Topic: Useless fact of the day

[♫♪ FX ♪♫]

That isn't useless!!

http://missiontour.org/sangabriel/asistencia2.htm

[MikeHz]

Next time someone asks me where I'm from I'm going to reply, "Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula."

[khendar]

The original full name of Los Angeles was Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula. (Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River.) This proved to be a bit of a mouthful, and has since been shortened somewhat, with most people just calling it LA.

Speaking of cities of angels:

The full ceremonial name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit, which means

"The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarma"

The Thais don't call it by its full name, or Bangkok, but by a shortened version Krung Thep Maha Nakho. The full name is listed in Guinness as the longest place name in the world.

[AQB24712]

Oh man, that would be impossible for Murray Head to sing.

[Bunsen]

Oh man, that would be impossible for Murray Head to sing.

OH SHIT

One Night in Bangkok (CHESS) Murray Head

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!

[AQB24712]

 

I'd let you watch, I would invite you, but the queens we use would not excite you.

[Halleyscomet/Wakefield]

New Santorum ad coats Mittens in Santorum, while Mittens is trying to coat Santorum in santorum with a phallic santorum filled squirt gun. But we're all supposed to pretend it's mud.  Any questions?

[Daws]

Easy to be practical when you live on miles and miles of flat desert!

Utah is the most geologically diverse state in the U.S.  There are three different mountain ranges that rim the Salt Lake valley alone.

So you're saying that those in Utah know a lot about rimming? O:)

[Daws]

Only 40% in a US survey answered yes to the question "Do ordinary tomatoes contain genes?"  Genetic Engineering and Society, Lecture 6a, Honors Collegium 70A, UCLA (around sometime after min. 25)

[MikeHz]

Only 40% in a US survey answered yes to the question "Do ordinary tomatoes contain genes?" 

Maybe they thought the question was "Do ordinary tomatoes wear jeans?"

[MikeHz]

RMS* Titanic’s two main reciprocating steam engines provided power to a pair of screws on each side of the vessel. The engines stood 30 feet tall and weighed 1000 tons apiece.  Each of the triple-pass engines had a main cylinder of 54 inches, a second cylinder of 74 inches and a final cylinder of 97 inches, each with a 75 inch stroke providing an output of 1600 horsepower at an operating speed of 76 rpm. 

A 1600 horsepower steam turbine running at 116 rpm provided power to the center screw.

Steam at 250 pounds of pressure was provided from 20 double-ended triple furnace firetube boilers and 4 single-ended firetube boilers, for a total of 152 furnaces stoked by a crew of 150 men. Typical fuel consumption was 600 tons of coal per day.




*Corrected.

[Chew]

The Titanic was contracted to deliver Royal mail so her rightful prefix was RMS, for Royal Mail Ship.

[khendar]

The Titanic had three screws, two on reversible reciprocating steam engines on each side, and one in the middle on a non-reversible steam turbine engine. The rudder design was small for a ship of her size, and the centre turbine was positioned directly forward of the rudder. When they spotted the iceberg, the engine room called for the engines to be reversed to avoid the ice. Because the centre screw could not be reversed, it simply stopped, reducing water flow over the rudder, hence drastically reducing the rudders effectiveness. If the centre screw had simply kept running, the rudder probably would have successfully turned the ship out of danger.

[Beη]

Only 40% in a US survey answered yes to the question "Do ordinary tomatoes contain genes?"  Genetic Engineering and Society, Lecture 6a, Honors Collegium 70A, UCLA (around sometime after min. 25)

More about the 40% figure here.  This is an explicit example of how a general understanding of basic science could greatly benefit the population.

Thanks for the video, BTW, looks like an interesting series.

[MikeHz]

Old World Vultures and New World Vultures are unrelated, being an example of convergent evolution. New World Vultures have an excellent sense of smell which they use to locate decaying carcasses, whereas Old World Vultures lack almost any sense of smell, as do most other birds.