You learn something new each day.

[Tonyblack]

For Tony to add to his strange cricket knowledge - Jugula

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricke ... looms.html

I'd have been more surprised if the USA had won.

I should add that I know next to nothing about cricket and don't even understand the scoring.

[bikkit]

i learned how to recognise a larch tree from quite a long way away

[Ponder Stibbons]

I learnt what a brass monkey is

[Andrew Böber]

I just learnt that I can not only make thirty minutes seem like it was two hours but also use up the additional hour and a half in the whole deal as well. It's like time-travel by using our usual mode - i.e. having to sit out each second at a time with hope that it will end sooner than promised so you can go on an do something less boring instead.

[Tonyblack]

I blame the History Monks.

[Dotsie]

I learnt that if drunkards are kicking off on the tram, for goodness sake just go and sit somewhere else I nearly got squashed! Happily, there's always a burly fella nearby to restrain drunkards when you live in Manchester.

[wicked woman]

I learnt what a brass monkey is

Well, tell the rest of us.

[Grymm]

lalalalalalalalalalalalalala not listening........
Especially if cannonballs are going to be mentioned, it'll only set me off again =o)

[Tonyblack]

lalalalalalalalalalalalalala not listening........
Especially if cannonballs are going to be mentioned, it'll only set me off again =o)

I already told them it was nonsense - even posted a link to Snopes. They didn't believe me!

[Sjoerd3000]

I believe you Tony

[Batty]

lalalalalalalalalalalalalala not listening........
Especially if cannonballs are going to be mentioned, it'll only set me off again =o)

I already told them it was nonsense - even posted a link to Snopes. They didn't believe me!

You might be right - you might not be!

I don't like the reasons that Scopes states for 'disproving' the explanation offered.

Which are:
Warships didn't store Cannonballs on deck on the chance they might go into battle as space was a precious commodity ...
They could have been stored below deck with the cannonballs.

Diligent gunners would have their crews chip away at imperfections on the surface of cannonballs to make them as smooth as possible, in the hopes that this would cause them to fly truer.They did not leave them on deck exposed to the elements, where it would rust ...
Nobody has suggested that cannonballs were left on deck.

Nobody really knows where the phrase originated, but the explanation offered here certainly isn't the answer.
If nobody really knows, then Scopes cannot state with certainty that the explanation is wrong.

On the other hand ...

(Until someone proves categorically, I still prefer the explanation of the brass monkey weather to the denial by Scopes)

[Tonyblack]

Perhaps the way to solve this is to find out exactly how cold brass would have to be expand or contract.

I don't think it logically makes any sense at all to store cannonballs on a brass rack when a wooden one, like they used on HMS Victory would be so much simpler.



Here's what the Oxford English Dictionary has to say on the subject.

[poohcarrot]

lalalalalalalalalalalalalala not listening........
Especially if cannonballs are going to be mentioned, it'll only set me off again =o)

I already told them it was nonsense - even posted a link to Snopes. They didn't believe me!

You might be right - you might not be!

I don't like the reasons that Scopes states for 'disproving' the explanation offered.

Which are:
Warships didn't store Cannonballs on deck on the chance they might go into battle as space was a precious commodity ...
They could have been stored below deck with the cannonballs.

Diligent gunners would have their crews chip away at imperfections on the surface of cannonballs to make them as smooth as possible, in the hopes that this would cause them to fly truer.They did not leave them on deck exposed to the elements, where it would rust ...
Nobody has suggested that cannonballs were left on deck.

Nobody really knows where the phrase originated, but the explanation offered here certainly isn't the answer.
If nobody really knows, then Scopes cannot state with certainty that the explanation is wrong.

On the other hand ...

(Until someone proves categorically, I still prefer the explanation of the brass monkey weather to the denial by Scopes)

Batty's a conspiracy theorist!

[kakaze]

I learned that producing fertilizer accounts for about 1% of the U.S.'s CO2 emissions.

Is there anything we do that doesn't create greenhouse gasses?

[Tina a.k.a.SusanSto.Helit]

i learned how to recognise a larch tree from quite a long way away

We have quite a few Larches on our property. *Beams Proudly*