Hereby i open the thread with all kinds of useless and non-informatic facts which no-one wants to know but me, so spill your guts people :D


The Piramid In front of the Louvre has exactly 666 windows, which was done on purpose to annoy the vatican.

The Piramid In front of the Louvre has exactly 666 windows, which was done on purpose to annoy the vatican.

No it doesn't. It has 673 panes consisting of 603 diamond panes and 70 triangular panes. It's design has nothing to do with the Vatican.

It's design has nothing to do with the Vatican.
Or style ;)

Useless info :
Prostitution in Amsterdam has been legalized. All hookers have their own business and are paying tax, as long as subscribed with the Chamber of Commerce.

Useless info :
Prostitution in Amsterdam has been legalized. All hookers have their own business and are paying tax, as long as subscribed with the Chamber of Commerce.


And u can even ask for a receit (if that's the way to spell it :P)

I found this rather interesting, yet completely useless unless I become a contestant on jeopardy or something.

"At a glance, the Celsius scale makes more sense than the Fahrenheit scale for temperature measuring. But its creator, Anders Celsius, was an oddball scientist. When he first developed his scale, he made freezing 100 degrees and boiling 0 degrees, or upside down. No one dared point this out to him, so fellow scientists waited until Celsius died to change the scale."

And u can even ask for a receit (if that's the way to spell it :P)

You mean recipe or receipt :D

Useless info :
At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father's father-in-law and his own grandpa.

Or this one :
111, 111, 111 X 111, 111, 111 = 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321

Useless info :
At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father's father-in-law and his own grandpa.

Sounds like a story from Arkansas or Mississippi :D

Sounds like a story from Arkansas or Mississippi :D

Yeah ? Wasn't Bill Clinton from Arkansas ? :confused:

Yeah ? Wasn't Bill Clinton from Arkansas ? :confused:

.
.
.
.
:D Yes

What about this :
In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

That's a myth. It's believed golf comes from a Germanic word for club. Apprarently there are 15th Century laws regarding a game called gowf too.

He ?
You're saying that they had volkswagen golf in the 15th century ? :confused:

No, Volkswagen Gowf ;)

Oh yeah, the one designed in France during Louis XIV

Useless info :
At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father's father-in-law and his own grandpa.
And Ronnie Wood's now been in the band longer than Wyman..............just thought I'd mention it

Oh yeah, the one designed in France during Louis XIV
Still looks the same though :D

That's a myth. It's believed golf comes from a Germanic word for club. Apprarently there are 15th Century laws regarding a game called gowf too.
So if it taint a fact, then one has as much chance as the other.
I'll go with RAK's version.
If you have never heard Robin Williams on golf, you should HERE (http://www.manbottle.com/video/Robin_Williams_on_Golf.htm)

So if it taint a fact, then one has as much chance as the other.
Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh....that makes sense.

If you have never heard Robin Williams on golf, you should HERE (http://www.manbottle.com/video/Robin_Williams_on_Golf.htm)


thatspuredeadf###ingbrilliantsoitispal! (said in a robin williams' scottish accent!) :D

And u can even ask for a receit (if that's the way to spell it :P)

Hmmm..does that mean there's a refund policy? Punch cards for 11th free? :rolleyes:

There are precisely 613 seeds in a pomegranite. Exactly the number of mitzvah (commandments) that are performed by the Jewish society in Israel per year...that's a lot! :eek:

Huh? is that for real?

The song "Happy Birthday" brings in about $2 million in licensing revenue to Warner Communications who hold the copyright to the song.
Happy Royalties To You
The best known and perhaps most loved song in the English language, has to be that six note, six word ditty, “Happy Birthday to You”.

It’s been sung everywhere from schoolrooms to palaces. It was Western Union’s first singing telegram in 1933, appeared on Broadway in The Band Wagon in 1931, and the silver screen in As Thousands Cheer. All for “gratis”. But not for long.

The original song was written by Patty Hill, a kindergarten teacher/educator in 1893, as “Good Morning to All”, a greeting for the children in her class. Her sister Mildred Hill, who had started out as a teacher and turned to performing and composing, wrote the music. It then appeared in a songbook for children, and after that, we lose the trail…

Nobody knows at what point, or by who, the lyrics were changed to a birthday greeting. But it appeared as a second stanza to “Good Morning to All” in a 1924 songbook. When it began appearing in commercial ventures such as radio and movies, a third sister, Jessica Hill, went to court to secure the copyright on her sisters’ behalf. (Although Mildred had died in 1916.) By demonstrating the obvious similarities between “Good Morning To All” (for which the Hills owned the copyright), Jessica then obtained the rights to “Happy Birthday”.

Today, it’s estimated that Warner Bros. Communications, which now owns the copyright, earns $2 million dollars annually for broadcast and print rights to the song.

The Hill sisters both died unmarried and childless, and it’s believed the profits are split between the Hill Foundation, and a nephew.

The Hippopotamus cannot swim it walks along the bottom of the lake river. A totally useless fact unless you are a hippo.

Ha.... I thought you were going to say Rich can't make non-hypocritical conversation so he has to stay at the bottom of forum. (And I was prepared to come to his defense... :) )

British Rail was having trouble keeping its InterCity express trains running on time in 1998, but executives solved the problem without a major overhaul of equipment or systems enhancement. They simply redefined "on time". Now trains run on time if they arrive within an hour od schedule.

They should have phased it in over several years, giving an extra 10 minutes here and there, that way they could show improvements over several years while they sat on their duffs, like the major airlines did.... :(

Huh? is that for real?

Yep, it's for real. Why the correspondance, I'm not sure..pomegranates are holy I suppose. :rolleyes: I'll have to ask a rabbi why that is.

See the "Pomegranates and symbolism" section on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomegranate

Yep, it's for real. Why the correspondance, I'm not sure..pomegranates are holy I suppose. :rolleyes: I'll have to ask a rabbi why that is.

See the "Pomegranates and symbolism" section on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomegranate

Er, you are talking about one reputed pomegranate.

The last use of the guillotine in France, at Baumetes Prison, in
Marsailles, was the execution of convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi on September 10, 1977.

The last public execution by guillotine was on June 17, 1939. Eugen Weidman was executed before a large crowd in Versailles, France.

Yeah, the French only ditched the death penalty, if I remember correctly, in the mid-nineties.

Capital punishment in France was abolished in 1981.

The last use of the guillotine in France, at Baumetes Prison, in
Marsailles, was the execution of convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi on September 10, 1977.

The last public execution by guillotine was on June 17, 1939. Eugen Weidman was executed before a large crowd in Versailles, France.

The main reason the public execution were stopped was that someone managed to film the exacution of Eugen Weidman. The resulting uproar stopped all future executions... (The 2nd war breaking out also had a small effect)

Yeah, the French only ditched the death penalty, if I remember correctly, in the mid-nineties.

But was in the same as in the UK where the Death Penalty was only removed from the books (for treason) in the late nineties (as part of the European Human Rights treaty)....

The number of atoms that make up the average human body is 100,000 times the number of stars in the known universe.

How do they count either? :confused:

How do they count either? :confused:
If you really want to know....

