Counting things

[j4]

fivemack muses on the comparative numbers of mice, humans, rabbits, cows and wildebeeste, reminding me of a pub conversation recently in which the question of how many Magdalen deer you'd have to kill in order to feed all Magdalen's students was hotly debated[*]. This led to me asking AQA "How many venison steaks would you get from one adult deer?", to which they responded: "An adult deer weighs 115-135lbs. Half of that is bones and hide. There's 1 cubic ft of lean venison. It yields 30-40 steaks, depending on their size." So I just thought I'd share that knowledge with the internet.

Yes, I am procrastinating.

[*] for "hotly debated" read "amicably discussed over a post-theatre beer".

Comments

[sea-bright.livejournal.com]

I've just seen the following answer in response to a question about train fare:

A: The cheapest available fare for 1 adult from Yeovil to London on Saturday 29 November 2008 is 10.00 GBP. thx

So either
(a) They are giving their customers information that won't actually be any use
(b) They have discovered the secret of TIME TRAVEL
or (c) They are recycling old questions

I would like to think it was (b), but I suspect (c) is more probable.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Hrm. Yes.

Though it's possible that (d) the question was live, but they're recycling old answers (which AQA do as well -- they have a big database of past answers) and forgot to change "is" to "was" (which given the spelling/grammar of some of the other answers wouldn't surprise me). I mean, "The cheapest fare the last time we checked [on Sat 29th November] was 10.00" wouldn't be an unreasonable answer.