Counter Clockwise

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Just try this. It is from an orthopaedic surgeon...........
This will boggle your mind and you will keep trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't. It's pre-programmed in your brain!

1. WITHOUT anyone watching you (they will think you are GOOFY......) and while sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand .

Your foot will change direction.

I TOLD YOU SO!!!
And there's nothing you can do about it! ; ;

You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to try it again, if you've not already done so ! !

How did you get on?

[S.V. Airlie]

okay..okay.. I fall into the groove... You are right! Does this mean I'm a republican?

[Keith Wilson]

That's wierd. I can avoid switching to counterclockwise if I concentrate really hard, but only after after six or seven tries. - No, never mind, if I do that I draw the 6 backwards, Curiouser and curiouser.

[Paul Pless]

there's another thing Milo can add to his list of things he can do

[Bruce Hooke]

Funny how our brain is wired!

If I really focus on my foot I can override the "instinctive" response, but both the foot motion and the hand motion become more choppy.

[JimD]

Wax on with the foot. Wax off with the hand. Just takes practice.

[Milo Christensen]

there's another thing Milo can add to his list of things he can do


I'm kinda stuck in this digital thing. Help me out here, which way is clockwise? Righty tighty? Lefty loosey?

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

I'm kinda stuck in this digital thing. Help me out here, which way is clockwise? Righty tighty? Lefty loosey?

Select a suitable stick - About two foot tall and two inches in diameter is the right sort of size.

Find a lawn large enough so that the stick can cast a shadow for most of the day.

Stick the stick upright in the middle of the lawn and wait for a clear day.

Note the direction in which the shadow moves around the stick.

That is clockwise - assuming you are north of the sun (or moon if you only work nights)

[Milo Christensen]

Has this technique, relying as it does on a "clear" day, ever worked in Wales?

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Curiously, yes - We've just had the driest April on record - virtually no rain in the last month - this is unusual as we average 95" of rain per annum.


April 2007 summary:

An exceptionally warm month, with all climate districts and regions setting new April records for maximum and mean temperatures (areal series back to 1914). Maximum temperatures anomalies were over 5 °C above the 61-90 average across much of southern England and parts of eastern Scotland. Rainfall generally well below average, with many stations over south-east England and East Anglia recording less than 3 mm of rainfall. Sunshine was also well above average across the majority of the UK, with some areas having their sunniest April on record.

Herstmonceux (Sussex) recorded a temperature of 26.5 °C on 25th. Record high April 24 hour minimums were recorded at many stations between 23rd and 25th, with a 24 hour minimum at London St James Park of 14.5 °C on 24/25th.

[merlinron]

i wonder if people like accomplished pianists and drummers, those who are used to doing two different things with different appendages have the same difficulties?

[George Roberts]

If one does it slowly, it appears to be not too difficult.

[Leon m]

Well I'll be danged ! :D

[merlinron]

it's all about the concious vrs. sub-concious function of your brain. it can't do 2 things that take concious control at the same time.

in shooting competative archery for about 25 years, the biggest problem that almost everyone has is to conciously aim and conciously loose the arrow at the time. one of them has to be sub-concious. top target archers spend more time training and conditioning thier sub-concious to do just the release process than any other single part of thier shot process. once they are set up and settled down on the target, thier subconcious starts the release operation without any concious thought. you'd probably have to train you hand to right the "6" subconciously in order to do that successfully.......... you'd lift you foot and start it going and your hand would just automatically start making sixes in the air!!

[Sam F]

...
Your foot will change direction...
How did you get on?

It takes no effort at all to keep my foot going in the correct direction.
But then I'm ambidextrous, so maybe that's why. Left, Right, it's all the same to me. :)

[Bruce Hooke]

it's all about the concious vrs. sub-concious function of your brain. it can't do 2 things that take concious control at the same time.

in shooting competative archery for about 25 years, the biggest problem that almost everyone has is to conciously aim and conciously loose the arrow at the time. one of them has to be sub-concious. top target archers spend more time training and conditioning thier sub-concious to do just the release process than any other single part of thier shot process. once they are set up and settled down on the target, thier subconcious starts the release operation without any concious thought. you'd probably have to train you hand to right the "6" subconciously in order to do that successfully.......... you'd lift you foot and start it going and your hand would just automatically start making sixes in the air!!

That fits exactly with my experience on this "trick." If I relegated making the "6" to secondary status in my brain then I could keep my foot going in the right direction...

[Bob (oh, THAT Bob)]

Select a suitable stick - About two foot tall and two inches in diameter is the right sort of size.

Find a lawn large enough so that the stick can cast a shadow for most of the day.

Stick the stick upright in the middle of the lawn and wait for a clear day.

Note the direction in which the shadow moves around the stick.

That is clockwise - assuming you are north of the sun (or moon if you only work nights)

Damn, I didn't see that last disclaimer line, I was about to ask if clocks move the other way downunder. (Dingo?)

[Bob (oh, THAT Bob)]

That fits exactly with my experience on this "trick." If I relegated making the "6" to secondary status in my brain then I could keep my foot going in the right direction...

With a lot of folks here, the following tasks have been relegated to "secondary status" in their brain:

Grasping a large hollow cylindrical object filled with solvent-like fluid and lifting it to their mouth.

Grasping a small cylindrical object of burning substance and bringing it to their mouth.

Making predictable utterances on this forum.

[Phillip Allen]

My foot continued the same direction but my tail changed direction