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

The worst is if you hiccup while talking. Then everybody can hear you.

So what is the ultimate cure then (apart from spending 30 mins under the bathwater, which would cure all your other problems as well)

I was once cured instantly of the hiccups by an Australian barman in Edinburgh. I had to hold my ears shut with my thumbs and my nostrils shut with my pinkies while he poured a pint of water down my shirt.

I'm almost certain he meant to get it in my mouth, though. I've tried it the less wet way with people since, and it seems to work quite well. This method has the added advantage that you can, if you want, pour the water down the poor victim's (sorry, patient's) shirt, adding to the general atmosphere of unbridled drunken hilarity. Hurrah!

As you can see this thing involves holding your breath. You´ve closed your nose so you can´t breathe through there, and your ears too if you should happen to be some sort of biological wonder. But I find holding your breath is best if it is done as early as possible.

re: the ears thing - this would have to be something to do with, er, um, actually I can't work out what this might be. It seemed so clear just 20 seconds ago . Something to do with internal head space pressure (technical term)?

is this about stopping hiccups? aren't u supposed to concentrate really hard on hiccuping and then magically u can't anymore.

Yes - I remember our English teacher saying to one girl "I'll give you five bob (well, that was the currency in those days) if you hiccup again!"

She couldn't!

What about iron ships? I can understand wooden ships because wood floats. But that you can actually take a several tons heavy piece of metal, make it a certain shape and it will float, it just seems rather absurd to me.

that's to do with pressure, too. *tries to remember his physics and wonders if there's anyone else here who could explain it better than himself*

the iron ships that don't sink (exactly what I meant by asking in the first place ) have to do with the bouyancy / displacement force. there are formulas to calculate it.

which immediately leaves you with the question why submarines CAN dive, then

[Tries to remember old science lessons]

Ah yes!

The thing about black is that it absorbs heat faster than white. But it also loses heat faster than white. So if you're wearing black, you'll get hotter quicker, but the heat will dissipate faster as soon as you step into the shade. Apparently.


Otto.

hm - but there IS almost no shade in the desert?

Black robes in the desert - I think the way it works is that the air under the clothes heats up and rises out the top of the garments, so drawing dry, 'cool' air in at the bottom. Well, t'is a theory....
BCNU - Crescent

Who wears black robes in the desert? Sounds a bit stupid to me
The Arabs wear white don't they?

well THAT would be an explanation of course - that I just don't remember the pictures correctly

I seem to remember the arabs wearing white as well. However as far as I remember the women wear black. But that might just be their attitude towards women, let them suffer from the heat.

About the ships, I know the formulas and reasons. It´s just that it seems intuitively wrong that it can happen. That´s why it seems like a silly idea to me.

As for submarines, I think it is because they have hydraulics that can suck in water or push it out, altering the bouancy of the boat.

Hi!

I remember the same explanation at school for black robes, that the air inside heats up and rises and forms a ... *proud he remembers this*...convection current that means there's a nice breeze going about your nether (and indeed your upper) parts.

Hmm.. Don't know if you've discussed this but big bits of metal flying through the sky is pretty amazing

*simultaneously thinks of flight on Saturday morning and also that he could have read through a bit of the backlog before making a comment that has probably had a whole week's thread based on it...*

Af

nope - you're the first to mention it - apart from helicopters, which are doubly improbable

And bumblebees - they can't be explained with conventional aerodynamic mathematics, which can even explain helicopters.

<--and that smiley's pretty amazing too

I didn't know that about the bumblebees - how fantastic. maybe they just believe in it hard enough? or nobody ever told them it wasn't supposed to work?

(do you just like the smiley or does it have something to do with you being 'uncharacteristically cheerfull' ? )