The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry » Forum: Qi - Quite Interesting

The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry » Forum: Qi - Quite Interesting - Recent Topics http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/forum/qi-quite-interesting Just another bbPress community en-US Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:47:00 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/search.php Dshade on "What is Paper?" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/what-is-paper#post-278401 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:32:10 +0000 Dshade 278401@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Oh dear Stephen, sorry but you have got it wrong again! Where did you and your elves get the idea that “paper money” is not made from paper? Poor Alan was deducted points in the last series for correctly answering that £5 notes were made from paper. You said they were made from cotton and linen. Then on QI XL (12th Nov) last week you again said that banknotes were not made from paper, they are made from linen, and that paper is made from trees. Well, yes, most paper is, BUT, paper has been, is, and can be, made from any plant material. For about 1800 years, (good old Ts`ai Lun China c105 AD no doubt turning in his grave), cotton, linen, mulberry bark and leaves and many other fibres were tried and widely used. Cotton was/is particularly good for making paper because it is pure cellulose, has long fibre length and fibrillates well when beaten. Its disadvantage was/is its cost and limited supply for the paper industry. As wood pulp was first used around 1838/1843 and chemical wood pulp c1851., what were they making all that time? Stephen, if paper is something that is only made from trees, are you saying that for 1800 years there was no paper? (What did Guttenberg -great program by you about him- print his books on?) If paper is only made from trees, then there is the strangest and most unique event in history, where something was invented, i.e. the paper machine in 1798 , to make a product 40 years before that product, paper, was invented. The furnish used for making English banknotes is a mixture of cotton and linen fibres, plus about 10% wood pulp. The exact furnish is secret. The paper for the banknotes, here and in the U.S.A., are made on a paper machine, by papermakers, in a paper mill - at least that’s what my fellow papermakers think. (Can I call them papermakers anymore?) Then there are the papermakers (?) world wide who make paper(?) from esparto grass, straw, bagasse (sugar cane waste) etc. Please tell me that you and your team on QI have made a booby, otherwise I will have to return my City and Guilds certificates back to the C & G Institute, i.e. my C & G Paper Technology Final 1st Class - C & G Papermaking Practice Final, with Distinction - and my papermaking apprenticeship indentures. Thank goodness I am now a retired Papermaker so I can’t be done under the Trades Description Act. Nevertheless I will still be an ardent fan of Steven, and of QI. Dshade. Morffin on "Your Perfect QI Panel" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/your-perfect-qi-panel#post-275005 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:30:06 +0000 Morffin 275005@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ I've been pondering this for some time now and I think I've reached a fair conclusion. David Mitchell, Ross Noble, Sean Lock & (obviously) Alan. However that excludes Phil Jupitus and Joe Band who are also hilarious. So, I guess the question to ask now is: What is your dream QI panel? Perhaps including people who have never been on the show? Anne Widdecombe for one... <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_razz.gif" title=":P" class="bb_smilies" /> RushfirthLeeds on "Dream team of guests for Qi" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/dream-team-of-guests-for-qi#post-261759 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:15:31 +0000 RushfirthLeeds 261759@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Who would be your dream team of guests for the show? Criteria: 1) Must be real people, ie not Noggin the Nog etc. 2) Must be alive, ie not Irene Handl etc. 3) Must be new to the show, ie not Jeremy Clarkson 4) Must not be Jeremy Clarkson <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_question.gif" title=":?:" class="bb_smilies" /> leeprew on "Alan Davies on cannabis.... wrong as usual!" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/alan-davis-on-cannabis-wrong-as-usual#post-277351 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:19:46 +0000 leeprew 277351@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Hello. My first time posting here. I feel obliged to come along and share my thoughts with a group who love and respect the most wonderful Stephen Fry. Last night I found myself watching an episode of Qi XL. The Christmas special (I believe) featuring David Tenant. Brilliant as usual! Apart from some bad information given as fact from the wonderful, yet usually incorrect, Alan Davies. The information was that cannabis is "very carcinogenic" and "smoking three joints is the equivalent of smoking (I believe he said) twenty cigarettes". These statements are simply not true and I was really hoping that Stephen might have corrected him but unfortunately this did