that was just hysterical in the movie. And I have never heard that Brad Paisley song!! I laughed and laughed! What a marvelous post. Beats me, too! ;)

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    1. Life's mysteries are like the salt (and vinegar, if ya like it) on our french fries. Sure, we could eat the fries plain, but the ah-sweet-seasoning makes them all that much better.

      Paisley isn't likely to ever win a Grammy for that song, but at least, it makes us laugh.

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  30. There are so many things I'll never find the answers to in this life. I'd never heard of the arrows before. Glad you could solve that mysteries.

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    1. Those arrows are pretty cool. I can just imagine someone finding one while hiking in the middle of nowhere and wondering where in the heck it came from.

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  31. I promise I always put the seat down!
    I'd heard of the Voynich manuscript before. I say aliens left it here.

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    1. Of course you do! After all, Ninjas are trained to be highly disciplined.

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  32. Susan, I love how you find the odd... lol

    I am with you about the toilet seat... unfortunately another one of those mysteries but as my Valentina says... David is a good boy and always puts it down :)

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    1. Gee, thanks. I think. (Okay, so they are a little odd...)

      Ah ha, your David, like Alex (above) must also be a well-trained Ninja.

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  33. I have dealt with mysteries all my life but none so enigmatic as the extraterrestrials who sneak into our bathrooms and leave the seats up --or down. I suspect they are the same ones who change the side of the car the gas-fill hole is on when I pull up to the pump.

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    1. Yeah, those little green men are really inconsiderate so-and-sos, aren't they? They're forever moving my husband's reading glasses.

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  34. Wow, these are interesting! I never heard of the manuscript, but how cool is that?!! And my husband always puts the seat down, yay!

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    1. I'm glad they piqued your interest. As does your always-puts-the-seat-down hubby. Wow, amazing. He sounds like a real keeper. (He doesn't have enormous fly eyes and antennae on his head, does he?)

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  35. I'm sorry...ill put the seat down from now on. Lol! Look at you smart pants!! Love it

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    1. HA! If you wanta leave your own seat up, go for it, kiddo. Be a rebel. Rejoice in it. Just don't fall into it...

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  36. I think it's great that there are some mysteries we just don't have the answers for!

    Kinda puts us in our place. :-)

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    1. Yeah, a certain amount of mystery makes things interesting, and I like my "place" just fine. (If only it came with maid service...)

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  37. What I would like to know is why anyone, ANYONE, ever replaces the toilet roll so the grab side is facing the wall. This is madness. I blame drunken frat boys.

    Plus also, what Geo said. The gas-fill-hole aliens attacked me just yesterday, in fact. How I shook my fist at the heavens! (Luckily the hose was really long.)

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    1. Hey! Since I'm one of those nefarious people who hangs the roll that way, I can answer that particular mystery for you. Wanta know why? To keep our cats from unrolling the whole danged thing onto the floor! Nothing like finding an entire mega roll of paper shredded and strewn around the bathroom and down the hallway. (OH yeah! They had fun!)

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  38. There's delight in the fact that we don't know very much. I shall have to learn more about the Voynich Manuscript! And one of the best things about living alone is always knowing the seat is down. Though my brother left it up last week and I sat in the bowl. :)

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    1. Delight? Perhaps. The mysteries sure keep us interested, anyway.

      HA! I see that little smiley thingie after your statement about falling into the bowl, but I'll bet you weren't all that smiley-faced when it happened! It's a wonder I didn't hear you screaming his name from here...

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  39. Life can be so much better when we get the simple solutions figured out. Why fight it? You had a light bulb to add a light bulb. Way to go.
    Loved the video.... big smile. She has pretty hands with long expressive fingers.

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    1. Yep, some things are worth getting all het up about, and some can be solved quite simply. Same as with our toothpaste. Very early on, I realized he is very neat and methodical with a tube of toothpaste, and I've always squeezed it all willy-nilly. As long as I get something on my toothbrush, I'm happy. Ever since that realization, we've had separate tubes of toothpaste.

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  40. Never heard of those concrete arrows before--interesting! I can always count on learning something here. Thanks!

    Oh, and I have no idea about the toilet seat thing. Some mysteries are inexplicable.

