MikeL Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Happy vernal equinox, everyone! If you didn't know, that's the first day of spring. It arrives on March 20 at 12:14 am CDT (05:14 UTC). Looking for a unique way to celebrate? Why not do something you can't do any other day of the year? Stand an egg on end. That's right. It's the one day you can stand a raw egg on end on the kitchen counter. Even the most impatient of people can do it. Amaze your friends. Amaze yourself.After that excitement, what more will you do to celebrate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeL Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Cool Mike. I've just done it with one egg. Then another to confirm it wasn't a fluke. There again, I dare say I'll be able to amaze myself doing the same thing tomorrow. And next week. And in three months' time The only scientific significance of the spring and autumn equinoxes is that day and night are the same wherever you are on the planet on just those two days in the year. You can blame the Chinese for this urban myth (along with lots of other medicinal nonsense ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeL Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Cool Mike. I've just done it with one egg. Then another to confirm it wasn't a fluke. There again, I dare say I'll be able to amaze myself doing the same thing tomorrow. And next week. And in three months' time The only scientific significance of the spring and autumn equinoxes is that day and night are the same wherever you are on the planet on just those two days in the year. You can blame the Chinese for this urban myth (along with lots of other medicinal nonsense ) Try it again tomorrow; then let us know if it's a myth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 (edited) Ha ha - if I haven't eaten them by then Edit: apparently it's not strictly true that day and night are equal length on these two days - due to refraction, the sun is "bent" through the Earth's atmosphere to increase the day length slightly Edited March 20, 2012 by Zombie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y_B Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 It's suppose to last a week. Try to re-balance in April Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 How am I gonna keep my eggs till then? And I ate one for lunch so there's just one left. You'll have to accept the experiment results with new eggs. Meantime, you can have side bets on the outcome (I can't bet because I know what the result will be ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zolia Lily Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 THIS IS SO COOL! will it work here in the UK? I'm actually going to go out and buy eggs tomorrow!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeL Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 THIS IS SO COOL! will it work here in the UK? I'm actually going to go out and buy eggs tomorrow!!!!! It will work anywhere in the world, but I'm not sure about tomorrow. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Administrator Graeme Posted March 21, 2012 Site Administrator Share Posted March 21, 2012 Just as a small aside, Spring in Australia starts on 1st September, not 20th March. Autumn started on 1st March. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Yes, that's right. Everything's upside down in Australia, so you'll probably have to balance the eggs on their pointy ends to compensate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephylim Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Apart from erect eggs, the Equinoxes are important festivals for us Druids. Blessings of Alban Eilir to you all 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeL Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Someone asked me elsewhere why one egg in the above picture is not standing on end. I left it horizontal so viewers would know the other egg was actually upright and this was not some sort of photographic trick. You might say it's part of the control group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Newsflash: I've just balanced my remaining egg (I ate the other one as I said earlier ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Just balanced my remaining egg on end again, a week after the spring equinox. But no fanfare of triumphal trumpets. I feel sad in a way. It would be nice to have physical contact in your own kitchen with the "celestial mechanics", such as can be experienced in a total solar eclipse, or at those megalithic sites where the sun aligns with stones, or shines into an inner room on just one day a year. Its this sort of experience that jerks us out of our day to day nose-to-the-grind existence and makes us realize that we are all just specks in a vast cosmos and unimaginable eons of time. Sorry Mike. I feel like a real party pooper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeL Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Just balanced my remaining egg on end again, a week after the spring equinox. But no fanfare of triumphal trumpets. I feel sad in a way. It would be nice to have physical contact in your own kitchen with the "celestial mechanics", such as can be experienced in a total solar eclipse, or at those megalithic sites where the sun aligns with stones, or shines into an inner room on just one day a year. Its this sort of experience that jerks us out of our day to day nose-to-the-grind existence and makes us realize that we are all just specks in a vast cosmos and unimaginable eons of time. Sorry Mike. I feel like a real party pooper No need to apologize, Zombie. It appears you have the "touch". I can't do it today, so I'll have to rest on the laurels demonstrated in my pictures. No trumpets? TADA That egg is not very fresh now, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 That egg is not very fresh now, is it? Yeah, I've been thinking about that. Definitely not one to be boiled - I wanna see that critter first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paya Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Yeah, I've been thinking about that. Definitely not one to be boiled - I wanna see that critter first well I think MikeL was aiming at the fact that old eggs are lighter therefore ... hmmm.... would that help in balancing the egg or not? Fresh eggs definitely hold together better which would make it easier to balance I guess. But you say you managed to balance an old egg...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Gotta be 10 days old. Maybe if I shift it from the fridge to the airing cupboard it'll hatch ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paya Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Gotta be 10 days old. Maybe if I shift it from the fridge to the airing cupboard it'll hatch ... bah, ten days is not bad! I thought it was over a month... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeL Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 It's that time again. Happy vernal equinox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maximoff Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Ice day in Sweden yesterday. The whole country was below zero degrees all day! Brrrr!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celethiel Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 the 20th also just happened to be my mom's birthday and the first day of spring as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C J Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 It's always great to know your eggs are well balanced at least one day of the year. I wonder if it's a good idea to eat them on that day. Maybe they would be helpful for people who need as much balance as possible, like people who work in a circus. The girls who stand on elephants while they trot around a ring, or the people on the tightrope. If you make an omelet will it turn out more perfectly balanced, with all the ingredients evenly spaced and symmetrical? Maybe they could take the place of gyroscopes in inertial guidance systems. This could save some time and expense in production. Eggs may be a more balanced source of nutrition on this day as well. I wonder if the FDA has any data on this possibility. A big question for farmers is, are chickens better able to lay eggs on this day? If so, are they being coerced into increasing their production? This may account for the use of eggs during the Easter season, since there may be a surplus of eggs this time of year due to chickens being more productive. Of course, there may be a potential effect on chicks hatched from eggs laid this day as well. Are these chicks more stable than their peers from other times of the year? More stable chickens could be an important improvement for those who work on chicken farms. Then there's the packing of eggs for distribution. Is this process improved on this day of the year, or possibly made more difficult due to the desire of the eggs to stand on end? It's amazing how much influence eggs have on our lives. Who would of guessed?! I can think of a hundred other benefits well balanced eggs could offer society. Unfortunately, I need to go eat before my eggs get cold! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 No need to worry - the eggs will balance just the same on all the other days of the year too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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