From Dave: "But how many have actually used one or know how they work?"
You lie down on the ground. Then a fellow farm hand grabs you by both arms and swings you around in a circle while walking up and down the rows of corn. Ta da!
Yeah, I agree about the mouth and eyes. Also, the physics needs improvement. At one point, her head bobs back and forth a bit, but it's as if it has no mass. The rate of movement was too uniform, i.e., it didn't slow down properly before changing direction.
For people, I use "et alia" (or "et al.") rather than "etc." It means "and others." I've never heard of "i.e." meaning "in exemplum," but a quick search via Google shows that this is a common (mis?)perception.
I was bored out of my gourd in middle school. In my social studies course, we had to write down the notes that the teacher dictated to us. Every day. ZZZzzzzzz... I had started studying German, so to give me something to think about I translated her English notes into German and wrote it in cursive... backwards. I can still write cursive backwards, although I just do it in English these days. It comes natural. Oh, and the name of my blog is my preferred username, plong, but upside down and backwards--http://6uold.blogspot.com/.
I have several of those. The first I saw was being sold by street vendors outside the Louvre in Paris in the early '80s. Someone told me that they are Indian puzzles, although there really isn't anything puzzling to figure it about them. Just fun to play with. Here's one for sale: http://www.retrotoys.com/NoveltyToys/FlexiSphere.htm.
You lie down on the ground. Then a fellow farm hand grabs you by both arms and swings you around in a circle while walking up and down the rows of corn. Ta da!
sn.plong@6uold.us