At one time or another the reader has used this idiomatic expression, a phrase we use when suddenly we remember something to add to an ongoing subject of conversation. It would be awkward to begin a sentence out of the blue, so to speak, if one were not trying to segue with a current topic. And just like that we are introduced to another idiomatic expression; first used by a columnist in The Spectator, a London paper, in 1879. The writer made reference to a rare event and completely unexpected, like a lightning bolt occurring out of a clear blue sky. And so we've managed to segue one idiomatic expression to another in one paragraph. But wait. How do we pronounce segue? Seg-way is how it is pronounced and often some folks actually spell segue as "segway" but that would be incorrect. However, 'Segway' is a proper noun (with S in upper case) that refers to a U.S. made self-balancing motorized vehicle on two wheels. Pronunciation and spelling notwithstanding, segue has Italian origin which refers to how movements in music would transition from one mood to the next. Now you know. It too is a way to connect the image of the brain above to the subject "Come to think of it".
You see, you were able to follow, that for non-English readers would look to be like seemingly jumbled characters, and put context to them because your brain - the seat of human thought - makes it possible for you to comprehend the whole paragraph in so little time that gives us all the impression of a lightning speed process by which we are able to discern the meaning to both written and spoken words; even more incredible for the latter, which makes instantaneous vocal conversation possible.
For centuries, from the moment scholars and linguists started to conceptualize our ability to use both vocal and written language to communicate, we marveled at the capability of human thought and the incredible speed by which the brain is able to process information. Now, come to think of it, how fast is human thought?
Two researchers at Caltech claim to have quantified how fast we "think". Well, as a result of their study, relative to today's technology, human thought is molasses-slow at 10 bits per second when compared to the average of the slowest download speed in computer processing of 93 megabits per second (Mbps). That is in millions of bits per second. I just signed up to a new internet service provider recently when a fiber optics company just finished laying down fiber optic cables in our neighborhood for a stupefying 5 Gigabits per second of download speed (in billion bits per second).
Wait, wait for just one long minute. What are we talking about here? We read that in computing, your laptop or desktop computer and cell phones transmit information digitally - namely the digits of zeroes and ones, representing the switching of electric current from on and off. In other words, for analogy, zero and one are words if they were written down on paper, on and off or as yes and no if they were spoken. Is that how close we can get for an analogy?
A bit, in computer speak, is either a one or zero, an on or off. So 10 bits per second is fast enough. As in the expression, in the blink of an eye, which is fast, we cannot blink ten times in a second, therefore 10 bits per second is quite fast, by that comparison. Of course, we are talking apples and oranges. Now you know where this is going. It is another come to think of it moment. It is apples and oranges because we are now talking about muscle reflexes involved in blinking as opposed to our thought processes. When you are able to pull away your finger instantaneously from a hot stove at lightning speed, it was not via a thought process that saved your day from a serious injury but by some autonomous reflex that your brain is responsible for.
According to the researchers, 10 bits per second is fast enough for our survival as a species. So, why do we need 1 or for that matter a 5 Gig download capability with our computing and streaming services? Is it our impatient nature? Perhaps. Or, or is it because we are merely instinctively programmed to be attracted to the next shiny object. Some behaviorists think that is exactly what explains our attraction and fascination with gold and diamonds - shiny objects. It is neither here nor there, I think. But then I am not a behaviorist.
Moving on, the researchers are puzzled by this phenomenon: "Our brains are constantly bombarded with sensory data at an incredible rate, estimated to be 109 bits per second, and yet our conscious thoughts process information at a far slower rate".
Apparently, even though information from our visual cortex (from what we "see") to our neocortex, we (our brain) ignore a lot of that data and we focus only on a sliver of data we deem important. That reminds me of the lyrics from "Some Enchanted Evening" (from the Broadway musical, South Pacific):
"Some enchanted evening
Someone may be laughing,
You may hear her laughing
Across a crowded room
And night after night,
As strange as it seems
The sound of her laughter
Will sing in your dreams.
Who can explain it?"
Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons,
Wise men never try.
Emile, the character who sung it, exhibited nothing more than someone who is able to ignore all the extra information that was streaming through his neocortex in that crowded room, except for the one - a stranger - who captivated his attention.
Now, you see how "come to think of it" would segue itself into almost anything our thought processes will take us?
Then we hear "come to think of it" moments that are clearly off-tangent. This will definitely be off-tangent but it came right out of the blue. See!
In my oil business days from almost two decades ago, cpg meant nothing more than "cents per gallon". Now in upper case, CPG is Canada, Panama and Greenland. See? Current events, but not to have politics intrude in the conversation, the news cycle inevitably makes our thought processes go whichever way, either inevitably or consciously, that we allow it to occur.
So, come to think of it, the U.S. purchased the lower Mississippi basin, that is now Louisiana, from Napoleon Bonaparte's French empire in 1803. Sixty four years later, in 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. Then in 1917, for 25 million dollars in gold, the same USA bought three islands, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands, from Denmark.
You see, how this segues into what sounded like an incredulously silly idea of the U.S. buying the largest island in the world - Greenland? 'Come to think of it', why is it called Greenland when it is mostly white ten months of the year? Supposedly, it was called that to encourage adventurous Danes to migrate and develop the island. Apparently, even up to this day, the enticement did not work so well because for its size there are only no more than 57,000 Greenlanders who live there - a mix of Danes and Inuits. The latter, who do not want to be called Eskimos are actually related to the Alaska indigenous population - in physical appearance and similarity in language.
The big island is now front and center, not just for the potential opening bid by the newly elected U.S. President, but because of its oil and rare earth mineral deposits.
But what about Canada and Panama? In the case of the northern neighbor, there really is not a visibly demarcated border. There is no language barrier either, except for those Canadians from Montreal and Quebec who to this day insist on speaking French. Come to think of it, Louisiana has pockets of folks who speak Cajun, a kind of French derived dialect that those from Quebec and Montreal look down upon. But Come to think of it, Cajun actually comes from the language spoken by citizens of Acadia, Canada that used to be a French colony way back when. As much as the Cajun dialect is derided by those from Quebec and Montreal, Parisians or French language purists in France don't look too kindly at how French Canadian is spoken either. Come to think of it, the British think the same way about American English. From My Fair Lady, Henry Higgins said this about the English language, "In America, they haven't used it for years".
Come to think of it, why can't Canada join in and we call the entire region, "The United States of Northern America - USNA. There would be a slight problem because USNA is already taken, as in United States Naval Academy (Annapolis). No problem, it can easily be changed to USNAA. As a bonus, Canadian bacon will be called ham. Oh, come to think of it, there will be no need for Niagara Falls to have a Canadian or U.S. side.
Imagine that, Northern America's gross domestic product (GDP) combined will outshine the entire commercial galaxy that for now is being contested by China. As a combined geographic and military whole, the US, Canada and Greenland combined, will be something to behold, especially if the Panama Canal comes with the entire package - completing the acronym CPG as one grand acquisition.
A man, a plan, a canal – Panama - is one of those clever palindromes and a great symbol for how ships go back and forth through this grand waterway. Come to think of it, although the Panamanian official currency is called a balboa (PAB), the country does not print it, instead it uses the U.S. dollar as its legal tender. For currency exchange purposes, a balboa is equivalent to one U.S. dollar. It is something to think about.
I can segue to so many more but come to think of it, I cannot ask for any more of the reader's time. I just hope I have provided you with a bit more to think about.
