I bet you didn't know that this thread would have a part 2

Mollyb60

Beauforts Dyke is a trench between Northern Ireland and Scotland where the British Army dumped all their unused explosives after the wars. It's a huge problem which you would think would put a stop to nonsense chat about a bridge or tunnel to join NI and Scotland. Who wants to be in a train passing through or over that?

secondrowgal

Been listening to “Something rhymes with purple” podcast. Apparently “bumpf” is a short version of “bum fodder”, which is useless printed information used as bog roll!

Capt'n Midnight

Mollyb60 wrote: »

Beauforts Dyke is a trench between Northern Ireland and Scotland where the British Army dumped all their unused explosives after the wars. It's a huge problem which you would think would put a stop to nonsense chat about a bridge or tunnel to join NI and Scotland. Who wants to be in a train passing through or over that?

https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/1995/11/10160509/bridge_150220web.jpg?width=778

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Fig. 2. Position of explosions recorded in Beauforts Dyke.

More discussion on the issues - like different rail gauges or the lack of a suitable railway on the UK site. High speed rail would mean laying new dual track over a distance of Dublin to Belfast.

Capt'n Midnight

The very first sensor to be used by the European Space Agency’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence is being manufactured in Ireland.

Capt'n Midnight

The Mars rover's nuclear generator provides the same amount of power that car headlights use.

retalivity

The 'wind phone' is a disconnected phone in an old-fashioned phone box , set up by a Japanese artist at the bottom of his garden to help him 'talk' to his dead cousin. He used it as a space to meditate and talk to the deceased relative, and used it to help him grieve. After the 2011 tsunami and earthquake which hit the same region, the wind phone was opened to the public and was used by tens of thousands of people to 'talk' to relatives they lost in the tragedy.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-48559139



An art group put one up in the dublin mountains in 2017 - it was destroyed within 2 weeks.

Wibbs

retalivity wrote: »

An art group put one up in the dublin mountains in 2017 - it was destroyed within 2 weeks.

Why am I not surprised by that.

mikhail

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

The Mars rover's nuclear generator provides the same amount of power that car headlights use.

The nuclear tech they use in space exploration isn't like a nuclear power plant. It's a lump of radioactive material that makes just enough heat to provide a trickle of power for decades.

On a similar point, I think the Voyager probes operate with something like 20W of power, so they're able to phone home from light-hours away with around the same power as the energy-saver bulb in your table lamp.

Skylinehead

mikhail wrote: »

The nuclear tech they use in space exploration isn't like a nuclear power plant. It's a lump of radioactive material that makes just enough heat to provide a trickle of power for decades.

On a similar point, I think the Voyager probes operate with something like 20W of power, so they're able to phone home from light-hours away with around the same power as the energy-saver bulb in your table lamp.

400W on the Voyagers. They're not expected to run out of plutonium until 2167, but they'll drop out of contact long before then.

BonnieSituation

Mollyb60 wrote: »

Beauforts Dyke is a trench between Northern Ireland and Scotland where the British Army dumped all their unused explosives after the wars. It's a huge problem which you would think would put a stop to nonsense chat about a bridge or tunnel to join NI and Scotland. Who wants to be in a train passing through or over that?

You'd know those proposals could only be suggested by people who have never been to the likes of Tor Head.

People talk about cancel culture a lot but I'd love to cancel any of the head-the-balls who bring this crap up every 6 months as a distraction for Unionists, by bunging them into the Dyke.

retalivity

BonnieSituation wrote: »

You'd know those proposals could only be suggested by people who have never been to the likes of Tor Head.

People talk about cancel culture a lot but I'd love to cancel any of the head-the-balls who bring this crap up every 6 months as a distraction for Unionists, by bunging them into the Dyke.

Or people who dont realise that the Mull of Kintyre on the other side is as remote a part of Scotland as you can get. Their is no railway there currently, the nearest station is either Oban or Arocher & Tarbert, both nearly 100miles away. And joining to either of those would mean a roundabout trip to Glasgow or more tunneling through scottish mountains and under loughs.

