If idle hands are the devil's something, then busy hands must be something godly I presume... where does god stand on people busying their hands with

If idle hands are the devil's something, then busy hands must be something godly I presume... where does god stand on people busying their hands with murdering people?

^complete question^


'Idle hands are the devils tools' or 'the devil finds work for idle hands to do' are different versions of the same proverb that's been around since the time of Chaucer in the 12th century. There doesn't seem to be a 'busy hands are Godly' and 'though shalt not kill' is one of the 10 commandments & Christianity tends to take them more literally than some other religions. The Qur'an takes a slightly different line on it:

"Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for God loves not transgressors. And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter... But if they cease, God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful... If they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression" (2:190-193).

There is no almighty God in Buddhism. Buddhism does not call for an unquestionable blind faith by all Buddhist followers. It places heavy emphasis on self-reliance, self discipline and individual striving. The ultimate objective of followers is enlightenment and liberation from Samsara; rather than to go to a Heaven.
There is no holy war concept. Killing is breaking a key moral precept in Buddhism. One is strictly forbidden to kill another person. Maitri or Metta in Pali (Loving Kindness) and Karuna (Compassion) to all living beings including animals are most important. Buddhism strictly forbids animal sacrifice for whatever reason. Vegetarianism is recommended but not compulsory.

In the case of murder, the Torah carefully chose a word different from “kill.” Only murder is prohibited, not generic killing. Murder is a passionate act, while killing is a thing of necessity or justice. There are no restrictions on killing enemies and criminals. Like the rest of the Ten Commandments, the prohibition of (passionate) murder only applies in the Jewish environment.

So that's the opinions of four of the main religions as far as I can tell, they all differ slightly & I suppose it'd depend on which one you went for as to whether you'd get away with it or not. This is only in the eyes of the Gods though...the long arm of the law takes an entirely different stance on it of course.

How do they know how babies tongues work to breastfeed - positioning of nipple inside the mouth etc? Have they done fancy camera stuff or something?

I'm pretty crap at these questions really! Who would have thought I'd be stumped by these & not the space telescope ones!! (might just be out of practice though)I feel uncomfy at the thought that I'm more of a geek than a mum!!

Well, I presume babies kinda squeeze the nipple on the roof of their mouths & that's why it's better if it's pointing upwards & the tongue kinda curls round it? I did watch a program once that said the ability to suck properly gets lost after a certain age. When you feed babies & they pull off quick, you can see they have rolled tongues but I haven't really thought about this much beyond that. I couldn't find any evidence of them using cameras for research anywhere...think it's just one of those 'known' things lol.
Babies know their mums by smell as soon as they're born apparently as well....some things are just amazing. When babies are born the blood in the mums body coagulates as well, so the placenta can break away from the womb & the mum doesn't bleed to death (as long as she isn't anemic of course)....how does it know to do all this weird stuff?? Babies cry & it is tuned into the mums hearing & she's the one it effects most! I find the whole thing fascinating but have decided not to have any more babies. I go through phases & at the moment I don't think it'd be good idea ....I expect I'll change my mind again soon though! I see babies & my clock ticks VERY loudly & screams 'I WANT ONE' at me constantly for a couple of days lol. I have no idea why I get so broody! I really can't stand being pregnant...REALLY can't stand it & the thought of breastfeeding leaves me in a cold sweat...the blisters! OUCH!! So it must just be the body clock....

A naked blond walks into a bar, with a poodle under one arm and a two foot salami under the other. She lays the poodle on the table. Bar-tender says:

A naked blond walks into a bar, with a poodle under one arm and a two foot salami under the other. She lays the poodle on the table. Bar-tender says: "I suppose you won't be needing a drink." The naked lady says..."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^The whole question^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

'You're right, how do you think I got in this mess in the first place!'

or

'Of course I do, this salami's never gonna fit otherwise!'

or

'Funny, that's what the poodle thought too...'

or

'After the night I've had I need a double!'

or

'Forgot my pencil'

I have no idea how this joke actually finishes, apparently, it was an add lib by Judd Nelsons character 'Bender'& has an ending only he knows! The film came out in 1985 & everyone who's seen the film since then has been dying to know. The ones above are the only ones I could find but none of them are very good....maybe the joke is just better than the punchline & if it ever got out it'd be a bit of a letdown?



Couldn't find a clip of the joke :(

Will I ever call video shops dvd shops?

I have no idea babes, I don't call them video shops anyway. I generally don't use them & when I have to refer to them it's by the brand name rather than the generic term 'video shop' i.e. Blockbusters etc.

You could say 'I'm just nipping out to the DVD shop', I'm pretty sure it's personal taste & have a vague suspicion they were called video shops as early as the 80s when they first started surfacing & you could rent a video there. Because technology has moved on quite considerably since the days of the first video shops, we may very well be calling them 'Blu Ray' shops in the not so distant future, although, I'll be surprised if that ever actually catches on either....They're actually still video shops regardless.

