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

Me too, Mr D

Oh no...I can't...resist the..urge...

DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Drank tea.

Looked at my fish.

Funny what some people call their bits

Miss Sweden 2006 is a Gothminister fan and appeared in their music video for the song Darkside.

After the Goths sacked Mediolanum they wrote angsty poetry about it...

"Blond" is masculine, "blonde" is feminine. (If you don't like it, blame the French.)

What do you mean, blame the French? 2legs is French now?

Useless Fact: A shrewd of apes.

Afraid of lions.

PP

Aghast of ghosts.

We are involuntary breathers, dolphins (and some others of that ilk) are voluntary breathers.
I can't find a use for this so it must be useless.

sceptic

We aren't involuntary breathers: hold your breath for a minute and prove me right.

Homo erectus had a narrow spinal column in the place where nerves in ourselves control breathing associated with speech. So palaeoanthropologists think that they didn't have the fine motor control that allows us to talk and breath voluntarily.

Does that mean that they have to keep waking up to breathe when they're asleep?

Wow! 'palaeoanthropologists' . Doesn't this word have some facts associated with it?

So am I right? We can't choose not to breathe.

sceptic

I think they sleep one side at a time. Some think this is the reason for their larger brains.

sceptic

To clarify: Dolphins don't sleep in the traditional sense. Half of their brain goes unconscious while the other half stays awake, and vice-versa. So they are, in fact, always awake. Though whether they lose any alertness when one-half is down, I don't know.

<< So am I right? We can't choose not to breathe. >>

We can choose to breathe or not, as you'd know if you tried it.

Nah, we can't really choose not to. Try holding your breath - you'll breath sooner or later, whether you want to or not.