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Old Dec 1st, 2020, 10:17 PM
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Imponderables

Way back in the 19's, (as my children love to say), in the pre-internet days, books were the primary source of information on any subject imaginable. One particular series of books covered a wide gamut of tough questions, called Imponderables. Author David Feldman collected all sorts of interesting and seemingly unanswerable questions, and did his best to find answers. Questions like:

Why does an "X" stand for a kiss?
Which fruits are in Juicy Fruit® gum?
Why do people cry at happy endings?
Why do you never see baby pigeons?
Why are tennis balls fuzzy?
How come birds don't tip over when they sleep on telephone wires?
What makes yawning contagious?
Why, oh why, do roosters have to crow so early in the morning?
etc, etc, click the link.

Then the internet came along and ruined everything, because answering such questions is now a Google away, and there's no more market for such interesting stuff to be collected in books. (Although it seems they were published until 2009. Hm.)

People still have questions, but they've become so easy to answer that they are given little thought, and thus, the answers are likely quickly forgotten. Not to mention why we wanted to know in the first place. The most perplexing of life's mysteries have been reduced to just another glance at a screen, earning little to none of our attention, when they used to capture our imaginations for days.

Perhaps we can revitalize that curiosity, if only in this little corner of the web. The next time you have a question like "where have all the pens gone?" Or "Why do I feel so good when my cat purrs?" Instead of jumping to Google, jump here, and share it. Tell us the story behind it. Let it bounce around our collective cognizance for a few days and see what shenanigans speculations arise. Maybe there's an expert here who can tell you exactly where the pens have gone. Make the connection with them instead of your mindless search engine of choice. If not, then we'll have had some fun. You can still Google away after a couple of days and let us know what you find.

The only rule is:

No looking up the answer until the questioner does!

Any number of questions can be "active" at a time.

And maybe, if you do know the answer, only give it if you are the expert, not because you saw it on Animal Planet.

So, who has a question?
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Old Dec 2nd, 2020, 12:22 PM
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If leaves turn different colors in fall, how come they're not different shades of green in the spring?
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Old Dec 4th, 2020, 10:14 AM
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What is laughter?
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Old Dec 4th, 2020, 11:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rat Queen View Post
If leaves turn different colors in fall, how come they're not different shades of green in the spring?
Oh, but they are! there are pale green, lime green, and the deep, dark green of a new oak leaf. The silvery green of a dogwood leaf, and the vibrant green of a wisteria leaf.
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Old Dec 4th, 2020, 11:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxder View Post
Way back in the 19's, (as my children love to say), in the pre-internet days, books were the primary source of information on any subject imaginable. One particular series of books covered a wide gamut of tough questions, called Imponderables. Author David Feldman collected all sorts of interesting and seemingly unanswerable questions, and did his best to find answers.
Trivia:

My name is mentioned in one of his books, as I helped provide two answers to imponderables that he used in it.
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Old Dec 4th, 2020, 11:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lostcheerio View Post
What is laughter?
I find it very interesting that mechanically, crying and laughing are the same.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Admin Dirk View Post
Trivia:

My name is mentioned in one of his books, as I helped provide two answers to imponderables that he used in it.
Holy crap, that ain't happening. I haven't looked at them in something like 25 years. I'll just take a stab at it and say Gary Gygax.

Wait, do you mean you, yourself? 'Cuz that'd be awesome.
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Old Dec 4th, 2020, 12:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Admin Dirk View Post
Oh, but they are! there are pale green, lime green, and the deep, dark green of a new oak leaf. The silvery green of a dogwood leaf, and the vibrant green of a wisteria leaf.
Not all on the same tree, though. Spring leaf tends to be very similar in color from the same tree, whereas in Fall they turn a variety of colors.
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Old Dec 4th, 2020, 05:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxder View Post
Wait, do you mean you, yourself? 'Cuz that'd be awesome.
Yup, me, myself... decades before RPGX was even DNDOG.

Pretty sure it was around the transition to 2nd edition.
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Old Dec 4th, 2020, 05:25 PM
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Nice! What were the questions?
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Old Dec 5th, 2020, 04:27 AM
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If nothing escapes black holes, how does gravity?
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Old Dec 5th, 2020, 04:53 AM
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Why do dogs have wet noses?
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Old Dec 5th, 2020, 09:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wishkamon View Post
Why do dogs have wet noses?
I believe this was an imponderable, and the title for one of his books.

The answer:

Dogs noses secrete mucus, just like a human's nose. And some of it migrates to the outside and coats the outer part of the nose. Dogs can also lick their nose, and reach part of it, and add saliva. This additional moisture helps trap odor particles in the air, enhancing their sense of smell and perception of odors.

Dogs do not always have wet noses... frequently, they are dry, like leather (just like your nose is sometimes drier than other times). But, when excited, or in new places, or when something new (odor) comes along, the dog may secrete more fluid, lick their nose excitedly, in order to enhance their sensory perception of the environment... thus, dogs frequently have wet noses.

My dog, asleep at my feet as I type this, has a dry nose. He's not really taking in information through his nose, so... no need to have the extra help the moisture layer makes.
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Old Dec 5th, 2020, 09:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxder View Post
Nice! What were the questions?
Lol... One had to do with why your voice sounds funny when using Helium.
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Old Dec 5th, 2020, 09:40 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bjorgulf View Post
If nothing escapes black holes, how does gravity?
Gravity is a force created by mass, which only affects other objects with mass and their gravitational fields, sort of like magnetism. Black holes have such immense gravity because of their incredible mass, which is why nothing else with mass can escape their gravitational pull, even other black holes. But a gravitational field doesn't act upon itself, just like a magnetic field doesn't affect itself.

This makes me wonder, though: Do black holes have magnetic fields?
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Old Dec 5th, 2020, 09:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rat Queen View Post
Not all on the same tree, though. Spring leaf tends to be very similar in color from the same tree, whereas in Fall they turn a variety of colors.
Plants feed themselves through a process of photosynthesis where light energy is used to convert nutrients into usable sugars. In the spring, on deciduous plants that drop their leaves every winter, new growth produces leaves filled with chloroplasts, the cells responsible for that photosynthesis. The chlorophyll within the chloroplasts has a green color. Therefore, all the new growth in living leaves that will be responsible for feeding the plant during the "growing season" will be green unless there is disease or injury to the plant.

In the fall, as the plant begins to prepare for its winter dormancy, sap flow slows as temperatures fall, daytime shortens, and the leaves stop receiving the nutrients that keep them alive. As the leaves die, they decay. The dead chloroplasts change color as the chemicals in them denature. Depending on how quickly the leaves die, different colors are witnessed. A slower decline in sap flow will extend the life of the leaves and produce more vibrant, gradual color change while rapid loss of nutrients, caused by lack of water or suddenly cold weather, causes a quick desiccation and transition to the gray/brown color of dry, fully desiccated, leaves. The different colors of fall come from leaves dying at different rates and the residual amounts of sugar left behind help determine the intensity of that color.

So, sappy plants are happy plants. They warm up and get their "blood" flowing so they can have plant sex, become fruity and reproduce while frolicking in the sunshine. Then they change clothes for winter by getting naked. If they do it slowly, it can be more colorful.
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Last edited by Black Jim; Dec 14th, 2020 at 07:10 PM.
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