Things you often Wonder

[TheAuthority]

6 minutes ago, limpid said:

Do you wonder about things without actually having an interest in learning about them? I guess that's up to you.

[useless]

I'm sure this thread is full of things that people have wondered about without having an interest in learning about them in great detail, it's pretty much the nature of the thread, light hearted/random things that cross people's minds.

Besides not sure where I said I wasn't interested in learning, I just said I wasn't on a quest, but certainly if I was trying to learn about something I'd be more liable to listen to someone who seems to specialize in the subject I'm learning about rather than someone on a football forum however well intention and even informed they may appear to be.

Also the bigger whales are different from smaller mammals, such as dolphins, hippos and so on, the eyes biological endowment (or whatever the term is) might be similar, but because of the whale's massive head the way they see things is different, smaller mammals have binocular vision whales don't apparently, they have two seperate fields of vision, but it's not known whether they perceive it as two seperate fields of vision or whether their brain unifies the image.

 

[useless]

I've no idea how reliabel it is but this webpage contains a video that demonstrates using mirrors how whales see.

'Whales' eyes are on the sides of their heads. Each eye sees a separate view. This type of vision is called monocular vision. In this activity, you will find out what it's like to have monocular vision.'

Whalingmuseum

[Anthony]

I would like to talk about Rogers the bulls.

"Because of the huge obtrusive mass of his forehead, Rogers the bulls’ view of the universe was from two eyes each with their own non-overlapping hemispherical view of the world. Since there were two separate visions, Rogers had reasoned, that meant there must be two bulls (bulls not having been bred for much deductive reasoning). Most bulls believe this, which is why they always keep turning their head this way and that when they look at you. They do this because both of them want to see."

Thank you Sir Terry Pratchett.

[Mandy Lifeboats]

The last 2 threads I've read have covered the following topics.  

1. How do Whales see?

2. If you had a penis on your forehead, how much of it could you see.   (Mysteries Thread) 

If whale with a penis on his head would it think it had 2? 

Edited November 11, 2021 by Mandy Lifeboats

[sidcow]

21 hours ago, Anthony said:

I would like to talk about Rogers the bulls.

"Because of the huge obtrusive mass of his forehead, Rogers the bulls’ view of the universe was from two eyes each with their own non-overlapping hemispherical view of the world. Since there were two separate visions, Rogers had reasoned, that meant there must be two bulls (bulls not having been bred for much deductive reasoning). Most bulls believe this, which is why they always keep turning their head this way and that when they look at you. They do this because both of them want to see."

Thank you Sir Terry Pratchett.

My absolute favourite thing about Discworld is when a major character appears briefly in a book which is not really about them.  Sam Vimes is probably the main protagonist in this.  Just a character with a walk on part, maybe a line or 2.

That and the global variations of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler.

Edit:

 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by sidcow

[il_serpente]

On 10/11/2021 at 13:15, limpid said:

It's because eyes don't work like cameras. Didn't we just go through this?

My eyes work like a camera obscura, because my head is an empty room.   Still feeling smug?

[limpid]

4 hours ago, il_serpente said:

My eyes work like a camera obscura, because my head is an empty room.   Still feeling smug?

Then what is controlling the typing?

[chrisp65]

6 hours ago, il_serpente said:

My eyes work like a camera obscura, because my head is an empty room.   Still feeling smug?

 

1 hour ago, limpid said:

Then what is controlling the typing?

A finite number of monkeys?

[KentVillan]

How closely related, on average, are ginger people?

[Seat68]

15 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

How closely related, on average, are ginger people?

Siblings/spouses. 

[chrisp65]

41 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

How closely related, on average, are ginger people?

I know two, and I’m not even slightly related to them.

[Seat68]

7 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

I know two, and I’m not even slightly related to them.

To your knowledge. I know 2 gingers and they are related to each other. 

[PussEKatt]

I know a ginger cat and he is not related to any other person that I know.

[Mark Albrighton]

I feel like a similar wondering has been posted before, but in case it hasn’t…

I often wonder how far back in history I could go, with my 21st century knowledge (such as it is), my modern day speech patterns, etc and blend in and ultimately survive. For a bit, anyway.

