From Catherine Greenup:

Re: Claim of alien cells in rain may fit historical accounts: study (Jan. 22): Yes I could believe that might be possible. Life on earth had to come from somwhere afteall and there had to be a beginning of some kind of spark to bring about any kind of living organisum. Fascinating really.

I wonder about the “Big Bang” theory. Something from seemingly nothing. I’m a Spiritualist not a scientist; but we Spiritualist’s tend to believe in alternative universes which are linked in very special ways yet seperate. We believe that spirit (those who have died) must push through a dark vail which surrounds our level of existance to communicate with us on the earth plane. I sometimes wonder was the big bang some kind of powerful force that pushed its way through the vail of one universe to create another universe. A powerful positive energy source. I know that magatisum plays a very important role in both worlds.

Well It’s a thought I suppose. Sorry if I sound off my rocker - but ancient men would have throught their companions were off their rocker to believe a man could fly like a bird or talk through a machine to someone thousands of miles away; even in space. Who knows???

From Elizabeth Hensley:

Re: Claim of alien cells in rain may fit historical accounts: study (Jan. 22):

Tiny widdle aliens in the red, red rain!
Just what you are, scientists can’t explain.
You go a pitta a patting to the pretty, placid ground, The weirdest little creatures for a billion miles around!

Did Jesus make you up in cold, cold space?
Ten million miles above us in a wild and secret place?
Did you reach our planet riding on a meteor’s rocky side?
A riding rocks is poky but a jazzy way to ride!

I’m glad the cosmos has you! Such a kooky thing to be!
That our questions aren’t all answered and our thoughts can frolic free.
You might have tortured Pharaoh several thousand years ago
When concepts of Human freedoms were not true and were not so.

ET’s and freedom seekers might have slain a common foe
When a crazy shepherd had a dream to “let my people go!”
‘Cause a billion little aliens fell and bloodied Egypt’s ancient seas.
I stand before the cosmos free to think and live, and worship as I please!

Elizabeth Hensley
http://www.poemsofdarwinsgod.org

From Marcus Rezende:

Re: Claim of alien cells in rain may fit historical accounts: study (Jan. 22): The article about “red rain” remembers me the inumerous relates of such cases named by the bishop Georgius Florentius Gregorius of Tours, France in his book “History of the Franks” - Historia Francorum, written in the VI century. He attributed this phenomena to God’s intention to anounce important things as pests, kings’s deaths, draught, fires, etc. He called them “PRODIGES”. He mention many prodigies as “fires in the sky”, things like the actual “UFOS”, etc. His book really deserves a curious kind mind in its reading.

Marcus Rezende
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

From Fred Colbourne:

Re: Do rich nations “owe” poor ones for environmental damage? (Jan. 22): Do rich nations “owe” poor ones for eco-damage? Based on U. N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and World Bank reports the researchers, Srinivasan, Norgaard and others concluded that “rich nations have developed at the expense of the poor”. The authors cite several types of environmental damage caused by rich nations, including farming intensification and expansion, deforestation, loss of man­grove swamps and forests, loss of habitat and biodiversity among others.

In my experience studying this subject for many years at universities and then working 37 years as an economist in Latin America, Africa and Asia, the kinds of environmental damage listed above arise through population growth and economic development. Indeed Srinivasan is quoted as saying that Earth’s population doubled in the past 50 years to 6. 5 billion as the average per-capita gross world product also doubled.

Much of this population growth arose through the introduction of public health improvements throughout the developing world. So should we blame rich countries for aiding public health to save the lives of millions of children? Why not? Had the children died in infancy, there would not have been a population boom and much of the additional cropland hacked from forests and wetlands would not have been needed. Or should the rich countries have refused to buy the products poor people had for sale? Why not? Such a policy would have ensured the poor countries remained poor, thus preserving much of the forests and wetlands.

Pollution caused by sewerage, vehicles, factories, burning of urban waste and rural plant debris are all worse in developing countries than in developed countries and mostly caused by local companies and local families, not by rich countries operating abroad.