The first video I saw was when I was about 10 or 11. It was called 'Blue Lagoon' & stared Christopher Atkins & Brooke Shields. I can't say I enjoyed it very much really, I don't remember that much about it. I think, looking at reviews of it, it must be quite a 'pretty' film. I haven't even got very many memories of it, which is odd, I guess it covered some contravesial issues for the time it was made, but I only know that because I looked it up! I was babysitting for the lady up the road who used to do my hair (no idea what her name was) & I thought it was so cool that she had her own video player/recorder, she took me to the 'video shop' & told me I could choose any film I wanted to watch while I was babysitting their daughter(I'm pretty sure she got a horror film to watch when she & hubby got home). I chose Blue Lagoon, partly because it was one of those 'everyone else I knew had already seen it & I hadn't & wanted to see what the fuss was all about', but also, I think it was possibly the only film I knew the title of! Things have really changed on that score...I own alot of DVDs now.

I used to have alot of Video tapes, so many that I had no where to put them & just used to line them up. Over the years I've replaced them with DVDs & added quite a few to my collection. I have films for whatever mood I'm in & always have something to watch. James used to watch 'Raow King' over & over & over when he was little, he used to smack his dad or I round the head about 7am shouting it & bouncing up & down. Lovely wake up! Jake was a Toy Story freak...he loved Buzz completely & used to stand on the edge of my bed with his arm thrust up shouting 'Finny finny finny OOoooooonnnnn!' Then preceeded to turn around slowly & gently slide of the end of the bed onto his tiptoes & then breathe a sigh of relief when his feet were firmly planted on the floor. Zanna was 'Miss Hocus Pocus' & still is...we often still watch it when we have a girlie afternoon, just the two of us...i've seen it so many times I can almost word for word it now lol.

When we finally got a video player/recorder in our house, my mum taped Calamity Jane for my sister & I. We watched it, sang along to it, danced around the house singing to it while we were doing the housework (& Elvis but we won't go there just now!) and generally completely loved it. When I had a brief stopover in Chicago in February I saw a hoodie that said 'Just Blew In From The Windy City' on the front. I knew it had Dollys name all over it.....she loved it...so many memories. We've tried to get our girls interested in it of course & although they watch it, it's just not the same. My sister & I still know every single word & can sing all the songs (badly lol) but Shhhh don't tell anyone, it's our secret!



Stray & I will always have 'Two dollars & fifteeeeeeeeen cents!'....Shiv & I will always always be 'reaching for the moon'.

Video is still an apt term for the shops that rent & sell moving pictures. Digital video refers to DVDs, Blu ray, MPEG4, etc. & Analogue video includes VHS & Betamax. So it's still ok to call them video shops at the end of the day, they rent & sell moving pictures. So, because DVD is just a type of digital video, if you called them 'DVD shops' you wouldn't be right, but you can still call them that if you want to :)

If you dont have any super powers and could pick one which power woudl you pick and how or what would you do with it?

I have a super power. I don't let on very often because most people would think I was bragging & then I'd have to prove it & it gets complicated. I'm not shy about sharing that fact on here but I can't go into details even with you. They'd lock me up & do experiments on me!! He he he.


I would find it difficult to choose a superpower for myself actually (good job I have one already!). Even in games I've played, where you have to choose your own power, I've hummed & harred & always wished I'd picked a different one. So to 'pick' a power for 'real life me' I would find very hard, although, I would quite like to have the powers of a vampire. Not a Twiglet vampire (the acting's wooden so Bob renamed it & Christa giggled), the sparkling would put me off, but if I HAD to be one I'd rather be Alice than any of the others. I like the fact they can fly, are very fast, live for a looooong time etc. The bloodsucking doesn't sound fun but I suppose I could if needs must lol. They just seem to have the whole package instead of a single power, a bit greedy perhaps but I'd rather that than just being able to fly or whatever.

Time travel is a bit of a fascination too....I'd hate to go back & live my life again, but some bits it'd be nice to visit. I'd like to say I'd use any superpower I had for the good of others but I'm not so sure I would actually lol. I can be a bit of a selfish bint when I choose!

This is a short version....I'm getting nagged, but 'I'll be back'!

OK, I'm back & I've thought a bit more about this whole 'time travel' thing. I think that's the one I'd like best. From a personal view, I'd like to time travel so I could go back & view the bits of my young life that have affected me as an adult & try to see them from a different point of view. I think alot of the things we go through as children have a way of feeding the insecurities we have & perhaps this would be a way of slaying the demons? Who knows, must be worth a try though.

I'd like to see my mum too & my dad before he got sick.....& my little dog. See, I'm selfish! It's all about me! lol.

I'm not sure how I'd use the power for the good of mankind.....perhaps I'd do a 'Bill & Ted', consult with world leaders & past philosophers.....I don't know but I'm sure I'd be able to find a way. This one might need a bit more thought.....

