Utterly useless facts and information

[Northernhibee]

Analogue clocks are most likely to be photographed at 10:08 for advertisements as it makes them look happy and people are more likely to purchase them.

[Killiehibbie]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Analogue clocks are most likely to be photographed at 10:08 for advertisements as it makes them look happy and people are more likely to purchase them.

I thought that was 10 to 2

[Northernhibee]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I thought that was 10 to 2

Second most likely apparently, but there is the “ten oh eight rule” apparently.

[Killiehibbie]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Second most likely apparently, but there is the “ten oh eight rule” apparently.

I know it's sad but I had a look at clocks for sale and 10:08 beats 1:50 about 2 to 1.
I'm extremely bored today.

[Hibrandenburg]

The German phrase "Englisch einkaufen gehen" means "to go English shopping" when translated word for word but really means to go shoplifting.

[Northernhibee]

Bumblebees can fly higher than Everest.

[CmoantheHibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Bumblebees can fly higher than Everest.

Of course they can. Everest can’t fly

[Lancs Harp]

Other football Clubs formed in 1875

Birmingham City
Blackburn Rovers
Bournemouth

[Killiehibbie]

Sailing by Rod Stewart was actually a cover. Originally done by The Sutherland Brothers, whoever they are.

[CropleyWasGod]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sailing by Rod Stewart was actually a cover. Originally done by The Sutherland Brothers, whoever they are.

I'm old.

[marinello59]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sailing by Rod Stewart was actually a cover. Originally done by The Sutherland Brothers, whoever they are.

They came from Peterhead, had a hit themselves with Arms of Mary.

[marinello59]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I'm old.

Me too.

[ACLeith]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Me too.

And me (Very) old

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sutherland_Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poDjuRlaNAg

One of the brothers wrote the song, he probably earned far more off the royalties than from his own musical career

[Keith_M]

In Computing parlance, eight Bits is called a 'Byte'.

And half a Byte (four Bits) is called a 'Nibble'.

[Peevemor]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

And me (Very) old

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sutherland_Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poDjuRlaNAg

One of the brothers wrote the song, he probably earned far more off the royalties than from his own musical career

I've never heard that before. Even by early 70s standards the production/mix is atrocious. I've heard one-man-bands with better drumming and it sounds like a bass stylophone or something that drones away all through the track.

Rod definitely did a far better job of it.

[ACLeith]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I've never heard that before. Even by early 70s standards the production/mix is atrocious. I've heard one-man-bands with better drumming and it sounds like a bass stylophone or something that drones away all through the track.

Rod definitely did a far better job of it.

I hadn’t heard that version for a very long time - I agree with your analysis 🎸🎤😱

[Killiehibbie]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

They came from Peterhead, had a hit themselves with Arms of Mary.

Heard that often enough but never knew who sung it.

[AltheHibby]

Alexander Graham Bell's wife was deaf.

[lord bunberry]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Alexander Graham Bell's wife was deaf.

That’s the dream right there.

[AltheHibby]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

That’s the dream right there.

🤣

[Hibrandenburg]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

That’s the dream right there.

Believe me when I say it's not that great.

[CropleyWasGod]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Alexander Graham Bell's wife was deaf.

Alexander Graham Bell is the only FP of the Royal High School to get his name in a Top 40 hit, pop-pickers

[Killiehibbie]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

They came from Peterhead, had a hit themselves with Arms of Mary.

Turned the radio on this morning and that was the first song I heard.

[pollution]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

They came from Peterhead, had a hit themselves with Arms of Mary.

I saw them at Aberdeen Uni union in 1980, I think.

Very hairy, if I remember.

[HibbyDave]

Don’t forget Quiver

[lapsedhibee]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Turned the radio on this morning and that was the first song I heard.

Were you in Chelsea, and are you Joni Mitchell?

[Moulin Yarns]

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?
Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.

And what about the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)

Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything......

[McD]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?
Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.

And what about the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)

Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything......

I was enjoying this, then when I got the last paragraph, I was blown away that’s incredibly interesting

[Keith_M]

Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers.


But who was Peter Piper?


Well, in the 18th century, there was a French horticulturalist and Missionary called Pierre Poivre, whose name when translated to English is Peter Pepper.

In the 1760s, Monsiuer Poivre became the colonial administrator of Mauritius, where he had a massive garden and grew plants from all over the tropics. He was also instrumental in breaking the Dutch monopoly over the import and export of various foodstuffs grown in that region, and opened up the market to other European countries, and eventually the US, for which he became quite well known.

Among many other types of foodstuffs that massively increased in the levels of it's trade was, yes you've guessed it, the Pepper.

So if he's called Monsieur 'Pepper', where does the name 'Piper' come into it? Well, the word 'Piper' was actually the Old English name for 'Pepper', plus was a common surname in England, so when the rhyme was introduced in the early 1800s, most English speakers would immediately have got the reference to Monsiuer Poivre...



...although it's also possible that whoever came up with the rhyme just thought the name Piper fitted quite well and it has nothing whatsoever to do with Monsiuer Poivre. Who knows :)

[Northernhibee]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?
Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.

And what about the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)

Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything......

On the subject of horses ***** influencing the future, they also influenced our drinking.

In the 1800s, a ‘cocktail’ was a root ginger suppository given to a working horse that wasn’t pulling its weight. The discomfort of it made its tail cock up and gave it a new lease of life.

Cocktails back then were just known as “mixed drinks” up to the turn of the century and a ‘cocktail’ was just one specific mixed drink. It was only when cocktail became a term for a variety of mixed drinks this changed (I think - and I may be wrong - it was in a 1911 book by Hugo Enslin), but generally speaking a cocktail is named after a horses arse.