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1/9/2003

Q. What is the basis of the metre?
A. After the revolution, the French Academy of Sciences did away with all the old 'folksy' archaic measurements and replaced them with one 'elegant and scientific' decimal-based standard. It was to be equal to 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the North Pole to the equator. Unfortunately it proved difficult to calculate this exactly, so a metal bar kept in Paris became the standard. These days a metre is described as 'the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second'.

2/9/2003

Many civilisations since the Egyptians have used a finger or thumb's width as a measurement base (the French for inch is pouce - 'thumb'). Our word 'inch', as well as 'ounce', comes from Latin uncia, meaning 'a twelfth' - in this case, a twelfth of a foot. In 14th-Century England the length of an inch was decreed to be equal to 'three ripe barleycorns, taken from the middle of the ear, laid end to end'.

3/9/2003

Q: What is the connection between Timaru and Tombstone?
A: Bob Fitzsimmons grew up in Timaru, NZ and went on to become the first boxer to win three world championships. His 1896 title fight in San Francisco was refereed by Wyatt Earp, the famous ex-marshall of Tombstone, Arizona (of OK Corral fame). Earp apparently wore his Colt 44 in the ring. Fitzsimmons lost by disqualification, but won the title in Carson City in 1897, defeating 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett in a fight still regarded as a classic. In a 33-year career he fought a huge number of bouts ­ up to seven in one evening ­ although many would have been against low-grade amateur opposition.

4/9/2003

The 'Qwerty' keyboard arrangement is ergonomically inefficient, but was in fact designed to be more efficient than the original simple A to Z layout by reducing jamming of the levers of early typewriters. This problem is irrelevant to digital technology of course, so a layout designed in the 1930s, based on ergonomic principles and allowing 70% of the work to be done on the middle ten keys (as opposed to Qwerty’s 32%) would be a big improvement. Unfortunately the present layout is probably too 'embedded' for full-scale conversion to be possible.

5/9/2003

In 13th-Century France you could tell a man's social standing by the length of his pointy shoes. King Philip II assigned a range of toe lengths ranging from six to twelve(!) inches depending on the rank of the nobleman. To prevent nasty accidents the really long ones were often worn curled or rolled up.

8/9/2003

The goalposts used in early rugby-type games were not those used today by Rugby Union, League and American Football, but were basically the same as modern soccer goals. However, it was nigh-on impossible to score with up to fifteen opposition players crowding the goalmouth, so the posts were extended to allow the scoring area to be raised above them. The idea probably came from Gaelic Football, which predates all of the other games, and in which goals can be scored under the bar (3 points) or over (1 point). This scoring principle is obviously also the source of Australian Rules' 6-point goals and 1-point 'behinds'.

9/9/2003

Previously (see 06/06/03) I described how the rugby term 'try' came about, and how in the late 19th Century it was worth one 'consolation' point. Even earlier in fact, you got no points at all for the try ­ just the 'conversion' into a goal it entitled you to attempt. The point came to be awarded so that there might be a result in matches that would otherwise be a draw in terms of goals scored. Incidentally, some people think modern rugby is a brutal and dangerous game. They should consider this: in a three-year period in the 1890s, 71 players were killed playing the game in England alone.

10/9/2003

Q: What is the world's biggest island?
A: As usual, it depends what you mean. Strictly speaking, if an island is a land mass surrounded by water, then all the world's land masses are islands, with the Old World (Eurasia/Africa) the largest of them. But if it's agreed that there are seven 'continents', then Greenland is the largest island, followed by New Guinea and Borneo. The South Island and North Island rank 12th and 14th (with Java in between).

12/9/2003

For todays tasty tidbit, come back tomorrow... All content is updated at the end of each day

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