BonnieSituation

retalivity wrote: »

Or people who dont realise that the Mull of Kintyre on the other side is as remote a part of Scotland as you can get. Their is no railway there currently, the nearest station is either Oban or Arocher & Tarbert, both nearly 100miles away. And joining to either of those would mean a roundabout trip to Glasgow or more tunneling through scottish mountains and under loughs.

But of course. That's what I'm saying. Even if you ignore the (obvious) improbability on the Scottish side, look at the Irish side and then just give up.

There's a bloody reason that settlements in these areas are so sparse and remote and it wasn't for lack of "vim and vigour".

New Home

Capt'n Midnight

What it took to feed a warship

retalivity

Liam Cosgrave served under 4 different presidents during his 4 years as taoiseach, more than any other. By comparison Dev only served under 2 (and was the third himself), despite being taoiseach for 12 years over a 22 year span.

New Home

I can't remember is this was ever posted here before:

cdeb

Seems to be not true - https://factcheck.afp.com/false-claim-circulates-online-hangover-term-derived-historic-practice-sleeping-rope

The dangers of sharing Facebook images!

Quantum Erasure

Link

Vita nova

As if forest fires and loss of habitat wasn't enough.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46258616

Scientists say they have uncovered how and why wombats produce cube-shaped poo - the only known species to do so.

The Australian marsupial can pass up to 100 deposits of poop a night and they use the piles to mark territory. The shape helps it stop rolling away.

Despite having round anuses like other mammals, wombats do not produce round pellets, tubular coils or messy piles.

Researchers revealed on Sunday the varied elasticity of the intestines help to sculpt the poop into cubes.

"The first thing that drove me to this is that I have never seen anything this weird in biology. That was a mystery," Georgia Institute of Technology's Patricia Yang said.

mikhail

That's real ignobel prize territory.
"Nice to meet you. What do you do for a living?"
"I work at Georgia Tech"
"Wow, that's a top university. Do you do research?"
"Yes, I'm currently studying the shape of wombat poo. They're cubes. It's weird."

Capt'n Midnight

The benefit of poop cubes is that they stay where you left them.


Which makes it harder for predators to find you.

Kat1170

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

The benefit of poop cubes is that they stay where you left them.


Which makes it harder for predators to find you.

I think most animal poo stays exactly where they left them, regardless of shape, until you step in it, then that sh1t gets everywhere fec#@&&£#&ing

New Home

cdeb wrote: »

Seems to be not true - https://factcheck.afp.com/false-claim-circulates-online-hangover-term-derived-historic-practice-sleeping-rope

The dangers of sharing Facebook images!

Aside from the fact that I didn't get that from FB and that your link says that that photo is from a film (all of which is fair enough), the link also says that the original caption from Getty Images says it was a reenactment of a practice of the time. So sleeping over a rope was actually a thing.

Professor Moriarty

New Home wrote: »

Aside from the fact that I didn't get that from FB and that your link says that that photo is from a film (all of which is fair enough), the link also says that the original caption from Getty Images says it was a reenactment of a practice of the time. So sleeping over a rope was actually a thing.

I watched a documentary on Victorian slums in London. Renting a spot on a rope for the night in crowded rooms was common practice for very poor people.

joujoujou

And some sources claim that sort of accomodation was also a thing on Mississippi River boats some time in the past.

silliussoddius

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

I watched a documentary on Victorian slums in London. Renting a spot on a rope for the night in crowded rooms was common practice for very poor people.

I also saw it on a program about Jack the Ripper.

ohnonotgmail

sleeping on a rope just seems much more uncomfortable than sleeping on the floor.

Professor Moriarty

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

sleeping on a rope just seems much more uncomfortable than sleeping on the floor.

Space was at a premium.

peasant

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

sleeping on a rope just seems much more uncomfortable than sleeping on the floor.

Would you even have arms left in the morning?
I'd say a night with the rope in your armpits carrying your full body weight would severely restrict bloodflow.

maudgonner

silliussoddius wrote: »

I also saw it on a program about Jack the Ripper.

