I bet you didnt know that

Sciprio

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

A fact that has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the vast majority of primary schools were setup by Catholic or Protestant churches with predictable biases.

Also back in the day primary school teachers weren't allowed to vote. Because dealing with so many children on a daily basis would affect their judgment.

You'll have to take that up with Dr Manuela Heinz and Dr Elaine Keane, from the school of education in NUI Galway.

New Home

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

After the war monogamy was suspended so they say due to a lack of me.

Freud would have a field day, with that typo.

Capt'n Midnight

New Home wrote: »

Freud would have a field day, with that typo.

Fixed.


After the war monogamy was suspended so they say due to ...me.

mzungu

An interesting tennis stat here. On Sunday 23rd of September Juan Martin del Potro turned 30 and today Marin Cillic (picture above) also turned 30.

Why is the above noteworthy?

Well, it now means that in the mens game, no player aged under 30 has won a grand slam. Also it means, that no player under 30 has won as much as a set in a grand slam final. In fact, only three players in their twenties have even made a Slam final: Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori. Raonic came the closest to getting on the scoreboard, taking Andy Murray to two tie-breaks in the 2016 Wimbledon final.

The active ATP players to boast a set in a major final are Roger Federer (37), Stan Wawrinka (33), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (33), Marcos Baghdatis (33), Rafael Nadal (32), Andy Murray (31), Novak Djokovic (31), Del Potro (30) and Cilic (30).

The dominance of the big 4: Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Murray stretches back to the 2005 French Open. In the 55 slams that have taken place since that tournament, only one final has not featured any of them (2014 US Open). From the 2010 US Open to the 2013 Australian Open they occupied all the winners and runner up spots. Since 2008 they have occupied all four semifinal spots on four occasions, at the 2008 US Open, 2011 French Open, 2011 US Open and 2012 Australian Open, as well as taking three of the four spaces on nine other separate occasions. In 2011 they occupied 14 out of a possible 16 Grand Slam semifinal slots. In the same period, only twice have two or more not made the semifinal stage (2009 and 2010 French Open), while in 2012 they took 13 out 16 Grand Slam tournament semifinal slots.

One last stat. When taking into account only the grand slam titles they have won where they have played another of the big 4, Djokovic stands at 13 (100%), Nadal at 13 (76%), Federer at 8 (40%) and Murray at 2 (67%).

Capt'n Midnight

This is exactly how the new minimum price for alcohol will work.

New Home

Well, he's wearing glasses, now, so I'd be more inclined to believe what he says. I mean, everyone knows that glasses are a sign of intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, confidence and success.

368100

jmayo wrote: »

I do hope they used a very long telephoto lens otherwise they may have ended up like Timothy Treadwell.

Most Ironic surname ever

retalivity

gozunda wrote: »

.

To add to this, both Hong kong and Macau drive in the left, while China drives on the right. Below is the bridge crossing into Macau, allowing you to seamlessly go from one side of the road to the other.



And here is what they are planning to build for a new crossing to hong kong:

gozunda

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

65% of the world population is lactose intolerant. With some countries coming in at near 100% rates.

Ireland has a rate of 4%, the joint least with Denmark in the world.

I have no idea if this is a good or bad thing. But it is remarkable enough nonetheless.

Source: About 2/5's down this page.

*Ireland has a range of prevalence of 0-8, with Denmark 0-9. So you can make an argument that Ireland is the least lactose intolerant country in the world.

Ireland has a long history as a traditional pastoral based culture. Cows were the primary wealth and currency of early Irish society to the point that slaves were priced as the equivalent portion of the price of a cow.

Milk, butter and other dairy products formed a significant part of peoples diet. Butter preserved in peat bogs has been found that dates back to at least 2000 years ago.

In country with a highly variable climate and with many soils unsuitable for the growing of arable crops - livestock and especially cattle were and remain an essential part of agriculture production and dairy products part of our normal diet.

It's not surprising that lactose intolerance even today is so low - it is likley those that were lactose tolerant were at less risk of malnutrition and more likley to survive and reproduce especially when crops and other foods were scarce.

As to the BS pushed that people shouldn't drink milk as adults due to the fact that other species don't - Well other species do not engage in 'strange' practices like eating exotic fruit such as pineapples, getting tattoos, flying in airplanes, living in buildings yada yada yada

Even today the big problem is that we can't eat grass and as a temperate country which grows grass better than anything else - it remains that cows are best suited to convert that grass into a food we can eat

Water John

A2 milk, which claims the absence of a specific protein, has significant sales in Australia. The scientific case is not proved.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Dont know if its true, but sounds true....that humans are the only mammal that drinks milk as an adult. Maybe we shouldn't be drinking it if we aren't designed for it.

