Except it’s not impossible. At first glance the one with the outward fins seems longer because the full object is longer. But looking at it closely,it’s not hard (for me, at least, so I assume that there are others) to see where the lines stop and the arrowheads begin, and then it’s easy to see that the lines themselves are the same length.
The fact that our perceptions are not universal is the intriguing part to me, here. If we don’t perceive something like this the same way, what else do we differ on, but assume is universal.
It doesn’t work on everyone. They used to think the illusion didn’t work on people who grew up in places with round houses. Now they’ve moved away from that explanation, but I’ve seen a bunch of alternate theories. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it except that not everyone is affected by it.
Wait, wait, wait, hold the phone - can I ask you to explain a little more about this? I’ve managed to do this to the radio preset buttons on every car I’ve ever owned and most of my laptops and had no idea that it was potentially a medical condition. I’ve been laughing it off as a ‘acid for blood’ gag for years and now because of all the coffee I drink.
It’s as much as I know, it’s in my medical history but I can’t remember the name of the condition or the chemical and, as it doesn’t bother me (other than new keyboards) I have taken it no further.
Why get new keyboards? If people don’t know how to type, then they won’t be using your computer. Works well for me! Surprising how many people who use a computer every day don’t actually know how to type.
You take one finger move it in big circles 2 feet above the keyboard, whilst randomly starring at keys until you find the one next to the one you want.
Press that then repeat the process right?
Which is why people like me, who learned how to type after PCs came on the scene but before typewriters disappeared from typing classrooms, get told “you type so fast!” all the time.
(Compared to people who worked on IBM Selectrics regularly, I don’t. But I can type without looking at the screen, and can say one thing while finishing up a sentence about something else, and that alone will freak people out.)
Oh, envy. I can type letters without looking, but I always get my numbers and symbols above the numbers all confused. OTOH, I am brilliant at turning the computer on.
Yup, conversing with someone/looking at them while I’m typing something else all together seems to freak some people out.
I learned to type on stubborn manual typewriters that were already 50 years old by the time I got stuck using one. Computers were still too expensive to fit an entire class with 'em. To this day, I beat the snot out of a keyboard, and type faster than the average bear.
I learned to 10-key thanks to a retail job at the beginning of the bar code scanner implementation days. It’s still how I enter numbers, even in the middle of typing stuff.
I learned to type on a manual typewriter. I’m still too hard on keyboard keys. And I’ve got a way of hitting the keys that’s a different style, specific to how manual keys used to have to be hit right in the middle with a 90º force…it’s funny how muscle memory sticks around forever.
edited to add: LOL @IronEdithKidd! We must be twin sisters from different mothers.
