I have superpowers.
I have several, in fact. Powers, abilities, that no mere mortal can have.
For example, I have the uncanny ability to tell when objects are level. When we hang pictures, shelves, posters; when we assemble furniture; when we plant trees: I can always tell if something is not horizontal or vertical, even to a tiny degree. Mrs. BA can back me up on this (and on the other powers below as well). I am at least as accurate as a bubble level, and even better if the walls and ceiling aren’t square.
This turns out to be an extremely useful superpower when you move into a new house. I call this power orthogonoptica.
I also have lithophalangea: extremely hard fingertips. When most people tap their fingertips on a hard surface, they make a muted, somewhat soft sound. Mine go plonk. I do not have soft pads on the ends of my fingers; whatever is directly under the skin is quite hard. It’s not bone; the tips of my distal phalanges are somewhat deeper.
It creeps some people out (as most superpowers do; obviously out of jealousy), but it is another very useful trait. Knocking on doors doesn’t hurt my knuckles, since I use my fingertips. I can push my fingers through thick plastic bags to open them. When I poke someone, they know it.
Coupled with this I also have very strong fingers, but little stamina. I can grip something very tightly, but cannot maintain it long.
Every power has its kryptonite.
I have a third superpower, transnosmia: the ability to transfer my own odors to my clothes. After a long summer’s day working outside (OK, that happens once a year, but stay with me here) I build up a good sweat like anyone else. But unlike anyone else, I take my shirt off, and while it can be quite malodorous, I myself am fresh and odorless. Again, Mrs. BA will confirm this. She actually sniffed me once, and the look on her face was a wonderment to behold. She really didn’t smell anything from me at all.
A fourth, and related superpower, is my hypernosmia. I have a very sensitive nose. Of course, my nose is rather on the largish side, so that means more surface area inside and more room for detecting scent molecules (esters and such). This is a blessing and a curse; I can smell baking bread a long way off, and when Mrs. BA is making cookies, oh my! But it makes public restrooms even more of a difficult task to use. I’m sure you can imagine many other examples.
Another advantage is that I think I taste things more strongly than most people do. That’s difficult to test, of course, but some tastes just explode on my tongue while others claim it’s not that strong. I think this is why I’m such an enthusiastic eater, and why I like strong taste sensations like very sour fruit.
Looking back on these, none of the abilities I possess will help me save people from a burning building (unless I smell the fire from far away and use my fingertips to punch through bricks) or defend the Earth against some cosmic threat.
But do not deny they are superpowers, foolish mortals.
Now I must point out that if I, an otherwise ordinary but in some ways gifted human, can have such powers, then odds are good you have some too. Feel free to expound thusly in the comments. We’ll all be interested in seeing how BABloggees are superior in some way. And if you are somehow affiliated with a comic book publisher, please contact me. I have an idea for a wonderful franchise.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
It can be completely silent in my room or I can have extremely loud music playing and regardless my ears will pick up on a sound too low for me to actually hear. Yeah, seriously. Not only do they pick up on it, but they move in the direction it came from. I used to be able to wiggle them too!
My thumbs are double jointed and I use them to freak out girls! (or used to, when I was young)
That’s pretty much it for me, though.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
My power is rather bland, but has been surprisingly useful on occasion.
It is… negative precognition! DUHN duhn DAAAAA!
If I see, clearly and without distortion in my mind’s eye, a particular occurrence that may come to pass in the near future, then that event will [i]not[/i] come to pass.
It’s amazing. Upon mailing off some slush-pile submission, I get a clear mental image of receiving a contract and check and all sorts of praise. The clarity and detail is amazing.
And then it’s no big surprise when I get a rejection letter, instead.
I’ve seen myself winning the lottery, making the train in the nick of time, fixing some household problem on the very first attempt, all sorts of things like that, and invariably, none of them come to pass.
If I see It, then It won’t happen. Truly, an amazing power.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I’m not too sure about your First and Third Powers, BA, but Two and Four may be evolutionarily advantageous. Does Little BA possess these? I also share these powers, and while lithophalangea may be in response to repetitively tapping something (say, a keyboard), hypernosmia is clearly a sign of an advanced homo sapien…
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Mooney,
Could you do me a favor and please clearly visualize the New England Patriots winning the Superbowl?
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
“Another advantage is that I think I taste things more strongly than most people do. That’s difficult to test, of course, but some tastes just explode on my tongue while others claim it’s not that strong.”
You’re a SuperTaster! So am I. I’ve called it my own super power for years.
It is testable–from the following website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2880471.stm
“To test your taste buds, you need some blue food colouring, a piece of paper with a 7mm-wide hole punched through it, and a magnifying glass.
Swab some of the food colouring onto the tip of your tongue. The tongue will take up the dye, but the papillae, tiny structures that house the taste buds, will stay pink.
Super-tasters perceive all tastes as more intense than do tasters and non-tasters
Professor Linda Bartoshuk, Yale University
Put the piece of paper on the front part of the tongue and, using the magnifying glass, count how many pink dots are inside the hole.
Fewer than 15 papillae mean you are an insensitive “non-taster”, between 15 and 35 indicates an average “taster” and over 35 papillae then you are a “super-taster”. “
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I’m a Guitar Hero……does that count?
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
The link between taste and smell has been researched for years. Even while chewing you are smelling your food, through the back of your throat, and also by the normal means of in front of your snozz. I’ve seen some estimate that as high as 90% of taste is smell. Ever get a really bad cold and everything tastes like cardboard?
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Mooney, the heck with the Patriots, could you PLEASE visualise creationism being taught in every school in America (including private, charter, and homeschools)? And while you’re at it, would you please visualise all the reasoning BA posters as destitute, penniless, and completely lacking in sex appeal?
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
You mean, you’re a Supertaster?
[cue They Might Be Giants]
Nothin’ tastes the same (nothin’ tastes the same)
To a supertaster (a supertaster)…
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Actually, I might be a supermusician. In addition to the numerous instruments I play, when I made Episode 4 of Bogosity I closed off by singing along with The Asylum Street Spankers. The thing is, when I recorded it, to get a clean track I didn’t actually have the music going–and yet, I managed to hit the right key and the right tempo.
