I'm told that mathematically, the contact area is infinitely small, essentially nil.

But in physics, the contact area is as "small as it is possible to be", i.e. one squared Planck length (equal to 1.6162×10?35 metres)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length

Both are impossible in reality, but mathematicians will come up with a different answer from physicists.

Black cats are considered both lucky and unlucky.
It's lucky to SEE a black cat crossing your path (because then you won't trip up over it in the dark)
But it's unlucky for a black cat to cross your path if you DON'T see it (because you might fall over it in the dark!)

Ladders are obvious - things can fall on you, the whole ladder could slip and fall, etc.

Opening umbrellas inside, obvious again, a folded umbrella is a relatively small/compact object and it can be difficult to estimate its spread once opened. If you do this inside, the vanes can knock items off shelves or poke people. Best to do it with more space!

Putting (new) shoes on the table - clearly shoes on food-preparation surfaces is a bad idea, new or otherwise!

Even 'superstitions' (I use the word VERY broadly) such as Muslims not eating pork have common-sense backgrounds. In desert countries, before fridges were invented, food goes off very quickly. Pork, in particular, goes bad VERY fast. So many people got sick from it that a full blanket ban was imposed, along with the ultimate explanation/warning "God said so".

In fact, a lot of Islamic traditions make a lot of sense. Don't drink alcohol - it makes you do stupid things and ruins your body in excess.
Five times a day, every day, you have to take time off work (enforced breaks for labourers!), go somewhere with other people (being social!), wash your hands and your feet (cleanliness!) and stand up, kneel down, bend down, get up several times in succession (light exercise, for everyone, several times a day, every day!)

Such an excellent pattern of healthy behaviour for everyone! Admittedly, the "god says so" argument is wearing thin these days in an increasingly secular world, but the actual ACTS of having rests, being social, washing and exercising can only be good for people.

My boyfriend and I are in our 20s and have six 6-foot bookcases from Ikea absolutely stuffed full of books, to the point where we're thinking of reorganising the rooms to make space for a seventh.

The extra-wide bookcases have been available for ages - all of ours have extra-wide shelves. This means they can easily hold our outsized coffee-table books, textbooks and atlases on the lower shelves, but there's also loads of room for coffee cups and ornaments in front of the books on the upper shelves!

All of this "only older people have books" and "books are becoming obsolete" stuff is nonsense. Ikea is simply making its product more flexible. Having narrow Hardback-size shelves restricts the use of the bookcase to books only. By widening the shelves, the product opens up to a whole host of other storage solutions - BUT of course it can be used for books too!

It's just smart sales sense from Ikea - make a single product appealing to as wide an audience as possible!

"Appliances under counters or tucked into cupboards!"
Erm... where else would you put a front-loading washing machine? they're designed to go under counters! That's not particularly revolutionary.
And neither is having a microwave in a cupboard, or using the deadspace on a stairwell. in fact, if it were me, I'd have used the gaps between the stair risers as book shelves.

When I first moved out, I lived in a couple of flats that were much 'cosier' than this. A bedsit with a shower-room and a kitchenette in a city centre probably costs more than a two or three bedroom semi in the suburbs or countryside. That's what dense population is about.

I don't get why this is 'news'. Sure it's a small house, sure it's weird that a guy pushing 40 still shares a bedroom with his mother, but neither issue is particularly out of the norm.

I do live in a church!
It was converted into flats and it's gorgeous. A lot of the flats (including mine) still have a lot of original masonry features - I have a set of gorgeous columns in my bedroom and my fish tank is in an alcove originally built for holy water.

It has walls two-feet thick and all the windows are double-glazed, so it's wonderfully warm in winter and cool in summer. Plus, I can always find my way home if I get lost in the city, just by heading toward the distinctive spire!

As for graveyards, my church is in the city - so it never had its own cemetery, but I used to live right next door to one for years and they're beautiful, peaceful places. Quietest neighbours you're ever likely to get!

I really don't understand why people are freaked out by graves. Those people are dead: they're not going to hurt or bother you - it's all the living ones that are the trouble!

When I go swimming, I count the lengths in elements of the periodic table, instead of in numbers: "...molybdenum, molybdenum, molybdenum, tumble-turn, technetium, technetium, technetium..." etc.

Hah! I currently have swine flu [it's a bitch, but not the end of the world] so I'm thinking I might get myself this to make myself feel better!
I love the giant microbes - have about 20 of them so far!

I never really had any pocket money til i was about 13. I'd occasionally be given a fiver or something for a special occasion, and had money at christmas and birthday, and my parents would give me money to buy things for them so i got used to making purchases - but always had to hand back the change!

Then my parents set up a bank account and deposited about £20 a month straight into it. I also got a weekend job at about 14 so that brought in money too. Unlike some of my friends, my parents kept my pocket money going even when I had a job, so I usually had more money than my friends through school.

