“Just Chillin’ A little History...& More October Optical Illusions!


Santa Rosa, CA. ~ Opti- cal illusions, as explained by eminent scholars such as Eric Kan- del, prove that “we do not


see


world as it really


the is.”


Halloween, with jack o’ lanterns and jellybeans, spiders, ghouls, ghosties, hooting owls and bats, provides us with an opportunity for our brains to create mighty cre- ative constructions. We are con- tinually, willingly, “taken in” by an illusion when we “see” magic. Happy 243rd Birthday, on Octo- ber 21st, Samuel Taylor Coleridge! British Coleridge is considered perhaps the most infl uential author of his era, combining his creativ- ity and originality in his poetry, strongly gothic-magic fl avored books with a great talent for sharp literary criticism and scholarship.


He coined the phrase, “the willing suspension of disbelief…” in his 1817 Biographia Literaria.


It is


what we all do when, in one example, we willingly sus- pend disbelief when we see a magician “saw” his pretty assistant in half…and then ap- plaud laughing when she hops out unharmed. Hmmm. Was it an ol’ pos- sum, raccoon or other critter that decided to moonbathe in our back yard garden the other night while the stars twinkled bewitchingly?


The muddy


mess that was revealed in the morning sunlight showed a jumble of little pawprints, an overturned dark green casse- role dish that serves all sorts of birds, even a family of doves, every day as their wa- ter park. And, the big surprise that an empty, overturned pot that held a thriving pineapple plant was missing!?! Magical, optical illusion? Now, what kind of trick is that, since they took a


treat? Thanks to PBS for launch- ing a new series: “American Expe- rience.” If you are as enthusiastic


UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • October 2015 • 5 Weird Facts & Fun Trivia - 2 by Ellie Schmidt ~ eschmidt@upbeattimes.com


of magic, Walt Disney. Currently, it is still available for free viewing on your computer. A complicat- ed, incredibly creative, driven man, with a sad family history, he kept pushing forward from his early start as a determined cartoonist to fulfi ll many of his visions. He was both an artist and outrageous entrepreneur. Some would say he made his visions come true. As an art- ist who, by combining music, painstakingly, to accompany every frame of drawings, be- ginning with “Steamboat Wil- lie” achieved an original art form others could not match. It took Disney and his team of talented


colleagues 200,000


as I am about brilliantly done doc- umentaries, look for the excellent, two part one on America’s maestro


drawings to create his master- piece, the full-length “Snow White.” Disney’s wish for optical il- lusions was satisfi ed when he discovered that the drawings he and his hard workers produced were not the old slapstick variety


... continued on page 22


There are 11 people in the U.S. listed on whitepages.com with the last name ‘Carrot’


Carrots are native to Afghanistan.


The carrot was brought to by colonists to the New


World, where it escaped into the wild and became Queen Anne’s Lace.


Mel Blanc, the voice of


Bugs Bunny, was not very fond of carrots.


Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. Victor Hugo


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UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • October 2015 • 5


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