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

Here's a useful fact. The legal minimum tyre tread limit in the UK for vehicles under 3.5 Tons is 1.6mm across 3/4 of the tyre tread face (i.e. inner to outer, for the circumfrence of the tyre).

So there.

It only takes seven pounds of pressure to rip off a human ear

It takes 20 human searchers to do the work of just one rescue dog

The animal most likely to kill you if it falls from a tree is an elephant

The term "surfing the Internet" was created in 1992 by author Jean Armour Polly. She came up with the term because her mouse pad had a picture of a surfer on it

where to start...

firstly, at 90 degrees to the surface you will not see your own (nor any other) reflection. agreed. at other angles your own reflection will not 'return' to you. also agreed.

however:


the surface of the ocean is in fact seldom flat. essentially triangular wave forms will behave like a prism reflecting light back to the subject.
multiple reflections can and will occur. since both the surface and the subject can be in motion the reflection will usually not be static.
the subject's size, distance from the surface, and the relative angles of wave surfaces will all interact.
underwater creatures in near surface environments will encounter reflections of other creatures routinely. probably more often than terrestrial creatures. and they will routinely see self images even if these images are partial, dynamic and fleeting.

as terrestrial creatures our chance of encountering a self reflection underwater are slim and dependent on looking at the right place on the surface at the right time under the right conditions.

for dolphins, a creature that lives underwater and approaches the surface several million times in a lifetime the probability changes dramatically.

overview of TIR here http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/302l/lectures/node111.html

~*~The animal most likely to kill you if it falls from a tree is an elephant.~*~

But what are the odds that an elephant's going to be hanging out in a tree?

Incidentally, when elephant's "migrate" to different water sources, they all follow the oldest female, who finds them based purely on memory. This is doubtless what spawned the phrase "an elephant never forgets."

~*~Firstly, at 90 degrees to the surface you will not see your own (nor any other) reflection. agreed. at other angles your own reflection will not 'return' to you. also agreed.~*~

You guys do know you're arguing about something ridiculously trivial, right?

What else is this thread for?

trivial? yeah. in the chat room i hang there has been a decade long argument raging about the moon's rotation. *s*

The moon doesn't rotate, it's just a painting on the ceiling. Everyone knows that.

It's not. It's real. I know it is, cos it smiles at me every night

Incidentally, a bit like Google Earth, Google Maps has a site (I think it's at moon.google.com but this PC won't let me on there) where you can look at photos of the moon's surface . It has maps of where the lunar landings took place. Try zooming in close to see where the remains of the lunar landers are...

The TIR debate? Getting boring now... move along please...

the first posting in this thread was jan 16th 2004. this is post 4189 on 31 jan 2007.

this is a post every 6 hours and 21 minutes approximately.

Now THAT's what this thread is for! thank you anti!

Anyone want to go back and count how many of these posts contain the word "vomit"?

Oh... and I just learned that the shape described commonly as a figure eight like the infinity symbol is called a lemniscate.

Google Moon does not show you the Landers. But if you zoom in far enough, it DOES show you a rather beautiful picture of the cheese.

Florence Nightingale invented the pie chart.

Sir Edmund Haley invented actuarial tables.

Sir Isaac Newton invented the cat flap.

RF

Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals.

Sir Thomas More invented vomit.

RF

Bet he didn't!

Well he made Henry VIII sick.