not happen. I of course do not blame Stephen one iota as he simply can not know everything (though one suspects he knows 'almost' everything) and that he quite rightly has not had experience of getting to know cannabis due to his medical condition (bipolar) as it should already be known that any kind of intoxicant will have a negative effect on the condition. The truth of the matter is, backed up by a large and ever increasing body of scientific evidence, that cannabis is far less carcinogenic than tobacco which is undoubtedly the main reason why the cafes of Amsterdam and the number of cannabis organisations (see CLEAR <a href="http://clear-uk.org/)" rel="nofollow">http://clear-uk.org/)</a> advise to smoke pure (or possibly use a vaporiser) as the more harmful and extremely addictive tobacco usually mixed with the cannabis is and shall forever be far more destructive. Of course it would be naive to believe that there is absolute zero negative effects associated with cannabis and there is a very small link between cannabis, it being a psychoactive substance, and mental illness (being predisposed of such an illness such as being bipolar or any other mental illness smoking cannabis, especially at a younger age will possibly exacerbate the illness. There is NO evidence to suggest that it actually CAUSES mental illness). Which is greatly over exaggerated by our government in an effort to continue perpetuating the myth that prohibition is the only course of action when dealing with illegal substances. As I'm sure you are aware the prohibition did nothing more, in the case of alcohol in the early part of the twentieth century, than drive the production and distribution into the hands of the burgeoning criminal underworld and gave rise to mobsters such as Al Capone. Who once alcohol was made legal moved into the production and distribution of narcotics. This is of course the situation we find ourselves in today but for one reason or another fail to make the association between the two creating a very nasty world where millions of peoples lives have been ruined or tragically ended early every year because our ruling classes are failing to correctly regulate and control these substances as they do with the worlds most deadly drug ALCOHOL! I don't mean this to turn in to a lecture, but it is a subject I feel very passionate about due to the rank hypocrisy of our government towards the issue, but also felt it necessary to correct another 'Alan-quiam' (words of gibberish usually spoken by politicians and curly haired comedians). I hope Stephen might possibly read this and pass on the truth (possibly give Alan a smack on the bottom) as the truth is very hard to come by nowadays thanks to a very large campaign of propaganda by the worlds governments (see Reefer Madness 1936) in regards to a drug which is now 'proven' to be of medicinal benefit (see Sativex) and has been used for many thousands of years and is known to be far less harmful (nobody has EVER died from cannabis) then the legal intoxicants thousands of people die from yearly as sanctioned by our governments. peertariq on "QI - Series I - [10. Inland Revenue]" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/qi-series-i-10-inland-revenue#post-280701 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:14:02 +0000 peertariq 280701@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ I just wanted to point an error in the above mentioned program. During the first question about the "The world's most exotic tax collectors" Stephen says, "We're in the Middle East, we're in an Islamic country where people will be very embarrassed by a certain type of person; a transgender person. And in Pakistan, they have a squadron of transgender tax collectors..." Just wanted to clarify Pakistan is not in Middle East but in South Asia. Allanagh on "$100 per person?...." http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/100-per-person#post-277058 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:02:06 +0000 Allanagh 277058@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ I was so excited to find out that QI was coming to Australia-seriously, I almost fell off my chair diving for my wallet to get my credit card and book two tickets, as I got to the seat selection I was faced with the cheapest option of $99 for a restricted single seat or $110 for the next best... That's a little rich for my blood I'm afraid, I'm really quite gutted and a little shocked. <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_cry.gif" title=":cry:" class="bb_smilies" /> Kkkathykk on "Is it a brain? Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel." http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/is-it-a-brain-michelangelo-and-the-sistine-chapel#post-274483 Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:28:20 +0000 Kkkathykk 274483@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ A while ago it was pointed out on QI that the most famous part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling painting that Michelangelo did (where the finger of God touches the finger of Adam) - shows God as appearing to be in a sagittal (midline) image for a brain. I work at Cambridge University Vet School as a veterinary radiographer, and I completely agree. In fact I have a picture of that bit up next to our MRI scanner for our students to see and discuss. However - Stephen, if you read this - I'm convinced it's not a human brain! If you look at MRI scans of human brains, they're rather different. This looks more like a dog brain to me. I guess Michelangelo will have attended dissections of animals as well as humans. But it raises the question - did he know this wasn't a human brain? If so then the message he appears to be giving changes fundamentally. Is he no longer implying that God is within the human brain? But a dog brain? Hmmm. I don't know if I can upload photos here. I'll maybe dig some out and attempt to, to try to prove my point. MinervaMoon on "The "QI in America" Petition!" