From the weather to your kid’s IQ.

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15 Responses to From the weather to your kid’s IQ.

  1. Carla says:

    It’s snowing (lightly) in the Northwest right now, adding to Oregonian drivers’ fear of snow, ice, rain, wind, fog, heat, any and all flashing lights, merging, high speed limits, low speed limits, accidents on the side of the road, sharp turns, lane changes, downward road grades over 2%, upward road grades over 2%, too much sunshine, birds flying over cars, planes flying over cars, 4-way stops, 3-way stops… Displaced Arizonans are clearly spiteful.
    Meeeeeeerry Christmaaaaaas

  2. John says:

    The bridges here iced a bit 2 days ago. They got sand and salt for melting and traction. Yesterday you couldn’t go across a bridge longer than a car length without getting stopped by 10 MPH traffic spanning 6 cars each side of the bridge. This is Dallas.

    I feel your pain Carla.

  3. demon says:

    shouldnt the circle labeled frightens people be inside the circle labeled ordinary?

  4. 10nitro says:

    @demon:
    To quote the Joker in The Dark Knight:
    “It’s the schemers that put you where you are. You were a schemer. You had plans. And look where that got you. I just did what I do best—I took your little plan, and I turned it on itself. Look what I’ve done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets. You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press that a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics. Because it’s all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die … well then everybody loses their minds!”

  5. Zayden says:

    demon Says:
    December 17th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
    shouldnt the circle labeled frightens people be inside the circle labeled ordinary?

    No, it’s out of the ordinary.

  6. Jamie says:

    I agree with demon. People freak out over the silliest things. There’s what culture *says* is ordinary, and then there’s what’s actually ordinary.

  7. The best horror writers know that what scares people is when what is not ordinary intersects with what is ordinary. Something completely out of the ordinary is not scary at all. Something completely ordinary is not scary at all. It’s when something ordinary acts in a way that is anything but ordinary that people, well, freak out.

  8. mopalia says:

    Yes, that was my son. This really hit home – thanks!

  9. Jon says:

    You really think the B is smaller than A?

  10. Jon says:

    Edit: You really think B is smaller than A?

  11. Geek says:

    There shouldn’t be a circle around B at all.

  12. JoeWalt says:

    @Geek:
    You win one internet.

  13. Catch says:

    It’s snowed more in Southwest Utah over the past two days than it has in the past 25 years combined.

    People look like they’re seeing ghosts.

  14. Rick Miller says:

    English Clergyman almost had it right. I think he’s talking about the “Frankenstein Effect”.

    When something is CLOSE to ordinary but subtly different, it’s usually more frightening or repulsive than something which is completely out of the ordinary.

  15. Taz says:

    @ Rick Miller

    Agreed.
    Sort of analogous to the Uncanny Valley effect, I suppose, regarding the resemblence something has to a real human and our reaction to it. Check it out, it’s quite fascinating

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