Useless (But Fun!) Fact For Today

[Emerikol]

12 Jan 23 -

Dinosaurs roamed the earth for such a huge span of time, that dinosaur fossils existed while there were still dinosaurs.

[wheelbender6]

Jurassic, Triassic and Cretaceous! Long time.

[Emerikol]

16 Jan 23 -

Whenever you got a new pair of shoes as a kid, your parents likely had you sit down in the store while the shoe salesperson measured your foot with a weird-looking metal tool. You probably never gave that handy-dandy foot-measuring contraption a second thought. But if you were curious, it happens to be called a Brannock Device, and it was invented by Charles Brannock and patented in 1926. His Brannock Device Company has been making them ever since.

[Emerikol]

23 Jan 23 -

Bruce Willis played the legendary John McClane in the Die Hard film franchise. But before Willis landed the role in the action-packed movies, the part was offered to singer Frank Sinatra, who was in his 70s at the time. While that may sound strange, it all has to do with a legal obligation.

The movie was based on the 1979 Roderick Thorp novel Nothing Lasts Forever, which was a follow-up to 1966's The Detective. In 1968, that novel had been made into a film starring Sinatra (not as John McClane, but as Joe Leland, a former New York cop who becomes a private investigator). When Sinatra signed on for The Detective, it was in his contract that the studio had to offer him the main part in the sequel. However, when that eventually happened, Ol' Blue Eyes refused the role.

[wheelbender6]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

23 Jan 23 -

The movie was based on the 1979 Roderick Thorp novel Nothing Lasts Forever, which was a follow-up to 1966's The Detective. In 1968, that novel had been made into a film starring Sinatra (not as John McClane, but as Joe Leland, a former New York cop who becomes a private investigator). When Sinatra signed on for The Detective, it was in his contract that the studio had to offer him the main part in the sequel. However, when that eventually happened, Ol' Blue Eyes refused the role.

I actually watched "The Detective" a few months back. Old blue eyes did some good acting in that flic. I would have never guessed the connection to the Diehard series. Cool

[Emerikol]

26 Jan 23 -

Bananas are radioactive!

Bananas are slightly radioactive because they are rich in potassium, and one of its natural isotopes (variants) is potassium-40, which is radioactive. A semi-truck full of bananas is radioactive enough to trigger a false alarm on a radiation detector looking for smuggled nuclear weapons. But you can’t become radioactive by eating bananas, because you already are radioactive!

A typical adult contains around 140g of potassium, of which about 16mg is potassium-40 – making you 280 times more radioactive than a banana. Eating one increases your total amount of potassium-40 by 0.4 per cent, which is detectable with a sensitive Geiger counter, but the effect is temporary since your metabolism closely regulates the amount of potassium in your body, and you will excrete the excess within a few hours.

[Emerikol]

27 Jan 23 -

This invention makes China Bikes possible!

Although Nikolaus Otto wanted to attend technical school, it was not to be. The economic decline following the unsuccessful German revolution of 1848 left his mother unable to afford to send him (Nikolaus’ father, the village postmaster and innkeeper, had died shortly after the boy’s birth). So instead, Nikolaus took a job as a grocery store clerk, then as a traveling salesman, peddling tea, sugar, and kitchenware to grocery stores across western Germany, dreaming all the while (presumably) of life as an engineer.

While traveling on his sales circuit Otto learned of the gas-powered internal combustion engine that had been invented by Etienne Lenoir. Lenoir’s invention was revolutionary (being the world’s first workable internal combustion engine) but impractical. It was exceedingly noisy, inefficient, generated excessive heat, and relied on expensive fuel that had to be transported and stored in a gaseous state. The problems with Lenoir’s engine, Otto believed, could be solved by using liquid fuel instead.

Although he had no formal technical education, Otto invented a carburetor and in 1861 created a new gasoline-powered engine—what would become the world’s first practical internal combustion engine.

Lacking the money to commercialize his invention, in 1864 Otto partnered with Eugen Langen, a German businessman who recognized the potential of Otto’s engine. Together they built a factory, improved the protypes, and in 1867 exhibited the engine at the Paris Exhibition, where it won the gold medal. With the resulting publicity, business boomed. Otto and Langen brought on additional investors and hired a brilliant engineer named Gottleib Daimler as their technical director. By the mid 1870’s the company (by then called Gasmotoren-Frabrik Deutz AG) was the world’s premier engine manufacturer and Nikolaus Otto had become a wealthy man.

