Egg Standing and the Vernal Equinox

[no1tovote4]

When we were in elementary school we had a teacher inform us that the only time a raw egg could be balanced on its end was on the vernal equinox. Thanks to the Bad Astronomer I now know that she was simply repeating "well-known and accepted knowledge" that was simply wrong.

Bad Astronomy: Only on the day of the Vernal (spring) Equinox, can you stand a raw egg on its end.

Good astronomy: If you can stand a raw egg on end, it has nothing to do with the Equinox.


http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/egg_spin.html#badegg

 

[no1tovote4]

Cool. And here is the same page in Russian.

http://eggs.by.ru/curious/equinox.shtml

 

[Said1]

I thought I was pretty good at standing eggs, until I got an email from a guy who balanced 1290 with a group of friends! That was enough for a world record: read all about (and look at some pretty amazing pictures, too).

Genius, and egg standing party. Dorkoramma!

 

[Hobbit]

I found it at Snopes.

One of the best accepted pieces of knowledge I've seen is the tongue map. All of you learned it in school. It's the diagram that shows you that the tip of your tongue tastes sweet things. Bitter is at the back, and sour and salt are on the sides. Well, it's complete bullcrap and you can quickly find this out if you try asking teachers about some of the holes in it, such as why you can taste sugar placed on the center of your tongue. In reality, the tongue has taste buds of all types everywhere, though the back does have a higher concentration of bitter for the gag reflex. Try this: Touch the tip of your tongue to a slice of lemon. It's immediately sour.

 

[no1tovote4]

Genius, and egg standing party. Dorkoramma!

That's why I like sites like the one for the Bad Astronomer and Snopes. I can learn all this stuff without having to take part in the "egg standing party".

 

[no1tovote4]

I found it at Snopes.

One of the best accepted pieces of knowledge I've seen is the tongue map. All of you learned it in school. It's the diagram that shows you that the tip of your tongue tastes sweet things. Bitter is at the back, and sour and salt are on the sides. Well, it's complete bullcrap and you can quickly find this out if you try asking teachers about some of the holes in it, such as why you can taste sugar placed on the center of your tongue. In reality, the tongue has taste buds of all types everywhere, though the back does have a higher concentration of bitter for the gag reflex. Try this: Touch the tip of your tongue to a slice of lemon. It's immediately sour.

Yeah, I remember this piece of idiocy. My teacher explained when I asked that the tongue has receptors for all types just less in certain areas. I then asked why I could taste it just as much in those areas with less "sweet" receptors etc, he got frustrated and told me, "Just memorize the damned thing."

Same thing happened in Grade 3 when I asked why certain Countries are considered Empires, while others that act the same are not.

 

[Said1]

That's why I like sites like the one for the Bad Astronomer and Snopes. I can learn all this stuff without having to take part in the "egg standing party".

It is interesting and now that I think about it, an "egg party" is probably waaay better than a tubberware *cough* they're all nazis *cough* party.