+Simply Paul Posted January 16, 2013 Author Share Posted January 16, 2013 Good enough. It's a minor planet in the same class as Pluto, but in orbit far beyond it. A Ding to you sir! Quote Link to comment
+MTH Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Change of subject, but topical. You'll have heard about the sad demise of HMV, but for what do the initials stand? Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Change of subject, but topical. You'll have heard about the sad demise of HMV, but for what do the initials stand? His Master's Voice Quote Link to comment
+MTH Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 A quick Ding for Mellers Quote Link to comment
+maxx borchovski Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Even with their logo it only dawned on me that is what HMV stood for a couple of years ago. It was a real Homer moment. Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Which is the only US state without a straight line on its border? Quote Link to comment
+maxx borchovski Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 Wow, that was a guess. So my question... What was the first animal ever sent into space? (Bonus points if you can tell me what type of transport took them there) Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 Wow, that was a guess. So my question... What was the first animal ever sent into space? (Bonus points if you can tell me what type of transport took them there) Wasn't that Leika the dog. No idea of name of craft though. Quote Link to comment
+maxx borchovski Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 nope, Leika was the first to go into orbit. Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 17, 2013 Author Share Posted January 17, 2013 I've a feeling this has been on QI. I think it was fruit flies (if they count as animals) launched in the late 40s inboard a captured V2. There may have been experiments with high altitude balloons before that, but you can argue a balloon can never get into space, just somewhere sort-of near it... Quote Link to comment
+maxx borchovski Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 DING Fruit flies in a V2 Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Thanks very much Maxx. Leika's story isn't a happy one, but was an important step along the path to safe space travel for humans. BTW, If anyone likes space sim games I've been addicted to Kerbal Space Program for a while. Really good fun and an old version is free on their website. Anyway, to take things off in a 180 degree tangent (on a free return trajectory), what's a stiletto? Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Thanks very much Maxx. Leika's story isn't a happy one, but was an important step along the path to safe space travel for humans. BTW, If anyone likes space sim games I've been addicted to Kerbal Space Program for a while. Really good fun and an old version is free on their website. Anyway, to take things off in a 180 degree tangent (on a free return trajectory), what's a stiletto? I only know it as a dagger (after which the heel shape is named) Quote Link to comment
dodgydaved Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) oooops, too late (NB refresh page more often!) Edited January 18, 2013 by dodgydaved Quote Link to comment
+me N u Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Stiletto was also Baron Silas von Greenbacks right hand crow in the dangermouse cartoon - probably not the answer you were looking for though Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 A Ding! to Mellers for knowing it's a dagger and not a shoe, with a gold star to me N u for a blast from the past Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 According to Star Trek, who invented Warp Drive on Earth? Quote Link to comment
Pajaholic Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Zephram Cochrane Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Zephram Cochrane DING (although 'Memory Alpha' spells his first name with an F) Quote Link to comment
Pajaholic Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Thanks. Staying with Star Trek, From what race do the characters "Zero One" and "One Zero" come? Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Sounds like they might have been Binars. Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 What do the following number ratios have in common? 3: 4 :5 5: 12 :13 6: 8 :10 8: 15 :17 7: 24 :25 9: 40 :41 Quote Link to comment
dodgydaved Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 What do the following number ratios have in common? 3: 4 :5 5: 12 :13 6: 8 :10 8: 15 :17 7: 24 :25 9: 40 :41 Pythagoras? Quote Link to comment
+mellers Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 What do the following number ratios have in common? 3: 4 :5 5: 12 :13 6: 8 :10 8: 15 :17 7: 24 :25 9: 40 :41 Pythagoras? Yes. They're common Pythagorean triples (for right-angled triangles). If each case above, if you make a triangle whose 3 sides measure the length of each given number respectively, the resulting triangle will have a right angle. Quote Link to comment
dodgydaved Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 (edited) I'll take that as a ding then Where were nine ladies severley castigated for going to a Sunday hop? (spelyng - or taipo ) Edited January 20, 2013 by dodgydaved Quote Link to comment
+maxkim Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I believe it's a stone circle.... but I can't for the life of me remember where... Ilkley Moor as a random guess. MaxKim. Quote Link to comment
dodgydaved Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I believe it's a stone circle.... but I can't for the life of me remember where... Ilkley Moor as a random guess. MaxKim. Certainly is a stone circle - but where :unsure: Clue: features (kinda) in a detective novel by a British writer who also featured a geocache in a later novel :ph34r: Quote Link to comment
+Betelgeuse Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Derbyshire. Stanton moor IIRC, The Nine Ladies. Legend has it they were turned to stone for daring to dance on a Sunday. Quote Link to comment
dodgydaved Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Derbyshire. Stanton moor IIRC, The Nine Ladies. Legend has it they were turned to stone for daring to dance on a Sunday. Thst's a big DING for the star at Orion's shoulder!!!!! The Nine ladies features in Stephen Booth's second novel "Ddances with Virgins", a cache 'Petrus' appears in"The dead place" (dangerous dave indeed!!!!!!) Quote Link to comment
+Pharisee Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Derbyshire. Stanton moor IIRC, The Nine Ladies. Legend has it they were turned to stone for daring to dance on a Sunday. Thst's a big DING for the star at Orion's shoulder!!!!! The Nine ladies features in Stephen Booth's second novel "Ddances with Virgins", a cache 'Petrus' appears in"The dead place" (dangerous dave indeed!!!!!!) Hmmm.... Way back in the early 70s, I vaguely remember an old folk song being sung to me by my 'lady of the time' concerning "Sue and William" who lived in "Stanton Drew, in the county of Somerset". They went to be married on a Saturday and hired a fiddler to play for them afterwards. He would only play for them up until midinght because "dancing on a Sunday wouldn't be right". At midnight, Sue found another fiddler (the Devil in disguise) to carry on playing for them. When he stopped playing "Quick as a flash, he turned them to stone." I wonder which came first, the old folk song or the name for the 'Nine Ladies'. Quote Link to comment
