I bet you didnt know that

Grayson · 08-01-2019 4:09pm

Wibbs wrote: »

Kinda. The Roman calendar originally had ten rather than twelve months. Typical Roman mindset, tame nature, ignore the lunar calendar and enforce decimal months.

Originally it would have been March(after the god Mars), April(another god(dess), May(ditto), June(and again), Quintilus(sp), Sextilus(sp), September, October, November, December. Which gives us ten months. Seems like they got bored of naming months after gods and went basic.

This didn't really work too well and over time it got very messy as the years passed, with December ending up in early summer kinda thing. So they added two extra months, January and February copying the Greeks on this. Previously the Roman calendar started in March. Indeed it continued to do so even with the extra months(which they put in at the end of the year) until Julius or Augustus moved the new year to the start of January.

Edit and as RD points out Julius and Augustus got in on the act when they "became gods". Julius in a rather stabby fashion.

To be fair, romans used a base 5 system not a base 10 system. This can ve seen in how numbers are representatives in multiples of 5. For example 10 is represented by X which is a V on top of an upside down V.

So although they were enforcing something with 10 months, it wasn't technically decimal since they didn't use a decimal/base 10 system.

Grayson · 08-01-2019 4:31pm

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Yeah, and Julius and Augustus each got a new month named after them. Try to guess which months!

If you're a dictator you get to rename months after your mother

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaming_of_Turkmen_months_and_days_of_week,_2002

Ipso · 08-01-2019 4:34pm

Grayson wrote: »

To be fair, romans used a base 5 system not a base 10 system. This can ve seen in how numbers are representatives in multiples of 5. For example 10 is represented by X which is a V on top of an upside down V.

So although they were enforcing something with 10 months, it wasn't technically decimal since they didn't use a decimal/base 10 system.

You can count on one hand the numbers they used.

bonzodog2 · 08-01-2019 4:37pm

Ipso wrote: »

You can count on one hand the numbers they used.

I V X L C D M takes II of my hands

maccored · 08-01-2019 4:39pm

oranges aren't orange, and trees are made mostly of air (actual facts)

Ipso · 08-01-2019 4:51pm

bonzodog2 wrote: »

I V X L C D M takes II of my hands

Base 5 and five fingers joke fail.

Capt'n Midnight · 08-01-2019 9:55pm

Knex. wrote: »

Nowadays you can get quartz clocks or watches that only deviate by 5 or 10 seconds a year. Or even watches that automatically sync themselves to radio signals coming from atomic clocks, if you are in range of the signal. And we're talking for like $100.

TV's get time off the TV signal. Even back in the day of black and white TV's the raster dot was in the same position on all the screens in the country.

BBC Radio 4 Longwave 198KHz is a very stable frequency, for timing purposes.

Computers synch to internet time with NTP

$100 ? I defy you not to be able to get an old unwanted phone from someone for free that could get time from the GSM signal or the GPS signal or from the interweb.

KevRossi · 08-01-2019 11:07pm

Knex. wrote: »

I don't know a whole pile about maps, but I do find this fascinating to look at. It is Abraham Ortelius map of Europe from around 1595.

The map experts in the thread may be able add more context!

Map making was particularly challenging at the time, due to the challenges with identifying longitude when at sea, which is why I guess even well known countries are a little skewed.

.

Note the island of 'Brasil' to the west of Galway/Mayo.

Also mentioned are St Patricks Purgatory near Pettigo in Co. Donegal.

The place to the west of Lough Ree is probably the Rinn a Doon, a medieval town that was sacked in the 1400's and possibly one of the largest towns in Ireland at the time. If you're ever in the area it's worth a visit, it's beside Lecarrow about 15 km north of Athlone. St Johns Wood is beside it, one of the few bits of ancient wood left in Ireland.

A better version of the European section of that map is here

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/1572_Europa_Ortelius.jpg

Ipso · 08-01-2019 11:14pm

Brasil is obviously Hy Brasil, what is Demar meant to be?

Capt'n Midnight · 08-01-2019 11:24pm

There are 32 townslands called Newcastle in Ireland

mzungu · 08-01-2019 11:39pm

During his presidency Richard Nixon set up the "Political Enemies Project", with the purpose of compiling a list of people that he didn't like, and "use the available federal machinery to screw them". The list even included celebrities like John Lennon, Bill Cosby and Steve McQueen.

retalivity · 08-01-2019 11:43pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

There are 32 townslands called Newcastle in Ireland

Here's a map of every bally in Ireland

Dvp3T9uUwAEQdaD?format=jpg&name=large

Nuno · 09-01-2019 12:49pm

retalivity wrote: »

Here's a map of every bally in Ireland

Looks like Ballyjamesduff is missing from that map

carte.png

Maybe because Ballyjamesduff is a town not a townland I'm guessing?

