The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXIII

[Dachs]

I recommend bringing up Belgium.

 

[Flying Pig]

Or most of Asia, which should tell you that there's nothing Protestant about it.

 

[Dachs]

but clearly the Protestant missionaries in China caused the place's industrial dynamism

look what they did to the Taiping for crying out loud

:3

 

[sophie]

but clearly the Protestant missionaries in China caused the place's industrial dynamism

look what they did to the Taiping for crying out loud

:3

Don't forget Japan:

Before Meiji: Godless heathen isolationist perverts

After Meiji: Proper western expansionist perverts.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Say I went to Paris. Am I going to have to contend with huge crowds of tourists while walking around La Défense?

 

[warpus]

If I were to fly into Manchester sometime in June, would that be a bad idea? How easy and/or cheap or expensive would it be to get to London from there? I found a cheap flight that flies into there and for some reason flies back to Canada 3 weeks later from Lisbon, so I'm considering a European trip, but.. Manchester.. that sounds like a trap.

But maybe there's stuff to see in Manchester.. or do? and I just don't know. So please inform me

 

[Borachio]

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g187069-Activities-Manchester_Greater_Manchester_England.html

Greater Manchester's a great city. (If you like cities). Plenty of industrial archaelogy. Nightlife. Museums. Art galleries. A major part of the BBC is located there. Manchester United FC. Manchester City FC.

I'd recommend The Royal Exchange theatre (in the round), Museum of Science and Industry, The Lowry, The Comedy Store, Whitworth Art Gallery.

Very easy to get from Manchester to London by train or coach. Though the airport is located well out of the city, there are naturally easy and frequent transport links to and from it.

But then, it's a very long time since I was last there. And I can't say I miss the place. And I wouldn't call it a beautiful place - but I don't like cities anyway.

 

[GinandTonic]

Coaches are cheap and nasty. National Express and Megabus. Train is fast and nice but you have to book in advance. 76 quid on the gate but 12 quid if you book now for june.

 

[really]

La Defence is a business district so you would have to deal with suits for the most part.

 

[Arakhor]

Coaches are cheap and nasty. National Express and Megabus.

They don't have to be. Their main disadvantage is the extreme length of time it takes them to get anywhere.

 

[GinandTonic]

Yeah, especially going into London. Unless it's the middle of the night it takes a good hour from the end of the motorway to victoria, where the train covers the same distance in a couple of mins.

The trains dont have to have such an absurd pricing policy either. As some stand up said "So I drove here tonight. I'ld rather have taken the train, but when I grew up I didnt know I would become a comic so I missed the cheap tickets".

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

La Defence is a business district so you would have to deal with suits for the most part.

They're no-nonsense types, easy to deal with, so that's good.

 

[Glassfan]

Steven Spielberg's "Obama"

 

[Borachio]

Why does the Sun not bulge at the equator, like other stars and the Earth do?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

It doesn't?

 

[Borachio]

Apparently not. Though I've only just read it. In some book or other. So I've not checked it out, yet.

http://io9.com/5935742/its-official-the-sun-is-the-most-perfect-natural-sphere-ever-measured

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Odd.

 

[Borachio]

Isn't it just?!

I'm intrigued.

And it's period of rotation is ~26 days. So it should bulge quite a bit, I think.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Well maybe it's because the sun takes a month to revolve. I know buldges are due to centrifigal force due to rotation, maybe the sun rotates slowly enough that the buldge doesn't happen. I am not sure if a monthly period is fast or slow for a star though.

 

[Borachio]

No. I don't think it's that. I think astronomers were expecting to observe more oblateness than there is. They don't seem to have an explanation for it yet. But I'd guess it shows something about the internal circulation.