They can analyze the light from a star as well as the matter speweing out of it to determine its composition. Then they can estimate its mass based on how its gravity affects other bodies near it in space. Then they divide the mass by the known mass of different atoms in the proportions determined :)

The body is the same way. They take the average mass of a human body and the average compostion of all the molecules in the body to determine the number of atoms.

The numbers are just estimates, of course, since the composition of both stars and bodies changes from moment to moment, but even if the calculations for a star is off by a trillion atoms, that's still only an error of .0000000000000001%.

The numbers are just estimates, of course, .

So it could be off by, say, 3 orders of magnitude?

So it could be off by, say, 3 orders of magnitude?
I really have no idea what the actual variance is.

I just realized I answered the wrong question about stars. Here's a link (http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/07/22/stars.survey/index.html) that explains a bit more detail:
Dr Simon Driver said the number was drawn up based on a survey of one strip of sky, rather than trying to count every individual star.

The team used two of the world's most powerful telescopes, one at the Anglo-Australian Observatory in northern New South Wales state and one in the Canary Islands, to carry out their survey.

Within the strip of sky some 10,000 galaxies were pinpointed and detailed measurements of their brightness taken to calculate how many stars they contained.

That number was then multiplied by the number of similar sized strips needed to cover the entire sky, Driver said, and then multiplied again out to the edge of the visible universe.

I really have no idea what the actual variance is.

I just realized I answered the wrong question about stars. Here's a link (http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/07/22/stars.survey/index.html) that explains a bit more detail:

Yes I would of been very suprised if there were more atoms in a human than in a star... esp as we are made of star dust,,,

Yes I would of been very suprised if there were more atoms in a human than in a star...
I'm sorry if I was unclear...I was saying the number of atoms in the average human body is 100,000 times greater than the number of stars in the known universe, not the number of atoms in a star (which, for an average star, happens to be pretty close to the square of the number of atoms in the average human body).

It breaks down like this:
# of stars in the known universe: 7x10^22
# of atoms in the average human body: 7x10^27
# of atoms in an average-size star: 1x10^57

I'm sorry if I was unclear...I was saying the number of atoms in the average human body is 100,000 times greater than the number of stars in the known universe, not the number of atoms in a star (which, for an average star, happens to be pretty close to the square of the number of atoms in the average human body).

It breaks down like this:
# of stars in the known universe: 7x10^22
# of atoms in the average human body: 7x10^27
# of atoms in an average-size star: 1x10^57



Are you on Drugs?

How in any universe could a star only contain the square of the number of atoms as a human?

A star is usually made of hydrogen compressed to the point of fusion and a human is about a gazillion times smaller.

Are you on Drugs?


Aspirin? :confused:

A star is usually made of hydrogen compressed to the point of fusion and a human is about a gazillion times smaller.

I could name quite a few that mainly consist of hot air :cool: :rolleyes:

Are you on Drugs?
No.

How in any universe could a star only contain the square of the number of atoms as a human?
Because when you're dealing with numbers as huge as counting atoms, squaring them produces unbelieveably huge numbers.

7x10^27^2 = 7x10^54

That's close enough to 1x10^57 for my statement to be acceptably accurate. And to be precise, a star is not a gazillion times bigger than a human, it's approx. 10^30 times bigger, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times bigger. Or you could say if an average person weighs 150 pounds, then an average star weighs about 150 trillion trillion pounds. (*I used pounds to put the example in perspective for an American reader, even though it is not an real measure to use. A measure that determines mass, not weight (such as kilograms), would actually be appropriate.

No.


Because when you're dealing with numbers as huge as counting atoms, squaring them produces unbelieveably huge numbers.

7x10^27^2 = 7x10^54

That's close enough to 1x10^57 for my statement to be acceptably accurate. And to be precise, a star is not a gazillion times bigger than a human, it's approx. 10^30 times bigger, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times bigger. Or you could say if an average person weighs 150 pounds, then an average star weighs about 150 trillion trillion pounds.


I was just in the shower rethinking this. Maybe I’m the one with the drug problem.

Anyway according to your calculations the sun's volume has space for as many humans, as we have for atoms.

Have you run the numbers using a constant like salt water just to see if it is in the same order?

Anyway according to your calculations the sun's volume has space for as many humans, as we have for atoms.
Well, number of atoms is quite different than volume. I'd have to look up the sun's radius to determine that number, but considering the sun's radius is 100 times the Earth's, you're probably pretty close.

Have you run the numbers using a constant like salt water just to see if it is in the same order?
I'm not sure what you mean. (Salt water isn't a very good constant, by the way.)

...I'm off to lunch. Don't be offended if I don't respond for awhile :)

Useless Info: but Usefull info to me: I can't wait to go home and sleep the whole day...:)

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words.
A snail can sleep for 3 years.
The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.
More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.
Cat's urine glows under a black light.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
After the Civil War the U.S. sued Great Britain for damages that were caused by them building ships for the Confederacy :rolleyes:

After the Civil War the U.S. sued Great Britain for damages that were caused by them building ships for the Confederacy :rolleyes:

And the British still can’t resist putting in there 2 cents. hehehe

The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.
I did NOT need to know that. :eek:

An American aircraft in Vietnam shot itself down with one of its own missiles.
In 1647 the English Parliament abolished Christmas.

When George I became King of England in 1714, his wife did not become Queen. He placed her under house arrest for 32 years
The Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas Carols, judging them to be out of keeping with the true spirit of Christmas.
In the 1970's, the Rhode Island Legislature in the US entertained a proposal that there be a $2 tax on every act of sexual intercourse in the State.

A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
A pig's penis is shaped like a corkscrew.
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
Your fingernail has the same ingredients as fly poop
2nd term Presidents in America are known as lame ducks

I did NOT need to know that. :eek:
http://www.artshole.co.uk/arts/artists/Elaine%20Gaffney/Red-Kneed-Tarantula.jpg :D

The rootkit of all evil: As if foisting Mariah Carey on us wasn’t bad enough; Sony BMG Music Entertainment has been caught installing a rootkit -- a tool typically used by malware. If you play a copy-protected Sony CD on your PC, it installs a digital rights management scheme you can neither detect nor remove. After security wonks revealed the rootkit could be used to compromise systems merely by appending the prefix “$sys$” to the name of any rogue program, Sony and software partner First 4 Internet issued a steady stream of denials, along with a patch that removes the rootkit. Everybody in the music biz wants to be a gangsta, but Sony seems to be taking those dreams literally.

It’s only grok ’n’ roll: File-swapping network Grokster has closed its doors and agreed to pay $50 million in damages to the record companies (although, given Grokster’s subzero bank account, the companies may have to accept payment in Monopoly money). So, to recap: Making it possible for consumers to illegally swap music is very bad. Making it possible for hackers to illegally hijack your computer, however, is just an average day in the record business.

The rootkit of all evil: As if foisting Mariah Carey on us wasn’t bad enough; Sony BMG Music Entertainment has been caught installing a rootkit -- a tool typically used by malware. If you play a copy-protected Sony CD on your PC, it installs a digital rights management scheme you can neither detect nor remove. After security wonks revealed the rootkit could be used to compromise systems merely by appending the prefix “$sys$” to the name of any rogue program, Sony and software partner First 4 Internet issued a steady stream of denials, along with a patch that removes the rootkit. Everybody in the music biz wants to be a gangsta, but Sony seems to be taking those dreams literally.

