I bet you didnt know that

Riva10 · 05-02-2018 04:43PM

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

The same applies to your ears. Nobody else has ears exactly like yours.

How do you know that ohnonotgmail. You never saw my ears (I Hope)

evolving_doors · 05-02-2018 05:23PM

mickrock wrote: »

There's something about this that's so black, it's like how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.

It absorbs 99.65% light so I suppose it could be .035% blacker!

Franz Von Peppercorn · 05-02-2018 05:26PM

Most get fierce hot though.

ohnonotgmail · 05-02-2018 05:26PM

Riva10 wrote: »

How do you know that ohnonotgmail. You never saw my ears (I Hope)

you need to put some tape over that webcam

Quazzie · 05-02-2018 05:37PM

evolving_doors wrote: »

It absorbs 99.65% light so I suppose it could be .035% blacker!

Math fail!!!

.35% darker

valoren · 05-02-2018 05:38PM

evolving_doors wrote: »

There wasn't really a Tulip Bubble in the Netherlands in the 17th Century.
Just some finger wagging calvanists.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/there-never-was-real-tulip-fever-180964915/

Talking of bubbles;

During the dot com bubble, AppNet Systems filed for an IPO under the ticker symbol APPN. The ticker was then currently being used by Appian Technology, a microcap stock with trading share volumes averaging 200 per day, with the ticker symbol being assigned to AppNet following it's listing.

Two days after the IPO filing by AppNet and when stock couldn't actually be traded, 7.3 million shares of Appian were traded in one day driving the price up by 142,757 percent in a bizarre case of mistaken identity.

cdeb · 05-02-2018 07:08PM

Quazzie wrote: »

Math fail!!!

.35% darker

English fail!

Maths.

("Math" sounds horrendous. In fact, America in general can be awfully uncultured. Was it on here that I learned that they dub David Attenborough in the US?)

Ipso · 05-02-2018 07:30PM

cdeb wrote: »

English fail!

Maths.

("Math" sounds horrendous. In fact, America in general can be awfully uncultured. Was it on here that I learned that they dub David Attenborough in the US?)

Pierce Brosnan was used for The Blue Planet and both Sigourney Weaver and President Oprah have been used for Planet Earth.

cdeb · 05-02-2018 07:53PM

Little more than savages.

Attenborough should do a series about them.

Duckworth_Luas · 05-02-2018 08:01PM

What do they do about the segments where Attenborough speaks directly to the camera?

ohnonotgmail · 05-02-2018 08:01PM

cdeb wrote: »

Little more than savages.

Attenborough should do a series about them.

Probably more the area of Desmond Morris.

cdeb · 05-02-2018 08:28PM

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

What do they do about the segments where Attenborough speaks directly to the camera?

It's the ones he narrates that are dubbed.

American TV was a partner in Life on Earth, but then backed out entirely and never broadcast the series when Attenborough refused to allow himself to be cut out of it entirely.

You can buy his box-sets in America both dubbed and as original; the latter sell much better apparently.

Capt'n Midnight · 05-02-2018 08:40PM

If they ever get someone to replace Boaty Mc Boatface it should be someone like Ray Mears , passionate and calm. Most of the usual suspects are a bit hyper and fake.

And Ray could sneak in a second series about the people he meets on his travels.

Quazzie · 05-02-2018 08:48PM

cdeb wrote: »

English fail!

Maths.

("Math" sounds horrendous. In fact, America in general can be awfully uncultured. Was it on here that I learned that they dub David Attenborough in the US?)

There was only one error so it was Math (singular) :P

cdeb · 05-02-2018 09:19PM

Actually, the word "mathematics" is a plural noun, so there is no singular, no more than you can use a scissor to cut your trouser. (You can hold the scissor-handle to cut your trouser-leg, but that's the adjectival form, akin to looking at a mathematical problem)

mzungu · 05-02-2018 11:59PM

People being buried alive happened quite often in the 19th century. So much so that it prompted inventors to make safety coffins that would ring a bell (see image below). This gave the "dead" the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive.

It is thought that this is where the phrase "saved by the bell" originated from.

joeguevara · 06-02-2018 12:05AM

mzungu wrote: »

People being buried alive happened quite often in the 19th century. So much so that it prompted inventors to make safety coffins that would ring a bell (see image below). This gave the "dead" the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive.

It is thought that this is where the phrase "saved by the bell" originated from.

Also when someone saw someone that looked exactly like someone who died they would be known as a dead ringer.

Franz Von Peppercorn · 06-02-2018 12:13AM

I always thought that saved by the bell is a boxing reference.

humberklog · 06-02-2018 12:20AM

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

I always thought that saved by the bell is a boxing reference.

It is and the term Dead Ringer doesn't come from a coffin bell either.

Professor Moriarty · 06-02-2018 12:22AM

humberklog wrote: »

It is and the term Dead Ringer doesn't come from a coffin bell either.