I have this in my head at the moment....

Which sick bastard first decided to eat eggs? We don't eat anything else that comes out of an animal's arse, so why eggs?

Since the beginning of human time we have eaten eggs. There's no record I can find on 'who was the first person to decide to eat an egg'. It's a long time before anything was written down & their name was more than likely a mere grunt!

Wherever eggs could be obtained they have been eaten. Different kinds of eggs were & still are eaten in different parts of the world. Ostrich and chicken are the most common.

Eggs are relatively easy to obtain, excellent protein sources, adaptable to many different types of recipes (from simply boiled, fried, or stuffed to complicated quiche, custards or meringues), and fit the bill for meatless fasting days required by some religions. In this last role, eggs have been the object of much religious symbolism and tradition. Over time, some groups have encouraged the consumption & decoration of eggs in celebration of certain events. Others have decided eggs are filthy food which must be avoided.

Eggs have been known and enjoyed by humans for many centuries. Jungle fowl were domesticated in India by 3200 B.C.E. Records from China and Egypt show that fowl were domesticated and laying eggs for human consumption around 1400 B.C.E., and there is archaeological evidence for egg consumption dating back to the Neolithic age. The Romans found egg-laying hens in England, Gaul, and among the Germans. The first domesticated fowl reached North America with the second voyage of Columbus in 1493.

I very much doubt I'll ever be able to get to the bottom (he he) of this one! lol

P.S. The worlds most expensive coffee comes from the bottom of a civet, the red raw beans are eaten & partially digested by the weasel like animal & are then pooped out. The civets digestive system takes the bitterness out of the beans. It can cost up to $50 a cup & is served in tiny cups, a pound of it would cost $600 approximately. So eggs aren't the only things consumed that came out of another things arse (although technically, chickens eggs are hens periods & don't come from their arses) :)

Why were the butcher the baker and the candle stick maker in a tub together??

I just asked Jake, my 15 year old & he said... the butcher wanted to beat his meat, the baker wanted his buns hard & the candlestick maker wanted to wax his rod! So much for asking a 15 year old! lol

Anyway......

One night amid a fearsome storm, three friends sat chatting in a pub. The wind was howling through the trees & the moon had gone into hiding amidst the dark clouds circling fast overhead. The friends were getting ready to face the treachery outside when they heard an almighty crash come from the back room! With their coats half on they ran to see what the commotion was & found the landlord & his good lady pinned to the floor by a huge boulder. They looked up & saw an old oak, that had stood in the village for years, had come crashing through this part of the roof. The rain was lashing through the branches & soaking the faces of the helpless couple as they looked up, terrified of their fate. The water sloshed around the ankles of the three friends as they tried in vain to help the unfortunate ones, a river bank must have burst. Damn, that was all they needed! Herculean strength was all that would be able to move the tree that was on the boulder that was pinning them to the ground! Who would save them! They needed a miracle & they needed one fast!

As anyone who's anyone already knows, miracles usually come when you need one & all of a sudden....*poof* up popped Fuckup The Fairy! Now as fairies went, Fuckup was very unusual in the way she went about granting her wishes. Her magic wand had given up the ghost several centuries before, so she had resorted to finger twiddling & farting at the same time, which seemed to work quite well, except....it wasn't always the most accurate method of delivering spells. The three friends stood back in amazement as Fuckup started whispering under her breath & twiddling her fingers towards the unfortunate couple on the floor. Loud sounds were also emanating from the small fairies nether regions, but the three friends didn't think it was the time to say anything or burst out laughing somehow. Despite the drama unfolding all around, smirks could still be seen on their faces when the moonlight poked it's head through the swirling clouds. It was scary the way this fairy worked!

Within minutes, the couple were free of the boulder & trying to stand, despite having injured themselves in the fall. The three friends were stood staring drop-jawed at Fuckup, who explained that she was actually trying to think of butterflies so the tree & boulder could flutter away in the storm. She had instead, succeeded in making rather a mess with the raw meat, dough & candle wax...She blushed crimson in the stormlight 'bloody brain & it's stupid crushes' she thought, trying to regain her composure & failing miserably in the midst of the three handsome hunks!

The injured couple retired to the upstairs undamaged part of the pub to fix their wounds & Fuckup decided she had better go before she made even more of a klutz of herself! The three friends, by this time soaked to the skin & up to their thighs in floodwater, tried to work out the best way to get home. They went to the front door just in time to see a tub float past. Clambering in, they sailed off down the village street, luckily in the right direction...good job they all lived close to one another! What were they going to tell their wives about Fuckup? They all decided not to say anything, who would believe them if they mentioned a farting fairy & had just come from the pub!?

This is why I think the butcher, the baker & the candlestick maker were all in the tub together, it was after the pub & before the rotten potato!

A little while ago we froze a packet of crumpets. At the time, the sealed plastic packet seemed to contain a lot of air.