It’s only grok ’n’ roll: File-swapping network Grokster has closed its doors and agreed to pay $50 million in damages to the record companies (although, given Grokster’s subzero bank account, the companies may have to accept payment in Monopoly money). So, to recap: Making it possible for consumers to illegally swap music is very bad. Making it possible for hackers to illegally hijack your computer, however, is just an average day in the record business.

I thought all you Republicans wanted the mega-corps to rule the world.

As to how you count atoms in a human body, it is the same way as you count cows in a field while watching from a train window.

For the cows: Count the teats and divide by four.

For human atoms: Mostly carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, with a little bit of hydrogen tossed it. So count the electrons and divide by about 16.

See? It's easy when you know how!

;)

I did NOT need to know that. :eek:
Put your mind at ease, it's not true.

In a 1993 PC Professional article, columnist Lisa Holst wrote about the ubiquitous lists of "facts" that were circulating via e-mail and how readily they were accepted as truthful by gullible recipients. To demonstrate her point, Holst offered her own made-up list of equally ridiculous "facts," among which was the statistic cited above about the average person's swallowing eight spiders per year, which she took from a collection of common misbeliefs printed in a 1954 book on insect folklore. In a delicious irony, Holst's propagation of this false "fact" has spurred it into becoming one of the most widely-circulated bits of misinformation to be found on the Internet.

Websites that expose untruths on other websites are of course 100% true.

Websites that expose untruths on other websites are of course 100% true.
I find it interesting that humans tend to be more skeptical of someone who says, "That's a load of crap" than of the person who actually made the crap up in the first place.

What does a parent with a big ego do when his kid's shelf pilels up with soccer trophies, Little League trophies, and swim trophies? According to a woman who runs a California trophy making business, the proud dad (proud of himself anyway) orders her to make up some old-looking trophies with his name on them so he can regain household bragging rights.

Stupid Science
The U.S. Space program spent $18 million on the Mariner I to get a close look at the plant Venus. Never made it. A few minutes into it's flight, the unmanned Mariner I crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. What malfunctioned? Nothing. The computer controlling the ship's takeoff did exactly what it was programmed to do. But the programmer had left a minus sign (-) off one of the directions, and that made all the difference.

Yes mistakes are indeed costly. But unfortunately many would use this as an excuse to end the space program.

One of the few remaining, American, pure sciences.

I think more along the lines of appropriate to the Access forums is what a simple programmer error can mean,

Websites that expose untruths on other websites are of course 100% true.

Would this mean that 2 wrongs CAN make a right?

Stupid Science
The U.S. Space program spent $18 million on the Mariner I to get a close look at the plant Venus. Never made it. A few minutes into it's flight, the unmanned Mariner I crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. What malfunctioned? Nothing. The computer controlling the ship's takeoff did exactly what it was programmed to do. But the programmer had left a minus sign (-) off one of the directions, and that made all the difference.

Wasn't there another one where a ground controller sent incorrect directions to a probe. The probe was unable to understand the directions and self-destructed.

lol... I love this thread so far.. it's not that all useless facts

Luckily for us the Europeans didn’t think the cost of crossing the Atlantic 500 years ago was too high.

Luckily for us the Europeans didn’t think the cost of crossing the Atlantic 500 years ago was too high.

True.
The Dutch founded New Amsterdam in 1624 in the New Netherlands province.
After some fight, New Amsterdam was sold to the British for one guilder and was renamed New York in 1674.

When baseball rookie Jim Wynn singled in a 1963 game, Mets first baseman Frank Thomas asked him if he'd mind stepping off the bag for a minute so he could "kick out the dust". Being new to the "bigs", Wynn did as he was asked by a veteran. He was promptly tagged out by Thomas, who had hidden the ball in his glove.

When France conducted nuclear tests in the South Pacific in 1995, the French ambassador to New Zealand tried to calm everyone's concerns by explaining, "They aren't bombs. They are exploding artifacts."

The QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow down typists by putting the most frequently typed letters under control of the weakest left-hand fingers. The nineteenth-century machines weren't mechanically trustworthy enough to keep up with ast typists. Now word processors can go much faster, but the old slow-down keyboard arrangement remains the same because no one wants to learn a new one.

The National Institue on Alcohol Abuse spent a million dollars in the 70's to discover if drunk fish are more aggressive than sober fish. Turns out they are, which is why you never want to go fisiihng after the fish have been drinking heavily.

Don't know if this is fact or fiction (a little to bizaar for fact me thinks), but I did run across it, and it is rather interesting.
Taking a different approach to space flight, the african nation of Zambia decided to send it's own astronauts to the moon by using a catapult. Zambian research scientists trained volunteers for the rigors of space flight by sealing them in an oil drum and rolling them down a hill.

In 2003, a Virginia bank robber set a record for botching the job. He robbed a bank, then left a trail of dropped $100 bills al the way to his car, where he couldn't make a getaway because he locked his keys inside. He tried to break one of the windows, but wasn't strong enough to smash the glass. When he saw people from the bank coming after him, he turned his gun on them, and shot himself in the leg. Finally the cops gave him a break and took him off to jail.

This could easily become the Darwin Awards thread.

Lisa

English politicians are a bit different, which is how Screaming Lord Sutch came to run for Parliament from the Monster Raving Loony Party. His Platform? A campaign promise to improve Britian's climate by towing the entire island into the mediterranean.

Dumb Product Warnings:
Label on a baby stroller. "Remove child before folding."
Makes you wonder why they needed that label huh?

Dumb Product Warnings:
Label on a can of self defense pepper spray: "May irritate eyes."
I certainly hope so!

English politicians are a bit different, which is how Screaming Lord Sutch came to run for Parliament from the Monster Raving Loony Party. His Platform? A campaign promise to improve Britian's climate by towing the entire island into the mediterranean.

Ah, see, now.... I'd definitely move there if they just moved it closer to the equator. Park it off the coast of Florida... I'll be over in a jiff.

Park it off the coast of Florida... I'll be over in a jiff.

it originally came from further south than that, anyway, Florida would be too close for comfort :eek:

Climate - wise, I can't think of a better place than Florida.

Climate - wise, I can't think of a better place than Florida.
Maybe Montreal? Nah!!!!!!

Climate - wise, I can't think of a better place than Florida.
Yes but it's too close to Texas :D

Dumb Product Warnings:
On a cough sirup bottle for children: "Do not drive a vehicule."
On a hair dryer: "Do not use in the shower."
On a pastry: "Can be hot if heated."

English politicians are a bit different, which is how Screaming Lord Sutch came to run for Parliament from the Monster Raving Loony Party. His Platform? A campaign promise to improve Britian's climate by towing the entire island into the mediterranean.
We once had a similar party: The Rhino Party.
Here are their promesses:
Declare war on Belgium because Tintin did kill a rhinoceros in a book
Transform one of Montreal's tunnel into a carwash by making holes in it
Destroy the environment because it takes to much energy to keep it clean
Use bubble gum as the national currency
Reduce the speed of light
Ban winters
Use acid rain as an electrical energy source
Make a gap in the Rockies so that people from Alberta could see the sunset
Move the cities of Montréal closer to Toronto to reduce transport pollution
Get rid of the law of gravity
Tow the Vatican to Quebec to promote tourism
Make English, French and illiteracy the three official languages
Use the British system of driving, but gradually: 1st year only for trucks
Count the islands in Ontario's Thousand Islands area to make sure none were missing
Paint a line in the ocean to show the limits of Canada's coastal sea

omg that's HILARIOUS!
Why isn't politics in America that much fun?