Edit: Yep, it's not a townland. Found a very useful site here: https://www.townlands.ie/cavan/

py2006 · 10-01-2019 1:41pm

ehem...

py2006 wrote: »

Not sure if this was brought up in this thread or indeed another thread or indeed by me before!

Hy-Brasil was an island which appeared on ancient maps as early as 1325 and into the 1800s. On most maps, it was located roughly 321km (200 miles) off the west coast of Ireland in the North Atlantic Ocean. One of the most distinctive geographical features of Hy-Brasil on those maps is that it often appears as a circle with a channel (or river) running east to west across the diameter. Stories about the island have circulated throughout Europe for centuries with tales that it was the promised land of saints or a paradise where an advanced civilization lived. In Irish myth, it was said to be clouded in mist except for one day every seven years when it became visible but still could not be reached.

Map of Abraham Ortelius 1570, cropped, showing Brasil island west of Ireland.

Hy-Brasil (also called Hy-Breasal, Hy-Brazil, Hy-Breasil, Brazir) is derived from the name Breasal meaning the High King of the world in Celtic history. It was noted on maps as early as 1325, by the Genoese cartographer Angelino Dulcert where it was identified as “Bracile.” It later appeared in the Catalan Atlas in 1375, which placed it as two separate islands with the same name, “Illa de brasil”.

The Nautical chart of Western Europe (1473) shows Hy-Brasil in a circular shape

Researchers and archaeologists have searched in the most likely locations west of Ireland, and there is evidence that islands existed there. Shallow-water shells have been found at Porcupine Bank, somewhat northwest of the most likely location of the Irish island. Even further north, similar shells were discovered at Rockhall.

4068ac1elhodqr · 10-01-2019 2:10pm

Assuming the territorial waters (and shelf underneath) are owned by Ireland, it could make it one of Europe's largest countries.
Assuming also, Chinese style 'sea reclamation' is possible in future upon Porcupine Bank ^,
or even better on Goban Spur - which is a warmer (like Britanny) with great surf.

mikhail · 10-01-2019 3:17pm

Alanna Thousands Valley wrote: »

Assuming the territorial waters (and shelf underneath) are owned by Ireland, it could make it one of Europe's largest countries.
Assuming also, Chinese style 'sea reclamation' is possible in future upon Porcupine Bank ^,
or even better on Goban Spur - which is a warmer (like Britanny) with great surf.

China basically filled in around 3 coral reefs, which would have been a ring of material breaking the surface, with a bowl of shallow water in the middle. Even that is a major logistical challenge, and makes for an 'island' without any drinking water resources. Just about okay for an airstrip and a small military base. I'm not sure if there's anything remotely that shallow on the Goban Spur, which seems much deeper than the Porcupine bank. I can't find any detailed depth maps in a quick search online though. Best was this: http://portal.gplates.org/cesium/?view=topo15 (which is a cool toy at least!)

Ipso · 10-01-2019 4:14pm

py2006 wrote: »

ehem...

There is the possibility it was just Achill and no one knew better.

CalamariFritti · 10-01-2019 4:29pm

Ipso wrote: »

Is it true that the names September, October, November and December are holdovers from back in the day when they were the seventh, eight, ninth and tenth month?

sete oito nove dez, more or less the same in all latin languages

wildlifeboy · 10-01-2019 4:32pm

Ipso wrote: »

There is the possibility it was just Achill and no one knew better.

doubt it, achill is about a hundred meters from the mainland

Capt'n Midnight · 10-01-2019 10:44pm

Alanna Thousands Valley wrote: »

Assuming the territorial waters (and shelf underneath) are owned by Ireland, it could make it one of Europe's largest countries.

https://www.marine.ie/Home/site-area/irelands-marine-resource/real-map-ireland
as you can see that Ireland’s marine territory extends far beyond our coastline up to 220 million acres (approx. 880,000km2) , an area more than 10 times our land mass.

Capt'n Midnight · 10-01-2019 10:52pm

I used to have a 2,400 bps modem. 0.0024 Mbps

That's twice the speed of the one on the New Horizons spacecraft.
But it has a ping time of 12 hours and 17.5 minutes , it's that far away.

