Do you ever wonder...?

It was cold this week.

 

 

-24 degrees Celsius (-11 Fahrenheit). 

It generally looks like this when it's cold:

 

 

On warmer days, it tends to look something like this:

 

 

Ever wonder why this might be?

Well, it's because the tiny water droplets that make up clouds absorb more infrared energy that the earth radiates than do the gases in the air (read more here). They then radiate that energy back into the atmosphere, some of which is directed back down towards the earth.  

Have you ever wondered whether ATM machines eat people's ATM cards? 

Chances are, someone has had their ATM card eaten. 

Ever wonder what happens to the cards once they've been eaten? 

Well, I can tell you what happens when this ATM eats my card. 
First, it will eat the second card you insert into the machine. 
(Note: The reasons for inserting a second card after the first card was eaten
is a discussion for another post. :) )  

Then, upon contacting the number provided on the ATM machine, you'll learn that foreign ATM cards are only returned upon written authorization from the foreign bank;
ATM cards issued by Finnish banks will be mailed to the nearest bank location. 

All in all, count on a minimum of 7-10 days to get the Finnish card back. 

Oh, and you're better off having your foreign bank send you a new card.

 

Are there 'Manhattan' boroughs outside of Manhattan?

This week I learned that Kuokkala, a 'borough' of Jyvaskyla, is the Manhattan of Jyvaskyla. 

Perhaps it does, after all, resemble New York's Manhattan...  :)

 This is the 'guy' that had a number of citizens (who were crossing the Kuokkala bridge into/out of 'Manhattan') concerned enough to call emergency services and report that he was swinging from the bridge. Gotta love new art installations.  :)

The Kuokkala bridge is one of the greatest features of the city.  It's just stunning.

Do you ever wonder if what you think is interesting is also of interest to other people? 

Well, Maiju (a colleague of mine) and I decided to start a reading group to engage with the concepts and theories in this book as many of us on our research team use this conceptual framework in our research.  We thought, "Why not invite others to participate virtually if they'd like?"

 

Well, one invitation/announcement shared with colleagues and distributed across listservs led to 34 people joining in the first (of 5 sessions).

We had 19 participants 'onsite' and 15 people 'offsite' who joined via Google Hangouts. 

The participants spanned 8 time zones (from the US Central Standard Time to the Eastern European Time Zone) and represented institutions from 10 countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the USA.  There were two participants who joined us from the Central and Eastern Time Zones in the US--which meant calling in at 6am and 7am in their respective time zones. 

Never did Maiju and I imagine we'd have this kind of turn out.

 Do you ever wonder if you could walk on water?

Well, you can!  The secret?  Sari (in the middle) and Kirsi (on the right) can tell you:

"Just make sure it's really, really cold water."

:)

 

Ever wonder if you can feel a difference in temperature walking on different surfaces?

Ok, so I would imagine you could feel the difference between walking barefoot over hot coals versus a rocky beach.  But, I hadn't ever considered being able to sense a difference in temperature walking on a frozen lake vs. on a sidewalk or a dirt path in the winter time. 

I can say, though, that you can feel the difference indeed! 

It is super cold walking on (frozen) water. 

Brrrr!! 

 

Last, but not least, have you ever wondered whether it's possible to outsmart the McGurk Effect? 

Try it and see:

 

 

What have you been wondering about lately??