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

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    #1802
    Professor Moriarty
    Registered Users Posts: 14,359 ✭✭✭✭Professor Moriarty


    LostinBlanch wrote: »
    Jaysus Wibbs, you wouldn't want to have a crash in that thing. Thin tyres, no seatbelts or any kind of bars if you had a roll. It reminds me of Michael Schumacher after he had a spin in a vintage F1 car and he was asked what he thought of it. "Scary" was his reply.

    Wear a helmet and goggles. Be grand.


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    #1803
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,092 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    With a ciggie in the mouth for added safety.

    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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    #1804
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,160 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    This is a pub -
    D0P_k9xWkAAeete.jpg

    It's next to the Schafbergspitze Hotel, on top of the Schafberg mountain in Austria.

    You can get a steam train up the mountain, though the incline is so steep (up to 1 in 4) that the engine has to be tilted in order to keep its water level.

    1_PJCnzKo.jpg


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    #1805
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,827 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Wibbs wrote: »
    *Bugatti once said Mr Bentley makes the fastest trucks in the world
    "British" racing green is actually Irish green because of the Gordon Bennet races.


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    #1806
    secondrowgal
    Registered Users Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭secondrowgal


    Capt'n Midnight wrote: »
    "British" racing green is actually Irish green because of the Gordon Bennet races.
    Nice! More please?


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    #1807
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,092 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    The Gordon Bennet cup races were held in the early part of the 20th century and each nation was represented by a colour. France was blue, the US was red etc. When the race was held in the UK it ended up being held in Ireland, which was a part of the UK at the time, because road racing was banned in the rest of the UK. A British entrant and car won it and as a note of thanks and respect being hosted in Ireland Green was settled on as the British colour. Though blue is technically the official Irish colour, but green by that stage was the popular idea of the Irish colour. The original British race green was more emerald green IIRC and became darker over time.

    White was originally Germany's colour but later became silver. The US was red, but that became the Italian colour later on. I dunno what the US colour became tbh. Japan's national colour was white with red. Honda the first Japanese team to enter and win F1 painted their cars "championship white" with red circles and years later their souped up road cars "Type R" R for racing were originally offered only in white with red accents.

    The national team colours largely disappeared with the coming of mass sponsorship and the need to turn cars into mobile billboards(IIRC Lotus was one of the first to buck that trend), though on occasion some teams have fired a nod to the past. Mercedes has painted their race cars silver from time to time.

    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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    #1808
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,831 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    James Joyce wrote a story about the Gordon Bennett race called "After the Race" which is in Dubliners. It really highlights what a massive event it was at the time, and what a spectacle. He depicts huge crowds in College Green welcoming the drivers like heroes. Of course for Joyce this becomes a story about Irish craven servility to people from more metropolitan countries.


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    #1809
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,160 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    "Gordon Bennett" is a mild swear word in Red Dwarf.

    Though ye probably did know that :)


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    #1810
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,831 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    cdeb wrote: »
    "Gordon Bennett" is a mild swear word in Red Dwarf.

    Though ye probably did know that :)

    Only fools and horses got there first!


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    #1811
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,052 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Gordon Bennett isn't a swear, it's just an exclamation of surprise. It has two widely believed origins, the first reportedly refers to a way of saying "God" without saying it - from a time when it was considered impolite - 'Gordon' being 'Gawd' and using that particularly Cockney way of pronouncing the R.

    Alternatively and more believably it refers to Gordon Bennett jr, son of the Scots founder of the NY Herald of the same name and famous editor at the turn of the last century. Gordon Bennett Junior was a hot-air ballooner, all-round playboy and mischief maker who surprised everyone by doing a lot of hot-air-balloon-race-winning. He established a balloon race that still takes place today, as mentioned.

    When he'd win another race, the commentators would exclaim "Gordon Bennett!" in astonishment at him taking first place at yet another race.

    Gordon Bennett, would you Adam and Eve it?



    Edit: somehow missed Wibbs post about the race!


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    #1812
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,827 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    from https://www.gordonbennettclassic.ie/history/


    gordon.png

    “A visitor stopped to ask directions to Kilcullen, the farmer replied ten miles Sir but in one of those yolks it should be less,"

    “I could fill a book with experiences we had from practising over the course prior to the race. One thing we discovered was that the roads in Ireland were used as farm yards for the breeding of chickens and other birds and beasts. Whenever we killed a chicken we made a point of finding the owner and compensating him for his loss. A price was paid and the owner kept the carcase. But the number of chickens killed rose daily which led him to suspect that he paid more than once for the same chicken.”