And when I made the remastered version, I did it AGAIN.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Wow, BA, you’re quite on your way to becoming a scientologist!
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Hey, Phil, PZ’s been going on about the same thing. You guys really should start the League of Super Scientists.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/12/superevolution.php
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I can turn street lights off with my mind. It’s highly sympathetic unfortunately, but there are many times when I look at a street light, and it goes out.
I can also predict which Simpsons episode is going to be on. I will be minding my own business and a quote will enter my head, and in the next day or two the episode with that quote will be on.
It’s a little creepy at times.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Phil: I will be sure to read this to BadMom while she’s in the hospital and can’t get to your blog for now. She’ll be so proud and will surely see some of these powers in herself! I myself have the astounding ability to sit for hours and hours at a time and not get leg cramps, blood clots, or fatigue of any kind. I can read your blog and all its entries for the 6.4 hours I’m at work each and every day. I bet that runs in our family. Do you think you might also have hypogluteusmaximusity?
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I have never had a headache in my life. My head has hurt from being hit by an assortment of objects over time, but I have never just “had a headache”. I feel this will eventually lead to some sort of super mind power.
I don’t have earlobes. Mine are connected to my head, which makes me more aerodynamic. It is undoubtedly an evolutionary step, and I’m one step ahead of you cavemen with your useless “dangling” lobes.
I can also “manipulate” dial-combination locks. I can open the average Master Lock in about 15 min.
If I hear someone in distress, I can get to them quicker thanks to my aerodynamic ears, unlock the door (if it’s a combination lock), and I won’t ever get a headache doing it…
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
In the same vein as That Guy’s superpower, I can “hear” any machine that is on but silent. I can hear the vibrations (I know, duh!) but even really low stuff. So, I always know when someone leaves the coffee pot on, or the TV is muted. The drawback is like when I had my lamp timer next to my bed and I couldn’t get to sleep.
This one is partially hereditary…my brother has it, but our parents think we’re crazy.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Here’s a few I can think of.
1) I can hold my breath underwater for over 2 1/2 minutes with little training. Since freediving, I’ve been able to extend that to well over 3 minutes.
2) Even though I’ve lived at about sea level my whole life, I will never get short of breath when I’m in higher altitudes or suffer altitude sickness. (living in Hawaii, it’s fun to head out to Mauna Kea a couple of times a year).
3) 4 additional teeth, besides the canines end in sharp points
4) An extra pair of ribs (3rd set of floating ribs).
5) have approximately two or three adjacent hair follicles clustered at any point on my body (making me rather furry)
The first two I assume are holdovers from my ancestor’s high altitude adaptation (from that Anatolian Plateau). The 5th is probably some form of genetic drift due to my Armenian heritage.
Here are my negative superpowers.
1) My sense of taste is pretty bland. The complete opposite of a supertaster (partially make up for it with a sense of smell, but I wouldn’t consider it superhuman)
2) I can’t curl my tongue or do anything flexible with it.
3) Can barely function on a really sunny day without sunglasses
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
All my senses are hyperacute, if in limited ranges. My eyes are highly sensitive to light, my ears are highly sensitive to high-pitched sounds, my nose is so sensitive that I have (and this was backed up by additional information) smelled the passage of a normal perfume-wearing person 5 minutes after they passed. My sense of touch is so sensitive that no one can lightly touch me on my sides or front without tickling me.
For taste, I can almost always determine what spices and ingredients are in a dish by taste.
Also, I’m a plot-god. When watching any Movie or TV show, I can tell what the ending will be within 10 minutes of watching it - and even get a good idea of what ‘twist’ will lead there.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I have the ability to walk while I’m sleeping, though it brings more harm that good usually…..maybe one day I will sleep walk into a burning building and save some people.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
As far as the tongue, I mean I Can talk and normal things, but nothing special like roll it, or curl it, or extend it far like those KISS guys. Does that mean it’s some form of telepathic mutation?
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I’m with Mooney! Although I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t get that far: 16-1 sounds good to me.
Double-jointed thumb? Check. What else. Umm. Oh yeah, I can make my distal phalanges go “limp” and wiggle them like floppy door hinges. Not sure what it’s good for besides entertaining the kids. Able to kill largish spiders without freaking out too badly. Able to retrieve items the top shelves in the kitchen without a step ladder. (Changing the light bulbs on the ceiling fans in the cathedral-ceilinged great room is a different story…) Can successfully navigate the living room without stepping on any toys hard enough to break them - or my toe.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Gnat: Yeah, I have that too. I can hear televisions on even when they’re turned all the way down. I can also tell when people enter/leave the house just based on air pressure changes inside the house. Sensitive inner-ear I s’pose.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I have superautonomy - my body will keep doing the same task I set it to, even if I’m so tired that I nod off meanwhile. This has been observed while wiping off a table, walking, or driving a car (!)
Further, I have superfocus. This is more of a drawback - while focusing on some task, my hearing and peripherial vision shut off, so that people have to ensure that I’m paying attention or I will have no idea what they’ve been saying or doing, even in the same room. This is of course a disadvantage, since the cavemen can creep up on me.
I also have two webbed toes. Does that count?
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
When I saw the title I thought you were going to blog about Emily L. again. Boy was I disappointed.
Anyway, it appears that you are the only person in the entire google-sphere that has lithophalangea. It’s a google-nope (besides your post, of course): http://www.google.com/search?q=lithophalangea
Don’t forget that you are also a super-skeptic (not sure the latin name for it), in the likes of James Randi, Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman and Rebecca Watson.
Just remember, with such great power comes great responsibility. Use it wisely.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I hardly ever get lost, usually know where north is and remember phone numbers from my childhood.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
My superpowers:
1. I can hear when the TV in the living room is switched onto an unused AV, even though the sound is outside the normal frequency that most humans can hear. This superpower allows me to save the world by reducing carbon emissions.
2. I can calculate when items of different sizes in a supermarket are cheaper even when the supermarket does not have unit pricing. I used this power yesterday to prove that my local Evil Supermarket was doubling the price of some candy before Christmas… then halving the price in the post-Christmas sales and calling it a 50% discount.
