Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

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michael_churchill
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by michael_churchill »

DrainBrain wrote: 15 Nov 2019, 13:35
jamesthegill wrote: What's so odd about Bangor City and Juventus male football teams this season?
Bit of a guess: there are more Italian players in the Bangor City squad than in the Juventus squad?
Good call. According to WP, could also be that Juventus have more Welsh players (1 - Aaron Ramsey) than Bangor (0).
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by jamesthegill »

You're both right - the Welsh side have more Italian players than the Italian side, and vice versa!
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by michael_churchill »

Which TV actor has been nominated for an Emmy for playing the same character in THREE different programmes?

i.e. not getting a nomination for playing the same character three times, but appearances in three programmes have each received a nomination.
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

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michael_churchill wrote: 18 Nov 2019, 09:00 Which TV actor has been nominated for an Emmy for playing the same character in THREE different programmes?
Kelsey Grammer, who was nominated for playing Dr Frasier Crane in each of Cheers, Frasier and Wings.

Where are the end points of the longest straight line that can be made on planet Earth?
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by RJSRdg »

An aeroplane taking off from any point on the globe and flying in a straight line will eventually get back to where it came from (given sufficient fuel on board, obviously). Therefore the longest straight line could in theory be drawn from anywhere right round the world and almost back to where it started. However, as the earth is not perfectly spherical, but is flatter at the poles and wider at the equator, the longest straight line would be from any point of the equator, almost all the way round and back just short of the starting point.

Or did you mean the longest straight line on land?
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

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Good question on Richard Osman's House of Games this afternoon:

According to TfL, how many London Underground trains are in service during the rush hour?
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

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RJSRdg wrote: 18 Nov 2019, 22:52 An aeroplane taking off from any point on the globe and flying in a straight line will eventually get back to where it came from (given sufficient fuel on board, obviously). Therefore the longest straight line could in theory be drawn from anywhere right round the world and almost back to where it started. However, as the earth is not perfectly spherical, but is flatter at the poles and wider at the equator, the longest straight line would be from any point of the equator, almost all the way round and back just short of the starting point.

Or did you mean the longest straight line on land?
I mean an actual straight line, not a curve over the surface. You're on the right track with "the earth is not perfectly spherical".
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

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So it would need to be on a piece of perfectly flat ground, with no curvature to it?
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by greatkingrat »

I think it would be a straight line from the top of a mountain to the top of another mountain. So the question is basically asking where the longest line of sight on the Earth is (assuming perfect conditions).
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by DrainBrain »

Line of sight isn't needed. You just need the longest straight line between two points on planet Earth.
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by A Challenge »

It will be from the equator to the equator through the middle of the earth then?
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

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The question was *on* earth, not through it!
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by GuyBarry »

Then I don't understand the question. The notion of "straight line" belongs to Euclidean geometry, and the surface of the Earth is non-Euclidean.
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

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If I start digging a hole (albeit theoretical) when do I stop being on PLANET Earth?

A Challenge has the general idea, but there are specific points.
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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Post by michael_churchill »

If you COULD dig a hole directly through the centre of the Earth, from one side of the world to the other, assuming no air resistance that would cause issues with 'terminal velocity', if you jumped into the hole you would JUST pop out of the hole at the other end.
Gravity would accelerate you towards the midpoint, then the same amount of gravitational force would slow you down as you keep going to the other side. You would reach zero velocity just as you emerged at the other end.
Incidentally, the acceleration would decrease the deeper in the hole you are, as a lot of the Earth's mass would then be behind you. At the centre point there would be no acceleration at all.
I know that none of this is relevant, but neither is the question.
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