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

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I think elephant's legs are different.
Thinking about it, it might be the front ones that are different.

what varies from animal to animal is the relative lengths of fingers, wrists, forearms etc. as posted earlier, what will look like a knee at first glance is often a wrist.

bears have the closest configuration to humans and other primates and are one of the few animals to walk on the soles of their feet rather than their toes. apologies for the repeat, i'm sure this was mentioned a few thousand posts back.

Hmm. Interesting.

Anti, you are right. All animals are arranged on the same plan, it's one of the proofs of evolution. It's just the proportions that are different. Humans, bears, rats and others walk with feet flat (plantigrade), others walk on the tips of their toes(digitigrade) What looks like the knees going backward are the heels in the air.

Walking on your toes makes the part closest to the ground lighter in weight so you can run faster. Having fewer toes helps, horses only have one.

What's the deal with elephants though? They are supposed to be unique in that their front legs have forward facing knees, same as the rear one.

Look at a picture of an elephant (google it) The elbow bends backward as you expect, it's up close to the body. What looks like the front 'knee' is the wrist. The elephant is walking on the tips of his fingers.

Elephants have four knees. If they all work, that gives them 3 more than me.

pissed

i was reminded of this by a coin thread elsewhere, which i didn't read.

and i heard this from a coin expert on the radio, so i can't guarantee it is correct.

england is the only country that doesn't put its name on coins.

UK / Great Britain is the only country that doesn't put the country of origin on postage stamps. We invented them, nobody else had them, so there was no need for the name then and we haven't bothered since.

I thought Moist Von Lipwig invented stamps...

Nevermind, that was a different world.

Most toilets flush in E flat.

Or A flat - unless, of course, they're in a house.

Toilets also flush when playing poker.

Before winning the elections in 1860, Abraham Lincoln lost eight elections for various offices.

On that subject, the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free a single slave when it was issued.

Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken was born in Indiana.

Also from my calendar...

The most common street name in the U.S.? - Second Street
First Street is the sixth most common.

This one's probably been done but going back to coins...

Banknotes technically aren't legal tender.