Yes! That book was a hugely entertaining read, especially for a science book. :)
There is another version of that "turtles all the way down" story, involving (I think) an anthropologist living with some indigenous tribe somewhere. The tribal chief was alleged to have given that very answer to the anthropologist. I have no idea which version (if any) of the story is actually true... -- indi On Sat, Aug 08, 2009 at 10:51:49AM -0700, Malcolm wrote: > The Original people of the PNW call the world "Turtle Island" > Turtles are considered water tortoises and their front feet are more > flippery. Tortoises are considered land turtles and their front > flippers are more footy . Terrapins are merely a confusion factor. > > [from A Brief History Of Time] > > A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a > public lecture on astronomy. He described how the Earth orbits around > the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast > collection of stars called our galaxy. > > At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got > up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a > flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." > > The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the > tortoise standing on?" > > "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But > it's turtles all the way down." > > and so it is . . . > > On Sat, 2009-08-08 at 13:00 -0400, Indi wrote: > > > > Depends whether you're talking about Pratchett's work or the original > > references from the Rig Veda (a scipture of ancient India). The Rig > > Veda says tortoise, Pratchett made it a turtle. > > > > -- > > indi > > > > > > On Sat, Aug 08, 2009 at 12:38:46PM +0100, Dorothy Fitzpatrick wrote: > > > I thought that was a turtle. dee > > > On 7 Aug 2009, at 21:10, Indi wrote: > > > > > > Wow, really? > > > I once read that the earth rests on the back of a giant tortoise. > > > > > > -- > > > indi > > > > > > " > > > > > -- > The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. > > Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org > > To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com > > Address Off-Topic messages to: silver-off-topic-l...@eskimo.com > > The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... > > List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@eskimo.com> > > -- indi
