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Post by 9 on Oct 19, 2006 10:41:18 GMT -5
The hovercraft:
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Post by Chris on Oct 19, 2006 13:12:26 GMT -5
This thread is OUTSTANDING!!!!
No baseball bats, no telephone polls.
The clarification needed here, as I understand it, is that we are attempting to compare are:
a) The number of seashells which have made their way to the surface…whether they are empty shells abandoned by ANY type of Sea Creature, whether it be crustacean, turtle, and I suppose even crab or lobster shells on the surface would have to count as well...OR...a shell attached to some living sea creature that may have made it's way above water for any amount of time - as long as it's visible at the time the counting would take place. I think we can discount shells that have artificially made their way out from under the water...such as divers pulling shells out of the sea for the purpose of selling them as decorations in paces such as Pier 1 imports....however, we should count shells that have artificially made their way out of the water for more "innocent" purposes such as clams that have been eaten by humans and discarded, or perhaps children playing on the beach picking up shells out of the water and taking them on to the beach.
b) The number of trees on the surface of the earth. This should obviously include ALL living trees growing out of the ground (Wikipedia does make a distinction between trees and shrubs/bushes….so that debate is resolved)...and it's my belief that dead trees which are still rooted in the ground NATURALLY (this would obviously discount telephone poles) should count as well. Broken branches and fragments of trees don't count, just like fragments of shells don't count - the original shell that the fragment came from, and the original tree that the fallen branch had come from count as 1. Fallen trees that are still lying in the forest, jungle, etc probably should count...but cut down trees piled up in a sawmill somewhere probably shouldn't count.
Anything I'm missing?
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Post by kingdzbws on Oct 19, 2006 15:17:52 GMT -5
Here we go Mollusks, Here we go. Trees Suck!
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Post by 9 on Oct 19, 2006 15:27:40 GMT -5
LOL!
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 19, 2006 15:32:16 GMT -5
I never pushed for fallen trees to count. They are generally broken, and broken shells do not count.
I think you guys are stupid if you cant see trees win the day on this one.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Oct 20, 2006 5:57:35 GMT -5
Define broken. Many shells are chipped. Would that shell not count?
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 20, 2006 7:10:45 GMT -5
It would count. The main concern that popped up before is not counting two pieces of a broken shell twice. So yeah, it would count once, as long as its most of the shell. You are not going to start counting slivers here.
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Post by MSBNYY on Oct 20, 2006 7:41:20 GMT -5
So 51 percent of the shell counts.
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 20, 2006 7:51:59 GMT -5
Absolutely not. Just as half a tree that has been struck by lightning and topped does not either.
Shells would need to be intact, or just about fully intact. We are NOT counting "broken things" but I was giving some leeway.
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Post by BigAl115 on Oct 20, 2006 8:03:02 GMT -5
well technicall 51% of the shell should count as long as the other half(almost) is nt counted. And thats hypothetically speaking, of course
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 20, 2006 8:05:21 GMT -5
No, it shouldnt count. We are not counting broken things.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Oct 20, 2006 8:12:57 GMT -5
Dead trees shouldn't count, but obviously, dead shells do.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 20, 2006 8:13:57 GMT -5
Correct.
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Post by MSBNYY on Oct 20, 2006 11:33:51 GMT -5
Dead Mets championship hopes also don't count.
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Post by Chris on Oct 20, 2006 12:29:40 GMT -5
51% of a shell SHOULD count, as long as the other 49 percent, whether it's one big 49% sized piece or 49 little 1% sized pieces, DON'T count.
Since it's an unrealistic possibility to actually count these things, we'll assume that it's some all-knowing being floating around in its hovercraft who has the innate ability to differentiate between fragments coming from shells that have already been accounted for.
As far as the trees go...I still think my proposition is fair - newly deceased trees still in the ground in their natural state, as well as newly fallen trees STILL lying on the forest/jungle/citypark/whatever floor should count....but we're not counting newly CUT trees that are lying in some warehouse or saw mill at the time the count takes place.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 20, 2006 12:31:58 GMT -5
I am fine with all that, Cho, and believe its still clear trees win the day.
