A big fanfare! Because we have reached the last question in Series 10 of Five Questions.
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Question 5: How would you describe yourself in three words?
Totally fucked up.
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OK, so that’s the end of this series of Five Questions. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, maybe learnt something (if only about my craziness) and possibly even had a think yourself.
As in the past, if I can find enough good – or crazy – questions I may do another series, sometime next year. So if you have a good question, or something you want to ask, then do please get in touch – or leave a note in the Comments. And yes you can ask literally anything you like!
Meanwhile, it’s the season to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year!
And so on to question four and we’re getting towards the end of this tenth series of Five Questions.
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Question 4: Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?
Because they’re 10% nylon?
But seriously … The real answer is almost certainly to do with the cross-linking of the long-chain protein polymers that make up each hair and the mechanical interlinking between the individual hairs. The more random cross-linking there is, the more the proteins will fold together and the curlier (thus shorter) the hairs. Similarly the more random the mechanical interlinking, the more likely the fibres are to be shorter. Wool has to be processed to remove this interlinking and cross-linking and create straight fibres, which we call unshrunk. Heat, water and mechanical action go to create the randomisation of the linking and thus cause the fibres to shrink in the wash. Now sheep are a natural product; they aren’t processed. Hence their wool is pretty random and effectively pre-shrunk, so they aren’t going to shrink more in the rain.
Here we are at the halfway point, at question three in this series of Five Questions.
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Question 3: Do illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
Can illiterate people even know what alphabet soup is?
Clearly if you’re totally illiterate you can’t get the full effect because you don’t even know what letters are let alone identify them.
Although, who knows, there may be a deeper hidden truth.
So here we go with the answer to the first question in Series 10 of Five Questions.
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Question 1: What is the nature of the universe? Does it function by itself or would it degenerate into chaos without some kind of intelligent control?
As a scientist, I tell you: We haven’t got a clue; it’s being worked on although we don’t believe in intelligent control (or intelligent design).
As a (sort of) vaguely Buddhist-cum-Taoist, I tell you: No-one has a clue, nor ever will have.
As an “ordinary Joe” in the street, I tell you: Nothing the fuck to do with me, mate.
So yeah, basically, search me!
It’s around six months since we had a round of Five Questions. So here’s a new series, Series 10, of five variously daft and thought provoking questions. Yes they range from the interesting to the downright crazy.
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The five questions for Series 10 are:
What is the nature of the universe? Does it function by itself or would it degenerate into chaos without some kind of intelligent control?
What determines the fate of each individual?
Do illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?
How would you describe yourself in three words?
As last time, I will post answers on a regular basis, because I’ve drafted them all already and they’re lined up ready to go – although I may rewrite them along the way!
As always you’re invited to join in – I’d like it if you did! You can either answer the questions, as I answer them, by posting in the comments or by posting your answers on your own blog (in which case just leave a comment here so we can find your words of wisdom). Of course you can also leave comments violently disagreeing with me – that’s good too as long as you’re not abusive.
The answer to Question 1 should appear in a few days time and then they’ll be every few days through to the end of the month.
Enjoy!