A little while ago we froze a packet of crumpets. At the time, the sealed plastic packet seemed to contain a lot of air, but after four months in our freezer it had contracted tightly against the crumpets, which had also shrunk. After two more months at room temperature, the whole package appeared to have shrunk still further, though with no sign of mould or decay.The ingredients are listed as flour, water, yeast, raising agents, E450, E500, salt, sugar, preservative, calcium propionate. What's
going on?

^^^^That's the full comment^^^^

Firstly, EEEWWWWW! Who keeps a packet of pre-frozen crumpets for 2 months? If I'd done that there's no way I'd announce it to the world! You can bet the world reads this too....because it's mine & I'm amazing!

Anyway, my first thought on this would be chemical reaction....that somehow the yeast reacted with the E500 (sodium bicarbonate), but they're both rising agents that work independently of one another. Yeast likes a warm environment & E500 doesn't really care I don't think. Water is quite high on the list of ingredients so maybe that has something to do with it too?? Hmmmm.... high water content usually means mould though.......So, maybe there's a reaction with something that sucks out the water, preserves the crumpets by drying them out & uses up any air in the packet in the process making it constrict round the crumpets.....(these dots are my mind working, each one is 500 brain ticking overs).

What uses oxygen up.........sec, need to Bing......Yeast metabolizes sugar to produce carbon dioxide and ethanol, also known as alcohol, in the production of wines, beers and other spirits, but also in the production of bioethanol:
C6H12O6 → 2 CO2 + 2 C2H5OH

Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter when there's no oxygen. Foods packed in air don't store as well as in oxygen free gasses. This is because air contains oxygen which oxidizes many of the compounds in food. Bacteria, one of several agents which make food go rancid also needs oxygen to grow. Food storage companies have a couple of different processes for removing the oxygen:

1. Displacing the oxygen: This is done by purging out all the air in the product with an inert gas. Nitrogen is almost always used because it is the most inert gas known. People doing their own packing occasionally use dry ice which gives off carbon dioxide gas, and probably works just about as well.
2. Absorb the oxygen: Oxygen absorber packets do just that. Air contains about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, leaving about 1% for the other gasses. If the oxygen is absorbed, what remains is 99% pure nitrogen in a partial vacuum.

OK, now I've looked into it a bit more I reckon it has to do with the packaging. If there's no oxygen, there can't be mould because it can't grow. Also, if an oxygen sucking gas was used to package the crumpets, some of the water content would disappear as well...any leftover moisture found in the crumpets could interact over time with the E500 and create a small amount of carbon dioxide gas too.

Right, to answer the question, I think perhaps the gas used to pack the crumpets sucks the moisture out of them & causes the packet to constrict (perhaps because of the extreme temperature) or, there's a carbon dioxide producing reaction in there somewhere. I'm NOT a rocket scientist though as I keep mentioning :p

P.S. Stray, I'd thump him for insinuating you're not good at chucking things away. He probably hid the packet somewhere just so he could do an experiment! lol

Why do roadworks put up signs saying "Wait here at the red light" when that is what you do at traffic lights normally anyway?

Hiya Bronwyn :)

There's usually a sign that accompanies temporary traffic lights telling drivers 'when red light shows wait here'. This is used instead of the white line at a regular set of traffic lights. It's illegal to pass the white line for any reason when the light is on red. A driver should also stop at the line/sign on an orange or amber light & can only go through the lights when they're on green if it's safe to.

When temporary traffic lights are used it also usually means there are roadworks & the workmen have maybe had to make the road alot narrower. To allow drivers in both directions pass, the sign is normally placed as far to one side as possible so there's a big enough gap.

So, to answer your.... Ok, Bronwyn has a question:

Why do roadworks put up signs saying "Wait here at the red light" when that is what you do at traffic lights normally anyway?


The sign telling drivers to 'wait here' is the same as the white line in the road at regular traffic lights. If someone passes the sign, it means they've broken the law if the light is on red & that's how the police know whether to send them a ticket or not :)

P.S. The police stopped me the other day & told me I'd jumped the traffic lights & I said 'Don't be daft, they're over 12 feet tall!' he he he:)

If the fireflies were so nice and taught the bloke to dance n stuff, why did he then keep them prisoner in a jar rather than let them go home??

I swear Emrys should have been a cat.

Anyway - if the fireflies were so nice and taught the bloke to dance n stuff, why did he then keep them prisoner in a jar rather than let them go home??
That's the whole comment.

Personally, I think this bloke was very selfish! But only if you take the lyrics of the song by Owl City literally (sorry, momentarily distracted....I'm such a Gleek! Puck is soooo cute in this one! lol...Ok, I might be drooling but I'm back).

I don't think they're meant to be taken literally, he's a young adult that can't cope with the stuff going on round him. It's making him unable to sleep, his head's in turmoil & he's sick of lying there wanting sleep to take him to a nicer place. I think everything's going too fast in a kind of 'stop the world I want to get off' kinda way but when he tries to get off (go to sleep), all the demons in his head take over & he needs the light to send them away. Hence the fireflies. He may have memories of fireflies from childhood that he thinks about & until he does, sleep is impossible.

