Consider the Jellyfish
I prefer to make my miscalculations based upon
visual input. In such cases, first impressions are
crucial in creating a properly puzzling outcome.
Consider the jellyfish. Jellyfish may look like glass plates.
Pressed-glass plates and formerly-living jellyfish might
have much in common. Neither appears to move
much, although both are semi-solid, liquid entities.
The word liquid implies or hints at flowing motion or
at least the potential. Time-lapse cinematography
would likely demonstrate at least some motion.
Could a simple experiment compare relative motion
between the glass and jellyfish?
Mark a grid on the jellyfish, the plate, and the table
upon which the plate rests. Film from a fixed position
at X frames per hour.
Hypothesis: time-lapse imagery will show that the
semi-solid liquid jellyfish will move more rapidly than
the plate, as dessication progresses. Although it is a
semi-solid liquid as well, the glass plate will not dry out.
The jelly fish will contort as it loses water content.
However, at a certain point both the glass plate and
the jellyfish will move rapidly, at the identical speed.
This will be determined by the purification of the jellyfish
and the overwhelming desire to discard the rotting
aquatic creature without removing it from the plate.
Any photograph of a dead jellyfish fails to convey the stench.
sk11/25/09