3. I can lose weight at a rate of approx. 1.5kg per week (that’s 3.3 lbs in the old scale).
3a. I achieved this by planning all my meals in advance. Eventually, I wrote a document that governs my eating habits. It’s over 3000 words long and resembles a piece of legislation.
A small sample:
“If food is to be divided, the User must ensure that the method of division is impartial.
Examples of impartial division include, but are not limited to:
iii. The user dividing the food, provided random numbers are generated from devices/techniques such as dice, coins or quantum mechanics. Pseudorandom number generators are also acceptable, provided that there is no method by which the User can predict the outcome.”
In other words, I download random numbers from random.org to determine what I will eat
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Hear hear Sergent Zim: “And while you’re at it, would you please visualise all the reasoning BA posters as destitute, penniless, and completely lacking in sex appeal?”
I wouldn’t call these superpowers, but definitely a few odd things in my family:
I have trouble entering some electronics stores. Certain frequencies of sound are very very very loud to me, while all others are normal. I don’t know what machines make these sounds, but they are unbearable to me even when other people can’t hear them, or can barely hear them. I can also immediately tell if the bearings are going on the ventilation fans when I enter a lobby. People don’t believe me cause they don’t hear anything, then 3 months later BAM! the fans go. Really high pitched whines are the worst 0_0.
I don’t know about ribs or teeth, but my mom has an extra vertebra.
My mom had an… either an uncle or a great uncle (I don’t recall) who grew a 3rd set of teeth after he lost his adult teeth. Now THAT would be nice. I wonder if he only had 3 pairs, or if they’d have just kept coming in if he had lived long enough?
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
My main power is far from useful. I discovered when I was a child that the nerve endings on the backs of my hands are somehow connected to my face, such that if something brushed against my hand, I can feel it in my lower lip, tongue, and in the rare case, my inner ear on that side. I have no idea what the technical terms for those would be, unfortunately.
As far as Batman-esque gadgets (if those count), my glasses give me the ability, through the wonder of reflection, to expand my peripheral vision well beyond 180 degrees. I can tell when someone is looking over my shoulder, for instance, or snatch someone’s hand as they attempt to tap me inconspicuously. However, the kryptonite here is that I can sometimes be easily distracted by what I see… or more specifically, what whoever I am talking to sees behind me.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
First, let me congratulate you on picking the Max Fleischer “Superman” as the basis of your little image. I’m a huge Fleischer fan and think that their version was closest conceptually to the comic books.
Now then, the BA says: “I think I taste things more strongly than most people do…some tastes just explode on my tongue while others claim it’s not that strong. I think this is why I’m such an enthusiastic eater, and why I like strong taste sensations like very sour fruit.”
I don’t understand this. Wouldn’t it be the other way around? If your taste is very sensitive, wouldn’t strong tasting foods overpower it? Couldn’t you get the same sensations from ordinary food that normal (as in closer to the Gaussian mean) people get from intense food?
- Jack
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Hey Mooney, I have that same power of non-prediction!!
And I thought I was the only one!
My other super power is estimating the size of objects smaller than a bread box.
In other words, I’m completely useless.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I have a couple of super powers myself. The first is hyperintuitivity. I’m extremely sensitive to the nuances of speech and body language and even if I cannot consciously identify what’s going on, I can see much of the truth and reasoning behind statements. It works best in a one-on-one situation when I can talk directly to the person. Sort of like John Edwards’ (not the presidential candidate!) supposed psychic powers, but I know I’m not reading minds, I’m really able to understand what people are really saying. I don’t use it very often because it’s very disconcerting to people and some people think I am psychic. When I was a young adult I wondered if I did have some psychic powers but I now know what it really is. I normally suppress it, but when I consciously need the ability I can turn it on. (Actually, it’s not an on/off thing. It’s more of an notice/ignore thing.)
The second is that computers work around me. You know the old story about taking in your car to the mechanic saying that such-and-such is wrong and the mechanic test drives the car and says he can’t find anything wrong? I’m that way with computers. Oh, sure, computers will display problems in front of me and (my third super power) I have an innate ability to get right to the problem and fix it, but on many occasions people have exclaimed to me, “Why isn’t it doing it now?” when I try to duplicate the problem. As a computer tech I actually find this to be a detriment to my profession, but as a user I have a lot less go wrong with my system than other people.
Like I said, I have an innate ability to diagnose and fix computers. It doesn’t work with cars, appliances, or other items, but with computers it’s second nature. I attribute this as an offshoot of superpower number one. I’m aware of enough of the subtleties of computers that I can figure out what’s wrong based on the symptoms. My mind makes connections unconsciously very quickly and the answer comes to my conscious mind. My dad has much the same power with regards to analog electronics.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
“I guess you could call it superpowers
But no one is going to save the world
with what I’ve got….”
…….. Dismemberment Plan
My superpower is that people will reveal secrets and personal information to me. Strangers in the checkout line will tell me about their impending divorce…. co-workers venting…. the Home Depot guy helping me carry purchases to my car once told me IN DETAIL about the vasectomy he just had…. woman collecting signatures for a petition confessed that she cheated on her husband… I kid you not.
Nope, no one is going to save the world with what I’ve got….
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I, too, have the CRTaudiophagia thing. Developed as a child, I assumed I’d lose it growing up, but at 33 I still need no extra checks to see if it’s the TV that went dead or if something is feeding it a black screen. I can also tell “syncless” black from “synced intentional black” on older TVs that doesn’t cut it off when sync is gone - the tone drops slightly as it goes to “longest before I’m thinking there’s no VSYNC coming, reset” status. I could also tell sweep freq on monitors fairly well, certainly at least noticing a lot when it changed (beyond the click, more like click, new whine I wasn’t used to being there already) but it’s been too long since I needed it to tell if it’s still there.
I have the semi-anti power of not smelling anything much most of the time, which sucks for when I need to but is very handy for working in noxious environments. Even what others consider overpowering smells I usually notice briefly and then they’re gone.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Being a musician with hypersensitive ears has its drawbacks.
The Costco I shop at has ultrasonic emitters outside its large front door to keep birds from flying into the store en masse. These emitters produce a sound that is apparently well above the normal range of human hearing (over 20,000 hz) because everyone else walking in shows no outward signs of discomfort. I asked my wife if she hears them too but she doesn’t.