The fact he wants the comfort of childhood is evident in the video setting, it's full of toys and gadgets that young people would love. Many of us experience problems with sleeping when times get rough, I know I do (although to be fair, I don't sleep much at night anyway)...He needs the comfort of the light from the open door, to soothe him when he has bad dreams (as children do) perhaps the light 'dancing round the room' (disco ball hanging by a thread) is actually his 'fireflies' and the 'jar' is a place in his head he goes to when even sleep doesn't provide the goods, his 'Happy Place' (I'm pretty sure that light on a disco ball would look like fireflies when your eyes are closed). The fireflies are probably his good childhood memories and he sees them when he shuts his eyes & the light dances. Even when all seems lost he keeps just a bit of his childhood in his head to relate to when things get too much.

Taken literally not letting them go & keeping them in a jar is a bit cruel. Keeping something away from loved ones just because it makes you calm & happier isn't a very nice thing to do. Nobody likes goodbyes, they generally hurt & are upsetting but we can't hold onto living things just to satisfy a need in us. But clinging to a bit of childhood to comfort us to sleep isn't a bad thing :)

If curiosity killed the cat, what did the cat want to know? :p

Well everything obviously!

But did you know 'satisfaction brought it back'?

'Curiosity killed the cat' basically means 'Mind your own business. Being nosy, inquisitive & getting yourself involved in unnecessary things can lead to problems'.

Apparently, 'The Gods fashioned Hell for the inquisitive' as well (Saint Augustine AD 397), I can't imagine somehow that Hell is full of cats, they aren't evil, just curious, so it seems a bit unfair that they should all be sent somewhere like that. Mind you, cats generally like a nice warm patch to curl up in so it might be fitting really! I suppose being in Heaven or Hell is pretty much the same for a cat, they don't have the same kind of emotions as humans as far as anyone can tell, so it's not likely they'd be punished for anything. Perhaps they rub themselves up against the perverted evildoers legs & trip them over. Instead of the rack, they get the cats!

Cat's are meant to be morbidly curious, they need nine lives as opposed to the normal one, because they get into so many scrapes in their quest for knowledge.

Take Freyon, little skinny black tomcat (male). He loved exploring so much that he got into quite a few scrapes over the years, he strutted about all over the neighbourhood, tantalising the ladies with his shiny black coat & full set of whiskers. He was quite gregarious when he wanted to be & used to invite other animals home for tea...he could be seen quite regularly trying to drag some poor unsuspecting squirrel through the catflap! He always got damaged in the process, but somehow this just added to his charm.

He got stuck on several occasions too, once in the school next door during the summer holidays. The workmen had been in fixing things while there were no kids about & Freyon decided he'd like to look for the same reason. He'd tried to go in during school time but the bloody caretaker kept bringing him home and of course there were the kids...bleurgh!

So anyway, he found an open door & in he trotted. He must have been having quite alot of fun because he completely forgot what the time was & pretty soon the workmen packed up & left. He was shut in with no water, no food & nobody to rub against! Over the course of the next two weeks Freyon regularly set off the school alarms, the caretaker was called on each occasion & the humans that Freyon had been allowing to feed him, were fretting that he'd come to a grisly fate! Not so.

One day, out he trotted. He was no worse for having been shut in a school for a couple of weeks. Not even skinnier! The alarm bells thankfully stopped & everyone went back to enjoying their summer.

Freyon eventually met his match in the vicar next door. He poisoned him. Said it was an accident & that he was dreadfully sorry, truth of it was....he didn't like cats in his garden. This could have been because of the Hell connection, the irony being, he was an evil old bastard & I hope he's down there now with Freyon (& his brother Flumpuss, who got runover several years before in his quest to see what was on the other side of the road!) wreaking vengeance on him! ha ha go Freyon & Flumpuss!!

So, in answer to your question: The cat wanted to know everything because they just naturally do!

The phrase was first used by a playwright called Ben Jonson in 1598 & later pinched by William Shakespeare in 'Much Ado About Nothing'. It didn't actually use the word 'curiosity' until around the end of the 19th century, previous to that it had been 'care'. The ending 'Satisfaction brought him back' wasn't added until 1933 & still isn't very well known.

Not bad I went easy on you didnt want you researching all night into something just yet.. I might though :P Althought to be fair you didnt answer

Not bad I went easy on you didnt want you researching all night into something just yet.. I might though :P
Althought to be fair you didnt answer about space telescope per say just mentioned briefly about hubble but still I will leave you be for a bit just yet :)
That's the whole comment, I think someone's taking the 'rocket scientist' thing & forgetting to put the 'NOT' in front of it :p! (It's the first one so I have to answer it, after this will someone PLEASE get me off the subject!!).

