Here is Emily Marcroft's (nomads@crl.com) answer:
BTW, about the questions you need answered: I was a student ambassador and went to Australia. I noticed that their hallway/stairs protocol IS reverse from ours! There's yer answer. :) Dunno about lifts tho.
Here is Stuart McG's (StuartMcG@aol.com) answer:
Yes. Strangely this is true. The sad truth of it is that we do seem to prefer moving on the left as much as possible. However, for no reason whatsoever (except to get use to accept the metric system and join *Europe**) most public-owned buildings have escalators on the right. Another interesting point is that while the U.K has single-handed over taken and owned a representative country from every single ethnic group on earth, nobody in England actually speaks any languages other than English with any degree of fluency. I myself speak snatches of Luganda, Swahili and even....French. In addition to this I learned to read in Latin and Ancient Greek. I wonder if the English are born-to-be-bolshy. It would certainly explain a few things.
A note that you have missed off your pages granted by those swell guys at Aol.Com, is this:- "Why can Cheddar cheese come from France, and Champagne be made in countries other than France, and yet Scotch whisky (the best commonly available being Glenmorangie) can only come from Scotland?" It isn't very intersting at all, and yet seems to strike a chord with me. It would seem that as peoples' leaders and rulers change, so too do the ideals of those whom they rule and lead. Since the Scottish people have had no leader or ruler for over Three perSquillion*** years, their views have not changed at all. Nobody else can make whisky****.
* Smile on your brother, its time to love one another right now!
** Piss off everybody who supports this capitalist and facist idea of unification. It can't work. J.Major is too strong for you Ha HA!
*** 45perSquillion (also: 45 Squillion) is the largest number that exists (approx Infinity/18)
**** I think that you might call it whiskey.
Aquishix notes:
3) I've been to england and the best I can remember, the 'left side' instead of right ther only applies to the roads, not the sidewalks etc. At least, I didn't run into anyone..
Shhh. I had already *solved* that one!
The Numeral 4 in Times New Roman
Here is Baghestani's (Baghestani@aol.com) rather dubious answer:
you have the funniest web site i have ever seen...the reason the numeral 4 in TNR is non-serifed is a secret international code that has to do with price-fixing on rubber items. If you ever see the 4 change into a serifed model it is time to watch out!!! please do not tell anyone i told you this or my tires will explode
I suppose his or her tires have exploded now. Sorry Baghestani!
Here is Leia Smile's (LeiaSmile@aol.com) perhaps even more unfeasible answer:
There is a very logical reason as to why the number 4 is not serifed. It is an error in the program. I apologize profusely and will whack all the people, who had nothing to do with the error, profusely. It was in fact I who made that error, but I do not ever admit to being wrong so... look into my eyes.... you are getting sleepy... very sleepy... You will remember nothing of the question you have asked... when I snap my fingers you will awaken, and you will not care about the number 4 anymore... *snap* If this answer has not satisfied you... I'm sorry. But I kinda like being told my answers aren't satisfactory... especially if you publish it on the web. Maybe I'm weird, but you've gotta love me.
Some people will do anything to get on the Web.
This is Jamie's (akkhima2@aol.com) cryptic "answer":
If you'll notice the number 8 also has no serifs, but the number 2 is the only number with a serif on the bottom of the right side. And 84 divided by 2 is 42, coincidence? I think not!
Convincing, but my money still stays on "coincidence".
Aquishix also has a thought on this:
I might be talking about of my ass here, but I think that the roman numeral system used 'bars' across the top and bottom of the writing line that they wrote down the numerals on, so that there was no such thing as serif or sans serif fonting for numerals, and V was just like a straight up and down like like I(sans serif) so that inbetween the two bars, everything was perpindicular(sp) to the bars, therefore requiring no serif at all.
Like I said, I may be talking out of my ass here =)
Remember that our digits are Arabic, not Roman. In any case, '1', '2', and '7' all have serifs...
Here is Kim's (BANAHAW@aol.com) 'hint':
I dunno why. All I know is that what you described are called phosephenes. Something like that.
Here is another Kim's Definitive Answer from Cecil Adams' "The Straight Dope":
Dear Cecil:
I've gone through life wondering about a childhood discovery that I must resolve before I slip into chronic adult paranoia. Lying in bed with a winter cold, I noticed that when I coughed, I sparked-- but only when my eyes were closed. What does this mean? Am I all right? Need we be concerned about the power drain? It would be a shame to short out before my time. Should I avoid coughing in the tub? In the rain? --Sparky, Washington, D.C.
Cecil replies:
Don't worry, goofball, you're not going to electrocute yourself. The sparks are an optical illusion.
In the first stage of a cough, pressure is built up in the lungs, and for a split second that pressure inhibits the flow of blood through them. This causes a momentary imbalance in the circulatory system, forcing more blood to the head, and, naturally, the eyes.
The eyeball is entwined in a network of blood vessels--you've seen the Visine commercials--that we normally see right through. But when these vessels are slightly overloaded, thanks to the pressure in the lungs, they become a little harder to get around.
At the moment of the cough, when the lung pressure is released, a final wave of pressure travels to the head, and the combined effect of the bloated vessels and this final burst creates enough pressure to stimulate the photoreceptor cells. The sparks you see are the outline of the veins. Usually, the sparks are concentrated at the periphery of the eye, where the network of blood vessels is densest.
Interestingly, children spark more than adults--as you get older, you get bigger and less susceptible to subtle changes in pressure. But you can recapture the bliss of childhood by closing your eyes, looking all the way to the right, and touching the left side of your eyelid. Sparks are less likely than a dull glow, but the principle is the same: pressure on the eye creates an illusion of light.
--CECIL ADAMS Copyright 1984-1996 Chicago Reader
Thanks, Kim!
Blue Munchies report:
i'm not sure how recent your questions are but i can answer the one about mercury and hatters that are mad as I am one a milliner or hatmaker that is!
anyway the fact is that both we silly humans knew anything about toxic substances and the harm they do to us mercury was used in the hat making process. In particular the process of making felt hats e.g top hats in short the process involves taking a 'felt' which is in a rough hat shape and holding it over steam to soften it. The felt is then placed on a 'block'(a wooden block in the desired shape and size)and carefully moulded to that shape. Stiffener is then applied to the felt and it is left on the block over night to dry. the stiffener used to contain mercury. The term mad as a hatter came about as it was thought that the fumes of the stiffener caused madness...
And Cooboid suggests:
First of all, 'mad hatter's disease' has an official name: erythism.
Answer #1. Those types of hats were made out of felt, which requires supports. Lead supports, in fact. Not mercury. The lead in the supports caused an organic form of psychosis in many milliners.
Answer #2. Haberdashers used vats of mercuric nitrate, Hg(NO3)2, (some say it was mercury-infused water) to make felt out of a beaver pelt. Eventually they developed shakes, slurred speech, temperamental instability, and manic-depressive behavior from the fumes. Since, you know, mercury is a neurotoxin.
Lesson learned from all this? Never threaten to eat your hat.
Another theory of how the term came about: 'hatter' comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'atter', meaning 'adder'. An adder, as you probably know, is a viper with lots of venon. Its sting was thought to cause insanity. Personally I don't think it is as probable as the aforementioned theory.
So, basically, they just slosh about in it for no reason? I was right!
[Back]