Just found this article on the web, which reminded me, among other things, that Jasper's second Nursery Crimes book was on Goldilocks and the Three(?) Bears.

[www.newsday.com]



Post Edited (04-25-03 00:19)

--------------
"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

Four bears wasn't it?

That was Jasper's assertion, yes. Otherwise how could the porridge all have been poured out at the same time, and yet have one too hot and one too cold?



--------------
"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

Huh?

Larger servings of porridge keep the heat better, as the surface area increases at a slower rate than volume, so heat lost as radiation is reduced. That's why the daddy's bears was the one that was too hot.



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

but the bowls were doled out individually and once they're in individual serving size, the one served first would lose heat rapidly, hence Papa's was too cold, cuz the dads always got served first back in the day!

In any case, you would expect mama bear's portion to be larger than baby bears, yet hers was too cold and the baby's was just right. Sounds fishy to me.

(BTW, the article mentioned in the first post is quite good).

Twila, I don't think that works, for the following reason:

a; Cooling rate is related to the ratio of surface area to volume

b: Cooling rate is also a function of the gradient of temperature between the oat based sustenance and the ambient surroundings

c: Over time the temperature trend of the aforementioned nourishing snack, made from a grain that supports horses in England and people in Scotland, forms an asymptotic curve (ie a concave curve) when plotted with time on the x-axis. ie the fastest rate of cooling occurs immediately after serving the breakfast.

d: Between each serving being ladelled out there is a period of time 'p' for porridge handling due to inefficiencies in the catering system 'mother'

e: After the completion of the serving of the hot nourishment of modified and processed grass seeds the ursine family adjopurned for some morning exercise. Bloody stupid habit if you ask me, but there's no accounting for taste. This occupied time 't' - for stupid actions neccesary for dramatic events

f: assuming p to be fixed, the ratio of p:t will decrease rapidly

g: Thus we can see that for longer periods of buggering about in the woods, the amount of time contributed to the cooling of carbohydrate positive pre-noon meal items is far more to do with the amount of time spent doing whatever it is bears do in the woods, rather than the time between servings.

h: As there was enough time for some bint to come along, sneak in, and try all the horse-food-thinly-disguised-as-breakfast we can assmue that t far exceeded p

i: Due to the curve in the cooling rate, as time increases the temperatures of bowls served at different times will tend towards the same temperature - with a declining difference between temperatures all the time. Assuming the time allowed between consumption and serving is reasonably large, there should be no 'big' difference in temperature.

j: Thus the serving time has been ruled out, leaving us to examine the only possible other cause for differential tmperatures, which is serving volume. This is consistent with all the observations above.

Q.E.D



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

In other words... Baby Bear really does eat more than Mummy Bear.

Perhaps Mummy Bear is on a diet?



..........................................................................................

That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

If the version you're reading says it was his she ate, then yes. Although bearing (arrf!!!) in mind that Goldilocks always went for the one in the middle, that suggests mother bear, surely?



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

How about if there was a previous intruder, prior to Goldilocks arrival? (Possibly the mythical fourth bear). Said intruder ate both papa and baby bear's porridge, and then (being better at hiding it's tracks than Goldilocks) dished up fresh from the still simmering pot. By the time Goldilocks arrived on the scene, papa's--being larger--was still too hot, mama's (being from the old batch) was now too cold, and baby's, having a larger surface to volume ratio than papa's, had cooled to a temperature optimal for consumption.

"At the heart of the stories stands Thursday Next, the feistiest and wittiest of sleuths. A droll combination of Nancy Drew, Bridget Jones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess, she's as likely to nail the bad guys with a bon mot as a bullet."

BRIDGET F******G JONES. How is Thursday a combination of Bridget Jones????????

Maybe fourth bear snuck in, ate a bowl of porridge, and, being cleverer than the blonde-haired reprobate of legend, went out and used a baseball bat on a passing school-child, dragged her upstairs onto a bed, messed up the others on the way out and accidentally flatened a chair in it's rush to get out before they came back?

Goldilocks was the fall-guy!

Er, fall-girl...

Er, Better stick with 'It was a set-up!'



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Well, she can't be a combination of Bridget Jones.

Unless some trully evil B***rd has access to a prose portal and a cloning factory...



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

I can safely attest to the eating powers of small people. Eddie can polish off an adult size portion of porridge and easily hassle you for more. ie. yours.

Does that help? or hinder?

Depends whether his quest for your porridge affects something of vital importance, I guess.



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

I was thinking along the lines of Magda's post re the size of the portions. In our case, baby bear's portion would be larger than mama bear's portion, cos he's a greedy guts.

Possibly the reviewer has misunderstood the fact that Landen, TN's husband has been eradicated/erased/edited. With BJs "humerous" inability to "get a man" who is not a b***** until she lights on Colin Firth, and the fact that she's a woman, as is TN, it's a mistake any idiot could make...

I mean Bridget is lovely, with low selfesteem, obsessed with her weight poor judgement, and a bit thick.

TN is lovely, brilliant, married (or not) and expecting her first child whilst saving the world on a regular basis, and a dedicated literary detective. (a job more complex that wortking in TV, probably.)
It's so easy to see the similarities, isn't it?

I vote we send Miss Havisham round to see him. She'll sort him out. (I seem to be assuming the revier is male..)

As for the porridge, my best guess is the tempature of the various bowls was adversely effected by an overdose of Narrative Imperative.



My reality check has just bounced again.......

as for mother's portion size, it was v. (Bridget Jones reference) common for the mother to feed the father first, then the children and then if there is any left over, mom gets it.