Question: In case you haven't heard the rumor, if you watch "Wizard of Oz" while listening to Pink Floyd's classic album "Dark Side of the Moon," you'll see Dorothy falling off the fence as the singer mentions "balance," the tornado coming during "The Great Gig in the Sky," and other coincidences.
Some lists put these at over 100. What was group leader — lyricist Roger Waters trying to prove?
Answer: "Nothing at all," answers University of Oklahoma musical theorist Ken Stephenson. "How was Waters supposed to do this in 1972 with no CD and no VCR?"
Other examples: Miss Gulch/the Witch shows up when the alarm clocks go off; a heartbeat thumps as Dorothy listens to the Woodman's chest. But there are lots of references to hearts in pop music, counters Stephenson. What are the chances one of them will happen while the Woodman is on screen? And why connect alarm clocks and a witch?
To drive it home, Stephenson tracked coincidences between "Casablanca" and Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" — picked at random — and found 100 or more. Align the two works so the first bell in "Funeral for a Friend" sounds when "Casablanca" appears on screen, then watch for:
One of the big snare drum hits comes as a man is shot; EJ sings "fire" just as a man with a brightly lighted cigarette walks across the screen; the first shot of Rick shows only his hands — just at the moment EJ sings "Love Lies Bleeding in My Hands"; EJ sings "candle in the wind" as smoke blows across the screen, etc., etc, etc. Have fun.
Question: Most of us would love a shot at riding in a space shuttle and experiencing weightlessness. What's it like "pulling zero g's"?
Answer: You'll feel light as a feather, able to turn triple somersaults, reports former astronaut Sally Ride in "Fundamentals of Physics," by David Halliday et al. But if a prankster comes up from behind and stops you dead in midair, you'll be stuck there until someone lends a nudge.
Try turning a screwdriver and, unless you're well-anchored, the screw won't turn but you'll wind up spinning in space.
You can spill your milk and it'll just form a ball and float up into the room; tilt your spoon, even "drop" it, and the soup will stay put owing to surface tension. Leave a straw inside a drink and the liquid will climb right on through, ballooning at the opening — the reason space straws come equipped with pinch-off tips.
You'll never know if you're rightside up or upside down. "Astronauts feel the same whether their feet are pointed toward the Earth or toward the stars."
Send STRANGE questions to brothers Bill and Rich at strangetrue@compuserve.com