And If You Notice, Gentlemen, The Faster I Go, The More Simmons Sounds Like A Motorboat!

Blog title is from an old Far Side cartoon in which "A bunch of scientists in lab coats [are] standing around. One scientist is kinda bent over a table and has his mouth pursed as if to make an "Ooooooooo" sound. Another guy is behind him drumming on the first guy's back with his fists." [description lifted from this page].

For some reason, I was reminded of the cartoon when I read this article, which contains this very interesting scientific observation:

The best knotting came from very flexible, long string contained in a large box. "A highly flexible string placed in a very large container will have a higher probability of becoming knotted than a stiff one that's confined in a smaller container," Smith told LiveScience.

The researchers suggest that cramped quarters limit the tumbling motion that facilitates the string weaving through the coils. That would explain why knots were less likely to form in smaller compared with larger boxes.

I sure hope those guys published in a peer reviewed journal, because otherwise, I wouldn't believe it.