OK, space telescopes... to clarify, all telescopes are designed to look at space. But what is 'Space'? As early as the 17th century philosophical questions were being asked as to what Space actually was. Some thought it was absolute, it existed whether any matter was in it or not. Others thought it was just the gaps between matter. In the 18th century, scientists began realising that Space could very well be curved too, as opposed to flat obviously. This is the theory that modern scientists use, they'd have to get to the edges of space to prove it, but it fits in better with all modern theories. There are also different levels of 'Space'. Interstellar Space is 15 billion kilometers away but 'Space' (outside Earths ozone layer but still within the suns atmosphere) is only 200,000 kilometers away. Some might argue about that but I figure it should at least be out of the Earths atmosphere & past the ozone layer (90km up + 50km ozone layer approx & you'll just about be in Space).

Right so, the first telescopes appeared in The Netherlands in 1608. they were used for 'seeing faraway things as though nearby'. They were later improved upon by Scientists such as Galileo, he didn't invent it, just took the idea and ran in the right direction with it. 100 years ago, The United States began building giant reflecting telescopes. The 100 inch Mount Wilson Reflector discovered the Universe was expanding. This expansion was named 'Hubbles Law' after the astronomer Edwin Hubble who designed & built the Telescope. This expansion of the Universe proved the 'Big Bang Theory' and gave astronomers a factual way to determine the age of the universe. HUGE groundbreaking stuff that had anyone even remotely interested in Space incredibly excited, as you can imagine! All this happened in 1929.

'How old is the Cosmos?' was the next question that needed to be answered & the Astronomers knew they couldn't answer that using the telescopes they already had. A new one had to be made that could see past the Earths atmosphere. Plans for the Hubble telescope (named after Edwin Hubble who died in 1953) were being talked about as early as the 1950s (Hermann Oberth wrote about orbiting telescopes in the 1920s but technology hadn't got there yet) but production didn't start on it until the 1970s. Hubble was launched on April 20th 1990. It has quite a small mirror (96 inches) compared to the land based telescopes of the time (200+ inches), but because it was designed to orbit, this didn't hinder the amazing images it was able to send back to Earth. The smallest thing Hubble can pinpoint is still too big for it to prove the Moon landings happened in the 1960s, but that would be a waste of time & money anyway. Who would want to look at something just to prove a point, when you could be exploring the whole of the Cosmos!??

A new Space telescope called The Webb (or 'The James Webb Telescope' to give it it's full title) is actually in production at the moment & scheduled for launch in 2014. This telescope will be used mostly in the infra red range of the electromagnetic spectrum (measuring the electromagnetic radiation an object gives off or absorbs to determine the size/shape of it), but will also have a bit of visible range.

This is an endless topic that is pretty fascinating. I've tried to briefly explain what I've learnt, I haven't gone into the mechanics of Hubble or how space telescopes work (there are others but these are mostly observatories & instruments to measure matter. Hubble is one of the largest & is the most well known of all space telescopes) but you can go & look that up yourself lol. All I can say is 'Roll on 2014!'

ok, now will someone please change the bloody subject! The answer to the previous question was....'No!' (You didn't actually ask me to explain about Space telescopes 'per say' :P)

P.S. Herschel Space Observatory just found a baby star! :)

"Could a space telescope be pointed at the site of the moon landings to prove that humans really did land there?"

"Could a space telescope be pointed at the site of the moon landings to prove that humans really did land there?" or are we all doomed to consipracy theorists saying it never happened and America just wasted a load of money to fool the world?!

Ok, that's the full question & it wasn't as difficult to answer as I thought it would be! Phew! (I should be able to converse with some seriously geeky people after researching this lot! lol)

Anyway, I don't really think what you do or achieve is ever gonna be enough for some people, there are always gonna be chin rubbing doubters with 'pull the other one' expressions on their faces. That said, there's alot of Independent evidence to support the claims of NASA on this one (evidence that didn't come from NASA or the US Government or from the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Theorists) and plans have been suggested to use telescopes to examine the site of the Apollo Moon Landing from as far back as 2002.

There is a telescope capable of such a thing, well kind of... it's not one but 4 optical telescopes grouped together & called 'The Very Large Telescope' (wonder who thought of that name, although, even that's not as bad as the OWL! lol....look it up!) it's supported by 14 European countries (ESO) & based in Chile. This telescope is capable of seeing between the headlights of a car if it was positioned on the moon. Previous attempts to look at the moon from the Earth have resulted in distorted pictures owing to the Earths atmosphere but The VLT has infra red features to prevent all that. It's images are up to 3 times sharper than those received from Hubble (space telescope), even though Hubble is actually in space & therefore not affected by the Earths atmosphere at all. So in all a pretty snazzy piece of equipment (I was seriously gobsmacked at the stuff this thing can do....looking at moon Landing sites seems a bit of a waste really lol).