The most hilarious thing is that they got many votes.
A lot of people, bored by all the other parties' false promesses, gave their vote to The Rhino Party to show that they were tired of them all.

In a classroom of 23 people, there is more than a 50% chance that two of those people will share a birthday.

In a classroom of 23 people, there is more than a 50% chance that two of those people will share a birthday.

Can you show some mathematical proof please?

Can you show some mathematical proof please?


Certainly :

1 person in the room = 0% chance of two people having same b-day
2 persons : 364/365 chance they don't match, 1/365 chance they do
3 persons : 364/365 * 363/365 = 99% they don't, 1% they do
.
.
.
23 people: 364/365 * 363/365 * ... * 343/365 = 49.3% they don't share a birthday, 50.7% they do.

Useless fact :

John Scofield is playing an Ibanez AS-200 guitar since 1981.
This AS-200 is not modified whatsoever and John hasn't changed guitars since April 1981.

Music is the most physically inspiring of all the arts

And mathematics are the most mentally inspiring of all the sciences
;)

And mathematics are the most mentally inspiring of all the sciences
;)

Counting was the beginning of mathematics. The art of counting took a long, long time to develop. At first, it was done by scratching tally marks on a wall or painting them on papyrus, a form of paper. Early man could tell how many blond ladies passed by by looking at the tally marks, even if he didn’t have the words for it. :D

In a classroom of 23 people, there is more than a 50% chance that two of those people will share a birthday.
This infuriates me because not only do I not believe this is true, but my skepticism still persists even after I looked it up and saw the math from multiple sources. I know darn well it's true but I just can't believe it.

It makes me want to number little slips of paper 1 through 365 and draw them from a hat in lots of 23 a hundred times and see what the results are.

It's a lot like that crazy, counterintuitive '3 doors on a gameshow' problem.

Please, Kraj, send us your results when done.
Thank you and see you in two weeks.
;)

Air pollution isn't a modern invention. The air in London was already so bad in the year 1306 that burning coal within the city limits was punishable by death.

Perhaps he sang UNCHAINED MELODY the entire time.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/04/D8EU2N6O0.html

An Illinois woman died in 1996 when she was smothered in the trash. But she didn't die in a tragic garbage can accident or down at the dump. The woman was an obsessive collector of trash, piling it up inside her house. One day the trash piles collapsed on top of her.

The mouse house:

http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/news/5972914/detail.html


...

The poor guy had no insurance on his house. I guess now that he'll barely squeak by. :D :rolleyes:

On Dec 27th, 1933, America’s first ‘Blue Cross Baby’ was born in Durham, North Carolina. The entire cost of her deliver and her month’s 10 day hosp say totaled $60.

In 1993 a guard at a TV station in Tulsa, OK helped a woman whose car wouldn't start by lettiing her in to use the phone. Once inside she pulled a gun on the guy and forced him to let in an accomplice to rob the place. Turns out how ever that it was a test dreamed up by the boss to see how employees would react.

The highest point in the Netherlands is in the municipality
of Vaals, also known as the “Drielanden punt”. ( This is were
the borders of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany touch)
The actual height at that point is 322,20 meters above sea level.

The tallest land-based structure in the world is the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota. It measures at 629 m (2,063 ft).

Does that mean that there's a taller something-or-other at sea?

The tallest land-based structure in the world is the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota. It measures at 629 m (2,063 ft).

It's only a little taller. The Houston area has dozens that are 2000 ft tall.

In 1993 a guard at a TV station in Tulsa, OK helped a woman whose car wouldn't start by lettiing her in to use the phone. Once inside she pulled a gun on the guy and forced him to let in an accomplice to rob the place. Turns out how ever that it was a test dreamed up by the boss to see how employees would react.

Is the boss in prison?

Does that mean that there's a taller something-or-other at sea?
Yes, oil drilling platforms extend from the ocean floor and break the surface. The Mars Tension-leg Platform in the Gulf of Mexico is 990.6 m (3,250 ft) tall.

Okay, that'll count as my 'learn something new' for today :)

So, is that height measured from the sea floor or from sea level?

Why do the numbers on a (UK) telephone go in the sequence 1234567890 (top left to right) and on a calculator go the opposite way 9876543210 (top right to left)?:confused:

Col

From the sea floor.

Why do the numbers on a (UK) telephone go in the sequence 1234567890 (top left to right) and on a calculator go the opposite way 9876543210 (top right to left)?:confused:

Col

Kinda like the password on my bank's vru. I got used to the tele set up then when I had to use it on the computer keypad, it was bass-ackwards... :rolleyes:

Kinda like the password on my bank's vru. I got used to the tele set up then when I had to use it on the computer keypad, it was bass-ackwards... :rolleyes:

There must be a reason somewhere surely

Col

There must be a reason somewhere surely

Col
The telephone ordering probably comes from the western method of reading left to right, top to bottom. Why calculators are left to right, bottom to top, I can't say. My best guess is it has something to do with accounting, but it's a difficult topic to search on without getting flooded with commercial websites. :(

Which came first, the calc or tele pad? Does it have something to do evolution? They are both human tools...

The telephone ordering probably comes from the western method of reading left to right, top to bottom. Why calculators are left to right, bottom to top, I can't say. My best guess is it has something to do with accounting, but it's a difficult topic to search on without getting flooded with commercial websites. :(
Thanks Kraj, I tried searching google but gave up:rolleyes:

Maybe that can be a project for someone to find out why it is.

Col

Why do the numbers on a (UK) telephone go in the sequence 1234567890 (top left to right) and on a calculator go the opposite way 9876543210 (top right to left)?:confused:

Col

http://www.vcalc.net/Keyboard.htm

Go Matt! I'm humbled by your powers :)

http://www.vcalc.net/Keyboard.htm
Thanks Matt, I like the alphabet reason myself, that sounds logical to me.

Col

I like the alphabet reason myself, that sounds logical to me.

Col

Ther's always going to be part of me that thinks there was no reason for it, beyond somebody somewhere wanting to start arguments ;) .

Ok. I just noticed the numbers on our microwave keypad were in tele style. Go figure!?!

Ok. I just noticed the numbers on our microwave keypad were in tele style. Go figure!?!
Built in phone?

Col

When I worked for the phone company, the keypad on the CRT I would program the lines on with had the key pad as the telephone. I was VERY fast on that one ( i think it is called an inverted keypad) Anyways, when I went to another job for data entry, I had to reteach myself how to use a regular key pad. It was hades at first, but I am back up to speed again.

Built in phone?

Col


Hummm...