Ozone depletion and climate change may some day be confirmed as major cost factors in poor countries. When I raised this question with a professor of climatology in Malaysia, he just laughed and said, “Do you think a one degree C change in temperature is going to have much effect in the tropics?” I countered by saying, “How about rainfall, the increase in rainfall will have an effect.” He just smiled. I thought about for a minute and realized that an increase of rainfall and CO2 will probably benefit most tropical crops. When I discussed climate change with an American professor of Earth Science who specializes in the Quaternary Period, he said that he and many of his colleagues still believe that Earth is just coming out of the Little Ice Age into a Modern Warm Period, the process is a natural phenomenon, not the result of human activities. Someday about 30 years hence we will know the answer, but it’s too soon to be confident.

I agree that over-fishing can be squarely attributed to rich nations that operate the big fleets. I agree with one other point: “There will be much controversy about whether you can even do this kind of study and whether we did it right.”

What bothers me about a study like this one and so many studies about climate change is that they attract attention away problems that poor people face every day: air pollution and water pollution. No amount of change within rich countries will benefit the poor in Jakarta or a hundred other cities where millions of vehicles spew smoke and where garbage is burned instead of collected and disposed of in sanitary landfills. No amount of change to the river Thames or the Great Lakes will benefit people whose untreated wastes enter their wells through the groundwater or contaminate the rivers used by water utilities that pump the water to their kitchens or floats in the streets after a heavy rain.

I ask myself the question: Will spending ten trillion dollars on reducing carbon dioxide have any impact at all on the life of a becak driver in Jakarta?

Fred Colbourne
http://www.Geoscience-Environment.com

From Tony Clarke:

Re: Do rich nations “owe” poor ones for environmental damage? (Jan. 22): Speaking as a Cost Accountant I find that economists just throwing figures around and saying that they are costs incurred by is more misleading than productive. It appears to be an activity for self promotion rather than offering a solution to a problem.

From Tony Clarke:

Re: Claim of alien cells in rain may fit historical accounts: study (Jan. 22): It appears to be a little odd that the red rain in India occurred several times in the same quite discrete areas. A meteor burst could not possibly be so careful it would appear to me to be a purely local phenomenon or phenomena if they are to be considered separate events.

From Kummankottil Paily:

Re: Death by flowers: giant, suicidal palm has botanists stumped (Jan. 16): Similar type of palm (may be a different genus/species?) is seen in Kerala state of India (especially in the Malabar area of Kerala) and the common name in which it is known is ‘Kudampana’ or ‘Umbrella palms’. This palm also is an endagered species, grows almost to the same hight and will die after flowering and fruiting. Hence, they are also suicidal.

From Reginald Smith:

Re: Claim of alien cells in rain may fit historical accounts: study (Jan. 22): I used to live in the Midlands, UK, and periodically we would find a fine red dust on our cars. Checks and analysis found the same inorganic material in central North Africa. As a near Octogenarian physicist, I consider this is hocus pokus - or a great ‘gag’. If we look at the source of the interpretation - Ireland, a student of Irish myth - then I would give him an “A+” for both minimum effort and maximum achievement in getting so many ‘learned others’ involved in the ‘gag’. Recently I saw a programme on the American PBS network concerned with ‘flying saucers’ - great stuff for an official cover-up of stealth bombers.

Prof. R. W. Smith

From Philip E. Taylor:

Re: Claim of alien cells in rain may fit historical accounts: study (Jan. 22): “Red rain” events are clearly caused by fungal spores, of the Puccinia species (rust). Puccinia outbreaks are common in the autumn, especially on fields of grass. Strong winds (updrafts) can lead to very high atmospheric counts for these wind-borne spores. Water impacts or condenses onto these spores in the atmosphere. The red carotonoids in the spores give the distinct coloration to the rain droplets. I suspect that atmospheric changes that occur during a thunderstorm enhance this process.

Dr Philip E. Taylor
Australia

From Rob Holland:

Re: Why is yawning contagious? (March 5, 2005): I’ve long held thoughts that yawning, pre-sleep twitching and recently, sun-sneezing are all related to survival on a basic level; Many predators hunt at dawn and dusk and were probably near our most vulnerable moments when we’re just about to fall asleep (or just waking up) but also we’re still able to do somethings to protect ourselves.

These behaviors would all serve to startle and perhaps scare off predators who might be watching for the signs of prey falling off to sleep.

Yawning displays the teeth, twitching startles, and sun-sneezing could scare early morning hunters (one could imagine cave-mouth dwellers responding to sunlight this way. Also, sneezing could expel unwanted intruders first thing in the AM).

