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What It Takes to Hold Your Breath for 24 Minutes (2017)

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41–47 of 47 posts

Re: What It Takes to Hold Your Breath for 24 Minutes (2017)

#41
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a CO2 monitor, and I can confirm that it goes up at least that fast in my home. I can't speak for submarines or healthy levels. I've been wondering for a while why environmental rhetoric only talks about the global rise in CO2 in terms that make people think it's just an atmospheric phenomenon rather than notably changing what they're breathing. It looks like we've nearly doubled the CO2 we're breathing in the…

>only talks about the global rise in CO2 in terms that make people think Because the levels in the global rise are negligible in comparison to what is dangerous for breathing. Here's a hint, if you think you've spotted something blindingly obvious in a field scrutinized by hundreds of thousands of scientists, you're probably making a mistake.

Thanks for the hint. The thought that the health effects of a waste product from the most profitable of industries may have gone under-reported is indeed preposterous.

Here's a study showing reduced cognitive performance at various CO2 levels in the ranges we're talking about.

https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1104789/

Re: What It Takes to Hold Your Breath for 24 Minutes (2017)

#42
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likely because it's a magic trick and he didn't really poke it through his arm?

You're just guessing. He really did poke it through.

I had a look around at David Blaine poking various things into himself. I think I was probably wrong. It looks like poking a needle into a bicep is a somewhat common trick[1]. I assume he just takes the pain.

Still, I would tell everyone to be cautious believing a magician's explanation for any trick. Lying to mould people's memory of the trick is a really common technique. In one version of David Blaine's icepick through the hand[2] he says "This is the first time I let someone else choose the place" When he clearly chooses where to push the icepick through.

[1] https://vimeo.com/33462933

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw-l5SW5hik

Re: What It Takes to Hold Your Breath for 24 Minutes (2017)

#43
post #30
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing - that was an incredible story. I find David Blaine fascinating because many of his magic tricks aren't tricks per se, he just does things that would be unthinkable for the average person. For instance he often takes a bite out of a wine glass and chews it up, and it seems like there must be some trick to it, except in one of his TV specials he goes to a dentist and reveals that his teeth are all w…

Much more of it is a trick than David Blaine says so. I think Penn Jillette put it quite well: "Do you really believe a magician who last week was doing car tricks but this week is doing 'real' magic?"(paraphrased). Remember: Magicians are allowed to lie. Sometimes it's just a simple thing like "I never touched the deck of cards" when actually they were holding them at the start of the trick. Other times it is fake e…

> Remember: Magicians are allowed to lie

There was a magician on "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" recently who told an interesting lie. His lie was that he was doing a trick.

His "trick" involved snatching the right card out of a fast falling stream of cards, with the stream going fast enough that it seems impossible beyond the ability of a human to use counting or timing to pinpoint the right card and reach in and grab it.

In fact, he had developed the speed and skill to do just that.

Here's a page from the magician showing how he does it: https://www.kostyakimlat.com/blog/fool-us-magic-trick-reveal...

Re: What It Takes to Hold Your Breath for 24 Minutes (2017)

#45
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your brain starts to die without any oxygen, but not breathing is not the same as not giving your brain any O2. Your blood cells buffer amount of O2 for use and CO2 ready for removal, which is how an untrained person is able to hold their breath and not die. When you stop breathing, consumption of O2 continues until CO2 builds up to a threshold point, triggering a desperate need to breathe (humans cannot actually det…

I read that some free divers advised against hyperventilating. Instead they suggested to train to control urges to breathe despite rising CO2 in blood. This is much more difficult, but this way one keeps a solid indicator of dangerously low oxygen level.

That makes sense. I wonder if they do anything to add extra O2, or if that carries too high a risk of blackout due to low CO2 levels. I clearly am not a free diver.

Either way, the all caps warning stands. And even experienced free divers black out on occasion, so be careful out there.

Re: What It Takes to Hold Your Breath for 24 Minutes (2017)

#46
post #38
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very curious: once you've practiced for a bit, are you still having a gigantic fight with your brain/lungs to take a breath, or is that "put off" until, in your case, 1:30?

Not GP, but have trained freediving and used to spearfish almost daily. There is usually an easy period until the desire to breath starts, from 1 to 2 minutes in. The next minute or so is tricky, you get contractions as your body tries to breathe. After that you start to slowly zone out, but you're no longer in pain. Eventually the world closes in around you. When spearfishing you're typically fairly conservative and…

Huh, so that uncomfortableness thing actually lengthens with time. Interesting.

:)

Adds learning how to hold breath safely to todo list (Todo list falls over)

Re: What It Takes to Hold Your Breath for 24 Minutes (2017)

#47
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're just guessing. He really did poke it through.

I had a look around at David Blaine poking various things into himself. I think I was probably wrong. It looks like poking a needle into a bicep is a somewhat common trick[1]. I assume he just takes the pain. Still, I would tell everyone to be cautious believing a magician's explanation for any trick. Lying to mould people's memory of the trick is a really common technique. In one version of David Blaine's icepick th…

I'm thinking the healed piercing thing is what it is. Basically he has something akin to a fistula (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fistula) from repeatedly poking the same spot, but the outside heals over so you can't see the hole.
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