Possibly, but especially here in Ireland we have been lactose tolerant for hundreds, if not thousands of years, so we are fully adapted to consuming dairy.

I cannot and will not give up butter on my potatoes and cheese on a sandwich.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Of course lactose tolerant adults are specifically “designed” by evolution to drink milk as adults. It was an evolutionary adaptation.

Chancer3001

Scientists can't decide definitively on how many species of killer whales there are.

But there are groups that behave differently and won't inter breed.

Some stay in one area and hunt there all the time.

Other specie are nomads and roam all over the world.

Some eat only fish. Other only mammals.

secondrowgal

maccored wrote: »

In 1788, the Austrian army accidentally attacked itself, losing around 10,000 men

What?? Give us more!!!:eek:

mzungu

The dwarf seahorse is the slowest fish in the sea clocking in at 0.01mph and it is generally excepted the sailfish is the fastest. The clock in at roughly 68mph.

Capt'n Midnight

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Scientists can't decide definitively on how many species of killer whales there are.

...

Some eat only fish. Other only mammals.

And some eat birds.


Even moose.

Capt'n Midnight

secondrowgal wrote: »

What?? Give us more!!!:eek:

Battle of Karánsebes.


Besides more people died over Jenkin’s Ear.

New Home

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Battle of Karánsebes.


Besides more people died over Jenkin’s Ear.

Folks, meet Capt'n Midnight, the Clickbait Master. :cool:

StupidLikeAFox

Boards has a setting which automatically subscribes you to a thread when you post on it

Harasrailltub

In the Burren region of Clare people used to put the skulls of horses and cows in the cavities beneath the floorboards of houses as it created a particular desirable sound when Seán Nós Dancers were hitting the boards with their feet

Signore Fancy Pants

Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield) from Only Fools and Horses was a physical training and Jungle Warfare instructor in the British Army during WWII.



In 1898, a fictional novel about a cruise ship described as "unsinkable" called 'Titan' was released. In the novel, one night in April, the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. Loads of people died because of a lack of lifeboats.

14 years later, the 'Titanic' cruise ship, described as "unsinkable", struck an iceberg and sank...in the North Atlantic...in April...Loads of people died because of a lack of lifeboats.

Realt Dearg Sec

Chewbacca wrote: »

Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield) from Only Fools and Horses was a physical training and Jungle Warfare instructor in the British Army during WWII.
.

Durin the war...

Harasrailltub

The Japanese beat the socks off the Russians in a Naval war in 1905.


The Japanese had better shells , better aiming equipment and had just been training their gunnery skills a lot harder .

islanderre

The iconic Jumbo Jet; the Boeing 747 turned 50 this year.

It was designed by Joe Sutter & his team and all by hand. It was originally thought that the continuing development of aircraft & their engines would lead to subsonic planes been mainly used for cargo as passenger aircraft would mainly be by supersonic aircraft like the Concorde and the then in development Boeing Supersonic Transport. It is this reason why the 747 has its hump as Joe wanted it to be used as a freighter with nose loading too.

Boeing bet the whole company on the 747 and had to build a huge new hanger for it. Despite the complexity of the project; the aircraft flew on schedule but was delayed for a short while entering airline service due to engine issues. These engines were a new high bypass design by Pratt & Whitney (P&W); the problems were only solved when a Boeing Test Pilot took the head of P&W up on a test flight and proved to him in flight how the engine would stall…. That shocked him into action to solve the design issue!!!

The original design was improved over the years with the hump getting stretched for more seating; improved engines, winglets to the ends of the wings for better fuel economy etc.

The latest version has a new wing which done away with the winglets as it got a whole new wing. This version the 747-8 was not a success for Boeing from a passenger point of view and more freighter versions have sold than passenger. It’s quite likely the US government will purchase the last of the passenger version as a replacement for Air Force One.

From an Irish point of View; Aer Lingus was one of the launch customers for the 747 and the then Shamrock tail design may still be seen on the original test aircraft which is now preserved in Seattle.
It flew 3 of the original versions on their transatlantic network and when in the winter demand on the transatlantic fell; Aer Lingus leased some of the fleet to other aircraft thus Ireland began what is now a multi-billion business in aircraft leasing worldwide.
Should anyone like to take a flight on the ‘Queen of the Skies’ start planning soon as they are slowly been retired. British Airways still have a big fleet of them but hope to retire them by 2022 or so.
A graceful iconic aircraft that helped bring flying within the grasp of the ordinary person.
Lots of more info online and YouTube has some great videos too.

[IMG][/img]747 by Paul Carr, on Flickr

https://youtu.be/WsN334JjITc

Wibbs

One of the Aer Lingus 747's in '75.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E-iMDMz8HM

Note how the captain uses a handheld microphone for the radio. None of your fancy headsets. No sirree!