I’d have the appropriate attire, I’d have a small amount money to get by initially (think Doc Brown and his ready supply of various denominations from different eras). 

And I often wonder if I could succeed in the 1700’s or something. I could say “What about electricity? Let’s invent that, make a fortune.” But then I’d be stumped as to what to do next.

[Phil Silvers]

31 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

I feel like a similar wondering has been posted before, but in case it hasn’t…

I often wonder how far back in history I could go, with my 21st century knowledge (such as it is), my modern day speech patterns, etc and blend in and ultimately survive. For a bit, anyway.

I’d have the appropriate attire, I’d have a small amount money to get by initially (think Doc Brown and his ready supply of various denominations from different eras). 

And I often wonder if I could succeed in the 1700’s or something. I could say “What about electricity? Let’s invent that, make a fortune.” But then I’d be stumped as to what to do next.

2017

[tonyh29]

50 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

I feel like a similar wondering has been posted before, but in case it hasn’t…

I often wonder how far back in history I could go, with my 21st century knowledge (such as it is), my modern day speech patterns, etc and blend in and ultimately survive. For a bit, anyway.

I’d have the appropriate attire, I’d have a small amount money to get by initially (think Doc Brown and his ready supply of various denominations from different eras). 

And I often wonder if I could succeed in the 1700’s or something. I could say “What about electricity? Let’s invent that, make a fortune.” But then I’d be stumped as to what to do next.

well arguably Nikola Tesla was the  biggest contributor to commercial electricity and he died penniless  .. so don't invent it , just make sure you steal the ideas and own the patents  

 

 

 

[mjmooney]

1 hour ago, Mark Albrighton said:

I feel like a similar wondering has been posted before, but in case it hasn’t…

I often wonder how far back in history I could go, with my 21st century knowledge (such as it is), my modern day speech patterns, etc and blend in and ultimately survive. For a bit, anyway.

I’d have the appropriate attire, I’d have a small amount money to get by initially (think Doc Brown and his ready supply of various denominations from different eras). 

And I often wonder if I could succeed in the 1700’s or something. I could say “What about electricity? Let’s invent that, make a fortune.” But then I’d be stumped as to what to do next.

Yes, I've often thought about this. 

[villa4europe]

keeping the knowledge base that you have now? 

so in theory you could go back to 1966 and lump your life savings on a 4-2?

i do with music - take up a residency in the Brill Building and see where that life takes you...i was thinking about that this morning, often do on the train, could you take songs back and then get them to work, could you "write" like a virgin in 1964 and see where it went, watched the wu tang clan show whatever its called and they do like an open mic night in the early 90s and let my imagination run wild and think like what if you turned up and dropped some 2pac or biggie lyrics or kanye stuff, could you give a kings of leon song to CCR?

basically id be the greatest record producer and writer ever known to man, dont need to go any further back than that 

[Mark Albrighton]

18 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

keeping the knowledge base that you have now? 

so in theory you could go back to 1966 and lump your life savings on a 4-2?

i do with music - take up a residency in the Brill Building and see where that life takes you...i was thinking about that this morning, often do on the train, could you take songs back and then get them to work, could you "write" like a virgin in 1964 and see where it went, watched the wu tang clan show whatever its called and they do like an open mic night in the early 90s and let my imagination run wild and think like what if you turned up and dropped some 2pac or biggie lyrics or kanye stuff, could you give a kings of leon song to CCR?

basically id be the greatest record producer and writer ever known to man, dont need to go any further back than that 

Well sure, you can do that if you wanted. 

But what I meant from the main part of my post was could you “pass” as someone from that era. 

I dare say I could get by culturally and not take too long to understand the world in the mid 1960’s. 

What I’m wondering is how much 2021 me would stand out in the 1860’s (say). Could I get by or would I be constantly thinking “What the hell is everyone saying? I understand about 80% of the sentences and phrases.” for instance.

And does it follow the further back I go the harder it would be for assimilation?