Useless Facts

[100Coogn]

Useless Facts

I found some of these to be pretty interesting.  Got any that aren't on the list?

Coogan

[rpm]

I can eat 50 eggs in a hour.

[MarineUS]

here goes my free time.  


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"The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the Pacific.  When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage.  If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards.""

[ozrocker]

Cool info to know where phrases, terms originate.
I wouldn't call them useless.
But then again some people get mad when they start a discussion,
providing their "facts"( old wives tales), then you burst their bubbles with the real facts.
Used to happen with my ex all the time
Never test the ire of a German Fraulein/Frau


                                                                                                                                      Oz

[B4Buster]

Whoot Maine and our one syllable!

[GScholz]

Stephen Fry would love this...

[Mongoose]

"The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb."


This one is false.  Some years ago there was a huge push from the guardians of political correctness to banish this phrase from the English language.  Wordsmiths did some digging, and found that the phrase originated with carpenters who used their fingers, or thumbs, for crude measurements.  The phrase can be found in use well before the legal ruling stated above.    

[Butcher]

I just burned a half hour at lunch, thanks!

[100Coogn]

"The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb."


This one is false.  Some years ago there was a huge push from the guardians of political correctness to banish this phrase from the English language.  Wordsmiths did some digging, and found that the phrase originated with carpenters who used their fingers, or thumbs, for crude measurements.  The phrase can be found in use well before the legal ruling stated above.    

Perhaps the carpenters' did both.  Used 'rule of thumb' at work and then came home an beat the wife with the same rule.  (Providing she needed it of course) 

Coogan

[Hoffman]

•According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, it is possible to go slower than light and faster than light, but it is impossible to go the speed of light.  Also, there is a particle called tackyon which is supposed to go faster than light.  This means if you fire a tackyon beam, it travels before you fire it

Uhm...  just because it goes faster than I can observe it with light, doesn't mean it can travel before I can push the button.  Other than that, funny list.

[Masherbrum]

Kilo02/Boris/Sukov is the ultimate Aces High board authority. 

[Seanaldinho]

Uhm...  just because it goes faster than I can observe it with light, doesn't mean it can travel before I can push the button.  Other than that, funny list.

Its called a theory for  a reason 

[guncrasher]

the thing about the horse is how people died is false too.

http://www.snopes.com/military/statue.asp

I normally read snopes when i am bored.  it's a pretty good way to waste your day at work .


semp

[bozon]

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the Pacific.  When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage.  If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

I was not aware of that.

[GScholz]

It's just one of many theories as to how the "whole nine yards" phrase was invented. No one really knows for sure, but it was first seen in publications in the 1960s.