And why should yawing be contagious? I think the display of teeth and fangs would be a challenge in any setting so the response must likely be in kind and quite compelling.

From Lorne Babcock:

Re: Other universes may be detectable, published study claims (Oct. 11): I have, for more than 40 years, believed that there are many universes, in fact a multiverse.

Let us look at this issue.

It was believed up until relatively recently that energy or matter could not escape from a black hole. It is now believed that in fact over N period of time, that sufficient energy could be drained out of a black hole so that it would collapse in on itself and create what we know as a singularity.

It is further believed that our universe was created from the ultimate explosion of a singularity. If that is true, and many scientists believe that to be true, then it is logical to assume that other black holes will have acted similarly over an indeterminate period of time. We can therefore postulate that there are as many universes as there have been explosions of singularities.

It is currently impossible to even envision where or how an adjacent universe might exist. It could just be a matter of vibrational frequency placing the adjacent universe out of our sight and reach but as nearby as the distance between two atoms. All pure speculation of course but of significant interest nevertheless.

It is conceivable that an adjacent universe, if that is the right term, might have produced intelligent entities who have found a way to travel between their universe and ours and that could account for UFO sightings.

I could go on here ad infinitum, ad nauseam, however I believe I have made my point.

I look forward with great interest to reading the articles on world science.net. Keep up the good work.

From Hamir the Hermit:

Re: Death by flowers: giant, suicidal palm has botanists stumped (Jan. 16): I was very interested to read this article. When I lived in the Philippines in the early eighties, I saw a number of Palms that showed the same characteristic, they grew for years and years according to the locals, and then produced a flower clump, and thence died. The palm got quite tall, 50-60 feet, but the flower clump wasn’t nearly as large as what is shown in the picture in your article, so certainly not the same palm. I was hoping your article might have posted a survey of palms that exhibitted the same behaviour so that I might finally find out what the name was of this palm in the Philippines, but alas, no such luck.

From Sanjeev Dua:

Re: Backache? Sitting upright could be culprit (Nov. 27, 2006): I read with interest, the recommendation for a 135 deg. Sitting posture. I assume that the stress comparison between the 90 deg. And 135 deg has been done with the back supported. Up to now the conventional teaching based on Axial Loading MR s and CT had shown an even distribution of weight across a normal disc in the 90 deg. Posture rather than in a slouch.

Sanjeev Dua
Consultant Neurosurgeon

From Steve Dales:

Re: Why we feel “slow motion” during crisis (Dec. 11): Mr Eagleman’s theory of time effect flawed in test. I found this members theory on the perceived slowing of time processing when a human or animal’s survival is at stake. The test subjects needed to preform a life saving function in test duration.

First, I have been in 3-4 situations being a lifelong motorcyclist where this slowing or excessive processing has allowed within a second or two window me to take action far different than an irrelivant counter as in the experiment. If the participants knew that concrete layed below and that inputing a sequence from the digital scroll would save them a percentage would show accelerated processing.

Second, if you speak with war vets I am sure you will have yet another example where the super concentrated attention of the individual in fact allowed them to avoid bullets etc. It sounds un scientific but I believe the ability does not exist in all people and some people truly are clumsy as far as this slowing occuring during extremley traumatic situations. Having myself avoided a sharp handlebar end while in the air during a “high side” accident I am convinced and recal deciding and preparing in actual image, physical and emotional states for an alternate position to fall in.

These accidents occur in milliseconds at 80mph yet I had time to as strange it may sound, Position bike below on ground my body 4 feet above same trajectory and falling face first: I first see handlebar end, I see a graphic of handlebar end in my eye socket! (slowing increses) I decide with my one hand no contacting bike headset to pull my body forward and “take it in chest”.

While waiting LOL! for contact with handlebar end now 90 degrees to pavement I image first the B/W TV show intro perfectly of the bullet bouncing off Supermans chest! then right when I impacted with my chest those images of phagocytosis or whatever came to mind and the word envelope the hit and absorb it by spreading weight over my body keeping head off road.

I slid on top of the bike to a stop. No cracked ribs, slight heart beat jump and light shock afterward made effort not to get sick.

Did you test subjects get sick after the test? if not they may only have been slightly concerned and not faced with what they felt was death which this effect is really capable of affecting or avoiding as a dog that makes it across an LA highway.