By the time I was 16, I think I was getting £50 a month off my parents and about £30 a week from work, which isn't bad! Funded trips to the pub - uh.. I mean.. Youth Club..

I never had my money stopped, but then, I was pretty well behaved so never really did anything that deserved such a punishment. I also did a LOT of the household chores, because my mother was in a train accident when I was 13, so I pretty much did all the cooking, cleaning, laundry etc for the family from about then.

It actually shocked me when I found out some of my friends refused to help out round the house unless they were 'paid' for it. In my house the only question was who did WHICH chores - it became a bargaining point: "I'll do the laundry AND cook dinner tonight and tomorrow if you do the vacuuming and dusting." stuff like that.

That would be because 'antiseptic' isn't a drug. It's a catch-all term for "ANY substance that inhibits the growth and reproduction of micro-organisms"

Drugs are substances you introduce INTO [or onto] the body to produce a certain effect on the body.

Antiseptics are any chemical used in any situation that help prevent micro-organisms spreading. The Dettol you spray on the kitchen counter is an antiseptic, as is the bleach you put down the toilet - but you wouldn't usually put either INTO a patient!

okay, maybe 'damage' was a strong word but "its a miscommunication in the receiving and sending of messages" certainly sounds like a physical mistake in biology [rather than a chosen behaviour] to me. My point was that it's a biological disorder, not a psychological 'beat it out of them' behaviour.

and i think people are missing the main point of the whole scheme. they queue-jumping isn't to help the ADHD/autistic kids, it's to stop the rest of the queuers from being driving insane by them. The scheme is helping everyone else out!

And as for "why inflict queues on them in the first place", this is an idea to allow ADHD and autistic kids, who otherwise would NOT be able to go and enjoy the park, to visit it and have a fun day like a normal kid for once, instead of being locked up at home for their behaviour. it's making an allowance so they CAN go.

and zeroxero: sure, a DS might keep our kid entertained for 15 minutes. but two hours? standing in line shuffling along? no way. You're obviously coping well with it. Our kid is not as far along that path. We're working hard with him, but its a slow process, especially when we have to work so hard at getting him up to normal in so many other aspects. why should he always be left out when his whole class are treated?

oh! one last thing. you can't just waltz up and say "I have ADHD, lemme go in first" you need extensive medical certification and ID as proof. my parents took loads of paperwork and still found it hard to talk the park into handing over the pass. they don't give them out lightly.

My parents are full-time foster carers of disturbed and damaged children. They currently have an 11 year old who has pretty severe ADHD, and yes, when they took him to an amusement park, they took advantage of the queue-jump system.

Why? Because the rides have queues for hours. He physically CANNOT stand there doing nothing for hours. he can barely manage it for minutes. And it isn't HIM who would be bothered by his incessant talking, twitching, pacing, prodding, shacking, rattling or whatever. it's all the poor people who are forced to stand near him in the queue. And believe me, after a few minutes of it, you'd be more than happy to let him take a place ahead of you if it meant he would go away from you.

How is it fair to keep him at home and deny him a treat for good school results [his whole class got taken to the amusement park for good test results]? He is brain damaged. So that means he can't have fun and live a normal life?

He is perfectly 'controlled'. He is not a bad child, wouldn't hurt anyone, wouldn't attack anyone or steal anything. He does what he's told and tries his hardest to be good. He's just BLOODY annoying, despite the drugs he's on to calm him down.

As for 'they'll have to wait at some point', I totally agree. this is very true. and we work very hard to lengthen the time he can wait and to say no when appropriate and to put delays on things to teach him more about time management. But those queues are LONG. not uncommon to wait two or three hours. And we'd rather teach him those things in a safe, private home environment than force him to break down into a sobbing twitching heap in the middle of a crowded area.

REAL ADHD is very dramatic. it's more than just being a bit impatient or a bit excitable. It's permanent brain damage and a real disability. Would you force someone on crutches to stand and hobble the whole two hours through the queue?

YES, it seems unfair to the healthy kids. but LIFE has been unfair to the disabled kids, give them a fucking break.

Here's another David Ford looping song, all shot in one take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_aQ8yRVexM

i saw him live a couple of years ago, he's really fantastic and those songs are incredibly well put together!

I currently live in a renovated church!

Just a small part of it - it was converted into flats - but it's stunningly beautiful. I have alcoves in my living room and a little font and a set of gorgeous columns in my bedroom.

with regards to heating/cooling - churches are generally of solid stone build, so they're wonderfully cool in summer, and once you've got them warm, they retain heat fantastically well, so they're easy to heat.

"Spinal Tap did it first" - um, no... They've been doing the Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling in Gloucester for centuries!

And: health and safety do occasionally shut down the event, when the weather is too bad and the hill is too muddy, but it still goes ahead most years. As you can see, they have PLENTY of medical support on hand, and those people in purple are the the local rugby team brought in as catchers to stop people when they reach the bottom of the hill.