11-01-2019 6:13pm

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

On current trends, the weight of plastic will exceed the weight of fish in the oceans by 2050.

Interesting. Any reference for that?

cdeb · 11-01-2019 6:40pm

Fairly commonly quoted these days. Here's an example from the Telegraph in 2016 - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/12108522/More-plastic-than-fish-in-the-oceans-by-2050-report-warns.html

Tell me how · 11-01-2019 6:53pm

Not necessarily something which I would have thought people don't know but certainly something which I think people would benefit of being reminded of.

The volume of in car phone systems often mean that people outside the car can hear what is being said. I was at an ATM this morning and a car was parked nearby.

I could clearly hear one side of the conversation (the side of the person not in the car). It was a conversation about someone booking a Dr's appointment.

Capt'n Midnight · 11-01-2019 8:43pm

Professor Moriarty wrote:

On current trends, the weight of plastic will exceed the weight of fish in the oceans by 2050.

From June 2007
At the time Elvis Presley died in 1977, he had 150 impersonators in the US. Now, according to calculations I spotted in a Sunday newspaper colour supplement recently, there are 85,000. Intriguingly, that means one in every 3,400 Americans is an Elvis impersonator. More disturbingly, if Elvis impersonators continue multiplying at the same rate, they will account for a third of the world’s population by 2019.

2019 :eek:

johndaman66 · 12-01-2019 12:07am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

From June 2007
At the time Elvis Presley died in 1977, he had 150 impersonators in the US. Now, according to calculations I spotted in a Sunday newspaper colour supplement recently, there are 85,000. Intriguingly, that means one in every 3,400 Americans is an Elvis impersonator. More disturbingly, if Elvis impersonators continue multiplying at the same rate, they will account for a third of the world’s population by 2019.

2019 :eek:

That's a bit different though. I don't think they had fully realized we had reached peak Elvis in around 2007...

A few some may know and more may not...all courtesy of the Christmas edition Ireland's Own.

Hamsters blink one eye at a time.

The astronaut Buzz Aldrin's mothers maiden name was 'Moon'.

Alfred Hitchcock's mother, Emma Whelan and Charlie Chaplin's mother Hannah Hill, were both from Cork.

Starlings are very good at mimicking. They have being known to make sounds like car alarms and even mobile phones.

The tiny arms of the Tyrannosaurus Rex could each lift the equivalent of two fully grown men.

Chancer3001 · 12-01-2019 9:37am

[quote="johndaman66;109116637"

Alfred Hitchcock's mother, Emma Whelan and Charlie Chaplin's mother Hannah Hill, were both from Cork.

Starlings are very good at mimicking. They have being known to make sounds like car alarms and even mobile phones.

[/quote]

You should check out the LYRE bird on YouTube. Can mimic chainsaws!

And also there's a statue of Charlie Chaplin in Waterville co.kerry

SeaFields · 12-01-2019 10:06am

Chancer3001 wrote: »

And also there's a statue of Charlie Chaplin in Waterville co.kerry

Not only is there a statue of Chaplin there's also a festival! He was an avid fly fisherman. As the story goes he was on holiday in Ireland with his family and came to waterville. He went to the Butler Arms hotel and enquired about a room for the night so to allow them see more of the area. Not recognising who he was the staff member told him they were full up and the left. The hotel owner spotted the fancy car leaving again and immediately recognised the occupant. He chased the car out of waterville and convinced Chaplin to return. There ensued a life long love of waterville by Chaplin who bought a house there. He was a very regular fly fisher on the lakes for Salmon and trout, particularly one of the smaller lakes on the waterville system - capal lake.

There is a very famous American golfer who also spent considerable time there fly fishing (and who's name completely escapes me now).

I was fishing there a couple of years ago waiting for my fishing buddy when Jack Charlton pulled up beside me - another avid fly fisherman and a statue in Cork Airport testifies to that

Edit - Payne Stuart was the golfer.

johndaman66 · 12-01-2019 8:53pm

Chancer3001 wrote: »

You should check out the LYRE bird on YouTube. Can mimic chainsaws!

If that video isin't doctored then they are seriously talented birds!