dodgydaved Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Probably the old folk song John - or at least the tradition that lead to the singing of the old folk song - ceretainly having just googled it deeply I could find no reference to the derivation of the name (not even on "The Modern Antiquarian" or the "Megalithic Portal". ) English Heritage gives this: "The names of the monuments derive from their associations with folk traditions, in which it is said that nine women were dancing on the Sabbath to a fiddler – the King Stone – and were turned to stone. The graffiti carved on the King Stone, which includes the name ‘Bill Stumps’, is also mentioned in The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. " Quote Link to comment
+Pharisee Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) Probably the old folk song John - or at least the tradition that lead to the singing of the old folk song - ceretainly having just googled it deeply I could find no reference to the derivation of the name (not even on "The Modern Antiquarian" or the "Megalithic Portal". ) English Heritage gives this: "The names of the monuments derive from their associations with folk traditions, in which it is said that nine women were dancing on the Sabbath to a fiddler – the King Stone – and were turned to stone. The graffiti carved on the King Stone, which includes the name 'Bill Stumps', is also mentioned in The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. " Having done a little Googling myself it seems that the impressive stone circle at Stanton Drew in Somerset also has a similar legend. This from Wikipedia:- "There are several local traditional stories about the megalithic complex. The best known tells how a wedding party was turned to stone: the party was held throughout Saturday, but a man clothed in black (the Devil in disguise) came and started to play his violin for the merrymakers after midnight, continuing into holy Sunday morning. When dawn broke, everybody had been turned to stone by the Demon: so the stone circles are the dancers, the avenues are the fiddlers and the Cove is the bride and the groom with the drunken churchman at their feet. They are still awaiting the Devil who promised to come back someday and play again for them." I eventually found the lyrics to the song I mentioned and more about the stone circle on the "Twisted Tree" website here:- Twisted Tree Strange that the name "Stanton" is common to both sites. I wonder what the derivation of that name is. Maybe I'll dig a little deeper Edited January 22, 2013 by Pharisee Quote Link to comment
+Betelgeuse Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 The term henge is derived from Stonehenge although Stonehenge itself isn't a true henge monument. What defines a henge? And as a bonus question, why isn't Stonehenge one? Quote Link to comment
+Pharisee Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 The term henge is derived from Stonehenge although Stonehenge itself isn't a true henge monument. What defines a henge? And as a bonus question, why isn't Stonehenge one? Having done a bit of "Googling" for stone circles for the above posts, I now know the answer... but as I didn't know the answer before the Googling, I'll leave it for someone else to reply Quote Link to comment
Pajaholic Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 IIRC from QI, a henge is an earthworks comprising a circle(ish) of embankment - a bit like if you'd laid a giant flan case on the ground. Stonehenge is an arrangement of stones that doesn't include the prerequisite earthworks. Quote Link to comment
+Betelgeuse Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Close, but not quite a ding Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 I thought it might be because the lintel stones aren't just resting on the trilithons, they're held in place by joints. But then I checked the QI book while I was in the library and discovered Stonehenge is inside-out. It's a ditch abound a bank, not a bank around a ditch, as a Henge technically is. Quote Link to comment
+Betelgeuse Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 I thought it might be because the lintel stones aren't just resting on the trilithons, they're held in place by joints. But then I checked the QI book while I was in the library and discovered Stonehenge is inside-out. It's a ditch abound a bank, not a bank around a ditch, as a Henge technically is. DING! A henge is distinguished by a ditch being cut in an oval or circular shape with a bank surrounding it - it doesn't have to have any kind of stone circle or monument associated with it. We have a rather spectacular example up here called the Ring of Brodgar which does have a stone circle inside the henge itself. Stonehenge has the ditch and bank structure the wrong way round to be a true henge (the bank is inside the ditch) although oddly, the name henge is derived from Stonehenge. Over to you, sir. Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 I visited The Ring of Brodgar when I was up in Orkney. It was a very peaceful spot on an overcast day, even in June and tourist season. Sticking with antiquity (sort of), in which country is the province of Antique? Quote Link to comment
+Beach_hut Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Montserrat rings a bell for some reason... Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Not Montserrat. The country you are looking for is the world's 73rd largest by area and has a population of around 93m. Baybayin is one of several indigenous scripts of this country. Established April 27, 1565 Declared Independence from Spain June 12, 1898, but sold to the US for $20m by Spain Self-government March 24, 1934 Independence from the United States July 4, 1946 Current constitution February 2, 1987 Quote Link to comment
+civilised Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 The Phillipines ? Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 30, 2013 Author Share Posted January 30, 2013 The Phillipines ?That's a ring-a-ding-a-bing-bang-bong! Quote Link to comment
+civilised Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 What's the name of the only solicitor to be hanged for murder in England & Wales ? Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 31, 2013 Author Share Posted January 31, 2013 Hung on the border you mean? I'll take a guess at Smith, the Brides in the Bath murderer as I don't think Crippen was a solicitor, M'lud Quote Link to comment
+civilised Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 And I tried so hard to avoid ambiguity England & Wales as opposed to Scotland. And no, it wasn't the Brides in the Bath chappie. Quote Link to comment
+drdick&vick Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Having been in the penal system for many years I have collected many books on the subject so decided to have a quick read and find the answer. 1922 at Gloucester Prison, Herbert Armstrong! Quote Link to comment
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