Part 17 (1/2)
JO The girl sperm do the b.l.o.o.d.y hoovering and the was.h.i.+ng-up. The girl sperm do the b.l.o.o.d.y hoovering and the was.h.i.+ng-up.
[image]
Why do racing cyclists shave their legs?
Because it feels nice, apparently, and also helps if they get injured. The idea that it gives them a speed advantage is ludicrous. There is no aerodynamic advantage in cycling with shaved legs.
It's true that swimmers who shave their bodies can gain a 2 per cent boost to their speed, but that's in water. The main reason given for leg-shaving among cyclists is that it makes it easier to clean a wound after a fall, and sticking plasters stay on better (and pull off less painfully). They also have their calves ma.s.saged a lot, and that's more comfortable on a shaved leg.
Personal aesthetic considerations may also be a consideration it's part of le look le look. Austrian cyclist Rene Haselbacher had his shorts ripped off in a fall in the 2003 Tour de France, and it emerged that he had comprehensively shaved where the wind doesn't blow.
The original idea of the Tour de France was to sell copies of L'Auto L'Auto newspaper, a publicity stunt that was such a success it destroyed the paper's rival newspaper, a publicity stunt that was such a success it destroyed the paper's rival Le Velo Le Velo in the process. in the process.
The winner of the first Tour (in 1903) was well-known French rider Maurice Garin, nicknamed the 'Chimney Sweep'. In the second year, almost everyone cheated: fans left nails in the road in front of their favourites' rivals while the compet.i.tors themselves gained an edge by taking their bicycles on car trips and even train rides. The winner actually finished fifth, but the first four riders across the line were disqualified.
It used to be that a rider had to make his own repairs. In 1913, Eugene Christophe snapped some forks on his bike and so begged a piece of metal and fixed it. However, he was punished with a time delay: a young boy had helped him by operating the bellows at his hastily borrowed forge.
In 1919, the first person to be offered the famous yellow jersey (awarded for being in the lead) turned it down because he thought it would make him a more obvious target for his rivals.
The Tour is the toughest sporting event in the world. According to Dan Coyle, biographer of seven-times winner Lance Armstrong, studies have shown that Tour riders expend more daily energy than Everest climbers over an event that lasts three weeks. To fuel this effort, they need to eat the equivalent of twenty-eight cheeseburgers a day. Early cheats dosed themselves with alcohol and ether. Not to improve their speed, but to numb the pain.
What was the first invention to break the sound barrier?
The whip.
Whips were invented in China 7,000 years ago but it wasn't until the invention of high-speed photography in 1927 that the 'crack' of the whip was seen to be a mini sonic-boom and not the leather hitting the handle.
The whip's crack is caused by a loop that forms in the whip as you flick it. The loop travels along the length of the whip and, because the leather tapers to a fine tip, the loop speeds up as it travels, reaching over ten times its original speed. The 'crack' is when the loop breaks the sound barrier at about 1,194 kph (742 mph).
The Bell X1 was the first aircraft to break the sound barrier, piloted by Chuck Yeager in 1947. In 1948 it reached 1,540 kph (957 mph) at 21,900 metres (71,850 feet).
The record for the fastest manned flight is still held by the X-15A which reached 6,389 kph (3,970 mph) at 31,200 metres (102,360 feet) in 1967.
The fastest any human has ever travelled was on the reentry of Apollo 10 in 1969. This was recorded at 39,897 kph (24,791 mph).
What kind of music charms snakes most?
They don't care, it's all the same to them.
Cobras in snake-charming acts are responding to the sight sight of the flute, not its sound. of the flute, not its sound.
Snakes don't really 'hear' music though they are certainly not deaf. They have no external ears or eardrums, but can sense vibrations transmitted up from the ground into their jaw and the belly muscles. They also seem to be able to detect airborne sounds via an inner ear.
It used to be thought that snakes could not hear at all because they don't respond to loud noises but research at Princeton has shown that they have acute hearing.
The key discovery was how the snake's inner ear functions. Snakes were wired to voltmeters and the effect of airborne sound on their brains measured. It appears that their hearing is 'tuned' to the frequency range of noises and vibrations made by the movement of larger animals, so music would be meaningless to them.
'Charmed' cobras stand upright if threatened and sway in response to the movement of the instrument. If they strike at the flute, they hurt themselves, so they don't do it again.
Most cobras have had their fangs removed but, even so, they can only strike at a distance within their own length, rather as if you put your elbow on a table and strike downward with your hand.
The cobra's natural att.i.tude is defensive, not aggressive.
ALAN When I was a kid, there was a rattlesnake on TV, every week. Every week, in something, there was always a rattlesnake. And nowadays, there's never a rattlesnake on TV. It was like a big thing in the '70s. When I was a kid, there was a rattlesnake on TV, every week. Every week, in something, there was always a rattlesnake. And nowadays, there's never a rattlesnake on TV. It was like a big thing in the '70s.
What are violin strings made from?
[image]
Violin strings are not made of catgut, and never have been.
This is a myth started by medieval Italian violin-makers who had discovered that sheep intestines made good strings for their instruments. Killing a cat brought terribly bad luck, so they protected their invention by telling everyone else their strings were made from the intestines of cats.
The legend was that a saddle-maker called Erasmo, in the Abruzzi mountain village of Salle, near Pescara, heard the wind blowing through the strands of drying sheep's gut one day and thought that they might make a good string for the early violin known as the renaissance fiddle.
Salle became the centre of violin string production for 600 years and Erasmo was canonised as the patron saint of string-makers.
Bad earthquakes in 1905 and 1933 brought an end to the industry in Salle itself, but two of the world's leading string makers D'Addario and Mari are still run by Sallese families.
Until 1750 all violins used sheep's-gut strings. The gut must be removed from the animal when warm, stripped of fat and waste and soaked in cold water. The best sections are then cut into ribbons and twisted and sc.r.a.ped until a string of the required thickness is made.
Today a combination of gut, nylon and steel are used, although most aficionados still believe that gut produces the warmest tone.
Richard Wagner circulated a terrible story to discredit Brahms, whom he loathed. He claimed Brahms had received a gift from Czech composer Antonin Dvoak of a 'Bohemian sparrow-slaying bow'. With this he allegedly took pot-shots at pa.s.sing cats from his Viennese apartment window.
Wagner went on: 'After spearing the poor brutes, he reeled them in to his room after the manner of a trout-fisher. Then he eagerly listened to the expiring groans of his victims and carefully jotted down in his notebook their ante mortem ante mortem remarks.' remarks.'
Wagner had never visited Brahms or seen his apartment; there seems to be no record of such a 'sparrow bow' existing, let alone being sent by Dvoak.
Cats tend to die, like most other species, in silence.
Despite this, the rumours of felicide have stuck to Brahms and the claim has been reproduced as fact in several biographies.
STEPHEN The fact is, cat gut has never gone into the making of violins. It was a myth that was put about by the ... The fact is, cat gut has never gone into the making of violins. It was a myth that was put about by the ...
ALAN By dogs. By dogs.
What's the best floor of a building to throw a cat from?
Any of them above the seventh floor.