Chicken Asses - They Follow Me!
Most people are probably familiar with the phenomenon of looking at the clock at certain times of the day (like 9:11 or 11:11) that hold some sort of meaning or are just quirky, or possibly looking at the same time several days in a row. Mostly, it's related to how your brain processes information, novel vs. learned/acclimated stimuli and such and it isn't some cosmic conspiracy. Well, I seem to have something akin to that happen with random bits of information/trivial facts. I'll learn something new, be it a new word or a new concept, bit of trivia, whatever, and all of the sudden it keeps popping up around me. There are explanations to why this happens of course. Some of it can be attributed to novelty and memory recollection, reading multiple books/articles on the same topic where information is bound to be shared, but, damnit, some of it is just f'ing quirky and it follows me!
Here are some examples, I could give you more, but that's not really important. You're all smart. You'll get the idea...
A couple of months ago, I was at iwannasee2's house and the subject of QWERTY keyboards came up. iwannasee2 was not familiar with why QWERTY keyboards were named as such, or actually, that they had that name at all. I explained what I knew and conversation moved on. Not a week later, my twitter feed had an article from @mentalfloss talking about QWERTY keyboard origins and how they weren't actually designed for speed, but quite the opposite. They were designed to slow typists down so that they wouldn't jam the keys of a mechanical typewriter. yada, yada, yada...
A few weeks ago my husband comes home and asks me to explain the math/logic behind the hotel bellboy change problem. He had heard it on the radio on the way home, but it was not explained. I had never heard the problem before, so I looked it up and then explained the math/logic concepts behind it. OK, so we both move along in our day. It's bed time and I take my book, One Hundred Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know: Math Explains Your World by John D. Barrow, to bed with me to read for a bit. The VERY NEXT essay? Yep - The Hotel Problem.
And, for today's example, and the reason behind this entry in the first place...Chicken Sexing. Yes, you read that right: Chicken Sexing.
Now, prior to the end of May, I had never heard of such a thing. Trust me, I would remember. For those of you who also have not heard of it, here is a brief run-down. Chicken sexing started in Japan not quite 100 years ago as a way for farmers to be able to tell the female chicks (good) from the male chicks (bad) at an early age. Until this technique was developed, farmers had to raise the chickens for almost two moths before gender became apparent and lots of money was "wasted" on caring for the male chicks (which, gross to say, are turned into chicken feed because they don't produce eggs, obviously, and aren't good for eating.) The chicken sexing process is rather gross and literally involves squishing the feces out of the chick and examining the inside of the chick.
The book I was reading in May, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman, brings up the subject in relation to how much of our brain actually works without our conscious knowledge. Chicken sexers get quite good at their jobs. Some of the top people in the field can do double duty (one in each hand) and check 1,700 chickens an hour. When asked to verbally explain the process and what they saw for a particular chicken, they are only able to articulate why they chose one way or the other a small fraction of the time. They just "know". And, the veteran sexers are extremely accurate (generally over 98%) despite the gender difference not actually being readily apparent after squishing.
So, we're a couple of months out, and I'm now reading Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer, which is a book that chronicles the process the author undertakes "from being a guy with an average memory to winning the U.S. Memory championship." And, what should pop up again? Chicken sexing. Granted, there was a couple of month gap, but when you figure I went from 0-31 years without hearing about chicken sexing, hearing about it twice within three months is a bit noteworthy, at least for me. This time, the author brings it up in relation to memory. He doesn't exactly explain the connection, or at least hasn't yet, I only read a bit more before deciding I wanted to tell y'all about the art of chicken asses, but I could see what his intent was. Experts get good at what they do because they 'see' things differently. Their perceptions are tied to their experiences and memories differently than non-experts in their field. He doesn't tie in chicken sexing quite as well as Eagleman, but that's not my point. My point is I'm reading about chicken asses AGAIN! WTF!!!
And, for anyone who questions why I buy books and like to have them on my shelf instead of just borrowing them from the library (looks at my husband), I couldn't recall where I had read about chicken sexing the first time until I dug through my books on GoodReads, found the most likely candidates and checked the index. Sure enough, chicken ass, page 56.
Here are some examples, I could give you more, but that's not really important. You're all smart. You'll get the idea...
A couple of months ago, I was at iwannasee2's house and the subject of QWERTY keyboards came up. iwannasee2 was not familiar with why QWERTY keyboards were named as such, or actually, that they had that name at all. I explained what I knew and conversation moved on. Not a week later, my twitter feed had an article from @mentalfloss talking about QWERTY keyboard origins and how they weren't actually designed for speed, but quite the opposite. They were designed to slow typists down so that they wouldn't jam the keys of a mechanical typewriter. yada, yada, yada...
A few weeks ago my husband comes home and asks me to explain the math/logic behind the hotel bellboy change problem. He had heard it on the radio on the way home, but it was not explained. I had never heard the problem before, so I looked it up and then explained the math/logic concepts behind it. OK, so we both move along in our day. It's bed time and I take my book, One Hundred Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know: Math Explains Your World by John D. Barrow, to bed with me to read for a bit. The VERY NEXT essay? Yep - The Hotel Problem.
And, for today's example, and the reason behind this entry in the first place...Chicken Sexing. Yes, you read that right: Chicken Sexing.
Now, prior to the end of May, I had never heard of such a thing. Trust me, I would remember. For those of you who also have not heard of it, here is a brief run-down. Chicken sexing started in Japan not quite 100 years ago as a way for farmers to be able to tell the female chicks (good) from the male chicks (bad) at an early age. Until this technique was developed, farmers had to raise the chickens for almost two moths before gender became apparent and lots of money was "wasted" on caring for the male chicks (which, gross to say, are turned into chicken feed because they don't produce eggs, obviously, and aren't good for eating.) The chicken sexing process is rather gross and literally involves squishing the feces out of the chick and examining the inside of the chick.
The book I was reading in May, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman, brings up the subject in relation to how much of our brain actually works without our conscious knowledge. Chicken sexers get quite good at their jobs. Some of the top people in the field can do double duty (one in each hand) and check 1,700 chickens an hour. When asked to verbally explain the process and what they saw for a particular chicken, they are only able to articulate why they chose one way or the other a small fraction of the time. They just "know". And, the veteran sexers are extremely accurate (generally over 98%) despite the gender difference not actually being readily apparent after squishing.
So, we're a couple of months out, and I'm now reading Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer, which is a book that chronicles the process the author undertakes "from being a guy with an average memory to winning the U.S. Memory championship." And, what should pop up again? Chicken sexing. Granted, there was a couple of month gap, but when you figure I went from 0-31 years without hearing about chicken sexing, hearing about it twice within three months is a bit noteworthy, at least for me. This time, the author brings it up in relation to memory. He doesn't exactly explain the connection, or at least hasn't yet, I only read a bit more before deciding I wanted to tell y'all about the art of chicken asses, but I could see what his intent was. Experts get good at what they do because they 'see' things differently. Their perceptions are tied to their experiences and memories differently than non-experts in their field. He doesn't tie in chicken sexing quite as well as Eagleman, but that's not my point. My point is I'm reading about chicken asses AGAIN! WTF!!!
And, for anyone who questions why I buy books and like to have them on my shelf instead of just borrowing them from the library (looks at my husband), I couldn't recall where I had read about chicken sexing the first time until I dug through my books on GoodReads, found the most likely candidates and checked the index. Sure enough, chicken ass, page 56.