Jumping the line when others are checking you out at the checkout

Q. When does your checkout line altruism peak and when does it wane? Let “Human Nature” be your guide here. A. That’s the journal that revealed the telling logic of such decisions, whether in a supermarket or elsewhere, reports “Discover” magazine. You’re more likely “to allow a line– jumper if the benefit to the person is greater than your cost, such as waving someone with a few items ahead of you when you’re pushing a full cart.” Generally, this makes great sense in the cost–benefit scheme of things in society. But don’t expect the same generosity if you’re carrying a bottle of beer, the researchers found. Concludes the magazine, “Yes, even in the checkout line we’re being judged.” Q. Astronomy buffs, are you up on a “yottowatt”? A. We humans have long been fascinated by collisions, whether it’s two cars colliding or two railroad cars or planes, the sky’s the limit. Collisions often mean drama, damage, injury and a whole lot of energy released. How much? There may be thousands of watts, or millions, or billions, but for a “yottawatt” (YOT–ah–wat) it’s a million billion billion watts, or 10 to the 24th power (24 zeroes), says Christopher Crockett in “Science News” magazine.

For the energy that blasted out from the collision of two black holes — detected by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational–Wave Observatory — make that 36 septillion yottawatts, or 3.6 times 10 to the 49th power. “Rather than a flash of light, the power came out as ripples in spacetime. As the black holes merged, three suns’ worth of mass transformed into gravitational wave energy in a few milliseconds.” (“Physical Review Letters”)

As Caltech astrophysicist Kip Thorne explained it, the collision “created a violent storm in the fabric of space and time,” yielding “50 times more than all of the power put out by all of the stars of the universe put together.” Says Crockett, “Now that’s a lotta watts!” Q. Why did authorities at the Golden Gate Bridge stop reporting suicide stats when the death toll reached 997? A. Unfortunately, Golden Gate Bridge has the dubious distinction of being the most popular suicide site in the U.S., says Dan Lewis in his book “Now I Know More.” In 1995, “when the number hit 997, authorities stopped counting to avoid giving anyone the incentive of being jumper number 1,000.” Between 1937 when the bridge was built, and 2013, some 1,600 suicides were tallied, based on actual bodies recovered or eyewitness accounts. The number would have been greater had it not been for California Highway Patrol Sergeant Kevin Briggs, who since 1994 “has managed to talk an estimated 200 people out of jumping.”

The world’s most popular suicide bridge is widely regarded to be the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in China. Number of suicide deaths? Unavailable. Q. They say “it’s an ill wind that blows no good.” But how might you actually end up having your life saved by the wind? A. On Dec. 2, 1979, NY resident Elvita Adams had suicide on her mind, says Dan Lewis in his book “Now I Know More.” Suffering from depression and about to be evicted from her Bronx apartment, she went to the 86th–floor observatory of the Empire State Building, scaled a steel–spiked seven–foot fence and jumped. But then a very strong wind gust “caught her and blew her back toward the building, albeit one floor down. She landed on a ledge, where a security guard found her before she could make another attempt.”

Amazingly, the only injury Adams sustained was a fractured hip.