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Interesting trivia thread

derek kelly

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Simon Grayson whilst he was Leeds United manager came to view our house that was up for sale.
 

andyBeaker

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Alan Mullery was our neighbour when I was a kid living in Worcester Park. John Shilletto (sic) lived a few doors up.
 

andyBeaker

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In august 1924, when Mars was at its closest to earth for two centuries, there was a radio blackout on the hour every hour for five minutes in order that the airwaves were clear to hear any extra terrestrial signals.
 

andyBeaker

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What I learned this morning…..until 1912 internal combustion, steam and electric were vying for market domination in cars and trucks. The game changer was Cadillac introducing the first practical and reliable electric starter motor available in a mass produced car. Before then it was hand cranked or even gun powder based:eek: to start an ICE. The steam cars took around half an hour to build up pressure and electric cars were extremely short range, maybe 25 miles ish.

Interestingly electric cars were marketed almost totally the the fairer sex for their absence of manly attention needed to get them going. The cars that is. Until 1914 it was a requirement in New York that as each new ‘block’ was built public charging points for electric cars were available. Amazing how the wheel has turned…..
 

andyBeaker

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The first four Me109s were powered by Rolls Royce Kestrel engines
 

andyBeaker

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In Norway it is a legal requirement to reverse into parking spaces on construction sites for Health and Safety reasons. The same applies in the public areas of many town centres.
 

andyBeaker

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It takes 791 gallons of paint to cover the exterior of an A380 Airbus.

That’s about twenty bathtubs full.
 

derek kelly

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It takes 791 gallons of paint to cover the exterior of an A380 Airbus.

That’s about twenty bathtubs full.
Does that include primer & undercoat? Do they use red lead like they (used to) do on ships, what if the plane was ahorrible purple colour & they wanted to paint it white? That would take a few coats.
 

Malone

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I watched a programme a couple of days ago about painting planes. They have to strip off all of the old paint and repaint it fully because the extra weight of all the original paint would cost them passengers. They carefully mask up windows and some metalwork, then spray on the paint stripper, wait a few hours and then power wash off the paint. Then primer and top coat.
 

derek kelly

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In the early 1900’s wealthy people used to send letters wrapped in pigskin, George Bernard Shaw had an idea for a play but no title so he wrote to his brother “Ian” the postman knocked on Ian’s door & said “you’ve got pig mail Ian”
 

andyBeaker

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I watched a programme a couple of days ago about painting planes. They have to strip off all of the old paint and repaint it fully because the extra weight of all the original paint would cost them passengers. They carefully mask up windows and some metalwork, then spray on the paint stripper, wait a few hours and then power wash off the paint. Then primer and top coat.
And to think they say watching paint dry isn’t interesting!
 

Minkey

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1845 the first hydraulic crane was designed by William Armstrong a lawyer in Newcastle upon Tyne
 

andyBeaker

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At just over 500 feet The Great Pyramid at Giza is believed to have be been the tallest man made structure for over 4,000 years.

It is comprised of over 2.3 million blocks and was originally clad in a smooth finished white limestone.
 

derek kelly

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At just over 500 feet The Great Pyramid at Giza is believed to have be been the tallest man made structure for over 4,000 years.

It is comprised of over 2.3 million blocks and was originally clad in a smooth finished white limestone.
From B&Q’s budget range.
 

Malone

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10 months ago I found that I could download books and read them by Kindle in my iPad. After getting a couple of websites to use I’ve since downloaded well over 1000 titles and I’m working my way through them, rediscovering my passion for reading -it’s so much easier than a paperback book. And they were all free.

To date I’ve now read 193 novels in that time. I’m impressed.
 

derek kelly

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I have had kindles for about five years now & have read every day or night since, couldn’t say how many books I’ve read but I’ve read all Solomon Carter books (he emails me when he’s got a new one coming out) I’ve also read all Simon McLeave’s books.
 

Duck n Dive

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In January 2003 the shuttle challenger met it's demise with the sad loss of all on board.

The problem that led to the disaster had been spotted at launch - spray on foam insulation detached and struck a wing leading edge tile.

NASA consulted Boeing and their engineers provided the following slide as their advice. Boeing believed they'd warned, NASA that they'd reassured!

1_GD1zy4JXQgrvHemI_-NN1A.png
 

andyBeaker

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When Chevrolet introduced the first Corvette in 1963 there was not a single option or choice available. They were all white bodywork with a red interior.;;The initial production run was only 300 cars ….which failed to,sell.

As an aside, While looking extremely cool (imagine seeing it for the first time in 1953!) they are truly awful cars, and positively undriveable for anyone above 5’8”. I tried to sit in one a while back and couldn’t get in…even if I could my eyeline would have been above the windscreen surround.

A good original 53 will today cost somewhere in the region of US$700,000to US$1,200,000



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