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#40260 09/10/01 06:43 PM
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USU's colors appear to be blue and white.

If that's what they appear to be then I say that's what they are, for what is color but appearance?


#40261 09/27/01 05:59 PM
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I am fascinated by the stories behind the nicknames adopted by sports team

Now if you want to find the really oddball nicknames, you should look at high school team.

Just this morning I learned of a local team called the Caxi's (singular form rhymes with "taxi"). The name stumped me, and I finally gave up and had to ask where it came from.

Anyone out here able to figure it out? If needed, I'll drop some hints.


#40262 09/27/01 06:22 PM
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But there's the Hoyas of Georgetown University.


#40263 09/27/01 11:02 PM
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Ah, Faldage, that too is a classic poser. (hint) Have you run into a solid wall?
Dr. bill will be enthused with each of the answers. (hint)


#40264 09/28/01 01:13 AM
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I am utterly at a loss. Maybe another hint or 10?


#40265 09/28/01 03:05 AM
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Chicago Area ...


#40266 09/28/01 11:49 AM
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durn dittography!

#40267 09/28/01 11:49 AM
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hint: Their mascot is a frog. Hyla, does that help?

hint: caxi is not a Gilbert & Sullivan reference, but:
when the character Major General Stanley (in The Pirates of Penzance) recites samples of his esoteric knowledge, it is clear that he would understand "caxi".


#40268 09/28/01 01:56 PM
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Dr. bill will be enthused with each of the answers

Then I'm not sure I want to know.


#40269 09/28/01 04:39 PM
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>> I certainly would have expected the blokes at Harvard to know that a football isn't a spheroid

> I've always heard the football shape defined as an "oblate spheroid." Is that any more accurate?

No, an oblate spheroid is sphere-shaped but with one plane (like the earth's equator) that is a little bit wider than the plane that goes through the poles. The earth's rotation causes its "middle" to bulge out a bit. Hell, I don't even have to rotate to do THAT!

Asphere is a geometric figure whose shape is such that any two points on its surface are equidistant from the center. A ball. It can be generated by rotating a circle on an axis that goes through the center of the circle.

A spheroid is generated by rotating an ellipse around one of its axes. And an ellipse is a conic section (a slice through a cone) which slice is not parallel to an element of the cone and is not parallel to the axis of the cone. The other way to draw an ellipse is to put two pins into a tabletop, then use a loop of string to draw a figure on the tabletop with the string held tight. The string has to be more than twice as long as the distance between the two pins. As the string gets longer and longer in relation to the pin distance the ellipse approaches a circle. The shorter the string the more eccentric the figure is (meaning its "width" and "height" have a much greater ration than approaching 1:1.

A bird's egg is usually "ellipsoidal", though not a perfect ellipse, but in no case does a spheroid have points like a football. Ever.

TUBI



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