this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 43 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I can wiggle my ears. I used to use it to entertain children, but today's children are jaded and cynical.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 29 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I found I can wiggle my ears enough to walk my glasses back up my nose when they've slipped down.

[–] KISSmyOSFeddit@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago

now that's useful!

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[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Child me would've loved to see that.

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[–] LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz 30 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I can rumble my eardrums. Mostly useless unless i wanna block out some annoying sound but i can only do it for like a minute at a time.

[–] stepan@lemmy.cafe 10 points 6 months ago (17 children)

I think I have the same thing. Is yours also kinda connected to blinking? I can do it without blinking, but closing my eyes at the same moment as rumbling the eardrums feels easier and more natural than rumbling with eyes open.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 6 months ago

Mine feels more connected to my jaw, I kind of tense my jaw right near the joint to activate the rumbling.

[–] LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I can do it without closing my eyes but when i was younger, I remember closing my eyes or scrunching my face made it easier to do. If you can wiggle your ears without lifting your eyebrows, it kind of feels like its the same muscle group that causes the rumbles. The rumbling sounds like white noise inside my head. Its caused by constricting Tensor Tympani muscle in the ear voluntarily. From Wikipedia:

Some individuals can voluntarily produce this rumbling sound by contracting the muscle. According to the National Institute of Health, "voluntary control of the tensor tympani muscle is an extremely rare event",[5] where "rare" seems to refer more to the scarcity of test subjects and/or studies more than the percentage of the general population who have voluntary control. The rumbling sound can also be heard when the neck or jaw muscles are highly tensed as when yawning deeply. This phenomenon has been known since (at least) 1884.[6]

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[–] FancyPantsFIRE@lemm.ee 29 points 6 months ago (8 children)

This is my time to shine, my body is full of useless, I can:

  • gleek intentionally (saving people a search: it’s causing the salivary glands under your tongue to shoot saliva, people often do it unintentionally when yawning)
  • open my jaw wide enough that it goes out of socket, and twofer I can then move it side to side and produce a loud popping noise
  • bend my thumb down to my wrist
  • cause my heart rate to spike for short periods even when at rest
  • make a three leaf clover with my tongue
  • click my tongue extremely loudly
[–] ramble81@lemm.ee 9 points 6 months ago

I remember when I was a kid we were all trying to gleek and some of us could do it easily. I never could, so anytime as an adult I accidentally do it, I can’t help but laugh.

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[–] StarsongDusk@lemmy.world 24 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

You know that feeling you get when you listen to really awesome music and your hair stands on end and your skin has like an electric tingle all the way up and down? I can do that feeling at will. It's called 'voluntary frisson', normally an autonomic response. Makes music a real.trip.

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[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 24 points 6 months ago (5 children)

I can hum and whistle at the same time. Makes me sound kinda like a Theremin

[–] Concave1142@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

Same! I liken it to a knock off version of Mongolian Throat singing.

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[–] KISSmyOSFeddit@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I can make my left elbow sound like biting down on dry cornflakes, just by doing a push-up.

[–] Shou@lemmy.world 20 points 6 months ago (5 children)

That doesn't sound healthy

[–] theherk@lemmy.world 21 points 6 months ago (6 children)

They really aren’t, despite what Kelloggs claims.

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[–] Interstellar_1@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 6 months ago (5 children)

I just remembered this, I can open my eyelids and look in a direction where only the whites of my eyes are visible. Apparently it's very creepy

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[–] Paradox42@programming.dev 19 points 6 months ago (5 children)

I can voluntarily open my eustachian tubes and hold them open, without needing to yawn or swallow. Makes it much easier to clear the pressure in my ears when changing elevation (like when flying in a plane).

[–] Interstellar_1@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 6 months ago

Huh I think I can do the same. I always thought it was one of those things that everyone could do.

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[–] Kongar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (9 children)

I can twitch my eyeballs left and right really fast, and not just a little bit - but most of the way.

Completely grosses people out when I do it.

Edit: I can even do circles, but not as fast as left and right.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This is called Voluntary Nystagmus.

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[–] Reyali@lemm.ee 14 points 6 months ago

Lots of things that ultimately come down to hyper-mobility (thanks Ehlers-Danlos!), including:

  • Lick my elbow
  • Pull my shoulder visibly out of socket (not painful at all, and happens if I carry something heavy if I’m not careful)
  • Pop my hip out of socket while standing (sometimes painful, always somewhat unpleasant, so I’ve had to learn how to not do it)
  • Hold my hands behind my back and pull them to my front
  • Rotate my arm >360°
  • Bend my thumb to my forearm
[–] Nemo@midwest.social 14 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Apparently there's a thing called lucid dreaming that many people try very hard to achieve.

Most of my dreams are "lucid".

I can also, using only my facial muscles, pull my eyelids back extra far so it looks like my eyeballs are popping out.

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[–] JimSamtanko@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I can dislocate my shoulder to the music of Billy Joel. The Pawnee Journal once called it, "Why would anyone do this?”

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 12 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I can flex some muscle in my head that causes a roaring sound in my ears. Not sure what that's for.

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[–] flx@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

There is a tiny hole in the roof of my mouth that i can suck air through.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

I can hammer nails and icepicks into my head. I'm very fire resistant and eat fire. I have a split tongue. I can keep my eyes open for a VERY long time.

TBF I'm a sideshow and fire performer so I'm cheating

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[–] variants@possumpat.io 11 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I can whistle from my throat, I figured out how to do it from yawning and just kept practicing, the wife hates it because it hurts her ears but every time I yawn I have a habit of trying

[–] pelotron@midwest.social 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)
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[–] Nefara@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I can whistle in three different ways. The classic pursed lip whistle, a whistle using just the tip of my tongue and the roof of my mouth, not using my lips at all, and then another using the tops of my bottom teeth. I can make decent bird sounds using my bottom teeth, but I can do pretty much any tune I can think of with the pursed lip method. It has been relevant to my life exactly zero times, except to entertain myself.

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[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If I press on the corners of my eye it forces air down my naso-lacrimal duct (that lets tears drain into our sinuses) and it makes a squeak loud enough for people sitting next to be to hear. I have a built in nose flute.

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[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 10 points 6 months ago (6 children)

I can roll my R's like a Spaniard and move my boobs on their own but that's it.

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 10 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I can inhale through my butthole to fart on command.

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[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I can whistle while either exhaling or inhaling

Idk how special or weird it is but everyone I've tried to teach the skill to seems entirely incapable of doing the inhale one

It's super useful for whistling complex songs or long bits without stopping, though

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[–] Xanis@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Sooo I can cause what honestly feels like a small and constant electrical current flow through any part of my body. If I center this feeling on my chest it is easily more prominent than anywhere else with my head being second. Extremities are dead last. If I am hooked up to a heart monitor I can make it freak out at will. Any location I focus it on tends to want to tense up.

I like to tell people this is the result of me grabbing onto a metal item when I was younger that was still hot. Couldn't let go for a solid 6-10 seconds, can't say exactly how long. What I am able to do feels very similar.

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[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

Well, I can still do a cartwheel, it's good for surprising children. Thumbs bend backwards.

I can also reach all of me, which my husband seems to think odd, can put sunscreen on my own back so I don't think it's useless.

[–] PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I can poop on the floor. But I bet you can too.

[–] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Instructions unclear. Anyone know how to clean a popcorn ceiling?

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[–] Bonifratz@lemm.ee 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I can crack the knuckles of my big toes at will (only moving my toes, no hands involved).

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[–] Zier@fedia.io 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Due to an NDA I signed, I am unable to answer your inquiry. Next question please.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Hi yes I'm a big fan. I'd like to know your credit card details please

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[–] nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)

I can rotate one finger at one direction and the other on the opposite direction while pointing one to another, simultaneously. I don't know how uncommon it is but, back at high school, no one else in my class could do it. Totally unuseful skill.

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