[PW] Verifying a Russian anecdote

[Marian Drabkin]

If you're just talking about sliding down hill, children all over the world 
have long known the joys of sliding downhill on everything from flattened 
cardboard boxes through garbage can lids to very large leaves.  It's one of 
those universal childhood experiences, and doesn't require a sled or 
toboggan -- or snow.

Marian Drabkin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "FERGUSON Timothy" <TFERGUSON at goldcoast.qld.gov.au>
To: <list at project-wombat.org>; <phasco at earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: [PW] Verifying a Russian anecdote


> I'm not clear on the Russian legend either, but would note that the
> toboggan is an American technology, which leaves her either after
> Columbus or using a sled.
>
> And yes, it would work: there's a section behind one of the royal
> castles in Scotland where people used to slide down the hill mounted on
> ox skulls.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
> [mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of T.
> F. Mills
> Sent: Monday, 21 April 2008 6:23
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: Re: [PW] Verifying a Russian anecdote
>
> On 20 Apr 2008 at 12:43, sylvia ryals wrote:
>
>> " Is it true that a Russian princess or tsarina ordered a hillside
>> covered with flour during a famine so that she could toboggan in
>> summer?"
>>
>> If true, I wonder if she did it more than once.  I thought
>> slipperiness on ice and snow depended on slight melting.
>
> Slipperiness is but one ingredient for a pleasurable descent.  With a
> steep enough slope, gravity will overcome the poor viscosity of the
> surface (if that is the right word).  I have skiied sand dunes -- more
> than once.
>
> Sorry, I don't about the Russian legend.
>
>
>
> T.F. Mills                            (Colorado, USA)
> temporary email:         phasco at earthlink.net
> (pending resurrection of regiments.org mail)
>
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