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    1. Yeah, you may not learn anything here that amounts to a hill of beans, but there's usually something. (Lots of smart comments!)

      As for the toilet seat, it must be in their genes. (HA! Come to think of it, if they kept it in their jeans, it wouldn't be a problem!)

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  41. And there was me thinking it was tinitus. Why did no one tell me about the communal hum before?! I love the Voynich Manuscripts. I wonder what civilisation created it... or maybe it's an elaborate hoax!

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    1. That tinnitus is pretty maddening, too, isn't it? But not as bad as that hum, evidently.

      Yeah, I'm pretty fascinated with that manuscript, too. I might have to research it a bit more. Well, carbon testing does date it back to the fifteenth century, but I suppose it IS possible some drunken frat boys pulled off an elaborate hoax back then... Those dudes will try anything.

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  42. The Voynich manuscript is interesting. It has spawned a large number of bad modern novels!

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    1. Yeah, the manuscript is interesting, but I didn't realize it had spawned a large number of novels, bad or otherwise. I'll have to look into that. It'd be interesting to see where different writers take the tale.

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  43. I have a sad, and true story about the dangers of the toilet seat. One of my friends went rushing to the toilet. The seat was up. She flipped it down as she sat down. And was toooo fast for herself. She caught her fingers between the seat and the bowl and broke two of them. And explaining her injury was the source of major embarrassment.

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    1. Yowza! Only one solution to explaining that kind of injury... LIE!

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  44. Aha Susan,

    And another great mystery would be one of my comments. Like do you find it weird that I'm typing from the future?

    "... why do people of a certain gender leave the lid up on the toilet? And worse... the seat?" I might ask why does a certain gender not lift the lid and the seat back up after using said toilet. However, being well trained, I'm always respectful of who might use the toilet next. Which leads to that mystery about time being dependant on which side of the bathroom door you're on.

    Back to the future.....

    Gary :)

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    1. Abso-doggone-lutely! How quickly time passes definitely depends on which side of the bathroom door you find yourself. (And on how desperately you want to be on the OTHER side!)

      Hmmm, your future comments are just as good as your ones from the present. Good sign, dontcha think?

      Cheers!

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    2. Hopefully, this comment from the future which I'm typing at present in my present, will be as good as my past comments which were in the future in your time zone.

      Today is only yesterday's tomorrow :)

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    3. I dunno. I'll let you know tomorrow. Or yesterday...

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  45. The lid up mystery is the greatest one of all!
    Love this list. I've always loved mysteries and you've mentioned some I hadn't heard of before. Very cool!

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  46. the secret of the crop circles has been recently revealed, check it out here :)
    http://home2.fvcc.edu/~randycgreen/worldofwonders/images/funny-pictures-kitten-causes-crop-circles.jpg

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    1. HA! That "crazy-eyed" kitty is adorable! (Thanks!)

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    2. well, it was either kittens or the coons. who else would do such a mysterious crime?

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  47. Susan, saw your comment at Lynda's - thanks for taking a chance on my books! One thing that surprised me (and my publisher I think) was how many women and non-science fiction fans enjoyed them. So I hope you enjoy them as well.

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    1. Not taking much of a chance. Kinda like betting on a royal straight flush. I'm sure I'll enjoy them.

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  48. Wow. I loved to learn the story of those arrows/landmarks. Very interesting post. Life is a mystery. I think the human mind intrigues me more than anything.
    As for the lid of the toilet up... there are even worse things related to the toilet that can spoil a marriage. I can assure you... but I will keep it secret.

    Hugs,
    Julia

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed reading about the arrows.

      Hmmm, I have a feeling that's a secret best kept to yourself.

      Take care. Hugs back atcha.

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  49. H Susan .. watched both videos - crazy - the actress had a great face ... and who knows how many things happened - but thanks for the Voynich info .. made me look up vellum - which I can use for my post coming sometime soon - sometime!

    I guessed the arrows were something similar - had to be .. makes sense ... the rest: who knows how cold my toes are ... tiddlypum .. I guess we'll never in this life know ...

    Great fun to read .. thankfully the toilet seat doesn't usually worry me being here on my own-y-o.... but Gary's comment has a point ... well I'll stop there for now .. cheers Hilary

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