This week on Thinking Thursday I asked you the following question:
A bear walks south for one kilometre,
then it walks west for one kilometre,
then it walks north for one kilometre
and ends up at the same point from which it started.
What colour is the bear?
The answer, of course, is that the bear is white because it is a polar bear. Why? Because the only place on earth where a bear can go south, west and north equal distances and end up where it started is the North Pole. Travelling east or west you travel along parallels which are circles equidistant from the poles. And travelling north or south you travel along meridians which are circles that cross both the north and the south poles. Which is all part of the geometry of the surface of a globe.
An Advent Calendar
Some of My Favourite Images from Other Photographers on Flickr
Click the image for larger views on Flickr and details of the photographer
Note that this image is not mine and is copyright the original photographer
who may be identified by following the link to Flickr
An Advent Calendar
Some of My Favourite Images from Other Photographers on Flickr
Click the image for larger views on Flickr and details of the photographer
Note that this image is not mine and is copyright the original photographer
who may be identified by following the link to Flickr
An Advent Calendar
Some of My Favourite Images from Other Photographers on Flickr
Click the image for larger views on Flickr and details of the photographer
Note that this image is not mine and is copyright the original photographer
who may be identified by following the link to Flickr
Boscage or Boskage
1. A mass of growing trees or shrubs; a thicket, grove; woody undergrowth; sylvan scenery.
2. The pictorial representation of wooded landscape.
Unsurprisingly this is derived via the Middle English boskage and Old French boscage, from the late Latin boscāticum, wooded country, a thicket.
Boscage is an ancient word with the OED recording the first written usage as early as 1400.
OK, so let’s have a little more fun with another Thinking Thursday puzzle. This is an old one, but like all such not too obvious until you know the answer.
A bear walks south for one kilometre,
then it walks west for one kilometre,
then it walks north for one kilometre
and ends up at the same point from which it started.
What colour is the bear?
As always there’s no prize except the fun of being a smarty-pants and getting it right. But if you want to show off by putting your answer in the comments, then that’s fine with me!
Answer on Sunday evening, as usual.
And also as usual, no cheating!
An Advent Calendar
Some of My Favourite Images from Other Photographers on Flickr
Click the image for larger views on Flickr and details of the photographer
Note that this image is not mine and is copyright the original photographer
who may be identified by following the link to Flickr
Humans have certainly found some strange and bizarre places to have sex. Not to be outdone this adaptable couple have selected a series of hinged porcelain fruit for their carnal encounters.
Porcelain fruit, hinged, contains male and female copulating, Oriental
[Wellcome Collection, London]
An Advent Calendar
Some of My Favourite Images from Other Photographers on Flickr
Click the image for larger views on Flickr and details of the photographer
Note that this image is not mine and is copyright the original photographer
who may be identified by following the link to Flickr
Eccentric looks at life through the thoughts of a retired working thinker
Why? Because the only place on earth where a bear can go south, west and north equal distances and end up where it started is the North Pole. Travelling east or west you travel along parallels which are circles equidistant from the poles. And travelling north or south you travel along meridians which are circles that cross both the north and the south poles. Which is all part of the geometry of the surface of a globe.
