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Scientists Discover Cows Point North
Dr Sabine Begall and colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen have discovered that cows tend to point north. The researchers studied deer in the Czech Republic and looked at thousands of images of cattle on Google Earth. The animals tended to face north when eating or resting. "We conclude that the magnetic field is the only common and most likely factor responsible for the observed alignment," the scientists wrote in an article. I guess cows will become the must-have item for long-distance hikers now. Having an edible compass would come in handy if you get lost.
That was spherical cows of uniform density - at STP.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes.
Next, these researchers will discover a bizarre new breed of Australian cows that like to point south.
Yes, but I also just wanted to be the first to call this finding bullshit. ;-)
Perhaps it is north because the cows are pointing in that direction...
Perhaps they are showing reverence to the almighty invisible polar cow.
I hear he's where 2% milk comes from.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
when eating or resting
As distinct from all the other varied activities cows fill their day with.
Oh, I'll play!
My theory is that Google Earth does take good pictures of cows. The resolution isn't good in rural areas where cows normally reside, and it isn't economically feasible to take high-res photos of every single farm. So what they did instead was invested a bunch of money taking one really, really accurate cow picture. Then they did a global search and replace, replacing all the fuzzy cows with their one HD Cow. That cow happened to be facing north-- and thus, all cows seem to be facing north
For the lightning round, I'll suggest they only looked at one herd of cows, and since cows are herd animals, they were all pointing the same direction.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
Well, I have this stash of about 400 neodymium magnets, I'm going to have lots of fun burrying them in the local farmers fields in exciting patterns.
MP3 Search Engine
A well-known scientist 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 center 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 cow." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the cow standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's cows all the way down!"
"He"? Dude, I'm never drinking 2% milk again. *shudder*
Maybe the cows know global warming is an imminent danger, and are trying to avert the situation by providing a net thrust on the Earth to push us into a higher orbit.
Well, I have this stash of about 400 neodymium magnets, I'm going to have lots of fun burrying them in the local farmers fields in exciting patterns.
Try to get them to spell out "eat mor chiken".
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Which must be confusing for the cows...
I believe your right. It appears that the first was, in fact, a shorten version of the longer post. Both conveyed the same concept and nearly all details could be implied from the original statement.
Furthermore, I believe it should be pointed out that the first post was only a single sentence in length; however, the second post was a full three paragraphs of text.
I just wrote this to point out that your statement was indeed correct and appeared too short so I figured I should expand on it. Perhaps the second poster will understand a three paragraph explanation of your statement.
You don't want to ever mate northern and southern cows. The offspring are "spinners", which are only useful as rodeo bulls or for producing milk shakes.
By the way, do rodeo bulls in the northern hemisphere tend to spin in the opposite direction as southern hemisphere bulls? Someone should do a study on this.
What happens when they graze at the north pole..? Do they stand up on end?
what was the comment again?
I'm still trying to get my cow to float on the surface of a small dish of water. Am I the only one having problems with this?
Speaking of correlation, who the hell tagged this story with "correlationisnotcausation"? As if the magnetic field would somehow align itself with the cows.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
who the hell tagged this story with "correlationisnotcausation"?
Clearly, they were referring to the Google practice of using cows to orient their aerial photographs northward.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
you sir resemble the southern end of north-facing cow
Debian FTW
Chickens are also fed a smaller version of these, just after birth.
It's called a chick magnet.