For the 2 sec. I did more imaging and calculating than I have yet to achieve in tests I have tried. It is a window for action if one is “wired” for it. I do not drink alcohol so that may play a part.

From Phil Kornbluth:

Re: Shrinking helium reserves may threaten more than kids’ play (Jan. 5): I currently am responsible for managing the worldwide helium business for Taiyo Nippon Sanso (TNS), the leading Japanese industrial gases company. Before joining TNS, I managed the global helium business for The BOC Group, plc for many years. So I am somewhat knowledgeable on the subject of helium supply. The entire premise of the article is flawed. While there is currently a worldwide shortage of helium, and a tight helium market can be expected to continue through 2009 or 2010, there is absolutely not a shortage of helium molecules in the world. The statement that the world’s supply of helium will run out by 2015 is ridiculous. A more accurate portrayal of the facts is as follows:

4There are huge reserves of helium in the world that can still be exploited. Huge reserves are located in places like the Tip Top Filed in Wyoming, the North Field of Qatar, the South Pars Filed in Iran and various gas fields in Eastern Siberia. So why is there a helium shortage? The current shortage was triggered by the U.S.Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) restrictions on the quantity of crude helium feedgas that the BLM will allow helium refiners to “redeliver” from the BLM’s crude helium pipeline, thus reducing the capacity of six helium liquefaction plants that together account for nearly 2/3 of global capacity. In addition, production from new plants in Algeria and Qatar was delayed and ramped up to full production more slowly than had been anticipated. Throw in a few maintenance outages and we ended up with a real messy situation. So why an ongoing shortage? It is important to remember that helium is produced as a by product of natural gas processing, including LNG production. The investments required to develop natural gas fields, pipeline systems and gas processing or LNG facilities is many times greater than the investment required for helium extraction, purification and liquefaction. So even though the helium reserves are present in very large quantities, the helium producers can not produce the helium until such time as the natural gas fields in which helium is present are commercialized. So even though there is a helium shortage, the helium industry can’t build new plants until the after the energy investments have been made. There are currently a number of energy/helium projects on the horizon and by 2011, the worldwide supply of helium should be at least ample.

4Speaking to the specific comment that the world’s helium supply will run out by 2015; I believe that this was an out of context reference to the fact that the BLM will sell off most of the US government’s strategic helium reserve by 2015. Sale of the helium stockpile was mandated by the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 and is proceeding in accordance with the legislation. Crude helium from the stockpile has been very useful in enabling the helium refiners connected to the BLM pipeline to maintain their production capacity as the Hugoton Field, which is/was the source of crude helium for both the strategic stockpile and current extraction in the mid-continent area depletes. In essence, the strategic stockpile has provided a bridge until the various new projects begin production in 2011. A correct statement would be that the US government will sell off most of its strategic stockpile by 2015.

Back to your article - it seems to me that the U.S.scientific community has launched some sort of PR campaign due to their unhappiness with rising prices for helium which have resulted from the shortage and misguided fears that the world is running out of helium, jeopardizing their scientific work.

My suggestion is that you do a better job of fact checking before printing this material as it serves to spread misinformation diminishes the credibility of your publication.

Phil Kornbluth
Executive Vice President - Global Helium
Matheson Tri-Gas Inc.
150 Allen Road - Suite 302
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920

(Editors’ note: The scientists quoted in the article said the world’s largest helium reserve would be depleted by 2015, not all helium reserves. In general, though, we cannot vouch for any statements made by scientists in our stories; all we can vouch for is that they are in fact scientists!)

From John Heath:

Re: Science gives beauty some of its mystery back (Dec. 22): Interesting item, however, averaging faces will tend towards producing symmetry.

A lack of face and body symmetry suggests genetic imperfections. We perceive as beauty as based on symmetry, because symmetry suggests genetic perfection. We are programmed to select a mate based on symmetry.

An averagely symmetrical john heath

From CHene 472 50@a ol.com:

Re: Shrinking helium reserves may threaten more than kids’ play (Jan. 5): Curious, isn’t it, that while the article on helium is firmly against non-scientific and non-recycling uses of helium, the advert (“by Google”) on the band next to the page are all for such uses of helium.

