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I bet you didnt know that
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Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,889 Mod ✭✭✭✭
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On the subject of the Poddle....
This is Firhouse Weir, it is situated to the west of the Tallaght/Spawell exit on the M50.
It was built at the very latest in 1244, the idea was to divert water from the Dodder into the Poddle to increase it's flow as back then Dublin had issues with water supply (sound familiar?).
The water ran from the weir through sluice gates along a canal, through the north of Templeogue into Kimmage where it met the Poddle. The clean water was metered by the bucket. So water charges in Dublin are nothing new.
The run of the original sluice gate is still there today, or at least a short bit of it is; the rest was buried under the M50. This sluice is from 1775, (note the top of the weir on the left)
The water was diverted in Kimmage and split 2 ways to move it to 2 different parts of the city. This was done by placing a large stone obstacle in the river (called the Stone Boat) to split the flow 2:1. A new version of the stone is still there today and a pub on Sundrive is called The Stoneboat to this day.
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,104 Mod ✭✭✭✭
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And further again...On the subject of the Poddle....
By all sorts of twists and turns the Poddle reaches the environs of Dublin Castle, which in medieval times was the eastern edge of the city, the channel was diverted around the side of said castle as a defensive moat. To make it more of a defence it was dammed to keep the water deep, and that gentle reader is how Dublin's "Dame Street" got its name. In old English "Dam" was spelled "Dame" and over time the pronunciation matched the old spelling.
Another slightly oddball factoid about the Poddle is that when it meets the Grand Canal at Harold's cross it passes under it. And when it comes near to its end where it joins the Liffey it widened out into a large dark pool, Dubh Linn and where we get the name of the city(Baile Atha Clia me bollex)
While Dubliners today usually think of the Liffey* as the lifeblood and riverine soul of the city it was the now mostly buried and mostly forgotten little stream of the Poddle that powered the engine of the city and protected, fed and watered its land and people.
*the Liffey name comes from the floodplain around it which was great for farming. Then Anna Liffey, anglicised from from Abhainn na Liphe(sp). The two Irish rivers known by Roman writers were the Shannon and the Liffey. On the word "Abhainn"; the river Avon in England gets its name from the same word. When Romans asked locals what was the river called, they naturally used the Gaelic word for "river" Abhainn/Afon which became "Avon" over time. So to someone who speaks both languages it's actually called the river river. Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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And further again... By all sorts of twists and turns the Poddle reaches the environs of Dublin Castle, which in medieval times was the eastern edge of the city, the channel was diverted around the side of said castle as a defensive moat. To make it more of a defence it was dammed to keep the water deep, and that gentle reader is how Dublin's "Dame Street" got its name. In old English "Dam" was spelled "Dame" and over time the pronunciation matched the old spelling.
You can see said Dam here (best viewed on pc or tablet). Move the slider on the left to the year 1230 onwards to see it.
The width of the Liffey is staggering when you go back far enough.0 -
There's a stone outside Pearse Street Garda Station which you'll almost certainly have seen if you've been around the area. It's really bland and easily ignored. But it's a replica of the stone the Vikings erected on the riverbank when they first docked at the Liffey. The original stood there for almost 1000 years before being stolen in the late 18th century; the replica was erected in 1986.
So the stone is placed at what was the edge of the river in the 9th century - but now it's a good 100 yards away.
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In the Two Towers, when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli discover the pile of dead orcs and they think the hobbits are dead, Aragorn kicks a helmet and shouts in grief.
Well, it's not grief, it's actually pain because Viggo Mortensen broke his toe kicking the helmet! He was such a professional that he didn't come out of character, and Jackson loved the shot so much, he kept it.
https://goo.gl/images/UH2ses0 -
There's a stone outside Pearse Street Garda Station which you'll almost certainly have seen if you've been around the area. It's really bland and easily ignored. But it's a replica of the stone the Vikings erected on the riverbank when they first docked at the Liffey. The original stood there for almost 1000 years before being stolen in the late 18th century; the replica was erected in 1986.
So the stone is placed at what was the edge of the river in the 9th century - but now it's a good 100 yards away.
Speaking of which, the pub which is named after it is to close down after 264 years!
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Not mine, but here you go....
"What's the big deal about railroad tracks?
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used?
Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And what about the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)
Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.":D
Brilliant0 -
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Speaking of which, the pub which is named after it is to close down after 264 years!
Ah sh1te, loved that pub.0 -
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On the subject of the Poddle ...
A very interesting yet almost forgotten river
As unaccustomed as I am to providing so much inspiration on a topic - you're welcome
A very interesting video here
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Given that the male chicks still end up dead, just at an earlier stage of development, ...
Eggs require a total of 21 days for full incubation to hatching. At 9 days the blastoderm or embryo of the chick remains largely unformed. It would appear that a number of interests are developing this type of technology to aid sex determination down to just a couple of days after an egg is laid
See
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/spectroscopy-allows-in-egg-chicken-sexing-/2500274.article
As for the age old question which came first - the answer prosaically would probably be the rooster
but this is probably a better answer...
https://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg-evolution-has-the-answer/0 -
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![[Deleted User]](/applications/dashboard/design/images/defaulticon.png)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ygnHSLKLY
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