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

so it is...

¦M¦

We have a winner!

Set us a question, Arthbard...

*ignores the decimal point*

Sounds good to me.

Hey, did you all read Mycroft's fascinating entry about Algo-Rithm the crazy 11th century Arab who invented zeros and decimal points? Give us a link here Myc, folks would enjoy that one!
Yeah, it blew my mind, to learn that the word Algebra was really Arabic, something like Al Jabr-sommit which was Algo-Rithm's first name! You gotta see it! Gads, the things they don't teach you in school!

peace
jwf

I hate to have two "what number comes next" questions in a row, but this is all I can think of right now.

What number comes next in this sequence 17869?

And explain your reasoning.

7, it's your U-number.
I would love it if this is wrong!

¦M¦

I've peer-reviewed Ming Mang's answer and find it satisfactory. Get the next question ready... Just to make John happy, and without in any way wishing to solicit additional material for the entry at http://www.h2g2.com/F57152?thread=142606 , Abu Ja'far Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi is at http://www.h2g2.com/A632990

jwf

Somehow, I never expected anyone to come up with my user number that fast. For that amazing bit of intellectual prowess, Ming Mang gets to set the next question.

Woohoo!!

Oh- that means I have to think again...
Hmmm...

OK - what vehicle's efficiency is two feet to the gallon?

I think that's good enough.

¦M¦

*
* *
* * *
Ah, space! The final frontier!
* *

Final answer...? That tractor thingy that hauls rockets to the launch pad.

I believe so, yes!
(though I could be wrong)

jwf's turn...

¦M¦

It ain't your turn yet, John: the shuttle transporter operates at 35 feet to the gallon. I've got two possible candidates, and I'm going for the shuttle itself (along with SRBs et al) as the first one.

Uh-oh, am I wrong...?
*wonders off to check facts somewhere...*

*wonders back again*

Sorry Jwf... Mycroft's amazing knowledge is right. It is indeed the shuttle.
Sorry. Shall I shoot myself now?

¦M¦

Let's just sweep this sorry episode under the carpet and let John ask the next question, shall we? It's not as if he's getting any younger...

Probably best... sorry everyone. If ever I'm in danger of asking another question, don't let me...

¦M¦

Ignoring the fact that both Ming Mang and Mycroft have left several unanswered questions I eagerly offer you:

What inventive genius demonstrated a working torpedo in the Seine, blowing up a derelict French warship with such dramatic effect that he was cursed as an agent of the and decided instead to sell his invention to English Prime Minister Pitt?

Hint: Pitt, who didn't really see Napoleon coming, declined. England's survival would depend on Nelson. But, happily, the inventor made the acquaintance of Watt.

The strangely familiar day-dreaming bungler in question was one Robert Fulton, best known for building the first steamboat.

Other famous Fultons include the anthropologist Ruth Fulton, the Fulton Flash - Helen Stephens, the missionary Mary Hannah Fulton, the poet Alice Fulton and, er... that's it.

Bloody search engines make more steam and puff than steam engines, eh Watt?

Mycroft is the winner! In an astounding 55 minutes!

Add to your list of known Fultons, a new one, David Crawford Fulton, a poet from Glasgow, who posts here as 'thewoo'.

And let us have your next question tomorrow Myc.

It's damn near midnight here ..and you've got me wondering "where you're at" ...because it's 4am in the UK.

Good night, good morning or good afternoon as the case may be.

peace
jwf

PS: Technically speaking it was the first 'commercially viable' steamboat. He was a New Yorker afterall.

Not just technically speaking, but accurately speaking too, he was from Lancaster County (now Fulton County), Pennsylvania.

This one should take a Canadian considerably less than 55 minutes:-

Jack (not Jay) was on a raft with a musk-rat, a raven and a wolf. Why did one of them die?

Born in Pennsylvania, yes, apprenticed as a jeweller in Philadelphia (just up the road from Ben Franklin's "Post"), yes.
But I refer you to the (c1940) film "Little Old New York" which is actually the story of Fulton's life and his many commercial developments in the city and on the Hudson River. Fulton was such a quintessential New Yorker that his cinematic biographers use the name of that great city itself as their title. Like Burr, he was drawn to the cosmology of the brave new metropolis and contributed much to its greatness. See also Fulton Fish Market .


As to your question...
hmmmmm... a raft you say...