Last night I felt like talking to Dede, but I didn't have anything to talk to her about so I asked her a couple of questions:
Question 1) If you had to be an animal or living creature other than a human, what animal/living creature would you be?
Dede thought for a few seconds and said "a dolphin."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because they are smart" she said.
I thought that was a good answer. She then asked me the same question. I said "I think a dolphin is a good answer, so I would pick a dolphin as well." She then said in an affectionate tone "oh, then we could be together and have a dolphin family." She then got a puzzled look on her face and asked "do dolphins have sex?"
I googled the question. It turns out dolphins do have sex. Belly to belly. Don't worry, I won't detail the entire anatomical workings or the sexual process. If you are interested, there are several sites that describle the process in detail. The article also indicated that dolphins are not monogamous, and sometimes have sex in groups. Dolphin orgies.
"Eeeeewwww. I don't want to be a dolphin anymore." Dede said.
"I'm sticking with dolphin" I said
Question 2) If you had to choose how you died from the following forms of death, which one would you choose: burning alive, drowning, or being dropped from an airplane without a parachute.
"I would be dropped from a plane. You pass out on the way down anyway." Dede said
"I don't think you pass out. I think you are alive the entire way down."
"Oh no, you pass out." She said.
Back to google I went. In my search I found one of the more entertaining articles I have read in a long time: How to Fall 35,000 Feet - And Survive.
It turns out Dede and I were both right. At 35,000 feet, you would be about 6 miles up. Once out in the open, you will infact fall unconscious as hypoxia sets in. What surprised me, is that you will wake up about a mile later (5 miles left to fall). The article talks about how to give yourself the best chance of surviving. It gives examples of those lucky few that have survived and lived to tell the tale. It turns out that if you can manage to shield your landing with another passenger, your odds of survival go up dramatically. Well, not dramatically, but it helps. Between 1940 and 2008, 118,934 people have died in 15,463 plane crashes. Only 157 people lived to tell about it (42 of those fell from higher than 10,000 feet).
Anyhow, should you ever find yourself headed down from 35,000 feet without a parachute, the fall will take about 3 minutes and 25 seconds and you will be awake for the last 2 minutes and 25 seconds of it. The article gives you some tips on giving yourself the best chance to live through it.
So, we were both right. She's my little dolphin lover.
Ed