Article for 2011 Apr 25
Part of the “Sri Lanka” series.
2011
2011 Apr
(the first two articles in this series mention vomiting)
Throughout this series of articles, there are several phrases with the initials “IBIS”, alluding to my avian life-list, the Index of Birds I’ve Sensed, which I often added to whilst in Sri Lanka. The frequency of such phrases declines when I see fewer examples of new species. How many can you find? Some examples to start you off are:
- “...in beds (I slept)” (2011 Apr 10)
- “Iridescent birds including sapphire-green...” (2011 Apr 11)
- “I became increasingly soaked.” (2011 Apr 12)
- “Indeed, bee-eaters (II species)” (“II” being Roman numerals for “two”: I was getting desperate) (2011 Apr 13)
- “...is banned if swallows...” (2011 Apr 14)
- “Interesting. But I’m supposed...” (2011 Apr 17)
Apr 25 Mon
Mum thinks I’ve grown since going to Sri Lanka. I suppose that centrifugal force caused by the Earth’s rotation causes the Earth to have a bulge around the Equator. (It actually does.) Therefore land in the tropics (areas near the Equator) is further from the centre of the Earth. Sir Isaac Newton’s law declares that people in the tropics thus experience less gravity than people nearer the Poles (there are several Poles in Chester). So tropical human heads aren’t forced by gravity downwards as much as similar heads near the Poles. Therefore my height increased more during my holiday in Sri Lanka than in a similar period of time nearer the Poles. QED.
(In case you were puzzled by “QED”, it’s an abbreviation of “quod erat demonstrandum”, which is Latin for “that was what was supposed to be demonstrated”.)