Anyway, thanks to this thread, I'll end up making special notice of all keypads... Like there's not enough to contemplate...
:rolleyes:

One odd key worthy of note on your keyboard include the SysRq key (sometimes appearing as SysReq), which shares the same key as the “Print Screen” key. (Historical sidelight – SysRq was the “84th key” added when the 83-key PC/XT keyboard became the 84-key AT keyboard.) Unless programmed by a particular application, the SysRq key does nothing in most operating systems, including DOS, Windows, and OS/2. The SysRq key has different "hooks" into the system BIOS (basic input/output system, the interface between the software and the low-level functions of the computer) from the other keys on the keyboard. IBM evidently included this key to facilitate task switching in future operating systems – that is, to allow either switching from one task to another (as on a mainframe computer), or interrupting all tasks and returning control to the keyboard. Advanced MS-DOS Programming, second edition, Microsoft Press, states:

A multitasking program manager would be expected to capture INT 15H so that it can be notified when the user strikes the SysReq key.

In layman's terms that means, "You can make a multitasking program manager monitor a specific location in your computer's hardware so it can do something cool, such as letting the user switch tasks, when the SysReq key is pressed." As it turned out, the developers of Windows didn't use SysReq when implementing task switching. Some new keyboards no longer feature this key, and its days seem numbered.

mimic this:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/17/uk.parrot/index.html

Technology marches on... I hope he shares this technology and doesn't hog it for himself.:D ;)

http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/technology/6178121/detail.html

[Kid friendly Industries]
In 1833, England passed a child protection law making it illegal for factory owners to force their nine year old emlpoyees to work longer than nine hours a day.

In 1842, England passed a law that prohibited coal companies from hiring miners under the age of ten. Prior to that kids as young as three worked inside the coal mines because they could crawl through passages too tight for older child miners.

They were forced to work as machine operators even though they were young children, orphans most of them. They had to sleep three in a bed on straw that was only changed once a month, wearing clothes that were washed only twice a month. For this, the kids said, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"
These working conditions were considered as good as they got back in the 1800s when Scottish textile manufacturer and social reformer Robert Owen instituted such kid friendly changes at his mill.
Owen was considered a hero by the orphans. If he hadn't put them to work in his factory, the kids faced an even bleaker life of crime, starvation, or drudgery in other industries not so enlightened.

[Kid friendly Industries]
They were forced to work as machine operators even though they were young children,
The same is happening today in India and many far east countries.

Col

Useless:

The Hiatan police is the best in the world.
Yesterday they cought two thieves in one day.
That's an average of 39,4% of the total population and the highest arresting rate in the world.

Dumb things

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/101dumbest/

When movie star Robert Taylor was under contract to MGM, he asked studio boss Louis B. Mayer for a raise.
Instead of giving him more money, Mayer said, "If God had given me a son, I would want him to be exactly like you. It hurts me deeply that you've asked for more money at a time like this."
When a friend asked Taylor if he'd gotten his raise, the actor said, "No, but I got a father."

More useless facts :

Danish biochemist Sören Sörensen introduced the concept of pH as a measure of acidity in 1909.

Leonardo da Vinci sketched out the basics of the mechanics of a continuously variable transmission in 1490, which allows power to be distributed between various rods and makes for fuel efficiency gains in cars.

More useless facts :

Danish biochemist Sören Sörensen introduced the concept of pH as a measure of acidity in 1909.

Leonardo da Vinci sketched out the basics of the mechanics of a continuously variable transmission in 1490, which allows power to be distributed between various rods and makes for fuel efficiency gains in cars.

That's cool, I would have thought the PH thing was older than that.

Yes... these Danish.
They also "invented' Strædet mellem Amerika og Asien, known as the Bering street. Water between Russia ( Siberia) and Alaska.

By the way : Amsterdam is NOT the capitol of Denmark, as a lot of Americanas think. :rolleyes:

Executives in Amercan corporations were asked to complete a survey to test their pop culture awareness. Nearly half of them thought Fiona Apple was a new computer modle.
The same question was asked of sixth-grade students, and 90% of them knew she was a pop singer.

Executives in Amercan corporations were asked to complete a survey to test their pop culture awareness. Nearly half of them thought Fiona Apple was a new computer modle.
The same question was asked of sixth-grade students, and 90% of them knew she was a pop singer.

Didn't have a clue myself.

Yes... these Danish.
They also "invented' Strædet mellem Amerika og Asien, known as the Bering street. Water between Russia ( Siberia) and Alaska.

By the way : Amsterdam is NOT the capitol of Denmark, as a lot of Americanas think. :rolleyes:

What is?

By the way, Austin is the capital of Texas.

By the way : Amsterdam is NOT the capitol of Denmark, as a lot of Americanas think. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't worry about it, most of them don't know where Denmark or Holland is ;)

What is?



København


By the way, Austin is the capital of Texas.

Oh..... what about Caldwell, the Kolache Capital of Texas.

I wouldn't worry about it, most of them don't know where Denmark or Holland is ;)

East of Eden , I presume ? ;)

Writer and artist Gelett Burgess invented the Nonsense Machine, designed to do absolutely nothing but with 100% efficiency.

East of Eden , I presume ? ;)
Of course :D

Sometimes I just don't get out of bed at all.

U F :

Ry Cooder's 'Bop till you drop' was the first digitally recorded album on earth.
At the same time, it was Cooder's first album working together with David Lindley.

Writer and artist Gelett Burgess invented the Nonsense Machine, designed to do absolutely nothing but with 100% efficiency.

I used to work with a guy who could reproduce that manually.
Well, maybe to around 80% (allowing for 'sick' days).:D

Before he became a movie star, comic W.C. Fields toured the country in vaudeville. To make sure he didn't lose the money he made on the road, Fields opened small bank accounts in the towns he played.
Eventually he had 700 of these small accounts, but forgot where they were losing over $1 million (which was a hefty sum at that time) because he could not remember where he put it.

The most powerful diesel engine ever build is the Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine. This engine , a 14 cylinder version, was designed primarily for very large container ships. The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". This machine produces 108,920 Hp at 102 RPM and consumes some 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.

Before he became a movie star, comic W.C. Fields toured the country in vaudeville. To make sure he didn't lose the money he made on the road, Fields opened small bank accounts in the towns he played.
Eventually he had 700 of these small accounts, but forgot where they were losing over $1 million (which was a hefty sum at that time) because he could not remember where he put it.
hiccup .

The country with the lowest birthrate in the world is Vatican City.

In the era between World War I and World War II, countries were awarded the Olympic Games, not cities. The same country hosted both the summer and winter Games.

They decided the downhill in Holland would be a bit of a non event?

http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=2&OLGY=1928

Money Management
During the 1500's the Spanish conquistadors looted South America, stealing millions of dollars worth of gold from the Incas and shipping it back to Spain.

Despite one of the largest thefts in history, Spain was so badly managed by its king and ruling class that the country actually lost money on the deal. They spent so excessively, investing so foolishly, that Spain came out of this gold rush poorer than it went in.

During the 1930's the National Hockey League was looking for a new president. One of the candidates wish to make the following changes in order to make the game more popular in the US:
- to increase scoring reduce the size of the puck and paint it white
- instead of assessing a major penalty, the referee would take the player aside for a moment and try to reform him
- when a major or misconduct penalty was assessed with an automatic fine, the players would be encourage to carry cash in their uniforms so they could pay the fine on the spot.

Oddly enough, he didn't get the job

Paul:
Check out the winner of the gold medal in ice hockey at the 1936 winter olympics in Garmish.
There's quite a story behind that suprizing result.

The most surprising bit is that two were British!!!

In the 1970's, the Rhode Island Legislature in the US entertained a proposal that there be a $2 tax on every act of sexual intercourse in the State.