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/the-qi-in-america-petition#post-30059 Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:16:15 +0000 MinervaMoon 30059@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ After months of work, conferring with eager QI Elves, an even-more-eager John Lloyd, and an of-course-I'll-front-your-campaign Stephen Fry, I'm proud to be able to present you with: <a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/usaqi/petition.html">THE QI IN AMERICA PETITION!</a> <img src="http://img486.imageshack.us/img486/6185/sfqihe8.jpg" alt="" /> The petition homepage can be found <a href="http://www.freewebs.com/qitranscripts/petition.htm">here</a> (and it's worth a looksie). I'll be tracking the progress of the petition there, and when necessary, update with relevant news on the venture. Please, please take the time to sign the petition, and if you can think of something good to say about QI in the comments, that would be utterly topping. It's going to take an extraordinary number of signatures--more than that of the DVD petition--to convince BBC America to pick up the show. (Completely unofficial press release at <a href="http://qitalk.blogspot.com/2007/08/qi-in-america-petition.html">The QI Blog</a>.) My love to you forumites. x Bent Ottesen on "Hungarian "tumling"." http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/hungarian-tumling#post-280039 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:17:26 +0000 Bent Ottesen 280039@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ In one of the IQ programs, there was an Hungarian invention in form of an figur, who always find back to the same position no matter how you placed it to start. CAN ANYBODY HELP ME WITH THE NAME OF THE FIGUR ? Please write to <a href="mailto:hartkorn@webspeed.dk">hartkorn@webspeed.dk</a> and help me. <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_redface.gif" title=":oops:" class="bb_smilies" /> Excuse my spelling, it's 45 years ago I have my last time in school. arthur.kay on "Stephen`s favourite tv series" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/stephens-favourite-tv-series#post-279941 Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:28:26 +0000 arthur.kay 279941@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ In a recent broadcast of QI , Stephen said what he thought was the best tv comedy series. Can anyone supply the answer ? A. Kay JasonB on "QI Rich Hall Look Alike..." http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/qi-rich-hall-look-alike#post-278789 Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:03:48 +0000 JasonB 278789@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Just watched QI (26th November) How did Steven not notice that Rich Hall was in the middle of the group of indigenous people from Australia? Please watch it back Steven <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_smile.gif" title=":-)" class="bb_smilies" /> TheNazgulLord on "QI episode 8 season 8 question" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/qi-episode-8-season-8-question#post-274801 Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:57:18 +0000 TheNazgulLord 274801@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Mr Fry, in the above mentioned episode of QI you discussed the idea that it is impossible to explain to an alien creature the difference between left and right. Considering we implement an orthonormal 2-axis system (x,y) with the observer in its starting point O (0,0) we could say that as "right" is described every element that is located in the 1st and 4th quadrant and as "left" every element in the 2nd and 3rd quadrant. isn't this an accurate description? karina on "placebo & homeopathy... QI 4th nov 2011" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/placebo-homeopathy-qi-4th-nov-2011#post-278145 Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:08:50 +0000 karina 278145@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ The subject of placebo and homeopathy and how it works on QI last night [4th nov 2011], one explanation being it doesnt work and that the results [people seemingly appearing to feel beter] is due to the power of suggestion. If the argument of "the power of suggestion" is the answer to "...it doesnt work..." then how come - homeopathy - does work on animals? I have successfully treated mainly cats and dogs in the past, some being classed as incurable by the veterinary sector. Fact: animals are not susceptable to the "power of suggestion" when they're ill and wretched and especially not so when grabbed by the scruff of the neck, have their mouths pryed open and getting a tablet shoved down their