Yes, it's from a song by Meat Loaf.

Charlie19 · 06-02-2018 12:39AM

The origin of the saying "Freeze the ball off a brass monkey" comes from:

In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters
carried iron cannons. Those cannon fired round iron cannon balls. It was
necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. But how to prevent them
from rolling about the deck?
The best storage method devised was a square based pyramid with one
ball on top, resting on four resting on nine which rested on sixteen.
Thus, a supply of thirty cannon balls could be stacked in a small area
right next to the cannon.
There was only one problem — how to prevent the bottom layer from
sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate
called a “Monkey” with sixteen round indentations. But, if this plate
was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution
to the rusting problem was to make “Brass Monkeys.”
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much
faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped
too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon
balls would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally,
“Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!”
(And all this time, you thought that was a dirty expression, didn’t you?)
You must send this fabulous bit of historical knowledge to at least
ten unsuspecting friends (or enemies) within thirteen and one half
seconds. If you don’t, your floppy is going to fall off your hard drive and
kill your mouse. Don’t send it back to me. I’ve already seen it.

https://www.truthorfiction.com/brassmonkeys/

Capt'n Midnight · 06-02-2018 12:57AM

mzungu wrote: »

It is thought that this is where the phrase "saved by the bell" originated from.

it's much earlier than that

IIRC
Back in the day in London falling asleep as a night watch man was a capital offence. Luckily for the watchman he was able to prove he was awake because one church bell tolled one time too many and he'd heard it.

Badly Drunk Boy · 06-02-2018 11:55AM

The Wexford village of Fethard-on-Sea used to be just called Fethard until a tragedy before the First World War. In February 1914, a Norwegian boat, the Mexico was shipwrecked during a storm so the lifeboat Helen Blake left Fethard during the gale condition on a rescue mission. The lifeboat capsized, leaving 9 of the 14 crew dead.

There was an outpouring of sympathy around Ireland and other parts of the world, but some of the money that people sent to help the village was sent to Fethard, County Tipperary instead, so it was decided to change the name of the Wexford village to Fethard-on-Sea.

diomed · 06-02-2018 01:11PM

Stunning feat:
jockey Jorge Ricardo equals world record with 12,844th victory

dinorebel · 06-02-2018 01:49PM

diomed wrote: »

Stunning feat:
jockey Jorge Ricardo equals world record with 12,844th victory

Only interesting if he was dead crossing the line:D

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 06-02-2018 02:31PM

humberklog wrote: »

It is and the term Dead Ringer doesn't come from a coffin bell either.

Correct. Dead Ringer comes from horseracing where a ringer was a horse substituted fraudulently for another similar looking horse. The dead is simply the use of the word in its meaning of exact - like dead heat or dead centre.

harry Bailey esq · 06-02-2018 07:40PM

diomed wrote: »

Stunning feat:
jockey Jorge Ricardo equals world record with 12,844th victory

That's quite impressive. The late, great Pat Eddery would have drank him under the table though....

Riva10 · 06-02-2018 07:51PM

Light doesn't necessarily travel at the speed of light. The slowest we've ever recorded light moving at is 38 mph.
https://www.nature.com/articles/17561

Junkyard Tom · 06-02-2018 10:03PM

Rodney Mullen invented a trick that gave rise to street skating as a sport/activity. Skateboarding was confined to flat surfaces, nice flat roads, and old swimming pools, until Rodney Mullen invented the 'ollie'. Here's an ollie. Suddenly kerbs and cracks on the pavement weren't a problem - in fact almost everything became a challenge which is why there are anti-skateboarding measures all around us.

As a kid RM used to practice in his very strict Christian Father's barn where there was a bit of flat concrete. His Father took a dislike to his skating and took his board off him.. Rodney stopped eating he was so unhappy about it and his Father gave him back his board.

Rodney Mullen went on to be a skateboarding superstar. He's a multi-millionaire now and shuns anything to do with competition in any form - he still can be seen skating the streets in various locations not far from his home and is now in his 50's.

Peregrine · 06-02-2018 10:57PM

Riva10 wrote: »

Light doesn't necessarily travel at the speed of light. The slowest we've ever recorded light moving at is 38 mph.
https://www.nature.com/articles/17561

Light always travels at the speed of light. It's called the speed of light! The speed of light isn't constant in every medium though. Most of the time you hear the phrase 'speed of light', it's probably referring to the speed of light in a vacuum (3x10^8 m/s) which is the fastest speed it can travel at and is a universal constant.

You don't need any of that fancy stuff to get light to travel slower than 3x10^8 m/s. The speed of light in air is slightly slower but not by much. In water, it's 75% of the vacuum speed, 65% in a typical glass and so on. You'd need the fancy stuff to get it down to 17 m/s though!

I bet you didnt know that

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