General knowledge thread

Pines

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

using the intarweb is cheating !


Name the Dwarfs that hired the Hobbit ?

Ok, ok, no browsing for me with this effort. Here's where I got to...

Ori, Dori, Nori
Oin, Gloin
Bifur, Bofur, Bombur
Balin, Gwalin
Thorin Oakenshield

That's 11 of (I think) 13. Not too sure about Gwalin (was it Dwalin?).

Capt'n Midnight

It was Dwalin, so anyone know more ?
before I hand it over

OrlaOrla

ottawa??!Ontario!?

Tar.Aldarion

Very well as I practically know the book off by heart,
Fili,Kili
Ori, Dori, Nori
Oin, Gloin
Bifur, Bofur, Bombur
Balin, Dwalin
Thorin Oakenshield


Name bilbos famous uncle and what sport did he invent

Capt'n Midnight

Bullroarer (he was on the Took side?) and he invented Golf

Tar.Aldarion

ye took side,great great........great uncle.

mickeyluv

A seven letter word (English) with no vowels?

Shinners21

Rhythms

Capt'n Midnight

Point of information. Both W and Y are considered psudo-vowels

Blisterman

W?
What word uses w as a vowel?

Shinners21

So I'm wrong then?? Ah feck it I'm not clever enough for this thread... :rolleyes:

quinta

Shinners21 wrote:

Rhythms

Excluding 'semi-vowels', I believe this is the longest common word, excluding medical references etc.

Chinafoot

rhythms is correct, no?

Pal

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Capt'n Midnight

Shinners21 wrote:

So I'm wrong then?? Ah feck it I'm not clever enough for this thread... :rolleyes:

Yeah you're right, W and Y aren't true vowels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semivowel

Z wasn't always the last letter in our Alphabet.
Which other character was most recently considered the last letter ?

KnifeWRENCH

apostrophe??? (crappy guess but i couldnt think of anything else)

RuggieBear

o for omega?

Capt'n Midnight

nah omega was the last in the greek one

HomunQlus

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Z wasn't always the last letter in our Alphabet.
Which other character was most recently considered the last letter ?

Ask Chuck Norris...... he can tell you!

There are in fact 31 letters of the English alphabet. However, only Chuck Norris knows what the extra 5 letters are.

Capt'n Midnight

&
What's the biggest lake anyone's ever seen ?

Teg Veece

Well I know the Caspian Sea is the largest lake on Earth but I'm guessing by the way you worded the question that there's a larger lake on someother planet/moon...

On the off chance that I'm right though... why can't you sneeze with your eyes open?

Blisterman

Because your eyes would pop out?

Tar.Aldarion

Because it is a natural reflex that you can't stop.

Capt'n Midnight

Naw I was thinking of palaeolakes, like Megachad / Bonneville / Pontian Lake. Human eyeballs not remote sensors.

not sure if the Caspian was ever linked to the Aral Sea and Pontian lake at the same time ..

You've piqued my curiousity re the sneezing and stuff. Is it some sort of nerve thing ?

Teg Veece

Yeah, it's a nerve thing alright but to be more precise...
A sneeze occurs when the nerve endings of the mucous membrane and the nose are irritated. This irritation stimulates your trigeminal nerve sending impulses to a set of neurons located in the brainstem that have collectively been termed the "sneezing centre". The neezing centre sends new impulses along the facial nerve back to the nasal passages and the face, causing you nasal passages to secrete fluid and become congested. Your eyes may also water. At the same time, the sneezing centre also sends impulses to your respiratory muscles via the spinal cord. It is these impulses that create the deep inbreath and forceful outbreath that we know as the sneeze.
The reason for you closing your eyes is that the impulses travelling through the facial nerve, as mentioned above, also happen to stimulate nerves which govern the reflex response we call the blink.

So, basically, one message is sent, but two listeners receive it and act on it.
I was told as a kid that if I left my eyes open while I sneezed the sheer force of the whole event would cause my eyeballs to pop out. :rolleyes:

Tar.Aldarion, you were close enough so your Q I guess. (or whoever gets there first).

Tar.Aldarion

You could have just said what I said

So, How can you tell the difference from a hard boiled and a soft boiled egg(or non boiled) without breaking it.
Quite simple.

Capt'n Midnight

spin it standing up, the soft boiled will fall over first.

Tar.Aldarion

That's quite close, not what I was looking for though...

Hagar

Spin it, a hard boiled egg will spin and raise up onto its fat end. A non-boiled egg will not spin due to the uneven movement inside.

Tar.Aldarion

well you didn't need no fat end remark but ye, hardboiled eggs spin, others do not.
Your Q.