From Michael Elson:

Re: Chimps found using spears (Feb. 22): Senegal is a very tiny country of about 76 thousand square miles, (that’s a square of 275 miles) and a population of about 13 million people. The land is quite sparsely populated by trees, and deforestation is rife there so it is difficult for me to visualize a successful habitat for chimpanzees. As for them using ‘spears’, this is a gross misnomer if a chewed stick is to be called a ‘spear’. This is merely an extension of the little sticks they commonly use to probe for ants. And to say “... without human help... .” claiming that they thought of it (a spear) themselves is really jumping to conclusions.

They have practically no privacy according to the demographics there, and therefore would certainly have seen human beings jabbing about with sticks or spears in their insatiable search for exotic birds. Senegal is the most prolific exporter of exotic birds in the world, which I guess would indicate that thousands of people would be “in the bush’ (what’s left of it... ) catching the birds.

Therefore I am not at all impressed with such a worthless-sounding news ‘scientific’ report - especially from the National Geographic Society.

From Paul S. Hinman:

Re: Shrinking helium reserves may threaten more than kids’ play (Jan. 5): In the 60’s there was a helium plant that extracted He from a natural gas well that contained some CO2, a bit of He and mostly N2. They removed the CO2 chemically, dried the feed gas and then fed it into an expansion turbine which resulted in liquid nitrogen and gaseous helium. Las time I drove through that part of the country the helium plant was in a state of deconstruction and was obviously not in any condition to produce helium. Does anybody know what happened to the plant? It was about 9 miles north of Swift Current, Saskatchewan on the #4 highway.

Paul S. Hinman - VE6LDS
long West 113 deg 27 min 20 sec
lat North 53 deg 27 min 3 sec
Maidenhead Locator DO33g

From Aju Mukhopadhyay:

Re: Did insects take down T. rex? (Jan. 4): I find that this finding by the scients is very thought provoking. It tells about the evolution of birds due to their short existence in one life. This takes us to the question of Indian rebirth theory- it seems that there is some authority which decides about the duration of life, about the evolution and through these we go to the philosophical idea of Sri Aurobindo that the evolution is actually of consciousness and not just of physical existence which means simply that the mightiest only exists. Surely insects are of negligible consequece to the mightest dinosaurs. Who creates these blooming flowers and brings insects into existence at a particular point of time? I don’t very simply say that it is God but then it is sure that all these are decided somewhere at the supramental level. We may, like the scientists, do some post mortem research and try to find something. On the whole the things are very thought provoking indeed.

From Earl Barron:

Re: Why we feel “slow motion” during crisis (Dec. 11): I saw a segment on TV’s Science Channel (or Discovery Channel) that contradicts your information about the results of the perceptional chronometer. They showed volunteers doing the same free falls as you describe, but they were able to correctly report the number appearing on their wrist apparatus an the point of impact with the net. I’m inclined to take your word over theirs, naturally, but I wondered if you folks were aware of the program I saw. If so, can you comment? Thousands of people are likely to take as truth anything they see on a program aired by a outfit called the Science Channel. While it would seem that the information they receive there is a full of crap as any network nightly news program.

From Taylor Hallman:

Re: Why we feel “slow motion” during crisis (Dec. 11): I read your article with great interest. As a combat veteran and as someone involved in several automobile accidents, I was surprised by your results. My experience run counter to your experimental results. Each time I experienced this phenomena I was very clear aware during the event that time was slowed down and recall thinking to myself “Wow, time is slowed down!” In combat I felt as if I were John Wayne. I was hyper aware of my surroundings; as one example I saw a enemy soldier raising his weapon to fire at us, but because everything was slowed I had time to move passed a fellow soldier and bring my weapon to bare on the enemy before he could complete his action. In another example, I rolled a car over at 75 mph and was able due to slowing effect to keep my head, arms and legs from going out the open windows. I was very aware of observing this at the moment, not in memory. My theory has been that it was an effect of adrenalin.

Perhaps I misunderstand your research.

Regardless, thank you for the information.

From Brenda Piquette:

Re: Is humor tied to male aggression? (Dec. 21): This research should be of interest to biologists studying animal behaviour, in particular young males’ tendencies to badger and annoy older males across many species.

From Brenda Piquette:

Re: Is humor tied to male aggression? (Dec. 21): This research should be of interest to biologists studying animal behaviour, in particular young males’ tendencies to badger and annoy older males across many species.

From Lucy Kelly:

Re: Is humor tied to male aggression? (Dec. 21): with the man on the unicycle, he may have gotten very different responses if he had been female.

