I was once told that benjamin franklin used to try to impress his lady acquaintances by putting oil on the bottom of his cane and gently touching it to the surface of water, smoothing out the ripples
I love this, and...
wait is that how you smooth out the ripples??? i saw a pool at a hotel once that was perfectly still and it was just marvelous, it didn't even look like water, it looked like jello and i didn't even understand what i was looking at at first
It's one way. Perfectly still conditions can also do it.
I lived by the bay in Melbourne, and on a still morning the water was smooth as glass. And crystal clear if there'd been no rain in the past few days.