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    #1813
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,831 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »
    James Joyce wrote a story about the Gordon Bennett race called "After the Race" which is in Dubliners. It really highlights what a massive event it was at the time, and what a spectacle. He depicts huge crowds in College Green welcoming the drivers like heroes. Of course for Joyce this becomes a story about Irish craven servility to people from more metropolitan countries.

    This is the opening paragraph of that story by the way:

    "The cars came scudding in towards Dublin, running evenly like pellets in the groove of the Naas Road. At the crest of the hill at Inchicore sightseers had gathered in clumps to watch the cars careering homeward and through this channel of poverty and inaction the Continent sped its wealth and industry. Now and again the clumps of people raised the cheer of the gratefully oppressed. Their sympathy, however, was for the blue cars -- the cars of their friends, the French."

    I love the grim cynicism of it. On the one hand the vision of cars "scudding" towards Dublin (the verb was used mainly to describe clouds) projects speed and grace that would be completely unfamiliar and at odds with the slow pace of life through which the cars move. That contrast then shades off into the contrast between the the "channel of poverty and inaction" of Inchicore and the "wealth and industry" of "the Continent". But the really depressing part is the cheer of the "gratefully oppressed" people of Ireland, latching on to the French for having beaten the Brits. The implication, of course, is that this vicarious victory is a thin one indeed, and they receive only condescension from these Continental victors.

    Joyce wrote the story as a result of being asked to conduct an interview with a French racecar driver, Henri Fournier, in Paris for the Irish Times in 1903. The interview is funny mainly because of how bored Joyce sounds in the transcript, asking inane questions like "what do you intend to do after the race?". Joyce was back in Dublin for the race itself (in which Fournier didn't participate) but there's no evidence he actually went out to see the cars.


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    #1814
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,827 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    5f072755795e6.jpg

    This is a pressure model for a Adélie penguin's stomach.

    And they need to build up a little more than 10 to 60 kilopascals.








    5f072730d1680.jpg

    So they can poop like this.


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    #1815
    joujoujou
    Registered Users Posts: 13,532 ✭✭✭✭joujoujou
    Unregistered Users


    ^^ That'd perfectly fit in WTF thread as well. ;)


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    #1816
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,827 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    joujoujou wrote: »
    ^^ That'd perfectly fit in WTF thread as well. ;)
    No, because it's proper science*. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2007.00926v1.pdf


    the tl;dr version you should keep at least 1.34 meters away from a penguin trying to poop.



    * Or pooper science maybe ?


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    #1817
    Vita nova
    Registered Users Posts: 734 ✭✭✭Vita nova


    No, not something you eat or someone that preaches about Jesus but the type of nut you screw onto things. The Jesus Nut is the name for the retaining nut that holds the rotor onto the rotor mast of helicopters. It's so called because if it detaches then you're in Jesus's hands.

    It's also used in engineering jargon to refer to a single point of failure which can have catastrophic effects.

    tumblr_inline_o1vmmyo9Yk1srob4n_400.gifv

    41E16XPSNEL._SX284_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


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    #1818
    stimpson
    Registered Users Posts: 7,815 ✭✭✭stimpson


    Vita nova wrote: »
    No, not something you eat or someone that preaches about Jesus but the type of nut you screw onto things. The Jesus Nut is the name for the retaining nut that holds the rotor onto the rotor mast of helicopters. It's so called because if it detaches then you're in Jesus's hands.

    It's also used in engineering jargon to refer to a single point of failure which can have catastrophic effects.

    tumblr_inline_o1vmmyo9Yk1srob4n_400.gifv

    41E16XPSNEL._SX284_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

    As opposed to the Jesus Handle: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jesus%20handle


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    #1819
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,160 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    Napoleon Bonaparte had an older brother called Napoleon, and four sisters called Maria Anna. In each case, the child died before their first birthday, and the name was recycled until reaching a child who survived until adulthood.

    It wasn't an uncommon idea. Ludwig van Beethoven, Salvador Dali and Vincent van Gogh had brothers called Ludwig, Salvador and Vincent.


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    #1820
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,831 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    cdeb wrote: »
    Napoleon Bonaparte had an older brother called Napoleon, and four sisters called Maria Anna. In each case, the child died before their first birthday, and the name was recycled until reaching a child who survived until adulthood.

    It wasn't an uncommon idea. Ludwig van Beethoven, Salvador Dali and Vincent van Gogh had brothers called Ludwig, Salvador and Vincent.

