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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Believe it or Not


A while back a friend called me. The conversation went something like this:

"Hey Liz, did you know that you can stand a broom on its bristles today?"

"No."

"You can! Really! The equator is aligned today. It won't be again for a few hundred years I heard. So just today you can actually balance a broom. We've had one standing up in our kitchen for, like, three hours now." I'm thinking, isn't the equator aligned every day? But instead I say,

"Really?"

"Yes, but you have to line up the bristles so they are facing north and south. That's the only way you can do it. It is so cool Liz - you've got to try it."

"OK, I'll give it a try. I don't know about the "aligned-equator" thing, the science teacher in me thinks that sound like a bunch of hooey, but I'll go give it a try."

So the Doubting Thomas in me went off to try it. After finding my compass (you know, because I wanted to do it right,) about 35 tries, and about 20 minutes I was able to do it. That broom stood there for a little over two hours - until the cat knocked it down.


Now, I don't think for a minute it had anything to do with equatorial alignment, the alignment of the planets or anything else other than the laws of physics. I think I, along with countless other people, would never stand in the kitchen and spend valuable time trying to get a to balance a broom unless the power of suggestion told me / us it was possible. Though I must admit that I actually had fun trying to get my broom to stand by itself and was quite proud of myself when I actually got it to work.

Now I just need to get the darn thing to sweep by itself and I'll be all set.

10 comments:

  1. Thank you Liz, I got the best giggles out of this post! Now where DID I park my broom....

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  2. would love to try it, but alas, our broom is slanted LOL

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  3. you should try is again... with as much determination and enthusiasm as you did when yo tried the first time. Then you can debunk your theory... or not.. only time will tell.....

    Miss you to pieces :)

    -Miranda

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  4. that's so funny! I saw a thing on the news a couple of weeks ago about a broom that stands by itself in this diner....what's up with all these brooms standing on their own.

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  5. I would be so happy if I told my friend something like this and she spent 2 hours trying to make it work. It would make me laugh and love her more.

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  6. This reminds me of trying to make eggs stand on end during the spring equinox.

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  7. Too funny! If you figure out that "broom sweeping itself" thing you have to pass it on!! I could really use that with 6 family members and 3 pets!!!

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  8. I would love to go try this...but I'm too lazy to get off my booty right now, so I'll take your word for it, LOL! It does sound pretty darn cool! :)

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  9. Hahah! When you figure out how to get it to sweep on it's own, please let us all in on the secret.

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