jlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) (03/19/87)
This is a bit of trivia that some of you may be interested in.
According to ancient, arcane sources, on the day of the VERNAL EQUINOX
(i.e. first day of spring, tomorrow 3/20/87) if you place an egg on end (use
the large end) on a smooth surface, it will stand on its own!
I tried this back in 1982, when I first heard about it. I sponged clean
my formica counter top and grabbed an egg from the fridge. Sure enough it
stood on its own the first time I tried it! In fact, it stood long enough for
me to get my camera and photgraph it (I used the photo as my Christmas card this
year).
Try it, you may be surprised.
Jim Collymore
p.s. I did tried the same thing the day after the EQUINOX, and I just couldn't
seem to get ANY of the eggs to stand on end.cs1551bb@charon.UUCP (03/20/87)
In article <420@atux01.UUCP> jlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) writes: > >According to ancient, arcane sources, on the day of the VERNAL EQUINOX >(i.e. first day of spring, tomorrow 3/20/87) if you place an egg on end (use >the large end) on a smooth surface, it will stand on its own! > > > Jim Collymore > >p.s. I did tried the same thing the day after the EQUINOX, and I just couldn't > seem to get ANY of the eggs to stand on end. Somebody else tried the same thing, on some day other than the Vernal Equinox, and succeeded in getting many dozens of eggs to stand on end. The likelihood of standing an egg on end, they reported, had more to do with the balancers manual dexterity than with the day of year (this is not a slur at you, I don't even know you, I'm just quoting as best as my memory allows). For more information, I can look up the article I saw this bit of trivia in (Discover, unknown month in 1986 I believe). (adding garbage, to make article more than 50% mine, so that it will be posted) -- I hope something in all this garbage helps someone, because I know that I've thouroughly confused myself. Brian Bowers cs1551bb@charon.unm.edu
ccplumb@watnot.UUCP (03/21/87)
In article <420@atux01.UUCP> jlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) writes: >According to ancient, arcane sources, on the day of the VERNAL EQUINOX >(i.e. first day of spring, tomorrow 3/20/87) if you place an egg on end (use >the large end) on a smooth surface, it will stand on its own! > >[I did it in 1982; it worked.] > Jim Collymore > >p.s. I did tried the same thing the day after the EQUINOX, and I just couldn't > seem to get ANY of the eggs to stand on end. Nonetheless, it's quite possible. This has ben verified. It's tricky, but possible no matter what day it is. -- -Colin Plumb (watmath!watnot!ccplumb) Zippy says: My haircut is totally traditional!
bct@its63b.UUCP (03/23/87)
In article <420@atux01.UUCP> jlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) writes: >According to ancient, arcane sources, on the day of the VERNAL EQUINOX >(i.e. first day of spring, tomorrow 3/20/87) if you place an egg on end (use >the large end) on a smooth surface, it will stand on its own! It takes along time for news to percolate round the world. This just arrived today 23rd March. I'll just have to wait till next year! :-) :-) -- -- > Brian Tompsett. Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, > JCMB, The King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland, U.K. > Telephone: +44 31 667 1081 x3332. > JANET: bct@uk.ac.ed.ecsvax ARPA: bct%ecsvax.ed.ac.uk@cs.ucl.ac.uk > USENET: bct@ecsvax.ed.ac.uk UUCP: ...!seismo!mcvax!ukc!ecsvax.ed.ac.uk!bct > BITNET: psuvax1!ecsvax.ed.ac.uk!bct or bct%ecsvax.ed.ac.uk@earn.rl.ac.uk
billw@wolf.UUCP (03/24/87)
>>According to ancient, arcane sources, on the day of the VERNAL EQUINOX >>(i.e. first day of spring, tomorrow 3/20/87) if you place an egg on end (use >>the large end) on a smooth surface, it will stand on its own! >> >>[I did it in 1982; it worked.] >> >Nonetheless, it's quite possible. This has ben verified. It's tricky, but >possible no matter what day it is. Yup. [See OMNI, March 1987: GAMES, p114.] >>p.s. I did tried the same thing the day after the EQUINOX, and I just >> couldn't seem to get ANY of the eggs to stand on end. Maybe you weren't trying as hard. Who ever came up with this brain-damaged version of inews that insists my followup be longer than the original? Someone up at USENET Control, get with it! -- Bill Wisner {sdcsvax,ihnp4}!jack!wolf!billw Everything is under control.