elves@qi.com has been getting lots and lots of traffic of late, it's great to see that we have so many eagle-eyed viewers who refuse to take everything they see on television as gospel truth. Here are a number of snippets that I felt were worthy of a mention; though perhaps not of their own blog entry...
One of the questions referred naming a "nuclear powered device" "incorrectly" predicted to be in regular in the future. The answer was "vacuum cleaner." Given that ~19% of the UK's power grid is supplied by nuclear power stations isn't this in some sense true?
~ David Ronayne
Excellent spot David; couldn't agree with you more:
Quibble Qualified
In episode 9 of the current series Stephen Fry suspects that cricket is not played in Suriname (after it is wrongfully suggested that Gyana is the only South American country to do so). In fact, cricket is one of the oldest sports in Suriname. It was introduced in the late 1880s by Indian immigrants and got popular again at the end of the last century after immigration from Gyana reached its peak.
~ Cor Gujit
Indeed. I can only imagine that we were thinking about the West Indies Cricket team; Guyana is the only mainland country whose players are eligible to play for the Windies. Suriname is definitely an affiliate of the ICC though.
Quibble Qualified
On a recent programme Stephen asked when would they finish painting the Forth Rail Bridge; sadly no such bridge exists. The structure you referred to is the Forth Bridge, the suspension bridge next to it is the Forth Road Bridge.
~George McClaren
I'm afraid I can't agree with this one: The Forth Bridges Visitor Centre Trust appears to support our view that the bridge in question is known as the "Forth Rail Bridge." For this reason, we feel that both names are valid.
http://www.forthbridges.org.uk/railbridgemain.htm
Quibble Quashed
Stephen Fry said that the marriage of Henry II to Eleanor of Aquitaine was the cause of the 100 years war. Surely that's hundreds of years too early!!
~Ray Garrod & "Mark"
Thanks Mark & Ray. This flippant point about the broad historical context in which the 100 Years' War took place really didn't come across correctly at all when the show was edited. Way too simplistic, for which we apologise.
Quibble Qualified.
Do you have a bone to pick with QI? E-mail us here: elves@qi.com
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One of the questions referred naming a "nuclear powered device" "incorrectly" predicted to be in regular in the future. The answer was "vacuum cleaner." Given that ~19% of the UK's power grid is supplied by nuclear power stations isn't this in some sense true?
~ David Ronayne
Excellent spot David; couldn't agree with you more:
Quibble Qualified
In episode 9 of the current series Stephen Fry suspects that cricket is not played in Suriname (after it is wrongfully suggested that Gyana is the only South American country to do so). In fact, cricket is one of the oldest sports in Suriname. It was introduced in the late 1880s by Indian immigrants and got popular again at the end of the last century after immigration from Gyana reached its peak.
~ Cor Gujit
Indeed. I can only imagine that we were thinking about the West Indies Cricket team; Guyana is the only mainland country whose players are eligible to play for the Windies. Suriname is definitely an affiliate of the ICC though.
Quibble Qualified
On a recent programme Stephen asked when would they finish painting the Forth Rail Bridge; sadly no such bridge exists. The structure you referred to is the Forth Bridge, the suspension bridge next to it is the Forth Road Bridge.
~George McClaren
I'm afraid I can't agree with this one: The Forth Bridges Visitor Centre Trust appears to support our view that the bridge in question is known as the "Forth Rail Bridge." For this reason, we feel that both names are valid.
http://www.forthbridges.org.uk/railbridgemain.htm
Quibble Quashed
Stephen Fry said that the marriage of Henry II to Eleanor of Aquitaine was the cause of the 100 years war. Surely that's hundreds of years too early!!
~Ray Garrod & "Mark"
Thanks Mark & Ray. This flippant point about the broad historical context in which the 100 Years' War took place really didn't come across correctly at all when the show was edited. Way too simplistic, for which we apologise.
Quibble Qualified.
Do you have a bone to pick with QI? E-mail us here: elves@qi.com
Or watch us tweet at http://twitter.com/qikipedia
I was recently given your woderful book of General Ignorance. I have no doubt that it will run to many editions, so you might want to correct an error on page 240 in any future reprint.
Your mathematics elf wasn't minding the zeros. If the Australian aboriginals have been on the continent for 50,000 years, then they have not been there for 20,000 generations. I'm sure you meant to write 2,000.
I have what I believe to be a first hardback edition of TBOGI. It says 'First published in 2006' and there is no mention of any reprints. On page 240 of my book it says, 'They have been present on the continent for 2,000 generations'.
It is hard to imagine that this would have been changed (to 20,000) for any later reprints.
"I have what I believe to be a first hardback edition of TBOGI. It says 'First published in 2006' and there is no mention of any reprints." Ditto with mine, yet I have the extra zero in 20,000 generations.
I brought up a fact that I thought I ve learned on Q.I. saying that colours of tissues didn't matter when talking about heat absorption. I've actually bet on it. And I've found myself loosing this bet. Is it possible that I didn't get the fact right, or did Q.I. wrongly admitted that colours didn't matter when walking in the desert ?
gkosmo1, correct me if I am wrong, but I would suggest that it may be that the colour of materials does matter normally, but when in the desert, it makes so little difference that they don't matter.
The Forth Bridges Visitors Centre is WRONG and should be corrected at every opportunity.
This is akin to the Thomas A Beckett topic. Just because people (especially those who should know better) used a term; it does not make it right.
Having watched the series 7 episode Gravity I wondered about one of the things said. It was mentioned that a bullet fired and a bullet dropped from the same height as he pistol will hit the ground at the same time. However a bullet that has not been fired has a case, propellant etc, so it would be heavier than the projectile leaving the weapon. Has this been taken into account or is the round dropped only the projectile?
It doesn't matter, as mentioined earlier in the same episode, heavy things don't fall faster than light things.
What I've wondered is that a fired bullet will have been given a spin (more of an issue if it is fired from a rifle, I admit). Wouldn't this affect the bullet's downward acceleration?
The 'fact' about the fired and dropped bullet is clearly incorrect. This is discussed on Rhett Allain's physics site http://scienceblogs.com/dotphysics/2009/10/mythbusters-bringing-on-the-physics-bullet-drop.php and the maths shows that the fired bullet lands (marginally) after the dropped one.
Importantly there are also many other factors such as rifling and the heating of the air around the fired bullet which all make the fired bullet stay aloft longer.
Sorry QI elves, but you're incorrect on this one!