Chancer3001 wrote: »

And also there's a statue of Charlie Chaplin in Waterville co.kerry

SeaFields wrote: »

Not only is there a statue of Chaplin there's also a festival! He was an avid fly fisherman. As the story goes he was on holiday in Ireland with his family and came to waterville. He went to the Butler Arms hotel and enquired about a room for the night so to allow them see more of the area. Not recognising who he was the staff member told him they were full up and the left. The hotel owner spotted the fancy car leaving again and immediately recognised the occupant. He chased the car out of waterville and convinced Chaplin to return. There ensued a life long love of waterville by Chaplin who bought a house there. He was a very regular fly fisher on the lakes for Salmon and trout, particularly one of the smaller lakes on the waterville system - capal lake.

I got my photo taken with that statue about 4/5 years ago.
Charlie Chaplin very much strikes me a person who had a very different and even dark persona in his off screen personal life compared to his on screen character. He was married 4 times. His second wife was Lita Grey. She met Charlie Chaplin for the second time when she was just 15 when he was testing actors for The Gold Rush. They had an affair and she believed that she had become pregnant by the 35 year old Chaplin. In the United States he could have being imprisoned for having sexual relations with a minor so they had to flee to Mexico to marry in secret in 1924. Seemingly their marriage was troubled from the outset and they divorced in 1927 due to his alleged numerous affairs with other women. The divorce complaint also made scandalous sexual claims against Chaplin.

thesandeman · 12-01-2019 10:27pm

Tell me how wrote: »

Not necessarily something which I would have thought people don't know but certainly something which I think people would benefit of being reminded of.

The volume of in car phone systems often mean that people outside the car can hear what is being said. I was at an ATM this morning and a car was parked nearby.

I could clearly hear one side of the conversation (the side of the person not in the car). It was a conversation about someone booking a Dr's appointment.

I didn't know people in cars didn't realise that. It probably explains the strange look I got from a guy who I told the person he was looking for was parked seven cars up the street from him. I'd been standing at the door of a pub listening to both sides of the conversation while they spent three minutes trying to locate each other.

obby1 · 12-01-2019 10:31pm

the little scar on your upper arm from when you where vaccinated as a child is a small pox scar

stop animal cruelty · 12-01-2019 10:31pm

Neil Armstrong - backwards spells "Alien"

New York is also the most sang about place in the world.

RiderOnTheStorm · 12-01-2019 10:49pm

Bet ye didn't know.....my son is coming home next week, after working abroad for a year. Mrs Rider & I are really looking forward to it.

That bit of info probably wont be of any use to ye in a pub quiz .....

mzungu · 13-01-2019 12:25am

The above species of bamboo called Phyllostachys bambusoides (or Japanese timber bamboo) is one that flowers at the same time no matter where it is throughout the world no matter what geographic zone or climate it is in. After this happens, the plant will die. The fact that environment has no impact on when this mass flowering occurs has lead to the suggestion that there is an alarm clock of sorts in the cells of the plant which signals the diversion of all energy to flower production and the cessation of vegetative growth.

The mechanics behind this remain a mystery.

py2006 · 13-01-2019 10:55am

johndaman66 wrote: »

Alfred Hitchcock's mother, Emma Whelan and Charlie Chaplin's mother Hannah Hill, were both from Cork.
.

Wikipedia disagrees...

Chancer3001 · 13-01-2019 11:40am

mzungu wrote: »

Above species of bamboo called Phyllostachys bambusoides (or Japanese timber bamboo) that flowers at the same time no matter where it is throughout the world, or what geographic zone it is in. After this happens, the plant will die. The fact that environment has no impact on when this mass flowering occurs has lead to the suggestion that there is an alarm clock of sorts in the cells of the plant which signals the diversion of all energy to flower production and the cessation of vegetative growth.

The mechanics behind this remain a mystery.

Wow

I Wikipediad that bamboo and found this insane stuff too

One plant produced culms growing a remarkable 47.6 in (121 cm) in 24 hours.!!! You'd nearly see it grow in real time

The flowering interval of this species is very long, about 120 years!
You wouldn't want to be waiting around for a bouquet!

Lady Haywire · 13-01-2019 12:08pm

Carrots with tops on will go off far quicker than those with the green leafy parts removed. On the flip side, the ones with fresh, healthy tops on them are the freshest carrots, but should be used asap or tops removed to keep them from going bendy.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-01-2019 12:45pm

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Carrots with tops on will go off far quicker than those with the green leafy parts removed. On the flip side, the ones with fresh, healthy tops on them are the freshest carrots, but should be used asap or tops removed to keep them from going bendy.