I've seen it in Galway during Race Week.


Nah, not really - although this is one of my favourite photos and shows they did maximise the use of space in Ballybrit

cdeb

New Home wrote: »

Aside from the fact that I didn't get that from FB and that your link says that that photo is from a film (all of which is fair enough), the link also says that the original caption from Getty Images says it was a reenactment of a practice of the time. So sleeping over a rope was actually a thing.

The link does say sleeping on a rope was a thing, but it has nothing to do with the phrase "hung over"

(I could have been clearer on that in fairness)

Chancer3001

Rosa parks was alive when hurricane katrina hit new Orleans

Realt Dearg Sec

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Rosa parks was alive when hurricane katrina hit new Orleans

And she didn't even warn anyone.

New Home

Chancer3001

About 800 manage to climb mount everest every year.

But nobody managed the feat in 2015. Earthquakes and unrest made it unclimbable.

The closest to the top was apparently a 1 fingered man who had previously lost 9 fingers to the mountain.

People are wild

Realt Dearg Sec

Chancer3001 wrote: »

About 800 manage to climb mount everest every year.

But nobody managed the feat in 2015. Earthquakes and unrest made it unclimbable.

The closest to the top was apparently a 1 fingered man who had previously lost 9 fingers to the mountain.

People are wild

It was worth it to almost,but not quite, become one of tens of thousands of people who have gone up there.

Duckworth_Luas

Chancer3001 wrote: »

About 800 manage to climb mount everest every year.

But nobody managed the feat in 2015. Earthquakes and unrest made it unclimbable.

The closest to the top was apparently a 1 fingered man who had previously lost 9 fingers to the mountain.

People are wild

He'll always be able to tell people he was this close to reaching the top

ohnonotgmail

10! seconds is exactly 6 weeks.

New Home

Capt'n Midnight

The question to the ultimate answer ?

(−80,538,738,812,075,974)^3 +80,435,758,145,817,515^3 + 12,602,123,297,335,631^3 = 42

Sum of three cubes.

silliussoddius

It's hip to be square.

Noo

The witch image with a pointy hat and cauldron may have stemmed from women being the traditional brewers of beer, interesting little article here....

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/women-used-dominate-beer-industry-until-witch-accusations-started-pouring-180977171/

KevRossi

Bill Gates, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter all have the same Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather. He was Thomas Cornell, one of the earliest European settlers in the USA. One of his descendents was a Prime Minister of Canada, another founded Cornell University. Yet another (female) was an infamous murderer.

KevRossi

The DeLorean car was released on 21st Jan 1981, or 1.21.81 as the Americans would say.

As a nod to this in the film the flux capacitor needs 1.21 Gigawatts to work and the car's test run with Einstein the dog is finished at 1.21 a.m.

KevRossi

^ Notice how I never mentioned the name of the film, but ye all knew which one I meant once I mentioned DeLorean and Flux Capacitor. :):)

New Home

In fairness, the dog was a dead giveaway.

Ash.J.Williams

Mark knophler agreed to score the princess bride soundtrack in the condition rob reiners baseball cap from spinal tap appears somewhere in the movie. It’s in Fred savages bedroom and impressively enough it’s in the same room in “once upon a dead pool” movie too

New Home

New Home

New Home

Ever thought you made a bad decision?

Thomas Midgley Jr can lay claim to three:

First, he discovered and helped popularize the use of lead in petrol/gasoline, causing unimaginable harm to the atmosphere and our brains. He contracted lead poisoning when working on the project, but apparently neglected to draw any conclusions from this.

Second, he lead the team that discovered freon, the first chlorofluorocarbon, and helped popularize the use of CFCs in refrigeration and industrial applications, causing further unimaginable harm to the atmosphere

It’s suggested that he had a greater impact on the atmosphere than any other single person in history.

As for the third, well:

In 1940, at the age of 51, Midgley contracted poliomyelitis, which left him severely disabled. He devised an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to lift himself out of bed. In 1944, he became entangled in the device and died of strangulation.

In case you were wondering, this is him: