[B5JMS] from jms: physics question

[b5jms-admin at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 11 Feb 2003 08:51:40 GMT
Lines: 47

This is just an aside, knowing that we've got any number of folks out there who
can do the math (and/or the biology) on this a lot better than me (which would
be, well,pretty much everybody reading this), 'cause it's something I've
noticed lately.

Unlikely as this sounds, I'm one of those people who often seems to know when
the phone is going to ring.  Not always, just often enough so that I'll
suddenly look at a phone and think, "It's about to ring," and sonuvagun, it
does.

Now, I've always just put this down to synchronicity...after all, how many
times would I look at a phone and it doesn't ring, and I don't think about it? 
In my head, when I knew it was about to ring, the only way I can describe it
would be kind of vrrr-vrrr-vrrrrTIK sound in my head.  

Well, a few weeks ago, imagine my surprise when I heard that sound coming from
outside my head for a change when I knew the phone was about to ring.  It was
coming from the desktop stereo speakers in my office, where I'd set down my
cell phone.  (A Motorola v70.)  It was that same exact vrr-vrr-vrrrTIK sound,
coming from the speaker, then a moment later, the cell phone rang.

Out of curiosity, I used the land-line to dial my cell phone later, and the
same sound came from the speakers again, just a couple of seconds preceding the
actual ring.  GIve it a try, see for yourself.  It wouldn't happen every time,
I discovered, but a lot of the time it would.  I also tried it with a large-ish
Nokia cell phone, and the same thing occured.

Now, somebody out there can probably do the math on the electromagnetic impulse
that could be picked up by a speaker system from the phone, and I guess what
I'm wondering is, can the human nervous system be sensitive enough to pick up
something like that?  If so, it might provide a scientific answer to how some
people just know the phone is about to ring.

Just one of those things you think about when it's nearly 1 a.m. and you really
should be writing....

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
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