I have to cover my ears near the front entrance because otherwise it’s like having a high pitched icepick jammed in my ears every five seconds, and it’s LOUD too.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Well, I don’t know how serious your request is, but your photo-collage sucks big time.
Contact me if you need an actual 3d model of a super-hero with your facial features.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I have three:
The first involves the “make a liar out of me” corollary to Murphy’s law: Immediately after I state some kind of generalization, a counterexample will occur. Sometimes that can work to my advantage– “I always miss this traffic light.”
The second is the amazing ability to make a simple 15 minute car repair into a three hour ordeal. In replacing the thermostat in an old Mercury, I once broke off the bolt in the engine block, which took me quite a while to deal with.
The third is a negative one, I can’t for the life of me decide on my own whether certain letters should be doubled. For instance, I tried to spell corollary above as “corrolary.” My wife has a learning disability, and constantly asks me how to spell words, but she can usually tell me if letters should be doubled.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I actually have some powers that could be mildly useful for crime-fighting.
1) Temperature tolerance- people sometimes say “It’s so hot/cold, how can you stand it?” and I don’t feel anything. This doesn’t work in the early morning, though.
2) Athletic Endurance- I will never be a sprinter, but I’m pretty decent at the mile and can keep running long after my non-runner friends stop.
3) Balence- I can stay upright while walking on moving vehicles going over bumps.
4) Predicting where a moving ball will go and getting in the position to stop/catch it.
5) Detective sense- Really! I love mystery books and I usually can figure it out before the hero does.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
The nose thing is interesting. My wife can open a bottle of bleach in the basement and I can usually detect the scent in a few moments on the second floor of our house. By scent alone I can usually tell you how many cats and dogs are in a house simply by sticking my head in and taking a whiff. Cut a cucumber and you’ll send me fleeing from the stench.
Yet I can snort a bag of rotting meat and not notice a thing.
We tested this latter last year when a visitor, unsure of where to stash the remnants of a KFC dinner, tossed ‘em behind a garbage can in my front entry. A week later, I hadn’t noticed a thing, but my wife was pretty torqued. She had found it but left it to see how long it would take me to clean it up (she assumed I had left it for her). After 7 days, she handed it to me and made me take a long sniff… nope, nothing. Smelled like a plastic bag.
I can tell you that your gas tank leaks probably before your mechanic can or if your aunt ruined the salad with cucumbers (bleah!) and lives with 3 cats as soon as she comes in the door… but I can’t tell you if the milk has gone bad or if the sandwich meat is off.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I have very strong finger and toe nails. It is blessing and a curse. I can cut through heavy plastic with my nails and untie impossible knots. The curse concerns my toenails at night. My girlfriend can testify to that.
My nose also has some peculiarities. I’m hyper sensitive to cigarette smoke. Someone lights up a cigarette on the other side of the street and I’ll smell it.
I also cannot smell cat urine. A cat once peed in my appartment’s lobby. People were suffocating in the odor, but to me, it smelled like fresh spring air.
I’m also extremely resistant to tear gas. To me, it gives me a nice and gentle tingling sensation in my nose while the same dose has other people blinded and crying and coughing.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I believe I can translate between Christianese and… um… non-Christianese. But whether that is a superpower or a delusion, remains to be seen.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
[…] Superstronomer By The Bad Astronomer When we hang pictures, shelves, posters; when we assemble furniture; when we plant trees: I can always tell if something is not horizontal or vertical, even to a tiny degree. Mrs. BA can back me up on this (and on the other powers below … Bad Astronomy Blog - http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog […]
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I’m pretty good with languages, though I don’t spend much time on that. I have a decent ear for music, though that’s another talent I’ve let languish.
I can distinguish fried electronic components by smell. Also, I can hear the high-pitched whine emitted by a blank CRT. Drives me nuts.
I have a high pain threshold, and deal well with more-or-less extreme temperatures.
Also, I can move objects with my mind, influence the weak-minded, and sense the future, though it seems to be “always in motion.”
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Well, I can close my nasal passages without my hands being anywhere near my head. I don’t know how unusual this is, but it strikes me that Phil would find it very useful when he is in the public restroom scenario! After my son was born my admission of this ability led to my taking more than the fair share of “smelly changing” duties - which I didn’t mind, because I closed my nose. Duh! Also, I used to do it when I jumped into the swimming pool. Most of the other children were holding their noses with their fingers to stop the water going up. I just jumped in with my hands flailing freely, and “closed the nose”. It’s also very handy when chopping onions, although not 100% effective as I believe the vapour can get in through the eyes anyway.
Before I go, I must also mention my brother-in-law, who apparently has an abnormally thick skull (his dad is the same). He told me a story that he was once punched in the head by some idiot in a pub. The guy howled with pain, and my brother-in-law slowly put his drink down on the table, turned to him and said “Can I help you?”
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:55 pm
There’s a set of train tracks about two miles from our house. I know when a train is going by during the night because I feel the bed vibrate long before I hear the train whistle.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I have a built in radar detector. Whenever I’m speeding along, i will instinctively slow down, and more often than not, a police radar trap will be ahead. (I have no explanation as to why my built in detector failed me a few weeks ago when I got nailed.)
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Hyperempathy, hypersensitivity to subtext, limited precognition, ability to see the smallest link between any two subjects, a knack for kitbashing and the ability to so completely compartmentalize my thoughts that no two people who know me think I’m the same person.
But first and foremost, I am “The” Genetic Jackass.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
If I could have a super power, it would be Billyoceania… so whenever I meet someone, in the blink of an eye, I’ll know their number and their name. Yeah.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I have oddball musical powers:
While listening to a piece of music I can re-orchestrate in my head for different instruments and audio-visualize it in the new version almost simultaneously while its playing in the original version. I’ll look at a printed orchestral score in silence and pretty much hear all the instruments together playing the music. I can look at colors and sense what chords go with them, which leads to…
oddball visual art powers:
I can see an object from one angle but simultaneously perceive it from a different angle. (This sometimes makes living normally in three dimensions confusing.)
I can visualize a painting long before applying paint to canvass. (So I’m both a composer, with one CD released and a painter. An aviation art website goes up later this month.)
