What causes a person to shiver uncontrollably following urination (i.e., “piss shiver”)? My friends and I have wrestled with this for years even to the point of consulting medical authorities (they didn’t know either). We currently have two theories. One is the Rapid Heat Loss Theory, which states that an uncontrollable shiver passes over the body following the rapid loss of several ounces of 98.6 degree liquid. This theory seems to have good face validity, but as far as we can tell females do not experience piss shiver, which puts a hole in that idea. Our second theory is the Mini-Orgasm Theory, which states that a man’s penis is used for two major activities: urination and sexual activity. When a man urinates the two functions cross briefly and he experiences a mini-orgasm that causes his body to shiver uncontrollably. Is either one of these correct, or is there a third theory we haven’t thought of? Please help, Cecil. –Patrick Cormack, Dallas
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- That’s it.
It dates back to precivilization days when men hadn’t learned to do their own shaking. Attributed to George Carlin. What a comedian.
What’s the SD Sci Ad Board sleeping off, you ask? Read on. One honorable member proposed that we figure in the inductance, capacitance, resistance, phase velocity, and for good measure the wind direction, Planck’s constant, and Avogadro’s number. The motion was voted down and its author shot. Another member ventured that “the signal velocity would be the speed of light divided by the square root of the dielectric constant of the insulation.” Jeers from the back benches, author left in tears. Finally a junior member chirped, “Let’s call it one-third the speed of light and adjourn to the refreshments.” Approved by acclamation, followed by a rush to the bar. So there you have it. Incidentally, while the juice as a whole moves pretty fast, the individual electrons don’t. This being alternating current, they dance frantically to and fro and never get anywhere. Just like us.