throat! <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_eek.gif" title="8O" class="bb_smilies" /> There also is no "power of suggestion" if and/or when the tablet [or liquid drops] are hidden in a juicy piece of sausage or the animals favourite food. You cannot convince an animal by saying [begging] "...eat this and you'll feel/get better...". <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_neutral.gif" title=":|" class="bb_smilies" /> Animals given placebo's [sugar tabs] on the other hand give no positive results and so with animals a placebo is just that - a placebo, it does not work, unless the animal is diabetic meaning its insuline dosage would have to be slightly increased/monitored even more closely if say dosage was set at 2 tabs 3x daily! <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_confused.gif" title=":?" class="bb_smilies" /> I would like to know Stephen's view/answer to homeopathy and its positive effects on - resistant to the "power of suggestion" - animals <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_cool.gif" title="8)" class="bb_smilies" /> K. lollylegs on "QI DownUnder" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/qi-downunder#post-277068 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:20:05 +0000 lollylegs 277068@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Can't begin to describe how excited I am QI is coming to Australia. One more experience to mark off my bucket list. Wishing it wasn't so late in the evening though because my daughter won't be able to go. She makes me giggle at how she can sprout out QI facts to family and friends. <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_biggrin.gif" title=":D" class="bb_smilies" /> Counting down the days.... mvet88 on "QI Live Melbourne - review" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/qi-live-melbourne-review#post-277729 Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:32:18 +0000 mvet88 277729@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ A 'quick' review of the QI live show that I attended last night with ACSarahAC. The show took place at Her Majesty's Theatre and by the number of people that were there, I would say the show was booked out. There was various merchandise for sale - all at ridiculously inflated prices of course. I did fork out $20 for the programme as there were some lovely pictures in there. I was very fortunate to have a front row seat. The panel was set up in a nearly identical manner to the TV show except it was facing straight on to the audience rather than curved in a semi circle I took this dodgy pic on my mobile before I was promptly told off by an usher <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_razz.gif" title=":P" class="bb_smilies" /> <img src="http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb424/mvet88/IMAG0056.jpg"> I cannot tell you how excited I was when Stephen came bounding on the stage. As I was overseas the last time he came here, I thought I'd have to wait another 10 years before getting the chance to see him again! We were treated to about half an hour or so of Stephen doing what he does best - talking! He chatted about the queen, his visit to Australia in the 1980's, Billy Conelly and a couple of jokes to top things off. Having watched so many interviews of Stephen, I am quite familiar with a lot of his stories and quotes but somehow he manages to make it fresh each time. During the QI live tour, apart from Alan and Stephen there is a rotating panel of Australian comedians and nobody knows until that night who they will be. On that particular night we had Colin Lane, Cal Wilson and Red Symons. I understand that no one outside of Australia will be familiar with these names but believe me, they were well suited to the vein of the show. Anyone who watches QI would have known the answers to the questions that were asked! Yes, all the questions were recycled but as we know, its not the answer that counts, its the response from the panelists and their interaction with the host that makes the show so enjoyable. I don't think there is anything nicer than having a theatre full of people belly laughing along with the performers! The woman seated next to me was laughing so hard at times that it sounded like she was having a fit! Fluffettes you will be pleased to know that you got a mention from the man himself on stage! During a discussion about Norwich FC, someone in the audience let out a 'woot!' to which Stephen responded, 'Oh, that must be a fluffette'. I nearly fell off my seat!! I think if I had been sitting next to AcSarahAC, we would have squeed out loud <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_biggrin.gif" title=":D" class="bb_smilies" /> The show lasted for about 2.5 hours but as with any fluffette I could have listened to him speak for days and days! Australia was very lucky to be able to convince both Stephen and Alan to tour with this show. I do hope that other places get to experience the QI live shows as well. My only complaint which has nothing to do with the show itself but more the promoters, was the ticket price.Even for a full time worker such as myself, I found the prices to be very steep. To give you an idea, the prices ranged from $200 to about $100 for restricted view seats. However, all thoughts of my bank account flew out of my head once we were at the stage door after the show. Over to you AcSarahAC!