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Actually, what I would REALLY like in a super power would be the ability to not get flagged by BA’s spam filter.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Well, compared to the super-sensitive people who’ve posted before me, my powers suddenly feet inadequate.
I have limited conversational precognition, and some form of involuntary “Accelerated Entropy Field” (A.E.F) that surrounds me.
Upside: Always ‘know where this conversation is headed’. The A.E.F assists in my work as a Software Tester, as no program can hope to hide it’s bugs from the field.
Downside: Massive clothes repair bill, never enough cellphone battery power, and a reputation of going through equipment like a tornado in a trailer park.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I can find the negative in everything. I can consume large quantities of beer without ever throwing up. I can sit motionless on the couch for days at a time (with the aid of magic mushrooms). I can cease urinating in mid stream. I can masturbate for hours. Excuse me I need to go wash my hands.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Sounds like Phil would make a really good wine taster - big sensitive nose and palate …
My own special power is to control my local public transport network; invariably to my detriment. I can, without thinking, ensure that the minute I decide to go to the bus stop will be absolutely the MOST inconvenient for my local bus company.
The bus I need will, without fail, just have left and the time period before the next suitable bus arrives will be the maximum period in the schedule.
This is an impressive skill (though Christopher Hitchens would call it solipsism).
I am resigned to my fate …
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I once managed to sit through 30 minutes of Fox news.
I can recite the alphabet backwards.
I can do backwards writing with my non-dominant hand.
.sdrawkcab epyt neve nac I
I have a brown-belt in emacs.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
OK. My initial response to this entry and its responses is: What have you been drinking? LOL. Nice, fun, harmless science(ish) type of humor. Keep up the good work, Phil.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Like Darth Curt, I can also turn out street lights. I’m not sure to what extent his power is, but mine is very bad. I’ve collected data on the phenomenon in the past, and found that the average lifespan of a light I travel past once a week to be 6 months. It’s not a problem most places I go, since there are 4 or so lights within 30 miles of home, but I had a job once, where the only way to get to the building required me to drive down the same street, day after day, and after about a month, they had replaced the 50 or so lights — three times (I lost track after that). They gave up after the third month.
AFAICT, this is one of the least useful powers ever. The only ways I can think of to actually put it to use would be to become a thief and/or assassin, but even then, not so much because you would have to be passing by the target quite a lot prior to the act, and that might be a bit suspicious afterwards. Plus, might just be easier at that point to use some sort of pellet gun or something. Probably be a more efficient use of resources.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
My superpower is cinemanarcolepsy. The ability to detect a really boring movie by falling fast asleep before the rest of the audience has even noticed that the plot is dragging.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
mooney - I have that same power. Don’t underestimate it! I use it to avert major disasters. The human race was could’ve been devoured by the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal but I imagined it very, very very clearly and lo, it did not occureth. You are all saved. by me. bow to me.
bow.
Actually, my only real super power is imitation. I am an ape. Nothing more.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
The only super power I can think of is not getting cold easily. I’ll happily walk around in 40 degree weather in jeans and a t-shirt. I suppose I could rescue people from a freezing building…
Of course, the kryptonite of this is that when it gets above about 90 degrees, I’m absolutely miserable.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Oh, I thought of another one! I have excellent time sense. It’s not unusual to be out at a party or about town for hours and have someone say “I wonder what time it is?”, and I immediately know it’s about 2:20 in the morning. This is actually a really good way to tell when I’ve been having a great time, because that’s the only time I totally lose track of time.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I thought of a funny lame super power to have-always having exact change at the toll booth. This is especially useless if you live in an area with no toll roads or everyone has one has a tollway transponder.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:48 pm
My eyes are colour, texture and tone sensitive enough to do out standing colour matches of objects and I can see better in twilight than most folks can during full sunny day. Excellent night vision too provided no artifical light is on.
Can sense and ground electrostatic charge far too well; it interfered with physics lab work.
My skeleton joints hyperflex though that gives me systemic arthritis it means things that would tear dislocate or break bones on others just results in a snap pop twang recoil.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I can smell and taste almost nothing. (hyponosmia)
I can involuntarily tune out the most important points in a conversation. (selectiaudiolosis)
I was born without all 4 wisdom teeth, truly the next evolutionary step! (nihiljuvinaechipmunkcheeksum)
I can gain weight simply while in the presence of food. (hypebootyaugmentia)
This is just a small sample of my many superpowers. My infrapowers are even more amazing.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I can smell and taste almost nothing. (hyponosmia)
I can involuntarily tune out the most important points in a conversation. (selectiaudiolosis)
I was born without all 4 wisdom teeth, truly the next evolutionary step! (nihiljuvinaechipmunkcheeksum)
I can gain weight simply while in the presence of food. (hyperbootyaugmentia)
This is just a small sample of my many superpowers. My infrapowers are even more amazing.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
First time I’ve done that. Read the second one, ignore the first.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I don’t think I taste things stronger than normal, but I can usually taste all the separate ingredients. My husband treats it like a parlor trick, “Hey, hon, tell me what’s in this dish,” at restaurants and such.
And I have “mommy ears” even though I don’t have kids anymore. I can tune out whatever ruckus is going on around me or in the neighborhood but let there be a creak or squawk that’s out of place and I’ll catch it, even if I’m asleep. In Iraq I used to wake up the minute the generator several hundred yards away and blocked by containers died. If a car stops near the house, I know it even if the TV is on near me. If the cats are in a room they aren’t supposed to be in, I know it. But my husband can sit there and chatter at me, and I won’t hear a word he says. Kind of useful.
I can make a misbehaving husband or cat freeze in their tracks with just a couple of quiet words. “What are you doing?” Was able to do it with kids years ago, too.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Phil, once again, you sell yourself short! Aside from your astronomical proficiencies, you humbly omitted a few of your more prolific talents:
“Photographo-it’s-all-about-me-gia”: The ability to transpose any photograph of yourself *when you were aware of a camera lens*, and morph your headshot onto a superhero’s body…..and look remarkably like you’re Superman posing over Lex Luthor’s dead body.
