Can people who are totally deaf from birth lip-read accents?

June 25, 2005


When I was teaching at the National Grammar School for the Deaf (UK) in 1991 students had trouble with my accent. Once they had established the patterns, including inflections, they were easily able to differentiate between the accents of my Australian and US friends. Of interest was that profoundly deaf students from Northern Ireland, with some vocal skills, had pure Irish accents.
Bob Warren, Forster

Frank Farina's spray at the referee during a recent Federations Cup match could be lip-read unambiguously from 100 metres in all languages, dialects and accents!
Bob Dengate, Bathurst

A Dutch lady, Karin, who is sailing around the world with her husband, came into our business in Grafton last week. She could lip read and communicate in English, although she had never heard the language spoken. It was absloutely amazing! She told me she felt very proud. And so she should. What a delightful, positive lady she was.
Being hearing impaired myself, and relying on lip reading to get by ( I have to put my glasses on to `hear' people `laugh'), I know that accents are hard to understand. Also, mumblers and men with moustaches, and people who turn away or cover their mouth, are almost impossible to lip read. Makes for some hilarious misconceptions in conversations. Animated movies are a nightmare. Watch Chicken Run with the sound down and try lip reading chicken lips, or beaks rather. That will give you some idea of the difficulties in lip reading.
Jan Small, Grafton

When a spacecraft such as Cassini uses a planet to slingshot itself to a higher velocity, where does the extra energy it gains come from?

The knack to flying lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss - Douglas Adams's best law. Similarly, any fly-by slingshot satellite (such as Cassini) simply needs to get sucked faster and faster into the vortex of any big star's (or giga-big planet's) gravity field, and yet deftly miss, so as to avoid getting burned up. And that accelerating energy boost gained by the dinky fly-by satellite is next to nothing to the star's energy loss. With grateful acknowledgements to cosmic explorers Newton and Clarke, I. and A.C.
Dr Douglas Jay, Lyneham, ACT

It takes the energy from the planet in question, slowing down the planetary momentum by exactly the same amount of energy gained. Given the much larger mass of the planet, this slowing down is imperceptible, yet theoretically, like the monkeys, typewriters and Hamlet conundrum, if enough spaceships use the slingshot manoeuvre, the planet would eventually stop dead in space.
Sandy Parkinson, Hilton, WA

When a spacecraft such as Cassini uses a planet to slingshot itself to a higher velocity, where does the extra energy it has gained come from?nf
The extra energy comes from the force of the planet gravity. The spacecraft is oriented in such a way, that it uses the force of attraction, without being captured. In order to calculate the trajectory it is necessary to include other planets and the Sun's position.
Fausto Mino, Schofields

Because only two bodies - the spacecraft and the planet - are involved the energy must come from the planet. The interaction can be thought of as an elastic `collision' between the spacecraft and the planet which are initially moving towards each other. As a result of the interaction the spacecraft reverses its direction and speeds up and the planet slows down. The fact that there is such a large difference in the masses means that the change in the velocity of the planet is very small.
Colin Gauld, Kiama Downs

This is a good question, because the astute observer will realise that while the spacecraft accelerates enormously as it drops towards the `slingshot' planet, due to symmetry it must lose the exact same amount as it climbs back out of the gravity well again. So where does the gained velocity come from? Well, if the planet in question were standing still, then it's true that nothing at all would be gained. But in fact the planet is, itself, moving at a fairly high speed around the sun. The velocity gained while dropping `down' is exactly lost while going back `up', and the gain comes in the `sideways' component. It really doesn't matter how much the spacecraft speeds up and slows back down as it goes in and out of the planet's gravity well, what matters is that the spacecraft becomes momentarily integrated into the planet's motion, and swept along in its solar orbital path. The spacecraft's gain is the planet's loss, and the planet's orbit around the sun is slightly slowed, and its year increased in duration by some infinitessimal amount, and it moves maybe a millimetre further from the sun.
Ian Davies, Cammeray

It comes from the planet. The planet and the spacecraft exchange both energy and momentum, what one gains the other loses. Although the momentum gained by the spacecraft equals that lost by the planet the fact that the planet is so much more massive means that its velocity loss is so much smaller. When Cassini swung by the Earth on August 19, 1999, it picked up a velocity of nearly 20,000 km per hour - but the Earth's loss was only about 1,500 billionths of a metre per year - or, in old fashioned terms, about 300 trillionths of a furlong per fortnight. For full edification on this encounter, do a Google Groups search on Cassini and furlongs per fortnight.
Geoff Lambert, Fairlight

