HARPER@CSC.FI ("Robert Harper Finland", CSC) (12/20/90)
I am usually very serious about what I post to the BioSci groups, but
since it is near Christmas I thought I would post this light-heated look
at science. I don't want any followups or flames... and if you want to
indulge in more humourous reading then FTP into NIC.FUNET.FI and
directory /pub/misc/funnies it is right next door to /pub/misc/molbio
you can't miss it:-)
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LIME IS A GREEN-TASTING ROCK
Take one class of elementary school students, mix it thoroughly with
several pounds of scientific facts, then shake it up with a examination
and you have the perfect formula for instant "youngsterisms" about
science.
The beguiling ideas about science quoted here were gleaned from essasys,
exams and classroom discussion; most were from fifth- and sixth-graders.
They illustrate Mark Twain's contention that the "most interesting
information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then
stop."
Question: What is one horsepower? Answer: One horsepower is the amount
of energy it takes to drag a horse 500 feet in one second.
You can listen to thunder after lightning and tell how close you came to
getting hit. If you don't hear it, you got hit, so never mind.
When people run around and around in circles we say they are crazy.
When planets do it we say they are orbiting.
While the Earth seems to be knowingly keep its distance from the sun, it
is really only centrificating.
South America has cold summers and hot winters, but somehow they still
manage.
Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change
back into a sun in the daytime.
One hundred humidities equal 1 rain.
Question: In a free fall, how long would it take to reach the ground
from a height of 1,000 feet? Answer: I have never performed this
experiment.
Water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees. There are 180
degrees between freezing and boiling because there are 180 degrees
between north and south.
A vibration is a motion that cannot make up its mind which way it wants
to go.
Hard mud is called shale. Soft mud is called gooey.
There are 26 vitamins in all, but some of the letters are yet to be
discovered. Find them all means living forever.
There is a termendious [sic] weight pressing down on the centre of the
Earth because of so much population stomping around here these days.
Lime is a green tasting rock.
Many dead animals of the past changed to fossils while others preferred
to be oil.
A fossil is a dead bone.
Genetics explains why you look like your father and if you don't why you
should.
Humidity is the experience of looking for air and finding water.
Rain is saved up in cloud banks.
In some rocks you can find the fossil footprints of fishes.
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Rob "out of the mouths of babes..." Harper