This is actually pretty interesting & I'm going to read a bit more about it before I go to sleep.... Damn you Jason (Strays lol)....I'm interested now!

Right, so the answer to your question is: No. As far as my extensive research goes, a 'space' telescope can't be pointed at the site of the Apollo Moon Landings to disprove the conspiracy theorists. The smallest thing the Hubble Telescope can see is just under 100 meters and flags aren't that big. But, the VLT can (I couldn't find anything to say it actually has been though). There is also the independent evidence however, so being 'doomed to conspiracy theorists' isn't really necessary at all, unless you want to be of course.

Not an ounce of geek! N'night!

Please tell me more about gaming and why you like to play.

Please tell me more about gaming and why you like to play. We are currently playing DDO like once or twice a week tues and thursdays ...you should join us its free! That's the full comment.

Gaming gaming gaming...it's a bit of a passion of mine. I don't think I'm a true geeky gamer, I kinda play vicariously through others on a part time basis. Most of the games I've played have been on US servers, or on open servers so anyone from anywhere can play on them. This, for me, has made gaming quite hard at times. Staying up until 7am trying to get my corpse back & then having to get the kids fed, breakfasted & off to school on time has sometimes proved difficult to say the least! Norrath sucked me in though. It sucked me in and made me forget about the crap going on in my life at the time. It gave me a magical land of enchantment to escape to anytime I turned on my computer. Instead of a wardrobe it was a computer screen, instead of Narnia, it was Norrath, but the effect was the same..... pure escapism.


The small avatar I created all those years ago had my thoughts, did as it was told & became something very special to me. I felt powerful, I loved healing people & actually felt I was doing some good in a world. Even if it wasn't the normal one! lol.

At first I had to restrict my gaming to between the hours of 8pm (after my small kids were sleeping) & Midnight (I had to get up in the morning). I watched everyone around me succumb to the powers of gaming & found it quite scary (one person I played with regularly, forgot to collect the kids from school all the time. Another left her mum in a room talking to me because she was being 'twinked' (armour upgrades), even though her mum was leaving to move to Ireland the next day!:p). I set myself severe limits & stuck to them on week days until my kids were alot bigger & no longer needed me to do everything for them. So anyway, hmmm 'Tell me more about gaming' not sure I can really, considering you play alot more than me & have done for possibly alot longer than me! You know more than me I'm sure, I could explain about character creating, entering a new world for the first time, equipment, trade skilling....the list is endless but it's not anything you don't already know about.

The best game for me will always be EverQuest, it was my first game. Even though I've played quite a few since then, I still miss aspects of it (who ever thought I'd miss dragging corpses!?). I also loved my characters in City of Heroes, I had a spines scrapper called Mwahahahaha & she was amazing! She sneezed out spines like lances...so much fun! That game was a big letdown for me though...I'm not a bloke & found the grind boring, the monsters & NPCs (non player characters) all the same & it got old very fast! Shame really, it had so much potential! Everquest II was a fun game, the people I was playing with made it fun & I loved being a Reaper of Sorrow (Still such a cool name!) again. The camaraderie wasn't there as it had been in EQ, something was missing & there wasn't even Teamspeak or Ventrilo (kinda like Skype for gamers) in the old days, but for some reason, playing & chatting was alot harder in EQ2. I still loved it though.

Playing with friends is always the best thing ever. They may be friends you've never met, but that doesn't mean they care any less. Alot of my friends from gaming have actually been more constant in my life than real life friends. We've been through alot together & not just slaying big dragons & getting each other out of bind loops either, real emotion gets passed over through those keys! We've been there to offer support, even if it's just been virtually. Sometimes it's alot easier to tell things to someone you're not likely to clap eyes on for a while. It helps knowing there's someone there at 3am when you can't sleep too! Trust me...there's nothing like a bit of slaying to get me in the mood for sleep, forget sex & get smiting! lol.

So, I've rambled on enough but you should get my gist by now. I'm not playing a game at the moment, I don't have a computer capable of playing anything (it coughs at me when I load Farmville). When I do, I hope I get to meet up with old friends, new friends & slay beasts to my hearts content *grins*

All that & not a bit of geekiness in sight! God I'm good! he he he.....

Why are they called hard shoulders?

Well, they're called hard shoulders because they're not soft ones obviously! Duh! he he he

Or were you heading for the 'because they've got bones in' option? Either way these are the hard ones, bones or tarmac (not the proper name I think it's tarmacadam or something) make them hard.  It's a 'shoulder' because it's the widest outside part, our shoulders are generally the widest part of a body as well & I think that's where they got the name from?

So, hard shoulders are made of gravel & coated in tarmac. Alot of the time, it's not as thick as the main part of the road & is used for access & emergencies rather than driving on. There are survival guides for them & everything, I've learnt today that it's alot better to use one of the emergency phones by the side of the road than a mobile phone. Each emergency phone has it's own personal number & you can be located alot faster using that than saying 'ermmm well I just past a concrete bridge with trees near it'. There are also alot of accidents on hard shoulders. It's always better to be sat well away & watch a huge truck slam into your car, than to actually be sat in your car at the time! Who knew!