“Google-o-who’s-talking-about-me-graphia”: The Herculean ability to Google oneself relentlessly, in spite of all other daily distractions.
HA. Cheers from the Wayback machine…
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Not to confuse talents and stupid-human-tricks with super-powers, I have one power I’m aware of:
Nigh-Immunity to all forms of toxin.
I’m completely unaffected by aspirin, acetaminophen, Pseudoephedrine, Vicodin, ambien, lunesta, rozerem, valerian root, wellbutrin, sudafed.
I have an extreme resistance to: poison ivy, bee stings, ritalin, amphetamines, nyquil, ibuprofen (I need 3-4 times the suggested dose), caffeine.
I took the maximum recommended dose of Xyrem (9 grams), which contains GHB- the “date rape drug” and didn’t feel the least bit drowsy. It did, however, make me nauseas. I also can’t seem to get drunk- only sick.
As of this post, I’m unaware of a single drug that has worked on me the way it’s intended to, except for when they sedated me for my wisdom teeth removal. Thank the gods for that! I think I need a bracelet, not to list my drug allergies, but my drug immunities.
My super-weakness is my Idiopathic Hypersomnia/ insomnia. It’s a double whammy- a triple whammy if you include the inability to treat it with drugs. I was awake for 3 days strait 2 weeks ago, and I wasn’t any more tired than normal!
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I have the amazing ability to spot confirmation bias in the replies of certain blog posts about superpowers.
Shazam.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I have telescopic eyesight! I saw 1.6 billion light years into the past last spring (3C-273) and I saw Triton last summer with averted vision.
Oh, wait…
It -WAS- a telescope…
Nevermind…
Rich
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Oh, I just remembered. I DO have a power. It has no name, but I can make any red light immediately turn green. All I have to do is reach for something in my car. A CD, food, drink, atlas, whatever. Then the light immediately turns green.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I think my superpowers only come with the teacher-suit; they’re mostly hearing-related:
I can hear whispers from across the exam room; words of objectionable language are audible from anywhere above regular classroom noise; and I can even hear cellphones vibrate - in pockets! I’m also one of those who can detect operating electronics by their high-pitched noises, though when tested, my hearing currently tops out only at about 14 kHz.
Not a superpower, but an amusing observation: computer and stereo speakers often pick up the cellphone ‘handshake’ with nearby towers and I’m usually able to peg the suspects before their phones make a sound.
Hmm… what about my tremendous powers of forensic algebra? That’s the ability to track down where in the calculation the student made an error, usually within seconds. Or my power exam-marking, aided by speed-reading techniques? Evolution knows, that’s the only way I can make it through the 30+ blogs I read every day, and still get my work done! Hee.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
wow phil get over yourself!!
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I have exceptional hearing. And I mean truly exceptional. I can pick out emergency vehicles while I’m driving that are still more than half a mile away. And it’s not just intensity. When I was in school, they had us take hearing tests and I complained that their pitches for each tone were off.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:35 pm
My feet don’t smell regardless of how sweaty they become, my shoes and socks are always odourless.
Before we had flat screen TV, I could always hear if it had been left on downstairs. Very useful as the wife would just turn off the set top box and the screen would go black and not turn off the TV.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I’m jealous.
All I have is super strength, teleportation, telekinesis and telepathy.
Some guy have all the luck!
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I can wiggle my ears individually. I was somewhat jealous of people who could wiggle their ears in the first place, and I taught myself how. This was a side effect of that, I suppose.
I remember birthdays very well. Unfortunately, this usually only works one way. Ask me someone’s birthday and I can tell you, but on any given day I often fail to remember that it’s a birthday.
I have a very familiar face. People routinely tell me that I look like so-and-so. I’ve had a couple people before ask me if I actually was the other person.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Phil,
You forgot your ability to balance an eggs in mere seconds.
Anyway, I can “pop” my ears without swallowing or yawning. This eliminates some discomfort while traveling by airplane or elevator.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:02 am
One more thing, I have hypermyopia. I can read the ultra-fine print in contracts without the need of a microscope, thus preventing me from ever being swindled.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:05 am
“I also have lithophalangea: extremely hard fingertips.”
I wish I had lithophalangea! I was playing my brother’s guitar the other day (which has heavy-gauge strings) and I was only half-way through a song when I had to stop because the fingers on my left hand were hurting like hell.
The song was Cry Baby Cry by the Beatles, by the way.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:10 am
I must also add that an optometrist once tested my eyes for depth perception. She was amazed that I was the first person ever to get a perfect score.
If only I could couple that with better hand-eye coordination, I could play in the NBA, despite my 5′ 11 3/4″ frame and lack of jumping ability.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:18 am
I think Phil also has hyperneologistia.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:22 am
I can eyball the halfway point on anything to an accuracy of 1/16 of an inch. I suprised my dad when I did it twice in a row while building my telescope. Also handy when folding or wraping things.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:43 am
As a parent, I have a rather canny ability to wake up from a nap or other form of deserved quietude not because of some loud noise, but because of the absence of the required level of noise denoting some identifiable behavior in children.
To explain to the uninitiated, children give off a specific level of noise during specific types of activity.
I have the ability to be forced awake by the horrible realization that my kids aren’t making enough noise.
Even “I’m telling Dad” no longer wakes me up, since I know that if a kid is able to annunciate his intentions, he isn’t really hurt , but a few moments of silence has me out of bed in a cold sweat.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:06 am
I have an amazing ability to cause the world’s stock markets to dive. All I have to do is put a few well-earned dollars/pounds/kroner into shares or funds and the market will be down at least 5% by the end of the week.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:23 am
I can stay up past my bedtime.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:46 am
I have super-evolved eyes that can see distances upwards of 10 meters, and sometimes farther!
I have extra-communicative abilities such as a tongue that can say words.
I can sneeze upwards of 135 ft/sec.
I have this wonderful evolutionary improvement I like to call the “opposable thumb” that allows me to do amazing things like press the space bar on my keyboard.
And I’m just getting warmed up!
One of my weaknesses, I’m told, is my sense of humor.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:58 am
I can usually find my way after having seen the route once on a map or taken it once. Even if there goes a long time untill next time i take it. I also have a hard time getting lost when in a city or outdoors. Related to these two things are the fact that I usually find a landmark and locate it on a map.
