Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 2]

[lord trumpton]

Is it possible for a human to impregnate an animal? Like a female monkey or gorilla etc

[Justin Cyder]

Asking for a friend?

[ATTAK Z]

jefword said:

Fantastic reply.

I like the Hectare and the Rod but I must admit I have not come across a Pole before. (Just had to look it up)

I was waiting for someone to correct my spelling of "rude" so I could mention the whoosh parrot, then say they sit on "perches" but you beat me to it with the Perch.

Yep the old rod, pole or perch ... 5.5 yards or 0.25 of a chain ... approximately 5 metres or 22 brick lengths ... very useful in construction (especially farm buildings)

Get the best of both worlds using the golden ratio and you end up with a (small) barn 4940 x 8090 mm. Put on a 35 or 40 degree pitch clay pantile roof and Robert is your grandad's son

[Studio117]

Pound in a pint glass, near kings cross. Talk to me

[Shaolin]

lord trumpton said:

Is it possible for a human to impregnate an animal? Like a female monkey or gorilla etc

There are a number of problems to get over:

Making the right approach and understanding gorilla courtship behaviour.
An especially aggressive immune response from the female to the foreign sperm in her body killing it before it got anywhere near an egg.
The sperm not identifying the correct chemical cues from the egg saying "here I am come and get me".
The egg not responding in the correct manner to the approach of the sperm meaning it might not get in anyway.
A mismatch of chromosomes meaning that a viable embryo cannot be created.

Then again, interspecific hybrids do occur, mules from a horse and a donkey, although these are sterile and you need to do the horse/donkey thing every time to get a mule. There are others such as ligers, tigons and a range of zebroids which again tend to be sterile. It depends how genetically distant the animals are, gorillas are a not-impossibility, monkeys probably are an impossibility, chimpanzees would be the best bet but still very unlikely. Most northern Europeans have around 5% Neanderthal DNA from inter-specific breeding in the distant past.

[guru_1071]

lord trumpton said:

Is it possible for a human to impregnate an animal? Like a female monkey or gorilla etc

a night out in Hull will tell you all you need to know................

[Hugo a Gogo]

lord trumpton said:

Is it possible for a human to impregnate an animal? Like a female monkey or gorilla etc

no, don't worry about it, it's not your monkey baby, even if it looks like you

[kowalski655]

It is possible-just look at the Jeremy Kyle Show

[All that jazz]

What happens to the bullets and cannons fired into the air from the guns at these war memorial/celebration events/Trooping the Colour, etc? Surely they must come back down to earth at some point, potentially landing on someone's head?

[Hugo a Gogo]

blanks, of course

[All that jazz]

Oh. So obvious now you mention it!

[Silent1]

Not usually blanks in foreign countries and if they're fired on anything but perfectly vertical they will continue on a ballistic arc and potentially injure someone where they come down.

[robbieduncan]

Silent1 said:

Not usually blanks in foreign countries and if they're fired on anything but perfectly vertical they will continue on a ballistic arc and potentially injure someone where they come down.

Plenty if incidents listed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebratory_gunfire#N...

[Hugo a Gogo]

he did say war memorials, trooping the colour etc

not many cannons get fired in the air for celebration, even in Iraq

[Willy Nilly]

When science has saved everyone's life, where are we all going to live?

[Shaolin]

Willy Nilly said:

When science has saved everyone's life, where are we all going to live?

In the NIMBY's back yards by compulsory purchase order.

[monthefish]

Why is most roadkill in the road seen in the centre of the lane, and not the left or the right?

[anonymous-user]

monthefish said:

Why is most roadkill in the road seen in the centre of the lane, and not the left or the right?

Because the wheels "clear" the wheeltracks - which will clear from the very edge of the lane (as cars of varying widths swerve to avoid whatever the lump of meat in the road is) to leave approx a metre strip of unswept road.

[Dr Jekyll]

Why do major roads including motorways often have signs telling you which river you've just crossed?

[leafspring]

For people who navigate by land marks?