You're also meant to leave the door nearest the grass open incase an unsavoury person tries to kidnap you & drag you into the bushes! Apparently, you can run inside & lock the door, screaming at them through a crack in the window (not open fully of course, if you opened it properly & got dragged out through it, you'd deserve everything you got....what do you think this is, some sort of dodgy 80s horror film where the dozy bint's asking for it? I think not!) to fuck off or you'll ram your emergency triangle up their arse (it's rather redundant on the motorway because you're not supposed to use them for any other purpose than ramming them up hard shoulder perverts bottoms). You could always try to call the police on your mobile & tell them your exact location because you wouldn't be near an emergency phone, not forgetting the bit about the bridge with the trees, obviously. This would probably happen right before the big truck slammed into your car. So on the whole, hard shoulders seem rather fun in a 'Basra' kind of way (you see them on TV but wouldn't actually want to visit).

Soft shoulders are missing the tarmac & are generally on smaller, country or old roads. It's the tarmac that makes them hard & little namby pamby roads don't have a need for it apparently. They probably do, but the motorways gang up on them, nick all their tarmac money & make them quake in fear! Bless them.

So to recap: They're called hard shoulders because they have tarmac on them!

Who came first the chicken or the egg?

Ahhhh a nice easy one to start with. Well, I'm gonna presume you meant 'what' on that one & here goes......

As everyone knows it was the chicken that came first. You've all seen the greetings card with the picture of the chicken smoking a cigarette on it & the egg lying on the bed saying 'well I guess that answers that one then!'. What's the matter with you, don't you believe it?

Anyway. I think there was perhaps a time when chickens weren't here in their normal chicken form as we know it. There must have been some kind of dinosaur chicken at some point. It was probably about 14 feet tall & had big back legs & no feathers, tiny forearms that were useless for anything & a mouthful of teeth. Now as dinosaurs go, 14 feet isn't really that big & seeing as they had tiny arms that were completely useless I expect one day they got together for a bit of a cluck (or a rawr depending) & decided to use the arms for some good after all.

The clever ones (I know, I know, bit of a contradiction but hey...it's my story) got together & found out they could genetically modify future generations & turn them into the kind of shape & size they'd like to be themselves. Not bigger, dinosaurs were huge & bigger would be hard, so they made them smaller. Chicken sized in fact. Then they decided they kinda liked the fluffy look that some of the birdlike dinosaurs were wearing that season & added a bit of that in too. So to recap, they were now going to be very small & covered in feathers, so safe (below the line of sight of the big buggers) & warm. Of course, being so small they didn't need that huge mouthful of teeth so they got rid of those & elongated the mouth so it could poke in tiny cracks looking for food. I think they were also aiming for flight but they only had the little crappy arms to work with & although they could fashion a type of wing, it did bugger all when it came to flying.

So, a new breed was created & it took the dinosaurs a lifetime of experiment to get it as right as they could. They worked day & night on it & completely forgot about having any normal baby dinosaurs in the excitement. They died off one by one. The very last one may have realised, on his death pile of jungle leaves, that they'd made a huge mistake and created something that would be eaten forevermore. Farmed even. The last thought that went through his very small brain might have been 'fuck' who knows.

That's my take on how chickens were created & this story may go some way into explaining the extinction of certain types of dinosaurs as well. I feel quite justified in my comparisons because I've seen pictures of Tyrannosaurus Rex's feet & they look just like chickens feet, only bigger!

By the way, did you mean 'a chickens egg' or 'the egg' coz I expect 'the egg' was around before 'a chickens egg' but that depends what you mean by 'a chickens egg'. Do you define 'a chickens egg' as something that was laid by a chicken, or something that a chicken emerged from? Either way, I think it was the chicken!

B00!

OMG! WTF!! It's a shiny sparkling new one! Now I just have to work out what it's going to be about....runs through the list in her head. I could do a review of all the MMOs I've played from a female non-geek point of view? Nah, I know someone who'd be laughing their ass off at that suggestion! I could do a crafty one but I haven't found my crafting 'nische' yet (one day I might google how to spell that). I could do one about life with teenage children but I'm pretty sure that's been covered somewhere & they're just learn as you go along really! So watch this space anyway.....I need a cunning plan to make everyone bow in the shadow of my awesomeness *grins*

I know what! Type a comment on any random subject you like & I'll try & write a few paragraphs on it. I'll try to put any information I have to use in straightforward femaleness & that way everyone'll be able to understand it, even blonde people!

It might be a factual answer, an anecdote, a bit of fiction. I'll see the comment & then work out what I'm going to do with it. Try & be a bit creative with the comment. If I get more than one comment I'll have to go with the top one (unless it's utter bollox of course).