Where do I apply for the meter readers job?

Finland is NOT a Scandanavian country because the Finnish language is Slavic in origin instead of Germanic.

Finland is NOT a Scandanavian country because the Finnish language is Slavic in origin instead of Germanic.


Correction :
Finnish belongs to the Baltic-Finnic group of the Finno-Ugrian or Uralic language family, which is not part of the Slavic language group.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_languages ;)

I stand corrected.

I stand corrected.

Don't bother, they're useless facts after all ;)

Inventor Walter Hunt designed the first safety pin in 1849. Could have made millions off what became a common household aid. But he was $15 in debt at the time, needed cash, and sold the rights to the safety pin for $400.

I had my tonsils taken out in 1957. Two days stay in hospital, meals, operating room, doctor charges - total bill $44.00. I was supposed to stay another day, but my father couldn't afford another meal and overnight stay.

I had my tonsils taken out in 1957. Two days stay in hospital, meals, operating room, doctor charges - total bill $44.00. I was supposed to stay another day, but my father couldn't afford another meal and overnight stay.
I had mine taken out a 7yrs old, I stayed in for a week, my parents didn't have to pay anything :cool:

I had mine taken out a 7yrs old, I stayed in for a week, my parents didn't have to pay anything :cool:

Methinks there is more to your end of it than mine. :D

Jon Peters was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and ran Columbia Studios. All business he had his driver phone aheadeach morning to the studio so a guard could open the front door as his limo pulled up. A second employee had an even more important job, to push the button on Peter's private elevator.

Jon Peters was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and ran Columbia Studios. All business he had his driver phone aheadeach morning to the studio so a guard could open the front door as his limo pulled up. A second employee had an even more important job, to push the button on Peter's private elevator.

The late Harold Ballard who owned the Toronto Maple Leafs had to do an 8 month stretch in a "Club Med" prison for fraud. While he was gone, his limo continued to receive its daily wash and wax, his personal box at the Gardens continued to be cleaned (even though no one was using it) and all of his other perqs continues as though he was still there.
The difference between the Captains of Industry and the rest of us plebians is not just the size of their paycheques, its also the size of their egos.

Under a 1962 law, in Georgia children of any age can get married if the bride to be is pregnant.

The Haarlemmermeer was originally an immense lake in the North west of the Netherlands . On 5 May 1840 the first shovel was put in the ground to build an approx 60 kilometres long dike around the lake. Thousands of workers have worked with shovel and wheelbarrow for this immense venture. Eight years later the ring dike could be closed. The steam driven pumps Leeghwater, and the Cruquius were commisioned to empty the lake’s waterlevel. In 1852 on July 12, the Haarlemmermeer was announced to be empty and completely dry. As of that date numerous cities were build there, some of which are still a couple of meters below sea level.

Ah, the New Orleans of the Netherlands. Better be glad they don't get Hurricanes there;)

Alfred du Pont scandalized his wealthy family by marrying his second cousin in 1907. Miffed by their criticism, he built a nine foot wall around his 300 acre estate in Delaware so he could "keep out intruders", he explained, "mainly of the name du Pont".

Ah, the New Orleans of the Netherlands. Better be glad they don't get Hurricanes there;)

Yah, the only difference is that we do not have a Bourbon or Canal Street there and..... hurricanes is an unknown phenomenon here. :cool:

Yah, the only difference is that we do not have a Bourbon or Canal Street there and..... hurricanes is an unknown phenomenon here. :cool:
Well we've had them here and you're not that far away ;)

A hurricane originates from a tropic depression, which will never hit the netherlands. We call it "storm" , windforce 12 ( beaufort) or above .
The only real hurricane in Europe was supposed to be Debby (1961) , who hit the coast of Ireland. ;)

Strictly speaking hurricanes do not occur over the British Isles. However, we are sometimes affected by deep depressions that are the remnants of hurricanes. The most widely publicised such depression occurred on 16th October 1987.

We are sometimes affected by deep depressions that are the remnants of hurricanes. The most widely publicised such depression occurred on 16th October 1987.
I think the depressing part was that the temp. actully went up high enough that they had their first good taste of warm beer!
Celebration occured all over the UK the next day when their temps. dropped back down to normal and all the "room temp" beer was cold once again.
:)

The basilisk lizard is the only animal who can walk on water. As a consequence they are sometimes referred to as Christ Lizard or Jezus Lizard. They run over water on their limbs and can reach some 105 km /hour for a couple of seconds. During these seconds they are able to “walk” some 5 meters over water.
They move their feet in three phases, first move foot vertically backward, second move
horizontally backward and third move lift foot and start next step. If done at high speed , the lizard sort of propels himself forward.

I think the depressing part was that the temp. actully went up high enough that they had their first good taste of warm beer!
Celebration occured all over the UK the next day when their temps. dropped back down to normal and all the "room temp" beer was cold once again.
:)

we don't need to disguise the flavour by freezing the taste buds :cool: :p

we don't need to disguise the flavour by freezing the taste buds :cool: :p

No , that's why you're busy with this :

A parliamentary liaison officer at the Campaign for Real Ale is campaigning to reduce the amount of foam on beer sold in British pubs to 5% or less.
He says that British beer drinkers paid more the $400 million for froth alone in 1998. :cool:

Bodybuilder, film star, and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, "Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million, but I was just as happy when I had $48 million."

Hondas and Toyotas are the most frequently stolen passenger cars because they have parts that can be readily exchanged between model years without a problem. :confused:

Actually, the most common stolen cars in North America are pre-1999 Chrysler mini vans.
Due to design flaws, a three year old could steal one.
The flaws were fixed in 1999 and later versions.

Henry Flagler, one of Florida's richest land developers, had neither a bell or a knocker on the front door of his Palm Beach estate. Instead, he employed two uniformed doormen to stand outside the house and save visitors the discomfort of ringing a bell.

I am currently drinking a cup of tea.

I am currently drinking a cup of tea.
I've just had a fag and finished my tea. Its 11am.

Just found out I have to learn the bass for "Man of Mystery" and "The Savage" (by The Shadows) by saturday night for a gig.;)

Col

George Bush is the president of the United States

My arse has a width 47 cm when I'm sat down, and 35 cm when I'm stood up.

My arse has a width 47 cm when I'm sat down, and 35 cm when I'm stood up.
thanks for sharing that with us Paul:rolleyes:

My bike does 64 MPG

Col

My bike does 64 MPG

Col
Mine does appr. 120mph

Mine does appr. 120mph

Mine does about 25 mph when I'm going downhill and if I turn the pedals real fast.

In 1822, Norwegian traders made the first shipment of blocks of ice to England to meet the increasing demand for ice. But British custom officials refused to allow the ship to unload because they didn't know how to classify the ice for import taxes. By the time officials figured out and ruled the ice was a form of dry goods, it wasn't. All the ice on the ship had melted into water.

When El Salvadoran priests tried to help the nationa's numerous poor, many of the wealthy countryman responded by leaving the Catholic Church. They formed a new church that preached God was on the side of the rich, which is why He punshied poor people by making them poor. Or, as Jesus said: love thy neighbor as thyself as long as he's in the same country club as you are.

The number of stops an elevator makes on the way down to the ground floor is in direct relation to how late you are.

