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Okay, just looked it up. Apparently, in the southern hemisphere, "winter" is June, July, and August, "spring" is September, October, and November, "summer" is December, January, and February, and "fall" is March, April, and May. Weird. Do the toilets flush backwards down there too? According to one answer on WikiAnswers, no. According to one guy, the coriolis force only applies to large bodies of water and air currents on a massive scale. Toilets and sinks and bathtubs are too small to be affected by this force. It's really the design of the toilets and bathtubs and sink that affect the direction of swirl, not any inherent "earth" forces. I have no idea if he's right or not.

bjornolf wrote:

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:

DevilAlumna wrote:I love this time of year, when the sun sets so late. Up here in Seattle, it didn't get dark until nearly 10PM tonight.

What do you folks do with the extra daylight - anything special?

It gets dark earlier here :lol:

But I have been known to play a little golf.

Yeah, you actually get MORE sun the further north you are, since the earth's north pole is tilted towards the sun during summer. Of course, during winter, you get LESS sun time than the more southern states. Out of curiosity, are the seasons the same in the southern hemisphere as the northern? Do they consider winter their "warm" season, or do they consider summer to be december through april there? I've always wondered that. Either way, it'd feel weird to me. I assume it wouldn't matter to Hawaii, since it's always nice there. ;) It probably doesn't matter for most people living near the equator, either.

Alaska - the land of the midnight sun. Not going there, although some day a cruise might be nice. Have lots of friends that have done that!

The seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere. Right now it is late fall on the cusp of winter.

bjornolf wrote: Do the toilets flush backwards down there too? According to one answer on WikiAnswers, no. According to one guy, the coriolis force only applies to large bodies of water and air currents on a massive scale. Toilets and sinks and bathtubs are too small to be affected by this force. It's really the design of the toilets and bathtubs and sink that affect the direction of swirl, not any inherent "earth" forces. I have no idea if he's right or not.

In fluid mechanics way back when, we were told by the prof that the toilets did swirl the other way. I haven't been there so I can't swear one way or the other, but I believe that the laws of physics would still apply, unless you get Lost...

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Alaska - the land of the midnight sun. Not going there, although some day a cruise might be nice. Have lots of friends that have done that!

Cruises to Alaska are AMAZING. I went back between my 8th and 9th grade years. Totally worth it!

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:

bjornolf wrote: Do the toilets flush backwards down there too? According to one answer on WikiAnswers, no. According to one guy, the coriolis force only applies to large bodies of water and air currents on a massive scale. Toilets and sinks and bathtubs are too small to be affected by this force. It's really the design of the toilets and bathtubs and sink that affect the direction of swirl, not any inherent "earth" forces. I have no idea if he's right or not.

In fluid mechanics way back when, we were told by the prof that the toilets did swirl the other way. I haven't been there so I can't swear one way or the other, but I believe that the laws of physics would still apply, unless you get Lost...

The funny thing is, he was answering for Australia specifically, and said that ironically, in Australia, the toilets don't use much water and flush straight down. ;) He then went on with the other stuff, saying that many teachers even teach this incorrectly. I don't know who could prove this, since he claims it's the design of the bathroom fixtures. You'd have to buy a toilet up here and take it down there and install it, I guess. Probably need a bunch of adapters, too, cause I bet all the plumbing's different too. ;) This sounds like a good job for the Mythbusters. Take a "northern" toilet and sink down south, and bring a "southern" toilet and sink back, and see how they work in each location!

bjornolf wrote:

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Alaska - the land of the midnight sun. Not going there, although some day a cruise might be nice. Have lots of friends that have done that!

Cruises to Alaska are AMAZING.

I've never been on a cruise. To anywhere. Perhaps we should start thinking about a CT group cruise in 2010 or 2011. Weren't some of us talking with Wheat about a beach/fishing trip on his boat on the west coast of Florida for this summer? Guess that's not going to happen either.

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:

bjornolf wrote: Do the toilets flush backwards down there too? According to one answer on WikiAnswers, no. According to one guy, the coriolis force only applies to large bodies of water and air currents on a massive scale. Toilets and sinks and bathtubs are too small to be affected by this force. It's really the design of the toilets and bathtubs and sink that affect the direction of swirl, not any inherent "earth" forces. I have no idea if he's right or not.

In fluid mechanics way back when, we were told by the prof that the toilets did swirl the other way. I haven't been there so I can't swear one way or the other, but I believe that the laws of physics would still apply, unless you get Lost...

