Shifting into first after idling in neutral

[Rope-Pusher]

Fine. Sorry I got everyone all hungry for pizza. Next time I give instructions for counting off seconds during a technical procedure, I'll say "1-Buffalo Wild Wing, 2-Buffalo Wild Wings, 3-Buffalo Wild Wings, ..."

AND you'll have to pick the sauce!

[RITmusic2k]

Spicy Garlic is the only sauce.

Rope-Pusher, those seconds are starting to get a little long... though I suppose I should be thankful you aren't counting 1-International House of Pancakes, 2-International House of Pancakes, etc.

[Rope-Pusher]

I can still recite all 26 letters of the phonetic alphabet in under 10 seconds. How long it takes to say "Buffalo wild Wings" is all relative to who's saying it.

[RITmusic2k]

Sound clips or it didn't happen!

[Rope-Pusher]

Guess I should record it so someday the grandkids will be able to hear it. Back when I learnt it, it wasn't an option, it was mandatory. I was a plebe at the USAFA and too stupid to know it couldn't be done. What surprises me is that it's like shifting an Amish transmission. Once you done it, no matter how long ago, you can do it pretty well again after about 5 minutes of practice.

[RITmusic2k]

Heh, it's amazing what one can accomplish when one is not permitted to fail.

okay...

"AlphaBravoCharlieDeltaEchoFoxtrotGolfHotel(India/Indigo)JulietKiloLimaMikeNovemberOscarPapaQuebecRomeoSierraTangoUniformVictorWhiskeyX-rayYankeeZulu!""

Whew! 9.9 seconds!

So, I know I can't remember 'I'... which other ones did I screw up?

[Rope-Pusher]

^I think you got them all. I learned I as India, but I've seen alternative PAs and Indigo was part of one of them. So why is it that the ability to do that doesn't go away? I'm sure it's displacing a few neurons better used by something I was paid to remember. I'll probably be mumbling it in the nursing home (years and years and years from now, I hope) and they'll think it is random babeling.

Hey Wannabe - you ever hear someone saying this when you were at your job?

[RITmusic2k]

Neurons have a 'memory', as it happens. That is to say, the initial connection made between a batch of neurons (that represents a piece of learned knowledge) is difficult to forge, but then as the learned knowledge is repeatedly accessed, the connection strengthens. But as the repetition dies out, the connection does in fact weaken until it no longer functions.

But! They've found via rigorious scientific testing (and we've all experienced it in our day-to-day), that once a connection is made the first time, it is always far easier to reestablish it. There's a lower stimulus threshold to achieve. It can be twenty years since you've recited the lyrics to a song or heard it on the radio, but as soon as you attempt to relearn it, you find that you're not starting from zero. Little parts will come back to you as you piece it together, and before too long the whole thing will be as fresh in your mind as it had ever been.

It doesn't need external stimulation either... you can force yourself to re-remember on your own, just by hunting after the knowledge you know you knew (that's a pretty awkward phrase, by the way). It's how someone's name can just burst out of your mouth without any warning when you spent the last ten minutes trying to remember it and getting nowhere. It has nothing to do with how fast a brain can process information... it's more like throwing darts at a target. You know 'where' in your head the information is supposed to be, and by concentrating on it, you're firing signals out in familiar directions and waiting for one of them to trip the circuit that reveals the data, so to speak.

Man, brains are freaking awesome.

[wannabe]

Hey Wannabe - you ever hear someone saying this when you were at your job?

nope.

[wannabe]

Man, brains are freaking awesome.

+11111!!!1111111111111!!!!!!!!!111111111111111!!!!!!!!111

[Rope-Pusher]

Dana Carvey as "Headwound Harry" was an awesome skit on SNL. He had a hard time keeping straight when the dog started eating the brains - not in the script apparently.

Another one of those useless memories that may never go away and that I recall often when I hear the word "Brain".