Yep it was the horse drawn version an optional extra was a pooper scooper

Sylvester Graham was a 19th century health faddist who developed graham flour and the graham cracker to improve the American diet. But Graham's own diet became so restrictive that his health rapidly collapsed. He died at 57 from trying too hard to be healthy.

In Salzburg Austria at the St. Augustine monestary, monks have a full scale brewery. They sell the beer on the premises in Salzburg's largest beer garden.

The only vertically integrated brewery in the Catholic Church.

The only vertically integrated brewery in the Catholic Church.

Vertically ?
Is there a difference between vertically and horizontally integrated breweries ?
And what about the old Romans ? They drank their own brewed stuff with tin cups, lying on their beds. Wouldn't that qualify as horizontal intergration ? ;)

Its not raining today

Col

I'm utterly bored today and I just broke another b string of my guitar.

I'm utterly bored today and I just broke another b string of my guitar.
I broke the b string of my Strat the other day.

Col

I broke the b string of my Strat the other day.

Col

There's the first line of a new tune :D

Odd how both Europeans used the description "of my..." whilst an American guitar player would have used "on my..."

Darn.. I just broke another e string on my ukelile

There's the first line of a new tune :D

I broke the b string of my Strat the other day...
and wondered why my Hagstrom faded away..

Snappy little ditties danc'n in my head,
While doct'r strat just lay there dead...

Odd how both Europeans used the description "of my..." whilst an American guitar player would have used "on my..."
well I was close:rolleyes: a Strat is an American guitar:D

Col

even more odd...he breaks the strings "of" his guitar and "on" his uke...

I went to a very bag gig last Saturday. There was a terrible tinny indie pop band called the fast emperors. Needless to say the C string broke. Though to be honest it didn't make much difference they were so bad, possibly they were a bit better.

Snappy little ditties danc'n in my head,
While doct'r strat just lay there dead...


The stray cats were a weird but melodic band
wonder where my hag was goin' to land ....

I broke the dental floss while cleaning my teeth last night.

Sorry, I'm not musical.

Vertically ?
Is there a difference between vertically and horizontally integrated breweries ?
And what about the old Romans ? They drank their own brewed stuff with tin cups, lying on their beds. Wouldn't that qualify as horizontal intergration ? ;)

"Vertical Integration" is a business term referring to owning all aspects of a business. The manufacture, dstribution and sales networks (but I'm sure you already knew that).

Kind of like the Dallas Cowboys who own the team, the trademarks, the stadium they play in and the ticket distribution. As soon as they get their own satalite in orbit, they'll have their own TV Network as well.

By the way, it's very good beer.

I broke the dental floss while cleaning my teeth last night.

Sorry, I'm not musical.

Well you are, because that's a pretty good line to be added to the blues in Gm as constructed in this post.
Something like :

I broke the dental floss while cleaning my teeth last night...
and took another VI Beer while the Dallas cowboys were at fight ..... :D

continued.....

I was so mad there was red it my sight
So I sat right down and had another pint.

(2+2)<>Ring-tailed lemur

Health offcials in the 1950's urged parents to use wallpaper coated with DDT in their baby's nursery to get rid of flies that carried diseases.
One officially unanticipated side effect: The DDT wallpaper made more kids sick than the flies did.

English scientist Frederick Lanchester was an aeronautical pioneer who established the principles of flight in the 1890s, before the Wright Brothers came to the same conclusions.
When Lanchester presented his original ideas to the English scientific societies, he was rejected. The other scientists thought his curious notions would never lead to successful flight.
The "experts" were so convincing (you know how intelligent that English accent sounds) that Lanchester gave up his flying pursuits and moved on to other studies, none of which led to anything as amazing as the airplane.

English scientist Frederick Lanchester was an aeronautical pioneer who established the principles of flight in the 1890s, before the Wright Brothers came to the same conclusions.
When Lanchester presented his original ideas to the English scientific societies, he was rejected. The other scientists thought his curious notions would never lead to successful flight.
The "experts" were so convincing (you know how intelligent that English accent sounds) that Lanchester gave up his flying pursuits and moved on to other studies, none of which led to anything as amazing as the airplane.

Too bad he wasn't from Ohio.

In the 18th centuary an English person who took a bath was considered eccentric. The English writer Samuel Pepys was suprised when he learned that his wife had taken bath - once in her life. But he was shocked when she announced that she intended at some point to take another.

a certain foul word was "allegedly" derived from the crime of adultery. when people where placed in stocks for their crimes in ye olde days their crime was carved into the wood above their head. What they called adultery then was too long so instead of "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" they shortened it to its acronym. :)

In 1933, an art history textbook with photos of Michelangelo's Sistine Chaple painting "The Last Judgment" was impounded by U.S. Cutoms officials for containing "lewd pictures"

Italian art lovers who attended the unvailing of Michelangelo's statue of "David" were shocked by the statue's nudity. They threw stones at what was later recognized as a masterpiece.

In Germany in 1853, a statue of "Venus de milo" was arrested and tried for public nudity. The artist being unknown and dead for several centuries, the statue itself was convicted.

During Prohibition in the US, America hosted the Summer and Winter Olympics (Lake Placid and Los Angeles 1932). European athletes who cosidered moderate amounts of alcohol to be an essential part of training were so upset that they couldn't drink they threatened to boycott the Games. The Bureau of Prohibition made a special order permitting it for health reasons. The order did not include American athletes.

18th Century astronomers the Herschels' were brother and sister. They made their own telescopes, but didn't have much money. They would use molds made from horse dung to craft their mirrors. They actually made the worlds best telescops this way for the time.
Using one of their poop scopes, the discovered a planet twice as far away from the sun as the planet next in line, Saturn. The Herschels rewarded school kids with endless giggles by naming the planet Uranus in honor of the Roman god who was the father of Saturn.
But Uranus wasn't their first choice. They wanted to name it George, in honor of King of england, George III. But who ever heard of a planet named George?

18th Century astronomers the Herschels' were brother and sister. They made their own telescopes, but didn't have much money. They would use molds made from horse dung to craft their mirrors. They actually made the worlds best telescops this way for the time.
Using one of their poop scopes, the discovered a planet twice as far away from the sun as the planet next in line, Saturn. The Herschels rewarded school kids with endless giggles by naming the planet Uranus in honor of the Roman god who was the father of Saturn.
But Uranus wasn't their first choice. They wanted to name it George, in honor of King of england, George III. But who ever heard of a planet named George?

Being that hind sight is 20/20, I think George would have been better than Uranus. Uranus isn't taken very seriously. :D

18th Century astronomers the Herschels' were brother and sister. They made their own telescopes, but didn't have much money. They would use molds made from horse dung to craft their mirrors. They actually made the worlds best telescops this way for the time.
Using one of their poop scopes, the discovered a planet twice as far away from the sun as the planet next in line, Saturn. The Herschels rewarded school kids with endless giggles by naming the planet Uranus in honor of the Roman god who was the father of Saturn.
But Uranus wasn't their first choice. They wanted to name it George, in honor of King of england, George III. But who ever heard of a planet named George?

The pressing question in astrophysics is:
Is it pronounced Ur - anis
Or Urin-us

More toilet humour follows.

Most goals scored in a World Cup qualifier: Australia 31-0 American Samoa, 2002 qualification.

