thegreatbeyond

I just now discovered the question from Dither about the number of quarks in a quart of quartz. That was a hell of a calculation, and my final result is 2767199128581312720139813582 quarks per quart of quartz, specifically 1383599564290656360069906791 up and 1383599564290656360069906791 down quarks. This has (many) assumptions in it, like quartz being pure silicon dioxide and that the quart being referred to is a US liquid measure. That's a lot of quarks!

I used Webster's because, at the time, Dictionary.com was down, and it suited my purposes. No where on Webster's, though, does it say that it is just an American dictionary. It is a dictionary for any country that speaks English, of which "gray" and "grey" are a part of.

Yes, the second half of December and the early part of January, Pez and I were on "vacation" on the other side of the world, visiting family.

Touchpads are simply pressure detectors that are extremely sensitive to changes in pressure, hence why even a slight touch moves the cursor. Built in software tracks changes in pressure across the pad, which turns into a direction change.

Surprisingly enough, it is mathematically proven that an exact, finite formula comprised of only elementary functions can not exist that describes the perimeter of an ellipse. The closest I've come is:

The finite integral of ((a ^ 2 * sin(t) ^ 2 + b ^ 2 * cos(t) ^ 2) ^ (1 / 2)) with respect to t from 0 to 2 * pi.

Why are iPods so expensive?

Funnily enough, we've got one of the big copies of Websters Unabrdiged here. It contains such amazingly useful things as
'Vital stats' of American presidents
Lists of American vice-presidents
The Declaration of Independence
and other such things.

Now, I don't see why anyone American would need (or care) about things like that, let alone people who aren't American...

Collins Australian School (read: crap) Dictionary:
gray an American spelling of grey.


On the topic of America...
I was reading the Jargon file the other day, and I came upon Giga-...
and one of the pronunciations listed...
was...

jiga...

_please_ tell me that you don't use this...

There could be people who like to learn things. ^_^

What's a jiffy?

How do those one mouses with the spinning thing on top work?((scroll up, down, and page hold functions))

I know how! I've taken one apart to figure it out! ... ...

The iPod is so expensive because Apple made a quality product that seems to be better than everything else out there, so it costs a little more for the manufacturing and effort and because Apple knows that it can charge a little more for the Apple name.

Well, I could see why a resident of the US would want to look up a copy of the Declaration of Independance or which vice-president was in office when, but I can see why people from other countries might not care as much. Such is the problem with buying books mainly marketed for sale in the US.

Well, the two different spellings of grey are so widespread that, even if one came from the other, both are used equally.

Some people pronounce giga- with a J sound instead of a G sound. I've noticed the J sound used a lot more in the southern part of the US, where in the north I hear the G sound more often.

A jiffy is an instant. For example: "I'll be ready in a jiffy" means "I'll be ready in an instant".

If you roll your mouse wheel slowly, you can feel it "click" into place. This is because there are indents near the center of the wheel with two springs that respond to the indents. Depending on how the springs change, the mouse knows whether or not the wheel is turning up or down.

how come full moon is big and orange early night and then turn s small and white later, and is often times still out in the morning? doesnt that mean the people on the other side of the world in night dont get a moon?

I'm pretty sure he's talking about the moon... But I have no idea what the PEZ he's talking about.

bah, it's too late now, now i need to wait a month to take pictures

I understood! *will explain to chromus if he's lost?*

Need a Phred translator...

wow, that was amazing, we saw a rainbow coloured cloud, kinda a green at the very top, working down to a red and orange, unfortunatley, the further we drove, the more the colours in the cloud faded
any idea what could of caused such a phenomena?

I'm a proud Phred translator.

Who created the Song of Storms? Did the Windmill guy come up with it, then taught it to Link, who went back and taught it to him earlier? ... ... *blows up*

Actually, I am a bit confused about this moon question. Are you asking about it's color depending on it's position in the sky, or if the whole world can see the moon at once?

A rainbow colored cloud is rare. The phenomenon is similar to a rainbow, where water droplets in the air refract the white sunlight into different colors, depending on what angle you are viewing it from. The same thing happens in a cloud, except that normally the water vapor is so dense that all the color gets blocked. With very thin clouds at the right angle, you can get the rainbow effect.

No one knows for sure who originally created the Song of Storms in Zelda: Ocarina of Time. What is known is that Link plays for the windmill man, who, seven years later, teaches it to Link, who goes back in time to play it for the windmill man. Yes, this loop repeats forever. This kind of thing is abundant is time-travel theory. It would seem that only a being that could view time differently than us (for example, as a direction, like being able to look up and down as a human) could insert such a song into the world.