I know I can visualise the area or route in my head which probably is why I can find my way. By the way, this does not always work in computer games unfortunately.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:31 am
It’d make a better show than “CAPTAIN PLANET”.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:46 am
I have this thing called deja -not- vue. I remember things/scenes
when they happen, but according to my ‘memory’, something
different should have happened. I don’t know if I’m tuning into
an alternate reality, where that thing actually happens.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:11 am
I can easily tell people who actually believe they possess super-powers
January 4th, 2008 at 3:31 am
The fingertips thing sounds like “Gordon Spannerhands” at my Rowing Club: he could undo nuts by hand that had defeated some of us with wrenches…
January 4th, 2008 at 3:50 am
re. turning off street lights (and assuming that people aren’t being sarcastic), James Randi has something to say about that:
http://www.randi.org/jr/2007-06/060807.html#i1
http://www.randi.org/jr/2007-06/061507.html#i6
I’ve also noticed a lot of people - including me - claiming the ability to hear outside normal frequencies. I’ve always wanted to perform a double-blind experiment to confirm my superpower in this area…
January 4th, 2008 at 5:36 am
I have supermegaodoraflatulentsia. I have the amazing ability to clear large rooms of people after I have eaten beans or cabbage, similar to how Popeye eats his spinach.
For the first time in our six years of marriage my wife purposely went and slept in the recliner in the living room the other night because my powers continue to work even when I am asleep. This brings new meaning to domestic terrorism. Maybe I’m a supervillan after all.
I would be more than willing to sell my services to say….anyone who would like to send me to the Republican National Convention this year.
January 4th, 2008 at 5:39 am
My vision is blue-shifted. When learning how to take spectra in an astronomy lab, we marked the “edge” of red and the “edge” of purple on a spectrum projected onto a piece of paper (as well as different absorption lines). My two edge lines (but not my absorption lines, which you can think of as a control) were always shifted to the blue relative to my classmates’ lines.
In other words, I don’t see some near-infra-red, but I perceive some weak ulra-violet (I like to call it “rather-violet”) as being purple.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:23 am
A number of the posters here report hearing CRTs and TVs when they are showing black and the sound is off. What you’re hearing is the flyback transformer. This is the component that moves the scanning electron beam across the inside of the CRT screen and then makes it “fly back” to the starting point for another scan. When they start to fail (and they fail slowly) they make a very annoying high-pitched whine.
Rich
January 4th, 2008 at 7:33 am
There’s an actual supertaster test you can order and take from
http://supertastertest.com/
to test your supertasterosity.
My personal superpower is a very strong middle finger flick. It was very good way back in high school for flicking the ear of a class mate in front of me. It’s greatest use is for kicking super long field goals in paper football. That’s where you make the little triangular “football” out of paper and tape.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Ah, Phil, I am also a supertaster. Tea, not coffee, for me please, and cider, not beer. Anything bitter, or that bites back (like radishes) is right out. But what nuances we can pick up from foods that other people find boring! Nice to hear from so many of you that you are supertasters too, it makes me feel less alone as I pick the raw onions out of my food.
More interesting, though is that I am the Rain Goddess of Camping! Having a drought? All it takes is for me to pitch a tent, and the deluge begins.
I also have the ability to wiggle each of my toes individually (pedophalangiflexionism?). And, although the Tuvans may claim that this is not possible for women, I can sing two notes simultaneously (overtone singing). Acquired superpowers, those, though.
Oh, and I have an amazing ability to unjam photocopiers.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Flooey:
Does this work at times other than 2:20? I ask because for a while, I had the power of knowing when it was 12:31 p.m.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Wouldn’t this be the other way around? If you have a heightened sense of taste, wouldn’t that mean that you can detect tastes that an ordinary person can’t, and therefore would be as satisfied by a blander dish as someone else with a spicy one?
And furthermore, wouldn’t strong tastes overpower your palate more than for a normal person? Wouldn’t this make you less likely to seek out really sour fruit?
Confused minds want to know.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I can read blogs instead of doing my work longer than anybody I know…and this blog is on the top of my list every morning (mostly because my RSS Reader sorts my subscriptions alphabetically - but still).
January 4th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Computers like me. Being in my proximity fixes hard disks, allows otherwise uncompilable code to run, testing software develops math errors inflating my scores, causes power cycling to resolve almost any problem(even when others have tried it w/o my presence), and otherwise unreachable network objects can be found.
Oh, and I can find both ends of a cable almost instantly, regardless of how much of a rats nest they are in.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Too bad Space Ghost Coast to Coast isn’t still on. Phil would have been a great guest. “What’s YOUR super-power?”
January 4th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Besides the fairly common (25% of the population) supertaster bit, my sweat can destroy plastic. After an uncountable number of replaced watchbands and lost watches I not longer wear watches with plastic bands.
I also no longer sleep on a waterbed. Even with a mattress pad the plastic under my side would turn into a hardened leak prone surface requiring replacement of the mattress at least once a year.
And I only use cheap headphones now since after a few months any part of the headphone cable that contacts my body, even through my shirt, has turn as hard and stiff as a wooden dowel.
Useful superpower? Well, if people trapped in a plastic bubble have a couple of weeks to wait I can rub my hands on it and make it easier for them to break out. Otherwise it is just a pain.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Astrosmurf- I also have two webbed toes on each foot! It’s called “syndactyly,” and it definitely counts as a super power as it can be used to freak people out. Downside: no toe socks.
Christian X. Burnham- I too can say the alphabet backwards, just as fast as forwards. I consider this to be a learned superpower, rather like Batman’s fighting ability.
In addition to these, I can (despite growing up in the suburbs and currently living in a city) do an alarmingly good turkey call that has actually succeeded in getting turkeys to follow me around. It only seems to work on female turkeys, though, so I rather wonder what exactly I’m saying.
Similarly, I can do an excellent Wookie impression. No word yet on whether it would fool an actual Wookie.
Also: despite being thin, bony, and angular, I’ve been told I’m still remarkably comfortable to cuddle with. This is easily the most useful power I have, though maybe not for crime-fighting.
January 4th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Computers like me.
