h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just spotted the relevance of the title...

So its not just a flexing of the boards/shape - it changed shape permanently?

So trousers which get stretched become baggy?

At a guess guns rolling backwards and forwards over the deck would compress the wood underneath, forcing it outwards, which would then impinge on other boards, and thus make either the wood warp, or broaden/stretch the entire deck?

Thom Yorke gets stretched becomes taller?

... No...

Missed this .....

So, the link is...

Things become stretched/misshapen with time/Use?

Chariot Wheels lose shape over time if just left.
Clothes lose shape with wear/use.
Ship Decks change shape with time/use (shrink or stretch? - I suspect shrink actually).
Queasy Lord Mayor - a big guy originally? Stretched his skin by being big, sick so lost weight, then his skin was stretched and didn't "bounce" aback.
Thom Yorke.... Stretched his.... Didn't "bounce" back?

As per post 138, the link *isn't* "Things become stretched/misshapen with time/Use?", though it is obviously relevant to a lot of the parts.

Still not there with the mayor or Thom Yorke.

OK, I really don't know where to start with Thom Yorke..... Is it anything to do with singing/song writing/playing instruments, or it is something about him, how he was brought up, his physical presence (or deformities), etc...

Lord Mayor - we've established he got travel sick in a carriage... Why though - not because something stretched? Was there anything odd about that carriage in particular? Was it because it was going over cobbles?

Was the Lord Mayor's carriage a Sedan Chair, by any chance??


GT

Nope. This is just about a recurring problem with horse drawn state coaches. Think about the answers we've already got.

hd!

You said No to Argon0 in post 130 to no suspension, or wooden suspension.

I thought State Horsedrawns used leather suspension....


GT

I wasn't saying no to no suspension, I was saying it's nothing to do with suspension. Sorry for the confusion.

Thinking back, I do seem to remember watching State occasions on TV, and the carriages do seem to sway a lot....


GT

If the wheels on the carriage were mis-shapen then that could produce something of a rocking motion, and so create a feeling of sea-sickness whilst on dry land, hence the queasiness of the Lord Mayor, I guess.


Geggs

Geggs - misshapen wheels. Correct +3.

A summary:

There are six sections:

1) A queasy Lord Mayor - travel sickness due to distortion of coach wheels

2) Something from Homer - Tip up chariot to take weight off wheels to prevent them distorting

3) Thom Yorke - ???

4) Baggy trousers - clothing can become misshapen with time

5) A chore for the goddess Hebe - remove chariot wheels for same reason as (2)

6) HMS Victory - distortion to deck. Why? What's the nautical term?

And tying them together:

7) What is the link? - ???

I know little of Radiohead, or Mr Yorke, but following the logic of the other parts, is some distortion regularly put on his vocals?? Like that Vocoder thing?

Or has his voice deteriorated over time, and is now distorted from it's original sound?


Geggs

Didn't Radiohead have an album called The Bends?

RF

Radiohead do use distorted guitar quite a bit, but that's not the answer I'm after.

The Bends!! Why on earth didn't I klaxon that? Damn.
(Not The Bends).

Coleridges 'The Ancient Mariner' has suddenly sprung to mind.....


'Water, water everywhere, the very boards did shrink.
Water, water everywhere but nary a drop to drink.......'



GT

The distortion in the Victory that I'm interested in is not due to shrinkage or swelling of the timbers.

>>The distortion in the Victory that I'm interested in is not due to shrinkage or swelling of the timbers.<<

'Waney' is my best guess for a long-term distortion from the effects of repeated flexing of the whole vessel.

(but surely you can't rule out completely those things you say should be ruled out?)

I've not heard of Waney before, so that's not it. The things that I rule out are the things that are not the answer I'm looking for.

A sneaking suspicion that you purposely stayed away from Star Trek, the high speed mode of travel, Warp. In clothing, the woven cloth has two orientations of fibres, Warp and weft. The warp is the one that would stretch to give baggy knees to a schoolteacher's trouserlegs. Timber does warp after repeated soaking and drying. And Radiohead music ... say no more.