Comments on Want to be a free thinker but still a nice person: Quiz Night

I would love for you to come down. We're back to ...

2008-10-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

I would love for you to come down. We're back to our regular pub, The King's Head in Battle, East Sussex, next Wednesday.

You should plan a trip down to see Battle Abbey and spend some time at the seaside in Bexhill where we live.

This weekend is the reenactment weekend of the Battle of Hastings and it's very interesting! Just 942 years ago, William the Conqueror defeated Harold on the battleground contained within the grounds of Battle Abbey.

We lived in Battle for the first eleven months we were in England and as we were in a flat, we became members of English Heritage, and therefore had free admission, so we used the battleground as our garden.

wish we could go to your Quiz Night sometime There...

2008-10-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

wish we could go to your Quiz Night sometime Theresa but guess you live too far away. :(

Well, Mel, if you do decide you want to see it, un...

2008-10-10T04:34:00.000-07:00

Well, Mel, if you do decide you want to see it, under no circumstances should you see the film until after you've seen the stage production.

I also recommend going with a group, our quiz team had loads of fun!

Oh, I see - it's in Mamma Mia. I thought it was j...

2008-10-10T01:55:00.000-07:00

Oh, I see - it's in Mamma Mia. I thought it was just an obscure album trsck from Super Trouper.

Unbelievable, I know, but I've never seen Mamma Mia.

Our quiz team, except Vince because he's a party p...

2008-10-09T04:17:00.000-07:00

Our quiz team, except Vince because he's a party pooper and can't stand ABBA, took the train up to London to see Mamma Mia last year and I've got the movie soundtrack in my music on my Blackberry.

You knew "Lay All Your Love On Me"?I'm impressed.

2008-10-09T03:43:00.000-07:00

You knew "Lay All Your Love On Me"?

I'm impressed.

btw, I forgot to mention that I only knew the answ...

2008-10-09T03:37:00.000-07:00

btw, I forgot to mention that I only knew the answer to number 1.

Vince and I belong to a weekly pub quiz team, too,...

2008-10-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

Vince and I belong to a weekly pub quiz team, too, and nothing irks me more than to have the quizmaster have the wrong answer. Several weeks ago, he insisted that there have only been forty-two US Presidents. I asked him "are you seriously going to argue that with me?" He only backed down when a group of young Uni men agreed with me.

If you don't count going to the summit with a GPS ...

2008-10-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

If you don't count going to the summit with a GPS device, the long-winded (but more accurate) way to do it is with a level and staff. This still involves climbing to the top of the mouintain though.

I still don't know what 'theodolite' means.

2008-10-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

I still don't know what 'theodolite' means.

I had to look up 'theodolite' - I had no idea such...

2008-10-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

I had to look up 'theodolite' - I had no idea such a device existed - that certainly does solve the measuring problem I envisioned in my mind.

I couldn't think of a way to do it without such an instrument - is there a way to do it accurately?

As for how we determine the height in the first pl...

2008-10-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

As for how we determine the height in the first place:

Pick two known points a few miles apart on the plain of Darjeeling and triangulate the summit of Everest with a theodolite. This will give you the three sides of a triangle to determine the distance from the point of measurement.

Next, sight the angle of elevation from the measurement point. The height of Everest is:

HMP + D tan (A)

where HMP is the height of the measuring point, D is the measured distance to the summit and A is the angle of elevation.

I did try to tell him he was wrong and explained m...

2008-10-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

I did try to tell him he was wrong and explained my reasoning.

But he was adamant that they'd discussed it in the week and were sure they were correct.

In the end it didn't make enough difference to worry about as we still would not have won.

And you not reason with him/her? Didn't Elizabeth...

2008-10-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

And you not reason with him/her? Didn't Elizabeth have a fancy phone where you could instantly show him wikipedia or something? Or would that have been too cutthroat?

As an aside, how do people know how high Everest is?

Well, I think the only reason we got the Everest q...

2008-10-07T04:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I think the only reason we got the Everest question wrong is because quizmaster had the answer wrong.

Everest is 29,000 ft and one mile is 5,280 ft.

So in miles that's 29000 / 5280 = 5.49 (or five miles to the nearest mile)

But they reckoned it was 8.8 miles, which is actually the answer in kilometres.

Dang, the only one i know is number 3.This typifie...

2008-10-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

Dang, the only one i know is number 3.

This typifies my experience of quiz nights, btw. I have a vast store of truly useless knowledge in my head and they never ask about any of THAT. Not what is the molecular weight of glucose (which I could answer), but instead how high Mt Everest is (which you could tell me today, I could repeat to myself a hundred times and then tomorrow I won't know it again).