I have the ability to make non-functioning computers work, merely by walking into the room in which they reside. (Example: Co-worker’s computer won’t boot, and they’ve been trying for 10 minutes [power-cycle, ctrl-alt-del, etc.]. They call me over, and as I walk through the door, it starts booting.)
(My father-in-law has the ability to make functioning computers stop working, and start beeping, merely by walking near them.)
I have the ability to re-type a command that failed to run when someone else typed it in (and it’s still on the screen), and have it work properly.
January 4th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I’m not sure what powers I have but my wife refers to me as an “idiot”.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Carey: That’s an interesting mutation. I have wondered in the past whether all human eyes saw exactly the same spectrum or not. Does the sky look slightly purplish to you, or do you not see far enough into the UV for that to happen?
And I too would like the ability to slip my posts past the BA’s spam filter. This is the only site on the net that tags me as spam every single time I post. You’d think that having a dynamic IP address that changes every 6 to 12 months would be enough to defeat this, but nope. Is my entire ISP on the BA’s blacklist or something? Cause that’s just not fair (nor does it work, so it is just a stupid thing to do).
January 4th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
My powers:
1. People come into my room complaining about it being hot or cold, when I think it’s the perfect temp.
2. You know that classic example of depth perception where a person with one eye closed can’t grab the table salt on the first try since they can’t tell distance as well with one? I can see just as well with one eye closed as I can with both open.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I hold the astounding ability to argue with anything. ANYthing! Television! Chairs! Grass! People! Food! Moa ha ha ha HAA!
January 4th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Well, I can do the street light thing too. I found out years ago and have concluded that street lights just turn off more often that one would expect during the night. I have one directly in front of my home and have observed it for years; basically, they are light-sensitive and the switches/sensors are likely to have faults that turn the lights off even in darkness (or a neutrino just hits the sensor). I have seen enough incidents that I suspect this is not a real super-power.
My power is awkward as I can correctly identify the first letter of a name, place, or subject when someone in conversation says “who was that?” or “what is the name of that restaurant?”. “Oh, it starts with a ‘J’” I say. I cannot, however, recall the actual name or place in full (I have no idea that is is ‘John’ or ‘Jack-in-the-box’). I know just the correct letter by which the answer would be filed alphabetically. It is useful in conjunction with my wife who will always know the name once I have identified the first letter of that name. This is a strange one and I have yet to find anyone else with this type of brain damage….
All too often, I can be rather good at offending people (usually linguistically, but occasionally malodorously) and making my supervisors get irritable. I also can see the worst in any situation, no matter how fortuitous (”this superpower will force me to be altruistic beyond my natural level…”).
January 4th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
None your puny superpowers matches mine: I can stop peeing and resume later!
January 4th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
quote: Ubi Dubiumon
> And, although the Tuvans may claim that this is
> not possible for women,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> I can sing two notes simultaneously (overtone singing)
What makes you think that??
I know only a few Mongolians, not Tuvans, but usually they don’t discourage women to practise overtones…
…although I don’t know if it would be better to start as a /very/ young girl, like the 11year-old (!!) I saw in a documentary, demonstrating a mind blowing “kargyraa” (”undertone”-singing [see wikipedia for details]). If you never had an impression of some supernatural ability, this is a very convincing one…
Ansgar
January 4th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Hmm… well, the only power I have that I can think of right now is “The Human Flyswatter.” If there’s a fly in the house and it buzzes by me, 9 times out of 10 I can snatch it out of the air with my hand and crush it. Actually, I do have very fast reflexes–so maybe that’s why.
Some strawberries (1 out of 4 on average) taste like soap to me. Celery has a very strong taste to me, while my fiancee says its as tasteless as iceberg lettuce. I can also usually hear if electronics are on but idle, though I think that power is slowly leaving me as I get older. My body also generates lots of heat, so I can wear light clothes out when other people are bundled up.
My future mother-in-law has an impressive superpower. She’s not very big (5′0″) but can drink an entire bottle of tequila without getting drunk. Other alcohol effects her normally, but for some reason she’s completely immune to tequila. She learned this while doing shots with friends and relatives in a drinking contest–she drank them all under the table and felt absolutely fine at the end.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
My highly unusual superpower is apparently to believe I’m relatively normal; or at least to pretend that in order to better fit in with the skeptics crowd.
Hmm. Though I basically understand the value of the scientific method in testing theories of causation. Seriously people, do some experiments, be a little less credulous.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
BTW, Phil. Re transnosmia
Your bodily “stink” smells much worse to people who share components of your immune system, an evolutionary trick to get folk to pick partners who don’t share any, and thus be more likely to have some of your kids survive the next plague. Your children should be less likely than average to die of the same immune-related cause as each other.
The stink in your clothes is mostly unrelated bacterial compounds (which don’t reproduce at all well on our skin, but thrive in various clothing materials), and smells much the same to everyone. Multiple sweating/drying/reheating sessions (such as before and after lunch, or on multiple days) amplifies the number of bacteria considerably.
People who smell worse than the clothes they’re in share a lot of the chromosomes that are active in your immune system. Either that or they have an infection, and should see a doctor.
Still, much of taste and smell is attitude. It’s quite possible to consciously ignore smells, and it’s normal for people to unconsciously do so in various “safe” smelly situations (like defecating or changing nappies). It’s similarly possible to elevate your awareness of these things, which you may have taken to doing by habit.
January 5th, 2008 at 10:04 am
When I hit middle age I mysteriously obtained Super Napping powers, that let me slip into tiny cat naps after just a few seconds. Also, just looking at pictures of beans will cause me to become flatulent.
June 1st, 2008 at 3:57 am
i have an uncanny ability to be able to overpower 17 yr old guys. It is quite funny actually. im only 5 foot 3, 17 yrs old, slim build, and yet whenever i play fight with the guy mates, [who are significantly taller, musclier and cockier than me] i always seem to win. i have more stamina, and the upper hand that they think im weak. lets just say there were tears. and they weren’t mine!
i can also move my eyes from left to right really really fast so they look like theyr vibrating. it creeps people out!
also, i can move my lower eyelids inwards, so i look like a posessed zombie child. that creeps people out too!
i love these ‘powers’ XD