In 1876 Otto came up with a new and improved design, changing the internal combustion engine forever. To increase power and efficiency, while decreasing noise and vibration, he invented a revolutionary four stroke engine, going against the prevailing belief that every cylinder stroke should produce power. The four-stroke engine became known as the “Otto engine” and his concept was called the “Otto cycle.” The engine was an immediate success. In 1882 Daimler installed one in a carriage and created the world’s first four-wheeled automobile.

Having invented machines that would change the world, Nikolaus Otto died in Cologne at age 58, on January 26, 1891.

[wheelbender6]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

26 Jan 23 -

Bananas are radioactive!

Bananas are slightly radioactive because they are rich in potassium, and one of its natural isotopes (variants) is potassium-40, which is radioactive. A semi-truck full of bananas is radioactive enough to trigger a false alarm on a radiation detector looking for smuggled nuclear weapons. But you can’t become radioactive by eating bananas, because you already are radioactive!

A typical adult contains around 140g of potassium, of which about 16mg is potassium-40 – making you 280 times more radioactive than a banana. Eating one increases your total amount of potassium-40 by 0.4 per cent, which is detectable with a sensitive Geiger counter, but the effect is temporary since your metabolism closely regulates the amount of potassium in your body, and you will excrete the excess within a few hours.

So my poo is radioactive after easting some bananas? That's awesome!

[TominMO]

Incredible WW2 history--US and Germans fighting together!

[Emerikol]

First, I love Sabaton! Fantastic band, and their music videos are pretty awesome, too.

Second, Nothing about WWII surprises me anymore. Looking at the way conflict was approached and planned for, and the way the battle plans were nearly turn-based, it's so much different than battle today. Surprisingly though, there are an unbelievable number of things that we do now that are carry-overs from those combat scenarios.

[Emerikol]

31 Jan 23 -

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Marie Curie died as a result of the vast amounts of radiation she was exposed to during her groundbreaking work. But her body wasn't the only thing to absorb the emissions. Her clothes and belongings—including her furniture, cookbooks, and laboratory notes—were also saturated with the deadly radium particles. That's why, even though Curie died around 85 years ago, her possessions are still radioactive, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

And since radium has a half-life of 1,601 years, they're likely to stay that way for a while. Currently, Curie's laboratory notebooks are being safely stored in lead-lined boxes at France's Bibliotheque National in Paris. Anyone who wants to see them has to first to sign a liability waiver and then agree to wear protective gear.

[Emerikol]

3 Feb 23 -

While Buzz Aldrin was the second man to land on the moon, he was the first to pee on its surface. The last thing you may expect to find on the moon is a bag of human excreta. Not to worry, you won't find a bag; you'll find 96 bags.
When astronauts are in space, a bag attached to their backsides is the only way to defecate. When they are leaving, they have to leave the bags of detritus behind to reduce the weight of the spacecraft. Hence, the 96-odd bags of Poop that are left on the moon. Add that to the fact that due to the lack of atmosphere and gases- everything stays the same on the moon. Guess someone should tell Nasa about the proper way to clean up your campsite when you leave...

[wheelbender6]

8 things we forgot about the Ford Falcon - Surprising.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news...61b289b74b911e

[wheelbender6]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

3 Feb 23 -

While Buzz Aldrin was the second man to land on the moon, he was the first to pee on its surface. The last thing you may expect to find on the moon is a bag of human excreta. Not to worry, you won't find a bag; you'll find 96 bags.
When astronauts are in space, a bag attached to their backsides is the only way to defecate. When they are leaving, they have to leave the bags of detritus behind to reduce the weight of the spacecraft. Hence, the 96-odd bags of Poop that are left on the moon. Add that to the fact that due to the lack of atmosphere and gases- everything stays the same on the moon. Guess someone should tell Nasa about the proper way to clean up your campsite when you leave...

The astronauts were just following your first rule of Aviation, Emerikol:
"Never pass up an opportunity to pee".

[TominMO]

Clearly the overriding agenda for our next moon mission is to build an outhouse.