This is because the leaves draw moisture from the roots.

johndaman66 · 13-01-2019 12:56pm

py2006 wrote: »

Wikipedia disagrees...

In good faith took straight from the Christmas Irelands Own that was lying around and didn't research further to validate.

I see as per Wikipedia that Charlie Chaplin's mothers birth name was Hannah Harriet Pedlingham Hill. It mentions that her father Charles Frederick Hill was a shoemaker who may have been of Irish Protestant descent.

As per Wikipedia Alfred Hitchcock's mother was Emma Jane Hitchcock, nWhelan and along with his father was a Roman Catholic, with partial roots in Ireland.

Seems that both mothers had Irish heritage but yes to say that they were from Ireland would indeed be incorrect.

ohnonotgmail · 13-01-2019 2:11pm

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Wow

I Wikipediad that bamboo and found this insane stuff too

One plant produced culms growing a remarkable 47.6 in (121 cm) in 24 hours.!!! You'd nearly see it grow in real time

The flowering interval of this species is very long, about 120 years!
You wouldn't want to be waiting around for a bouquet!

apparently bamboo shoots have been used as a form of torture. The victim was tied down over the shoot and the shoot would grow through them. Mythbusters did an episode on it and it will pierce through flesh as it grows.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-01-2019 2:22pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

apparently bamboo shoots have been used as a form of torture. The victim was tied down over the shoot and the shoot would grow through them. Mythbusters did an episode on it and it will pierce through flesh as it grows.

I heard stories of such torture from a man who served in the far east during WW2, but any research I have done on it always said it was of doubtful authenticity, with no actual reliable evidence for it.

4068ac1elhodqr · 13-01-2019 2:31pm

Bamboo is lighter and has greater tensile strength (or resistance to being pulled apart) than steel, and it withstands compression better than concrete.
This strength allows it to grow upto 50 feet tall without any chance of breakage or bending.
Forget fancy 2k all-carbon bikes, light bamboo cycles could be the next craze!

Also, by adding 1lb of valadium to 1ton of steel, you can double it's strength.

There is probably some fancy 'nano-graphine spiderweb embedded' steel that beats bamboo, but isn't cheap or available for mass production.

gozunda · 13-01-2019 3:49pm

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Carrots with tops on will go off far quicker than those with the green leafy parts removed. On the flip side, the ones with fresh, healthy tops on them are the freshest carrots, but should be used asap or tops removed to keep them from going bendy.

Fresh carrots with green tops placed in a bucket of sand in a cool sheltered place will keep for far longer than those without.

The majority of carrots go off very quickly once removed from storage facilities where they are kept just above 0C for up to 7-9 months, though 5-6 months is more typical.

SuperS54 · 13-01-2019 4:07pm

Alanna Thousands Valley wrote: »

Forget fancy 2k all-carbon bikes, light bamboo cycles could be the next craze!

https://www.google.com/search?q=light+bamboo+cycles&rlz=1C1CHBD_enTW758TW758&oq=light+bamboo+cycles&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 :eek:;)

Adyx · 13-01-2019 6:37pm

Discovery Channel keeps repeating an episode of How It's Made with bamboo (& steel) framed bikes. Company is in Colorado I think.

Water John · 13-01-2019 7:03pm

Bamboo is used in the far East as formwork for the builders of even skyscrapers.

StupidLikeAFox · 13-01-2019 10:28pm

Bamboo scaffolding on Google images:

https://www.google.com/search?q=bamboo+scaffolding&safe=off&client=ms-android-samsung&prmd=isvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiW0fST4uvfAhWGRxUIHRaeAEoQ_AUoAXoECAsQAQ&biw=360&bih=560

mzungu · 13-01-2019 11:29pm

Stanley Kubrick made 2001: A Space Odyssey at the same time the novel was being written. Both Arthur C. Clarke and Kubrick worked on the novel together, but eventually, only Clarke was listed as the author.

Wibbs · 14-01-2019 12:45am

Well, sorta M. The story was based on a previous piece by Clarke, The Sentinel. Him and Stan met and decided to flesh it out into a novel and screenplay and yep those two were concurrent alright.

Ipso · 14-01-2019 1:06am

Wibbs wrote: »

Well, sorta M. The story was based on a previous piece by Clarke, The Sentinel. Him and Stan met and decided to flesh it out into a novel and screenplay and yep those two were concurrent alright.

And then Kubrick decided to leave out the bits that explained what was going on.

I bet you didnt know that

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