Survival of the Hairless

"Too bad, I was betting on the Neanderthals."

Remains of Noah's Ark Found!

Reportedly there were no survivors.

Robert Heinlein, the well-known science fiction author, was a quite outspoken and opinionated person. Especially he believed in independence, self-reliance and rationality, and demanded it of others. Here's a quote:

"We define thinking as integrating data and arriving at correct answers. Look around you. Most people do that stunt just well enough to get to the corner store and back without breaking a leg. If the average man thinks at all, he does silly things like generalizing from a single datum. He uses one-valued logic. If he is exceptionally bright, he may use two-valued, 'either-or' logic to arrive at his wrong answers. If he is hungry, hurt, or personally interested in the answer, he can't use any sort of logic and will discard an observed fact as blithely as he will stake his life on a piece of wishful thinking. He uses the technical miracles created by superior men without wonder or surprise, as a kitten accepts a bowl of milk. Far from aspiring to higher reasoning, he is not even aware that higher reasoning exists. He classes his own mental process as being of the same sort as the genius of an Einstein. Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.

"For explanations of a universe that confuses him he seizes onto numerology, astrology, hysterical religions, and other fancy ways to go crazy. Having accepted such glorified nonsense, facts make no impression on him, if even at the cost of his own life. One of the hardest things to believe is the abysmal depth of human stupidity."

WARNING - Earworm Alert!

According to those who spend their time studying such things, some 98 to 99 percent of the population has, at some point, been 'infected' with a song they just can't seem to shake off. In most cases, earworms will disappear after a few minutes. But in some cases, earworms can last hours or even days.

French-speaking Internet users were asked to rank 100 pop songs according to their ability to be compulsively repeated within one's mind. The songs voted top five were: 'Singin' in the Rain' (Gene Kelly), 'Life Is Live' (Opus), 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' (Bobby McFerrin), 'I Will Survive' (Gloria Gaynor).

And, IN FIRST PLACE, the number one earworm for those who speak French is: 'Ça fait rire les oiseaux.'

(Ok, so you probably weren't thinking of that one, were you.)

But with that introduction, if you still DARE to listen to it, here it is -- the number one earworm!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiqP1MrU6D0


Maybe French-speaking people are just... different.

--
Over the weekend I posed this question to my immediate family, with striking results. Potential earworms we agreed upon:

o It's a Small World After All
o Frosty The Snowman
o any song from Mary Poppins

Reactions to these were like, "Yeah, I guess so, sometimes, sure."
(Due to generational differences, I thought of some songs they had never heard of, and vice versa.)

But then I suggested THIS one, and the reactions were, "Aggghh, no!! Not that one! Stop playing with my mind!!"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7173367298729056137

Welcome to Boulder Boulevard. Like Rocky Road, only better.