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

yes, doc. not as green as you're cabbage looking, are you?

as for the spilling mistooks, I think it's a good idea

How do you know how cabbage looking I am? Nare, or even eyyyyy da Doc is cooooool. I'll tell you the daftest new idea I've heard recently (apart from the absurd prosecution case summary that they propose to take me to court with!). You know the formula 1 car races and how MS does the fastest practice, gets pole position and leads all through. Makes for a boring race, right? Some tit said reverse the grid positions so the fastest driver is at the back. That way there will be lots of overtaking to be done and the race will be much more exciting.

One problem there, isn't there? The qualifiers will consist of people driving as slowly as possible. Daft, or what?

Oh a multiple choice question is it: Daft or what?
Hmmm.. I'll say 'what'. Because it's not so daft.

The only way this 'inverted order' idea works is if everybody qualifies as normal, expecting to run in the same order as they qualify. Only then will a coin toss decide (50-50 chance) if they remain in that order.

NASCAR and other American stock car venues will use this method, sometimes regularly and sometimes only as a 'feature' attraction. But you are quite right, such an idea would not work in Formula One.

Here's how it works.
If he losses the toss, the winning driver then draws a number from a hat. This number from 0 to 6 or even 10 or 15 (depending on the total size of the field but never more than half) dictates how many of the front-runners will be 'inverted'.

If he draws O or 1, then nothing changes. But if he draws 2 then he swaps positions with the second highest qualifier. If a 3 comes up, then only the first three cars invert their qualifying order. And so on up to whatever number he draws which is never a number higher than half the field. This ensures that the back runners will remain as back runners and makes for a more interesting race up front.

Remember that unlike F-1, American race cars actually can pass each other. NASCAR's thrill is seeing cars go side by side at 200 mph for mile after mile. Even the highly competitive CART series where as many as 20 cars often qualify within two seconds of each other has plenty of close racing and lots of passing due to track, driver and mechanical variables.

On the otherhand, watching MS win is never boring. Watching Mika and DC win over and over again in their 98 and 99 Mercedes, now that was boring. Somehow, Michael (with a little help from Rubeno) always makes it much more interesting.

Have you seen the latest US racing craze? Figure 8 race tracks with school buses. Now that's racing!


jwf

What was that about? Any idea, anyone?

BTW, as regards the centre of the earth, if you're going to take the idea to its logical conclusion, it should be reasoned that the centre of the earth (to all knowledge) is a ball of solid iron at around 1200C. Therefore it will have a face-centred-cubic nanostructure, which would mean that the exact centre of the ball (following the theoretical hypothesis that it is perfectly round, and has not been dragged out of shape by orbital velocity), would (76% likely) be the space between two atoms, which in turn would in fact mean that _everything_ would be above the centre of the earth.

Depending on your interpretation of the word 'above' in 3-dimensional space, that is.

Hope that's cleared that up.

B

No, sorry! The centre of the earth is a mathematical point. All your spiel is a heap of ordure.

And of course mathematical points are so applicable to a physical universe, aren't they?

B

Yes they are. That's how we tend to measure distances between things in the physical universe. You will notice that I wasn't the one to introduce the mathematical concept of the centre of the Earth.

I'll be joining the game...

>> I'll be joining the game...<<

Welcome, Runs with Mists !

Which raises the question, who is gonna raise the next question.

I got kinda lost on the last one which seemed to be a five parter.
But I believe Six7s (being from the area - to UK centric questions) got all the bits eventually. But wasn't there supposed to be a final grand answer derived by taking the first letter of the five answ...

According to the 3 dimensional illuminated globe that spins slowly in real time (but only in my mind) the sun should be coming up soon in Six7s land. Perhaps...


~jwf~

Despite not really undersatnding how or why it's my turn now, here goes...


Rearrange 7 of the following 8 terms into a logical (at least to me ) order AND explain the relevance of the remaining term

2800
Clara Louise Maass
Coronation Street
Joe McCarthy
Maureen O'Hara
Pink Floyd
Rites Of Passage
Tom Sharpe

six7's

ps the sun has been up for a while now ~j~, it's 4pm here

Thanks for this simple question six7S.
My puzzle was too difficult so I look forward to all the answers flooding in.
I am going to lurk this time round.

I think this is about the colours of the rainbow/spectrum. Or, as Hylda Baker would have said: "All the colours of the plectrum"

Maass - yellow fever
Sharpe - Porterhouse Blue

Is Maureen O'Hara any relation to Scarlet?

Loosehead. I don't think it was too difficult. It was a very well thought-out question. The reason the answers didn't flood in is that Six7s jumped so far ahead of us so fast, we couldn't catch up!

Maureen O'Hara - How Green was my Valley
or possibly The Redhead from Wyoming, but I think the first is more likely.

Joe McCarthy is probably Red, (so to speak).

I would guess that Pink Floyd would be the eighth item, because of the spectrum on Dark Side of the Moon.

Would Coronation St. be violet, because of the Cadbury's sponsorship?

B

.......or Violet Carson, of vintage Coronation St.

Oh, that's a a much more sensible suggestion

B

Almost there

Toxxin
colours of the rainbow/spectrum
Maass - yellow fever
Sharpe - Porterhouse Blue

Cleo
Maureen O'Hara - How Green was my Valley
Joe McCarthy ... Red
Pink Floyd ... the spectrum on Dark Side of the Moon
Violet Carson, of vintage Coronation St.

still missing...

2800
Rites Of Passage

six7's