The above is called the slingshot effect. The slingshot effect occurs when a spacecraft moves into the gravitational field of a planet. As the planet pulls, the spacecraft swings towards it due to gravity. The velocity acquired through this process is enough to escape from the planet. The overall velocity of the space probe has increased relative to the sun.
James Zeng, Kogarah

The energy comes from the planet. It just slows down a tiny bit and moves a bit closer to the sun, losing energy in the proportion (mass of spaececraft)/(mass of planet). The planet would hardly miss it.
John Cameron Ward, Eastwood

LONG ANSWER: The Cassini/Huygens spacecraft arrived at Saturn and its moon Titan during 2004. Saturn is more than a billion kilometers from Earth, and both planets are constantly in motion, with different orbital rates, so you can't just aim and launch. The spacecraft needs an intricate trajectory - and a lot of energy, more than is available from the rockets - to travel that far. The Cassini's trajectory included a complicated, looping ballet among the planets, gaining energy from Venus, Earth and Jupiter by flying close to them for `gravity assists'. On the way to Venus, adjustments were made to the trajectory - `mid-course corrections' - to be sure it came close enough, but not too close, to use Venus' gravity to give the spacecraft an extra boost. The first loop around Venus had to send the spacecraft in an arc around the Sun and back toward Venus. Another mid-course correction sent it by Venus a second time. This gave it even more energy and sent it back toward Earth! Why? So that the Earth's gravity could power it further out into the solar system. At Earth it gained more energy as the gravity worked like a slingshot to fling it toward Jupiter. On the way it passed the asteroids and made still another mid-course correction. At Jupiter, Cassini gained a huge amount of energy from the giant planet's gravity field, which bent the spacecraft's trajectory and aimed it toward Saturn. Another mid-course correction made sure the spaceship was put into orbit around Saturn.
SHORT ANSWER: To allow a spacecraft such as Cassini to fly great distances, further than on-board fuel would allow, NASA uses a carefully planned trajectory along with mid-course corrections. The objective is to guide the spaceship close enough to a planet's gravitational field so that it accelerates toward the planet, but not too close so that its existing (and now enhanced) momentum will then make it break free of the gravitational field at a tangent to its original direction, but still retaining the extra speed. This enables it to travel faster and further towards the next planet where the process can be repeated.
David Buley, Seaforth

The Slingshot Effect, though commonly used by NASA, is actually a complete mystery. The typical explanation is that the spacecraft `steals momentum' from the planet it passes, slowing the massive planet in its orbit and transferring this momentum to the spacecraft. But a closer look shows that the planet's gravity would pull the spacecraft back again as it leaves, resulting in no net momentum changes for either spacecraft or planet. Also, accelerometers on the Voyager spacecraft showed no forces or accelerations whatsoever as they roughly doubled their speed using these maneuvers. So what is going on? The only answer I have found is in an alternate science book called The Final Theory, which completely re-explains gravity.
Andrew Freeman, Hunters Hill

The occupants of the planet look up and see that the spacecraft is from Earth and know that we have NO respect for our own planet and want nothing to do with any disease-carrying space junk and thus, give it the flick!
Bruce Bennett, Berowra Heights

How boring is bat shit?

Not boring at all unless the simile refers to English cricket. Bat shit can carry invariably fatal Hendra virus (equine morbillivirus) which has killed humans and people in Australia.
Paul Roberts, Lake Cathie

Not as boring as Big Brother.
Chris Daly, Malabar

Ask Robin
Keith Jennings, Yarramundi

Go catch the movie - make up your own mind.
Peter Bower, Forster

Regarding the Australian cricket team, after losing the past three games, very boring!
Steve Barrett, Glenbrook

A timely question with the Ashes Test series about to commence. Anyone watching Englishmen Geoff Boycott or Colin Cowdrey (OK, throw in Bill Lawry for balance), could answer this one.
Terry Pokorny, Malvern, SA

Ever listened to more than 10 seconds of a George Bush speech?
Con Vaitsas, Ashbury

Does it make any difference if you continually press the walk button at traffic lights?

