Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2006 - 03:41pm PT
|
A volume solution.
Take a cylinder filled with water and place it over a catch basin. Gently push the dead cat into the cylinder until it is just completely submerged. Remove the cylinder and empty out the cat and the remaining water in the cylinder.
Now pour the water in the catch basin back into the cylinder. Mark the level of the cylinder using a pencil if you have one or use the cat's blood.
Close the room up tight. From the floor above, drill a hole through the floor into the room. Now fill the cylinder to the line. Pour the water into the room. You can enlist the assistance of Hooter's girls in refilling the cylinder if you like. Count the number of cylinders of water until no more water will go down the hole.
You now know the volume of the room in cats, and may proceed to Hooter's to celebrate in an appropriate fashion.
|
|
Don't let go
Trad climber
Yorba Linda, CA
|
|
I think there should be pictures posted to help futher explain all of these ideas...
|
|
Loom
climber
167 stinking feet above sea level : (
|
|
This will take thousands of live cats.
Choose a number of buildings where the height is already known. Start by dropping 100 cats from the 30' building, then drop 100 cats from the 40' building, the 50', the 60' and so on to a 1000' (or more). For each set of drops count the number of cats which perish instantly, the number that take minutes or hours, those that limp away, those that survive unscathed, etc. Make sure that for each set of drops the impact zone is similar, and wait until wind and other atmospheric conditions are similar to those for other drops, and make sure that all the cats weigh approximately the same, and that all cats have been shaved of their fur (or you can singe it off also). Consistency is the key.
Now that you have your data set, you should go to the building of unknown height with another set of 100 cats. Hurl them from the top just as you did before, and again count the number of cats that survive and the various degrees of maiming that occur. Match this data with the data from a building of known height for your answer.
The overall accuracy of your results will be further enhanced if you use 1000 cats per drop set, and if you drop at one foot instead of 10' increments.
edit--
Ron's point doesn't harm the validity of this technique. Cat Mortality/Altitude when graphed will form a Bell Curve; high mortality at low and very high altitudes and lower mortality rates at middling altitudes. The only problem, not a big one, is figuring which side of the Bell Curve the cat falls on, so to speak.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
Janet,
no good.
Actual studies have shown that cat injury is more likely from the second or third floor than the tenth. I know this is counter-intuitive but actually if the cat has time to "right" itself it can often walk (limp) away! No bull!
It will be neccesary to induce feline morbidity (Like that one?) first before dropping it from a building. But why bother going up there? You can throw a dead cat OVER a building.
How? You ask.
Why, with a CATapult. Ofcourse!
|
|
Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
|
|
Piton Ron:
Janet's method can work as long and you tie all their legs together before the fall. Even if they right themselves, the outcome will look like a Rorschach Inkblot.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
Hilarious!
Better inkblot;
cut off the feet, butter its ass, and fire it AT the building with the catapult.
|
|
Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
|
|
Be sure to tape large piece of white paper on the wall first however. After the hit, fold it in half, and voila - a new inkblot.
|
|
yo
climber
NOT Fresno
|
|
Angle of Repose™™™™ Method
1 building of indeterminant height
1 dumptruck
1 geometry textbook
numerous dead cats (offsets useful)
Measure volume of a dead cat as per above.
In building parking lot deposit one (1) dumptruck load containing known number of dead cats. Measure height, circumference, angle of repose™, etc. Mark it down in notebook with nerd mechanical pencil. Test wind direction. Perhaps pet cats out of sympathy. Deposit second dumptruck load of cats on first pile. Measure again. Repeat. Make big ass pile. Additional pile of cats may be needed to maneuver dumptruck close to original pile of cats.
Now...I don't remember 10th grade so hot but I remember something with the volume of a conical shape and crap like that. By comparing number of cats in pile, diameter of pile, volume of cats, volume of pile, outside angle of cone, i.e. angle of repose™ and sun spot activity, you will arrive at number of dead cats required per vertical foot of cone height.
Remove pile of dead cats.
Re-pile dead cats outside building of indeterminant height.
Count dead cats in pile.
Plug in various numbers everywhere in formula.
Taa-daaa!!!!
|
|
TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2006 - 08:26pm PT
|
Well some of these are silly, but even the silly ones should have a calculation. The point after all is to determine the height of the building.
Interestingly enough, one of the simplest solutions, which requires only one cat, has not even been mentioned. And the best thing is it does not require any kind of stopwatches, etc.
|
|
yo
climber
NOT Fresno
|
|
Oh, only one cat! No stopwatches!
Dude, maybe you should've told us this earlier? What am I supposed to do with all these cats now?
The Rope Swing™ Method requires only a rope, a cat, and a tree taller than the building of indeterminant height. Proceed to roof. Tie cat to rope. Drop. Yell "Weeeeeee!" because the cat probably won't. Measure high point on other side of swing (oh yeah, you need a helper and a long ruler). Close enough.
|
|
TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2006 - 08:35pm PT
|
yo - be as clever or elegant as you like, but you must show all work. You must get an answer...
|
|
TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2006 - 08:43pm PT
|
Janet, well done! I was thinking that you mount it and offer it as a gift in the building department. But using the cat as currency is excellent.
You get an A.
But it is not the elegant solution that I was just mentioning.
And interestingly yo's approach has great potential.
Perhaps you can get WoodyS to send you a cat as a prize.
|
|
TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2006 - 08:44pm PT
|
Rajmit, you can define a unit of measurement. So a "cat" would be fine.
|
|
Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
|
|
Take one cat and start stretching veeeeeeeerrrrrrrryyyy slowly. Don't rush or you'll break him in two. With great patience and skill, the cat will stretch into a very long and skinny cat. And eventually, he'll be as long as any building is tall. At that point, put the cat-ribbon on the ground and use a tape measure or other device to figure it out.
Please send prize money to St. Louis.
|
|
TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2006 - 08:53pm PT
|
Rajmit, you might want to send that in to Google. I tried "1 cat in dogs" and "1 cat in acorns". Neither worked.
You know that you can google "2 meters in ft" right?
|
|
yo
climber
NOT Fresno
|
|
"ft in 1 cat" = 4
|
|
TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2006 - 09:06pm PT
|
Nice!
|
|
Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
|
|
What if a weather front blows through as you are walking up the stairs?
|
|
TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2006 - 09:14pm PT
|
If the front blows through, just hold your skirt down!
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!