Tuesday 13 May 2008

Distant Thoughts...

I don't know if it caught your attention, but Bee claimed over the weekend that her mother was 4,000,000 miles away. Which got me thinking. Where was Bee's mother over the weekend? I'm sure Bee wouldn't be exaggerating, or anything, and that we can take her figure as accurate.

Well, the Earth is 24,000 miles in circumference. This means that you're never more than 12,000 miles away from anyone as the crow flies. Do crows fly 12,000 miles?

In terms of actual distance you're never more than 8,000 miles away, but you might have to tunnel through the centre of the Earth. Which a crow certainly couldn't do (it's hot down there).

In fact, since Bee's mum isn't a crow, she might have to travel further than 12,000 miles to get to Bee. She might travel on roads like these:
And I'm sure that you've been given a lift by someone who insists on taking a detour to avoid the rush-hour traffic. Those detours always seem to be about 4 million miles long. There's a reason why everyone else is queuing for the rush hour - it's quicker.

I know what you're thinking. I shouldn't take things so literally. Bee's finger probably just got stuck on the "0" key. I spent quite a lot of time finding out how far planets were away (Mars varies from between 35 million and 150 million miles), wondering how much a 4,000,000 mile taxi journey would cost (how much would you tip the driver?), and so on.

But it was a fun way to spend part of my weekend - much more fun that actually having to travel all those miles...

13 comments:

Bee said...

FIRST!!

Bee said...

Okay, I've just spent the las 17 minutes trying to find the distance between me and my momma but I couldn't figure it out.

She is currently in Irapuato, Guanajuato Mexico. I couldn't figure it out but I'll be back...

Bee said...

After google pissed me off for an HOUR!! Telling me Irapuato DID NOT EXIST but I know it does cuz my momma was born there and I used to visit it ALL the time...

I finally had to concede defeat and looked for the City of Guanajuato which is near where my grans live.

So... APPROXIMATELY 1,645 miles. That's how far she is from me but I was doing the math round trip, you see?

;op

Bee said...

Now I'm going to lunch since I wasted a whole hour doing nothing, I think I should be fed.

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

That's still a bit of a hike ;-)

Enjoy your lunch...

Tracy Rambles On And On said...

I think that since she's in a different country, they measure miles differently there so, using American mileage, plus the Mexican mileage, it all adds up to 4,000,000 miles. So, technically, Bee was not over-reacting, she was actually being way smarter than the rest of us.

*no she did not pay me to say that but I'm hoping that she will. ;)

Dan said...

that would be why I asked you not to do the math to figure out the average age of the shipping dept.

Brian o vretanos said...

Tracy:

Ah, I hadn't thought of Mexican miles. That must be it. Nautical miles are different as well, but I've no idea how...

Dan:

Yes, and so I didn't work it out. It would be embarrassing if their average age came out to be less than yours, wouldn't it?

Mr. Cocka-Doodle-Doo said...

Really, it's quite simple. All you have to do is get really, really lost and wander for a few years. The miles really add up, I promise.

Brian o vretanos said...

Mr CDD:

My car's got less than 30,000 miles on it after 5 years, and I'm hopeless at finding my way - at this rate it'll be a while before I've notched up a million.

Brian o vretanos said...

Dan was just about to point out that at this rate it'll take me another 161 years to go a million miles, but I thought I'd save him the trouble.

Jean Knee said...

don't talk to that fraud, Brian
that rooster's a fake

Dan said...

no I wasn't.