Yes. It makes you feel much better when you're having a bad day.
Norm Neill, Leichhardt

I've been telling my mother this for years: no. Traffic lights turn red at predetermined intervals. Pressing the walk button will make the little man turn green after the traffic has stopped. It will not stop the traffic earlier. In some cities in good old orderly Germany, there is no walk button - the little man automatically turns green when cars get a red light.
Jennifer Cheng, Shanghai, China

In electronic terms, the button is a binary "latch" - "0" if it is not pushed and "1" if it is. Once it is latched, additional button presses don't communicate a sense of urgency.
Brendan Jones, Annandale

No, but you feel a lot better for it!
Milvia Harder, Marrickville

Not always. A niece of mine was killed by a truck in Pyrmont after pressing the walk button and trying to cross on a green light.
Paul Roberts, Lake Cathie

Firstly, the traffic light Walk button will activate the timer on the first press. Additional button pressing does not make the traffic lights change sooner. However, for those who press continually it does make a difference to those standing by them waiting to cross. The main difference is we begin to question the presser's activity, and imagine what it would be like to so impatient. The level of difference this makes, to continually press, is proportionate to the sane, patient ones around them.
Danita Leitch, North Sydney

Whilst technically it makes no difference, tt actually reduces the time between button press and the man going green.
Nathan Smith, Bondi

Yes, it tends to induce tendinitis!
Steve Barrett, Glenbrook

It does in Adelaide, I was so impressed by their button technology that I stayed and played with it for 10 minutes (mind you, it was 2am). It would go off, and when it finished I would press once again and it would go off again. The NSW ministry for footpaths and pedestrian  could learn a lot from their SA counterparts.
Saul Standerwick, Newcastle

It makes no difference how many times you press the walk button - one push is enough. However in order to deter pedestrian pounders and extend the life of these buttons, the change of lights should be delayed by 10 seconds for each unnecessary push.
Graham Hanlon, Normanhurst

At some intersections, pedestrians are required to push the button to wake up the little green person, while at others, they appear automatically without any prompting.  However, pushing the button multiple times has no effect, so unless you are a child who doesn't know any better, it only makes you appear a fool (rather than make the little green person appear quicker).
Michelle Sossinka, Randwick

No, but as a note to all those men in Sydney who are too macho to press the button once, apparently waiting for the hand of god to do it for them, then looked surprised when they don't get a `walk man' - pressing once is a really good idea.
Rosamund Turkington, Blackheath


What, the stickers aren't edible?
Colin John Andrews, East Gosford

I always thought they were!
Chuff Lloyd, Port Macquarie

So the worms in our worm farm have something to read.
Kate Lindsay, Mosman

Who was Bill Bailey and did he ever come home?

Supposedly, the song is based on a "real" Bill Bailey who was a black vaudeville performer, a member of the team of Bailey and Cowan. One night he was locked out after his wife had had enough of his late-night revelry. Hughie Cannon, who wrote the song, was one of Bailey's friends who joined him in these nocturnal pleasures. He paid for a hotel room for Bailey and assured him that a night away would cause his wife to beg him to return.
Geoff Savelieff, Smithfield

Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey was written by American song writer Hughie Cannon who died in 1912. Other songs by Cannon are I hates to get up in the morning and Just because she made dem goo goo eyes. Won't you come home? was supposedly written about one half of a vaudeville act, Bailey and Cowan. Bailey, who was known to Cannon, apparently found himself locked out one night by his wife because she was sick of his behaviour late of an evening - and Cannon was one of those with whom he shared those hours. Cannon is said to have told Bailey that if he stayed away, it wouldn't be long before Mrs Bailey was wanting his return.
Try for some more info.
Peter Rosier, Annandale

Given that Australia has some ideal `hot rock' locations where, by drilling down about eight kilometres, it is possible to extract unlimited steam to drive turbines, why don't we start to use this free, clean power?

A `hot rock' location has been established and drilling has commenced in the Strzelecki Desert in Queensland to the northeast of Cameron Corner. Feasibility studies have shown that the cost (estimated at $90 million) will be recouped by the power generated to the Moomba gasfields in SA and the many established (and yet to be established) in the Cooper Creek basin in far southwest Queensland. Thus the water will generate the electricity to extract the oil and gas. Perfect synergy.
Peter Whitaker, Tweed Heads

This process is currently underway. Testing of a Hot Dry Rock site in the Cooper Basin in northern South Australia by a company called Geodynamics Ltd has been occurring since 2002 and is near completion. The government has been supporting this endeavour with funding. The demonstration plant should be completed by 2007, then site will be expanded with more wells to create a commercial electricity plant. This site is estimated to have the energy equivalent of 50 billion barrels of oil. There are other locations in Australia that are also viable Hot Dry Rock extraction sites, that could also produce commercial plants. So to answer the question, we are starting to use the power available from these `hot rock' sites, it is just taking time.
Bronwyn Muller, Brisbane



* When did they start wrapping chocolate in metal foil and why?


* Why would you want room to swing a cat?