Also, animals have humour, although I have seen it more in omni and carnivores than in herbivores. Eg adult female chimps laughing at a baby chimp who falls whilst monkeying about.

I think humour is simply a message to the self that all is well. Some situations message the self to get tense, and there may be a physiological response to a non-threatening situation, which people would enjoy.

From John Sadowsky:

Re: Is humor tied to male aggression? (Dec. 21): I don’t believe that Dr. Shuster can claim a correlation between male aggression and humor from his unicycle experiment, but only a correlation between male aggression and unicyclists — if I may say, a rather understandable reaction. He would likely find a similar result if he went about as a mime. But to generalize unicycling (or miming for that matter) to all of humor...

John Sadowsky, Ph.D.
Fairfax, Va.

From rob roy@ ac d.net:

Re: Why we feel “slow motion” during crisis (Dec. 11): The time slowdown, which many of us including myself have experienced, is probably due to an adrenalin rush which for a while increases our metabolism. The higher the metabolism, the faster our body functions in relation to everything else. The result, clocks and everything else, seem slower. It is subjective.

From Kermit Rose:

Re: Science gives beauty some of its mystery back (Dec. 22): I’ve noted, in myself, that I tend to be attracted to someone who resembles people that I’ve known and liked in the past. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that people tend to be attracted to the average person.

It might also be one of the reasons that people tend to be attracted to variations from the average. And conversely, what ever qualities a person might have to make me attracted to them, might be correlated with their appearance.

From Fred Colbourne :

Re: Science gives beauty some of its mystery back (Dec. 22): “By degrees, the chin got smaller; the nose narrower and more button-like.” Is this a description of neotony at work? The facial reduction of modern humans is a bonanza for orthodontists, because modern faces are just too infantile to accommodate the adult teeth of our ancestors. Perhaps what drives neotony is sexual selection that operates through the perception of beauty in faces that are more infantile. Does it work for men also?

On a recent visit to an island in eastern Indonesia, I noticed that the differences in faces among some adults and their children seemed to be greater than the differences among adults and children in the western islands. I took this as an indication that neotony is more pronounced in western Indonesia compared to eastern Indonesia.

Possibly there is a cultural bias in the western islands that selects for neotony and this bias operates through perceptions of beauty that differ now or in the past from perceptions of beauty in the eastern islands.

So is a face beautiful because it looks a little childlike, but not infantile? Is a face beautiful because it looks vulnerable or at least non-threatening? If these questions might lead to the loss of mystery, you can always read James Joyce’s description of the young woman wading in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. There is enough mystery in those few paragraphs to last a lifetime.

Fred Colbourne
www.Geoscience-Environment.com

From Jedidiah Palosaari:

Re: Is humor tied to male aggression? (Dec. 21): One wonders if the same would be true of humor in response to another type of activity. Not that women can’t be involved in sports, but they are currently more often done in most cultures by men, and so men have more association with them. I wonder to what extent that skewed the results, as men would be more likely to have in their minds a way it “should be done”. I’d like to see a similar study done with something mildly socially aberrant that is more traditionally and more universally female, and see what the results were.

From Jeff (bl deg l@g mail. c om)

Re: Why we feel “slow motion” during crisis (Dec. 11): A number of years ago, I was at this facility, in the boiler room. I was testing the pipe and boilers there. I am a pipefitter by trade. In between the pumps and pipes there are vibration dampeners. I was watching one and watched it malfunction. It sent water toward the wall and it pealed the wall. In a second, I realize that if could peal the skin off a human just as quick.

Time became very slow motion for me. My brain was thinking and reacting much quicker then normal. I was very aware of that. However, my body, because it is very physical, took time to respond to my commands to make it run toward the emergency cut off switch. It was as if I was running in very slow motion, but I knew I was running very fast and that my brain was working at a very accelerated rate. I remember tripping. I couldn’t move my feet and legs near as fast as what I normally could. It was almost as if I was suspended in time for a little bit. I was very conscious of how gravity was reacting with me. I knew that it seem like it was taking forever for me to fall. I also was very aware that I would be able to recover from the trip and not fall.

In the back of my mind, I think that those people who volunteered didn’t have the physical speed of their body to be able to read the watches and numbers that were on them.

From Marc Verhaegen:

Re: Is humor tied to male aggression? (Dec. 21): I think the test should also be done with a young & beautiful female unicyclist.