On a couple of trips to the US with my folks in the late 70's, early 80's I flew on the Aer Lingus Jumbos. The first time I remember it was the one the pope of the time had flown into Ireland in(which flew over the crowd in the Phoenix Park). Can't recall the name of it. On another trip I flew on one of the others. Wetting myself with excitement I was. I remember walking out to the aircraft and looking down when we reached the door and thinking how high up we were. My dad joked we were already up in the air. IIRC the next trips we used the enclosed gangway? I had been on 737's before, which were exciting enough, but the Jumbo was another world. I remember looking back as we took off and saw a hundred odd people drop with the rear of the plane. I walked the length of it and couldn't believe how long it was(and how slightly more difficult it was walking back to the front). My dad put the talk on one of the crew as he tended to do and next thing we're in the cockpit, then he left and I got to sit in one of the chairs for about an hour chatting with the flight crew who were really sound. I was nuts about planes and had tried to memorise all the dials and such. And the captain went through them with me. I was in bloody heaven. They even got me sorted with a can of Fanta and a bag of crisps. 8 hour flight IIRC. Can't remember a film being showed, but you got headphones in plastic bags and could listen to an RTE half hour loop playing the latest poptastic tunes. After one flight I swore if I ever heard Hall & Oates "Your kiss on my list" again I'd do meself in.

Ally Dick

Ireland was called Scotia (Scotland) before the 11th century

Wibbs

Yep, to the Classical world Ireland and the Irish were "Scotti" and what is now Scotland was usually included with that, though Caledonia was named out as specifically Scotland. Though more specifically again and later in the mix someone, a Scotti who was Irish often got Eriugena tacked onto their name. IE from the Latin; "Irish born", as Eriu was the name of Ireland, after a goddess of the same name. Erin more latterly. Erinland, Ireland. The word appears to be pre Gaelic in origin. It may have a root that means land of plenty. The Classical world varied on this. Greek and Roman lads who mentioned the place either thought of it as a land of plenty, where as one guy reported it the grass was so good cattle were in real danger of exploding from the goodness, or as a Land of Winter. That's one of its other names. Hibernia, which translates as the "Land of winter". That's where we get the word "Hibernation" from, when some animals sleep through the winter.

To be fair, it is Ireland, so it can be both, which is likely how the Classical types got a tad confused.

mzungu

Back in the mid 1800s, Chicago had a big mud problem because it was built near a lake shore marsh. This helped to spread illnesses like typhoid fever, dysentery, and even a deadly outbreak of cholera. It was decided that the city would need to be raised (by between four to 14 feet) to increase drainage from the city surface.

Artists drawing of it below..

Fourier

I've been trying to think how to explain this for a while and because I've been reading a history of the Caribbean, I'm going to use pirates.



Entanglement is a set of coincidences between particles that are so regular and specific that you'd naturally think they are communicating, but it's pretty much impossible for them to, so nobody can explain what is going on.

The situation is pretty easy to explain.

Two pirates on two separate ships each have a treasure box with two drawers. Inside each drawer are thousands of jewels that can be red or blue. The treasure boxes were filled up by each pirate separately on different islands.

The pirates agree to begin taking jewels once every two seconds starting at eight o' clock on Wednesday and continue for an hour. Each time they take a jewel, they can pick any drawer they want.

They then sail into the next harbour and compare results. They find the following:

1. Every time they both took jewels from the top drawer, they had the same colour.
2. Every time they took jewels from different drawers (i.e. Pirate #1 picked the top drawer, Pirate #2 took the bottom drawer), they get the same colour
3. Every time they both took jewels from the bottom drawer, they get different colours.

So they find a set of very specific regular coincidences. The problem is, the boxes have never been near each other and each pirate filled them without talking to the other.

Fairly inexplicable.

This is exactly what we find with electrons (and other particles).

The analogy is just:
Treasure box => Electron
Drawer => Choice of which direction to check their spin in (vertical or horizontal)
Jewel colour => spinning clockwise or anticlockwise
Pirates => Scientists

Even electrons made in separate labs, shielded from each other, on opposite sides of the planet, display these bizarre coincidences. The particles aren't interacting to make sure they both agree with the rules above. They've never even been near each other. And nothing could carry a message between them fast enough to make them agree either. According to QM it's just a coincidence "built into" the world, a pattern built into history.

How Quantum Computers work is that they take advantage of these coincidences. To simplify a bit, if they encode some mathematical problem in one bunch of particles, the answer is guaranteed to coincidentally be found in another bunch of particles, allowing them to skip actually working out the answer.

New Home

Yes, yes, all well and good, but is the cat ok?