Shadow Wrought's Journal: Scenes from the Home

Whilst driving recently my younger Step Son (hereinafter refered to as SS) asked me a question which I struggled to answer, but finally did. That in turn led to the following exchange...

Me: I'm on a roll now! Hit me with another.
SS: OK... Why is the sky blue?
Me: Sunlight refracting of the oceans.
SS: Why is grass green?
Me: Because its got chlorophyl in it.
SS: Why are tree trunks brown?
Me: because of they were green they'd be grass.
SS: Why are houses made out of wood?
Me: Because its the cheapest and easiest material to use in our area.
SS: Why are bricks made out of brick?
Me: Because if they were made out of wood they wouldn't be called bricks.
[At this point a police car went by wiht its lights and siren on and SS got a wicked grin]
SS: Why are police lights blue and red?
Me: Because... er...
SS: HA!
Me: No, I can answer...
SS: Then answer.
Me:Because... beacause... because if they were red green everyone would think they were bringing Christmas preents!
SS: Then why not blue and green?
Me: Because blue and green make yellow...
SS: ...no they don't...
Me: and yellow is the color of cowardice.
SS: They only make yellow if you subtract them.
Me: And police cannot be seen to be cowards.
SS: But it...
Me: That's why turn signals are yellow. Sheer cowardice to tell where you're going.
[A truck right in front actually put on his blinker right then (talk about timing!)]
Me: See! SEE! COWARD!!! He's a yellow-bellied coward!

Good times;-)

First Ohio State and now this.

[RailGunner]

Why is the sky blue?

It isn't, it's clear. What you are seeing as blue is the Ozone layer, as Ozone is a bluish colored gas. [wikipedia.org]



I know, not everyone can be as awesome as me. ;)

(Wow.. I'm in a weird mood today...) :D

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[Shadow Wrought]

You might notice that I wasn't exactly striving for accuracy;-)

I have something which just might fit your mood...

Too much Metal for one hand:

\mm/

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[RailGunner]

Disclaimer: I know that Ozone found in the atmosphere is colorless, just trying to give you a measure of revenge. :)

The real answer is here: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html [sciencemadesimple.com]

Great

[StalinsNotDead]

You just made a future driver that won't use their turn signals. Just what we need.

RAG, or "Random Ass Guess"

[nizo]

Red and blue blinky lights: red for emergency, blue for police car? Firetrucks only have red, at least all the ones I have seen. This way criminals don't try to run when a firetruck pulls up behind them and turns on their red blinky lights. I wonder if the blue blinkey lights are always on the same side? Oh and go read my response on multiply already.

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[turg]

Around here, emergency vehicles have red and white strobes. Snowplows have blue strobes.

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[nizo]

The city street vehicles and tow trucks have yellow lights (well, some tow trucks have blue too). I wonder what the reasoning is behind all the colors?

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[turg]

Well, snowplows are the only ones that ever have blue strobes around here. As there are almost no other blue-coloured lights on the road, this makes it very distinctive. When it is snowing heavily, the blue strobe might be the only thing that you see of the snowplow (especially at night) so it's very nice that you can know exactly what it means.

Red and white strobes are only on emergency vehicles. So I'm assuming that there's some legislation/regulation about blue and red and white while yellow is open to a

Police lights

[GeckoFood]

Why are police lights blue and red?

Going from a very distant memory here... Here in Virginia, police lights are strictly blue. There was a study a while back that showed that when a police car with red lights comes up on a drunk driver, the driver tends to panic. This was a lot less likely to occur when the lights are blue. So, Virginia uses blue lights on police cruisers so as not to panic drunk drivers.

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[turg]

Hm. Sounds sketchy. Is the panic purely a result of the colour or because (before the switch) red lights were associated with police and blue were not.

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[GeckoFood]

That's a good question, and I have no idea what the answer is on that. I was led to believe that the color was the problem.

hah

[artifex2004]

You realize this will be used as evidence when he wants to have you committed.

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[Shadow Wrought]

Sometimes committed doesn't seem that bad... a little padded room all to yourself, straightjackets to keep you warm on those long winter nights, plus all those happy voices telling you what you need to do with that Ax. Or do the voices come first? I can never remember;-)

I have actually made enough puns around them that they will now make puns themselves without realizing it. Its so funny when they realize that have just committed a pun;-)