    Richard D James, better known as electronic musician Aphex Twin, claims to have had a still born older brother also named Richard. He very often makes up outlandish things in interviews though, so it's hard to know if this is true, but the cover of his 1996 Girl/boy EP has a picture of a grave stone of Richard James with only one date on it, November 23 1968 (3 years before he was born). So night be true.

    Other things he seems to have made up include that he lived in a former bank vault in central London and that he owned the Michael Faraday memorial in the middle of Elephant square roundabout.


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    #1821
    Chancer3001
    Registered Users Posts: 5,480 ✭✭✭Chancer3001


    Don't know why this never occured to me but

    Fascinating little life hack, for doing percentages:

    x% of y = y% of x

    So, for example, if you needed to work out 4% of 75 in your head, just flip it and and do 75% of 4, which is easier.


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    #1822
    joeguevara
    Registered Users Posts: 8,041 ✭✭✭joeguevara


    cdeb wrote: »
    Napoleon Bonaparte had an older brother called Napoleon, and four sisters called Maria Anna. In each case, the child died before their first birthday, and the name was recycled until reaching a child who survived until adulthood.

    It wasn't an uncommon idea. Ludwig van Beethoven, Salvador Dali and Vincent van Gogh had brothers called Ludwig, Salvador and Vincent.

    George Foreman, ex world heavy weight boxing champion has 12 children, five sons and seven daughters. His five sons are George Jr., George III ("Monk"), George IV ("Big Wheel"), George V ("Red"), and George VI ("Little Joey"). One of his daughters is called Georgetta.


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    #1823
    KevRossi
    Registered Users Posts: 4,404 ✭✭✭KevRossi


    Emlyn Hughes has a son called Emlyn Jr. and a daughter called Emma Lynn.


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    #1824
    lmimmfn
    Registered Users Posts: 3,553 ✭✭✭lmimmfn


    Chancer3001 wrote: »
    Don't know why this never occured to me but

    Fascinating little life hack, for doing percentages:

    x% of y = y% of x

    So, for example, if you needed to work out 4% of 75 in your head, just flip it and and do 75% of 4, which is easier.
    i don't know, 0.75 * 4 is handy enough to deal with


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    #1825
    LostinBlanch
    Registered Users Posts: 2,908 ✭✭✭LostinBlanch


    The staff on Airforce One got so annoyed Lyndon B Johnson constantly asking them to change the temperature in the cabin that they installed a dummy thermostat so he could change the temperature himself. He never asked again after that.


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    #1826
    4068ac1elhodqr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,586 ✭✭✭4068ac1elhodqr


    The very most venomous spider in the world (Guinness book of records) is the one that sometimes shows up in packets of bannanas in places such as W.Europe.

    Brazilian wandering spiders (also ocalled armed spiders or banana spiders) genus Phoneutria (which means "murderess" in Greek) is known for building webbed nests on bananas.
    Luckily a powerful anti-venom prevents deaths in most cases. Without that you're brown bread in 2hrs.

    fGinxGQ.png


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    #1827
    Cordell
    Registered Users Posts: 5,837 ✭✭✭Cordell


    Also closed casket may not be an option: https://mashable.com/2015/03/12/banana-spider-erection-death/?europe=true


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    #1828
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,092 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Cordell wrote: »
    Also closed casket may not be an option: https://mashable.com/2015/03/12/banana-spider-erection-death/?europe=true
    "deadly boner spiders" :D:D:D

    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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    #1829
    aoh
    Registered Users Posts: 148 ✭✭aoh


    KevRossi wrote: »
    Emlyn Hughes has a son called Emlyn Jr. and a daughter called Emma Lynn.

    My great-grandmother had 3 sons called Robert. One stillborn, one cot- death and my grandfather


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    #1830
    Buford T. Justice XIX
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,633 ✭✭✭✭Buford T. Justice XIX


    KevRossi wrote: »
    Emlyn Hughes has a son called Emlyn Jr. and a daughter called Emma Lynn.

    Safe to say that every story told about Crazy Horse is true.


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    #1831
    razorblunt
    Registered Users Posts: 17,300 ✭✭✭✭razorblunt


    LostinBlanch wrote: »
    The staff on Airforce One got so annoyed Lyndon B Johnson constantly asking them to change the temperature in the cabin that they installed a dummy thermostat so he could change the temperature himself. He never asked again after that.

    His giant balls were probably sweaty.
    Dude has a recorded audiotape asking his tailor for extra slack in the “seat” of his pants.


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