Most goals scored, player, tournament: Just Fontaine (France), 13, 1958

Most goals scored, player, match: Oleg Salenko, 5, Russia vs Cameroon, 1994.

Most Americans to watch a World Cup Final

27

2006

It's a lot like that crazy, counterintuitive '3 doors on a gameshow' problem.

Umm...What is that?

Most Americans to watch a World Cup Final

27

2006

Most Americans to watch it for reasons other than because they were trying to be trendy:

0

2006

Most Americans to watch a World Cup Final

27

2006
Number of Americans who think the World Cup Finals only have USA teams.

100,000,000 (the rest have never heard of it, nor ever heard of Germany)

2006

Col

Number of Americans who think the World Cup Finals only have USA teams.

100,000,000 (the rest have never heard of it, nor ever heard of Germany)

2006

Col


Nah Col think you are a bit out there in you estimate

100,000,000 ...there's not that may of them Is there ?.

Just seems like it eh :D :D :D

Len

Number of Americans that would have watched had we known we'd get to see the next closest thing to a French Military Action:eek: :

200,000,000:D

Number of Americans that would have watched had we known we'd get to see the next closest thing to a French Military Action:eek: :

200,000,000:D


Stone me if thats not opening the door and inviting comments about war mongering I do not know what is

Okay Rich/Col just start with a small broadside otherwise they'l get a bit techy....again

:D :D :D
L

Number of Americans that would have watched had we known we'd get to see the next closest thing to a French Military Action:eek: :

200,000,000:D
Just tell them to read the real history of WW1, not the American version:rolleyes:

Number of Americans that would have watched had we known we'd get to see the next closest thing to a French Military Action:eek: :

200,000,000:D


French - Military - Action.

Classic example of an oxymoron.

At this very moment there is a kind of heat wave ongoing on the majority of European countries.
Today's record in the center of the Netherlands is an unbelievable 37.8 Degrees Celcius. :eek:

What the heck am I doing in this office anyway !!

At this very moment there is a kind of heat wave ongoing on the majority of European countries.
Today's record in the center of the Netherlands is an unbelievable 37.8 Degrees Celcius. :eek:

What the heck am I doing in this office anyway !!

Would you rather be outside? :eek:

We're going through something like that here. The high yesterday (and forecasted for today through Friday) was a whopping 104, or 40 degrees Celsius. On Saturday we're going to have a "cold front" come through that will lower our temps to about 32.78 Celsius. :rolleyes: We go through this every July and August here though. We'll have several days where we reach in excess of 100 (37.78 Celsius). It's the worst time to live here. :mad:

I guess that's my useless fact. July and August are the worst months to live in Oklahoma.

Would you rather be outside? :eek:

We're going through something like that here. The high yesterday (and forecasted for today through Friday) was a whopping 104, or 40 degrees Celsius. On Saturday we're going to have a "cold front" come through that will lower our temps to about 32.78 Celsius. :rolleyes: We go through this every July and August here though. We'll have several days where we reach in excess of 100 (37.78 Celsius). It's the worst time to live here. :mad:

I guess that's my useless fact. July and August are the worst months to live in Oklahoma.

I'm from Oklahoma originally, and I always tell people we only have 3 seasons here. Summer, winter and August.

Would you rather be outside?

Yes, certainly. I love those high temperatures, since we do not have that many here in Holland. And while this sort of heatwave is ongoing I should be
somewhere close to a huge swimming pool with a good cold glass of champagne rather than sitting in an office where the AC hardly works. :(

I'm from Oklahoma originally, and I always tell people we only have 3 seasons here. Summer, winter and August.

I was waiting for FOFA to tell us what the temp hi/lows might be in Texas, but since you're in Texas as well , you might give us an insight ?

Yes, certainly. I love those high temperatures, since we do not have that many here in Holland. And while this sort of heatwave is ongoing I should be
somewhere close to a huge swimming pool with a good cold glass of champagne rather than sitting in an office where the AC hardly works. :(



I was waiting for FOFA to tell us what the temp hi/lows might be in Texas, but since you're in Texas as well , you might give us an insight ?

Hey rak,

I'm in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex and the day before yesterday it was 107 F and yesterday it was 106 F. This is also mixed with humidity so the heat index was over 110 degrees. We are however suppose to have a cool front coming it and the temps are suppose to drop to 102 to 104.:D

While we're on the weather here, when we drove cross country a few years ago, I was driving through Las Vegas in the middle of August, and the temperature was registering at 118 F. But it was a dry heat........;)

Lisa

While we're on the weather here, when we drove cross country a few years ago, I was driving through Las Vegas in the middle of August, and the temperature was registering at 118 F. But it was a dry heat........;)

Lisa

I had heard about dry heat most of my life and experienced it, for myself, a few years back in Phoenix. We played golf when it was 116. Being raised in the southwest all my life I believe there is something to the dry heat thing. The sun was hot in Phoenix and doing something like, opening a car door and touching the metal, would set you free, but it did have a much different feel to it, than when you mix humidity in. When the temps here get as high as they are now. and you mix that humidity in, you have a hard time even breathing. You can feel heat going into your lungs. I really feel for the folks who make their living outdoors.

I'm from Oklahoma originally, and I always tell people we only have 3 seasons here. Summer, winter and August.
on that note: New England also has three seasons:fall, winter, and July 4th. (and as Mark Twain put it, "If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a minute."):eek:

But it was a dry heat I've been to Pheonix as well, but from my point of view it's the difference between being broiled or roasted...hot is hot. :(

I had heard about dry heat most of my life and experienced it, for myself, a few years back in Phoenix. We played golf when it was 116. Being raised in the southwest all my life I believe there is something to the dry heat thing. The sun was hot in Phoenix and doing something like, opening a car door and touching the metal, would set you free, but it did have a much different feel to it, than when you mix humidity in. When the temps here get as high as they are now. and you mix that humidity in, you have a hard time even breathing. You can feel heat going into your lungs. I really feel for the folks who make their living outdoors.

You are correct - in fact, we stopped at a gas station during that drive, and when I stepped out of the car, it was hot, but certainly dealable. The mistake I made was touching a black part of the car. Holy crap!!

I live in a high humidity area. Doesn't get into the hundreds, but definitely into the 90s, especially this week. If you don't have air conditioning, which I don't, you just sit around and sweat all night...

Lisa

And while this sort of heatwave is ongoing I should be
somewhere close to a huge swimming pool with a good cold glass of champagne


007 I presume ...:p

You are correct - in fact, we stopped at a gas station during that drive, and when I stepped out of the car, it was hot, but certainly dealable. The mistake I made was touching a black part of the car. Holy crap!!

Thanks for the laugh, Lisa. I cracked up on this one.

I live in a high humidity area. Doesn't get into the hundreds, but definitely into the 90s, especially this week. If you don't have air conditioning, which I don't, you just sit around and sweat all night...

Lisa

I don't know how you do it. I would not be able to sleep. I can not sleep if it's hot in the house. Now I feel for you too!

I've been to Pheonix as well, but from my point of view it's the difference between being broiled or roasted...hot is hot. :(

I love the way this one is put. I'll have to add that one to my collection of one liners.:)

007 I presume ...:p

You're right , I should have referred to Dom Perignon 1972