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Post by Chris on Oct 20, 2006 12:39:45 GMT -5
Well, to be fair, I've only stated in this thread that I lean toward the trees being the winner, but I just don't know......but the real beauty of this thread is actually debating what SHOULD and SHOULDN'T count! HAHAHA!
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Post by kingdzbws on Oct 20, 2006 20:42:14 GMT -5
GAS-TRO-PODS GAS-TRO-PODS GAS-TRO-PODS!
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Post by Chrissy on Oct 23, 2006 16:35:03 GMT -5
Yes. Like that makes a difference. In my entire life I have never seen a turtle shell just laying there. And the turtle population that can be seen on the surface at any one time is not enough to sway numbers either. You never saw a turtle shell? When I was little my mom told me my turtle ran away. Everyone told me she was lying, that my turtle had died and she didn't want me to cry. When I was in my late teens, we moved a big piece of furniture, and what did we find??? Yup, Tommy the Turtle's shell. I knew my mom would never lie to me. And then there is my neighbor's turtle....actually, I think it might be a tortoise. Do tortoise shells count?
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Post by jwmcc on Oct 23, 2006 16:52:45 GMT -5
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 23, 2006 19:44:34 GMT -5
Yes, thank you for posting that John. You can see the majority of people agreed with my own take and said "trees."
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Post by kingdzbws on Oct 23, 2006 22:09:43 GMT -5
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 24, 2006 21:21:50 GMT -5
I was heartened to read in todays USA TODAY, ironically in a story about the devestation of trees due to bugs and fungi, some more factoids that lay credence to my cause.
Here is just one...
In Wisconsin alone there are 717 MILLION ash trees. One kind of chintzy tree, in one nondescript state. 717,000,000 ash trees!
No way there are more shells out there than trees.
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Post by elliejay21 on Oct 25, 2006 23:00:22 GMT -5
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Post by Chris on Oct 27, 2006 15:10:28 GMT -5
Some of those questions are really funny. I saw one asking WHITE PEOPLE ONLY if they get angry when they see "other races" wearing American brand clothing like Hollister or American Eagle?
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 27, 2006 15:17:01 GMT -5
NOW, look what you've started!!!
Ah, the old kicking away the blimp debate. Some of those people are full of crap, and again, they are not seeing the bigger picture.
The main mass of a blimp is a balloon. If a blimp is coming down on you, you simply avoid the gondola portion of the blimp, get on your back, and kick it away with your legs. At worst, you will be underneath and you can shimmy out of there, like any other deflated crashing balloon. I understand there is "framework" giving the blimp shape and stuff, but its like what, 5-10% of the inside? If you happen to be trying to kick away at a piece of framework - sure, you would get hurt, but your luck is worse than bad.
Lets just say you have a better chance of kicking the blimp away from your own mass at least (as long as you avoid the gondola) than not.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Nov 9, 2006 7:52:16 GMT -5
Even more fodder for my case that the amount of trees on this Earth is just staggering. They are not talked about in terms of thousands or even millions, but are spoken about in terms of billions, and in some circles, trillions. A Kenyan gentleman has made a call to add a BILLION trees to the fold. Not that I needed it, but this would sway the tree over seashell count even more. NAIROBI, Kenya - A Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner called on people around the world to plant 1 billion trees in the next year, saying Wednesday the effort is a way ordinary citizens can fight global warming. news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061108/ap_on_sc/climate_conference
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Post by 9 on Nov 9, 2006 9:02:59 GMT -5
Because if a Kenyan environmentalist says it, it MUST be true.
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jul 11, 2007 12:04:40 GMT -5
Ok, this needs to be said. In todays POST, on page 9, there is even more fodder towards my argument that trees do in fact outnumber seashells. Basically, a new Parks Department survey shows there are exactly 592,130 trees lining city streets ALONE.
If you have this many trees dottiing just this city, and take into consideration how those numbers are multiplied by patches of trees, woods, etc et al in all the green areas of this Earth, well - its quite simple to see the numbers are astounding, and trees carry the day.
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Post by Chris on Jul 11, 2007 12:09:01 GMT -5
The trees have an unfair advantage in this competition. The bulk of the seashells numbers are prohibited from being counted in the contest...while the trees are out in full force.
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