So, i cannot believe the volume of tweets and discussion that this all generated. 🙂 Loads of people replied to me on Twitter (that link is just one of about a dozen conversation threads that rattled away) and the answers I saw were wide-ranging. Of course, there were more follow-up questions than there were actual answers, i think. 🙂
People disagreed if the distances should be calculated based on surface travel or as the crow flies. The great-circle theorem and Haversine formula were linked. We all mentioned that moose do not fly. Someone asked about the moose stealing a plane. The question was clearly phrased with the words “running” and “walking” and no moose-bearing plane could fly at those low velocities. Someone asserted that moose COULD fly and someone started working on art to show this. Someone else asked about the forward surface area & air resistance of an adult moose. My house mate responded that this should already be presumed to be factored in.
On the ground routes, people disagreed over whether the moose would use Google’s walking or driving directions for route planning. I stated that while I hadn’t considered that, the photo in my blog post clearly shows the moose on a road, near a car. Someone asked if that was just a moose CROSSING a road. Bruce Potter brought up the issue of moose and swimming. Noise and Aloria both asserted that moose do not proceed across the landscape with any urgency and often stop to rest and eat. People discussed whether a moose could hijack a car. Someone else asked about a moose with a jetpack… clearly irrelevant, but now that’s all I can picture in my mind and I wish to see Congress appropriate funding for the development of this technology.
And there were no shortage of people offering theories involving the Philadelphia (or, alternately, the Cleveland) moose being drunk, a brawler, or eager to leave his or her own city faster. Space Rogue pointed out that neither city is part of the natural range of any moose so that the moose “From Maine” is the winner because that moose actually exists. It was also pointed out that I did not specify which Cleveland in my original question.
I was inclined to give a prize to Carl Numbus…
https://twitter.com/cnimbus/status/541644648734023680
But ultimately, here is how I was calculating things…
Cleveland, OH moose has to travel 369 miles and at 25 M.P.H. this takes 14.76 hours
Philadelphia, PA moose has to travel 138 miles and at 10 M.P.H. this takes 13.8 hours
ANSWER: the Philly moose should get there ~58 minutes sooner
https://twitter.com/CaptainDooley/status/541645627755462656
It turns out that the first person to actually tweet to me was the one who came the closest to the answer I was expecting. He followed-up with the answer in minutes shortly thereafter and was therefore declared the winner in my book. He can email me this week and purchase a spare ticket I had grabbed for face value.
Thank you to everyone and I’ll see you in Washington, D.C. this January!
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– — —– ———-[ ORIGINAL POST ]———- —– — –
Two moose are going to ShmooCon.
Moose 1 runs from Cleveland to Washington D.C. at 25 Miles per Hour
Moose A walks from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. at 10 Miles per Hour
If they start at the same time, which moose gets there first and by how many minutes do they beat the other moose to the finish? (Plus or minus 5 minutes)
First person to tweet the answer to me gets to buy a spare ShmooCon ticket at face value from me.
