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Thursday 23 January 2020

What Is Wrong In These Pictures? (4-6)

Another three pictures from my dad’s 1927 edition of Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopedia. Each contains an error to identify. I’m not doing very well so far having got only one right out of three. Hope it goes better today. My answers and the answers are underneath.


Back to Pictures 1-3
Forward to Pictures 7-9 


MY ANSWERS AND THE ANSWERS

4. Are they cherries? But cherry leaves are single. These look more like horse chestnut leaves although they’re not because the sections are insufficiently separate. Let’s just go with a mismatch between fruit and leaves. Answer: it’s cherries on a vine. I’m giving myself a generous 2/4.

5. What could be wrong with the sun dial? I thought at first the Roman Numerals were wrongly put together, but they should of course be read looking from the outside towards the centre, e.g. the 12 correctly reads XII not IIX. Could they be in the wrong positions, particularly in the lower half where some numbers are repeated. But no, that’s not the answer either because six in the morning would cast a different shadow from six at night, so they should be repeated. The answer: how many people know that gnomons should point north not south? I suppose that casts the best shadow. I’ve never had to think about gnomon design before. 2/5. This is depressing.

6. It must be the reflection. At first I thought it was that there are not enough windows in the spire reflection, but I’m being more careful now. Maybe you can’t see it all – you can only see the top half of the other part of the church. I’ve got it. The spire in the reflection looks twisted: you should not be able to see the right hand side. Yes! Fanfare please! 3/6.

More to follow.

20 comments:

  1. Yay! I got 2 right out of these three so my total score so far is 50%

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    1. Not bad. I'm 50% so far too. I bet hardly anyone gets the sun dial.

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  2. Gosh those are hard! I shall look at the previous ones now.

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    1. Thanks for reading. They're not easy are they, but I thought numbers 1-3 even harder. More to come tomorrow or Saturday.

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    2. Looking forward to more. Thanks for the visit too. I have written a post about dollys now.

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  3. Wow, these are for children? I got the cherries correct and like you I thought the leaves were wrong. I did not get the Sundial correct. I thought the numerals were written incorrectly. I did not know the gnomons should point north. I did get the reflection correct but I admit that I was not too sure of myself regarding my answer. So if the scoring is including yesterday I have a whole 2/6 since I had a big 0 yesterday. These are humbling.

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    1. It's so easy to jump to wrong conclusions like we have with the Roman numerals, whichis probably the most important thing to take away - not to assume the first answer is right. I suspect people who do a lot of crosswords (e.g. Rachel) know this all too well and will therefore fare better.

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  4. I got the reflection right because of my background in art I think. I can remember once thinking that a reflection in water might go off at an angle before being taught and shown otherwise. I know that sundial gnomons in the northern hemisphere point north, and in the south point south. So I did go for that although I have to say it was partly a guess on this particular drawing because it was less than obvious at first which way it was pointing. My grandmother had a sundial so I got it via that route. The cherries were difficult but assumed it was simple like the leaves aren't right. I did not recognise it as a vine leaf. I think the analogy with the crosswords that you mentioned above is correct. The correct answer may not always be the first one, but it is nearly always the simplest, i.e. don't over complicate. I don't know whether I get 3 out of 3? I will let you decide.

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    1. The drawings aren't always that clear. Yes I think that counts as 3 out of 3 - again! You're a 1927 child at heart.

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    2. Points north in the north and south in the south - brilliant!

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    3. I don't know how it placed on the Equator.

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    4. Thinking about the sun going round and the shadows it casts, I can't see what's really wrong with just having a stick in the middle - or perhaps just to the south of the middle to take account of the length of the shadow changing over the day, but then in the southern hemisphere the stick would need to be just to the north of the middle, and then on the equator ... oh! ah! so that's why gnomons are like they are. So on the equator you could just have a stick in the middle (gone away feeling intelligent).

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  5. The only inkling to an answer I had was that the cherries and their leaves didn't look 'right'. Tough, but interesting images!

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    1. That counts as correct - I gave myself a point there even though I didn't identify the leaves as vines. Some easier ones next time.

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  6. I barely can focus on these. Concentrate, never!

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    1. Probably the most sensible attitude of us all.

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  7. The cherries were obvious - easy for me to say, as I have a cherry tree right in front of my house, and see its branches in front of my kitchen windows every day.
    With the sundial one I thought the shadow was drawn in the wrong direction for perspective of the middle bit (I didn't know it is called gnomon).
    The reflection of the church struck me as wrong instantly, so I suppose I can say 2 out of 3 here.

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    1. You must be among the select few Europeans who know about gnomons. Even many English speakers don't.

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  8. As for me, 2 out of three as well, knowing something is wrong but actually pinpointing it is difficult. But then that is the nature of the game.

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    1. Pretty good. Perhaps thinking about them for a hour or two might flash up the answers, but we've all probably got better things to think about.

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