Ask the experts.... Trivial questions

[Immortal Wombat]

Then from earth perspective, it will accelerate very rapidly, so as to remain stationary in relation to whatever gravitational forces the universe is exerting.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by reds4ever
here's a serious one then Prov, Krazy,

in a classical newtonian telescope, can you see the secondary mirror, when you look through the eyepiece? if not, why not? the light passes it?

Yes, you do see it, in a sense. If you had significant light leakage off the primary mirror, you'd have much more distortion, but the whole secondary mirror prism and spider affect the optical performance of any compound light path 'scope. The mirror / prism / spider is out of any focal path, and because it's almost unlit, unreflective and black, it has a minimal and unfocused reflection back to the eye. The effect is not one of seeing it directly since here's not enough focused light reflected for your eye to resolve it. What you get is a certain level of optical distortion in the overall image. Most of that is due to diffraction, but a part is due to stray light reflection from the secondary structure as a whole.

That's why you have low-reflective black coatings in the inside, and baffled tube inner surfaces on larger aparture Newtownian and Dobsonian (same light path, different axis and base design) scopes. Truss-rod Newtonians accept the light leakage, but can compensate by letting you use larger primary mirrors, so you get higher absolute distortion, but lower relative distortion.

Inch for inch of aperture, refractors beat the hell out of any compound scope except for Maksutov-Cassegrain designs, which are pretty expensive. Maksutovs use an image correcting front plate like Schmidt-Cassegrains, and a primary hemispherical (almost, but much closer than the parabolic mirrors of Newtownians and Schmidts) mirror to create a different overall light path with less internal interference.

[Dauphin]

Conservation of debits and credits

What was the system of accounting used in Elizabethan times, before double-entry?

Describe it.

Single entry and it was ****e.

[Seeker]

"it was ****e"

Good enough.

[MrFun]

double post

[MrFun]

How do animals with shorter legs run faster than humans??

SMALL animals with SHORT legs -- rabbits, squirrels, rats

I am aware of how the cheetah has adaptations for high speed.

[Seeker]

Hmmm....at a guess, several factors:

1) they weigh much less

2) only modern humans exhibit juvenile muscle characteristics throughout life.

3) A greater portion of mass is devoted to muscles designed to give them an explosive burst of speed, i.e. a rabbits powerful hind legs.

4) The speed of smaller animals is typically over short distances. If you put a human racing a rabbit in a straight line, 50 M, the rabbit would always win. But if the race was over, say, a day long straight line marathon the human would win.

5) they are four footed animals. No human can run like a dog or horse can.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Seeker
"it was ****e"

Good enough.

I would go in to more detail, but it would only serve to promote the myth that accountants are boring.

[Usually Insane]

how come I never noticed quick reply, how does one get to know these things

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin


I would go in to more detail, but it would only serve to promote the myth that accountants are boring.

I think you have used the word 'myth' incorrectly

I was talking to a mate on thursday over MSN who is an accountant and was at work. Obviously had a bit of a light day

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Usually Insane
how come I never noticed quick reply, how does one get to know these things

It just showed up yesterday.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison


I think you have used the word 'myth' incorrectly

Accountancy is boring, accountants are not.

[Juggernaut]

And now, let's hear it from the console geek:

How come the SNES handled audio music (atleast it sounds like it) whilst the N64's games, being a superior system, only had raw midi songs?

And how could the SNES cartridges fit that much audio, in that case?

[RGBVideo]

What are the reasons why did UN gave territory to Ethiopia from Eritrea yesterday?

[Tingkai]

Re: More Importantly

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

Why is it that the US Postal Service delivers the "mail" but the Royal Mail delivers the "post"?

Why is it that Canada Post can't be arsed to do either?

Because Canada Post thinks that mail is something they're supposed to post up.