According to the Mythbusters' website, it's a function of the way the sinks are formed and the spouts that shoot water into your toilet, and that toilets and bathtubs are too small by a LARGE factor (like a factor of 10000) to be affected by the Coriolis effect. It's just the way they've been made forever. If you really wanted to, you could make a toilet that went backwards very easily according to them. Again, no clue if the folks over there are right or not. Guess we'll probably never know.

bjornolf wrote: According to the Mythbusters' website, it's a function of the way the sinks are formed and the spouts that shoot water into your toilet, and that toilets and bathtubs are too small by a LARGE factor (like a factor of 10000) to be affected by the Coriolis effect. It's just the way they've been made forever. If you really wanted to, you could make a toilet that went backwards very easily according to them. Again, no clue if the folks over there are right or not. Guess we'll probably never know.

We could always ship a toilet/sink to Lavabe...he's in the southern hemisphere. I'm sure, in the interest of science, he wouldn't mind

An online golfing friend of mine lives in Australia. We'd use Ventrilo and Team Speak while playing, and we loved swapping weather stories. We'd be roasting, he'd be freezing, and vice versa. Very rarely would the two of us have similar weather. I never did ask him about his toilet. He did however consider Foster's to be "pisswater". And if he was pissed, he wasn't upset, just drunk. (He was always pissed, he'd wake up with beer)

bjornolf wrote:Do the toilets flush backwards down there too? According to one answer on WikiAnswers, no. According to one guy, the coriolis force only applies to large bodies of water and air currents on a massive scale. Toilets and sinks and bathtubs are too small to be affected by this force. It's really the design of the toilets and bathtubs and sink that affect the direction of swirl, not any inherent "earth" forces. I have no idea if he's right or not.

I'm calling bullshit. I have been to the actual equator, that's standing directly on it, in Kenya. A guy there showed us a simple experiment with funnels. I saw with my own two eyes that even just a little bit of water (like half a pitcher's worth) swirls clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise 25 feet in the other direction. When we poured the water into the funnel on the equator, it just went straight down.

Awesome. I guess that solves it then. You need to go over to the Mythbusters site and to Wikianswers and set those morons straight! Hell yea! Make 'em walk the plank! BTW, I was surprised I got NO response from you about the shirt I saw the other day. I thought you'd be ALL over that. ;)

bjornolf wrote:Awesome. I guess that solves it then. You need to go over to the Mythbusters site and to Wikianswers and set those morons straight! Hell yea! Make 'em walk the plank! BTW, I was surprised I got NO response from you about the shirt I saw the other day. I thought you'd be ALL over that. ;)

Yeah, I've had a lot of catching up to do recently. I was at the lake all weekend, plus a bit of internet challenges here at home. I gotta lay off consumer products of all kinds until I get to Charleston in a couple of weeks, or I'd be on it.

2nd try at replying.

I just flushed the toilet, and the water went down counterclockwise.

We don't have winter here in the tropics. It's surfin' weather here in Antsiranana (well, except for today's rain).

But here's something way better down here... the constellations. The Southern Cross is hard to beat.
Cheers,
Lavabe

Lavabe wrote:The Southern Cross is hard to beat.
Cheers,
Lavabe

Sure is. Every bit as unmistakable as the Big Dipper.

I beat Shammrog in Scrabble this morning (finally). I'm more excited about it than I probably should be, but I can't help myself.

Bostondevil wrote:I beat Shammrog in Scrabble this morning (finally). I'm more excited about it than I probably should be, but I can't help myself.

Good for you! Congratulations!

Bostondevil wrote:I beat Shammrog in Scrabble this morning (finally). I'm more excited about it than I probably should be, but I can't help myself.

Technically, I'm still playing both Shamm and BD, but I simply can't get a connection that won't blow up when it hits Scrabble's flash programming.

I am NOT forfeiting to either one.

Lavabe wrote:

Bostondevil wrote:I beat Shammrog in Scrabble this morning (finally). I'm more excited about it than I probably should be, but I can't help myself.

Technically, I'm still playing both Shamm and BD, but I simply can't get a connection that won't blow up when it hits Scrabble's flash programming.

I am NOT forfeiting to either one.

I started us another game too.

Lavabe wrote:

Bostondevil wrote:I beat Shammrog in Scrabble this morning (finally). I'm more excited about it than I probably should be, but I can't help myself.

Technically, I'm still playing both Shamm and BD, but I simply can't get a connection that won't blow up when it hits Scrabble's flash programming.

I am NOT forfeiting to either one.

Don't worry, I can wait.

What the hell is a Laker? As in the Los Angelos Lakers. I could see Minnesota Lakers, maybe. But even then, I've never met a "laker", or heard of one. So what is it?