Useless Facts

March 30, 2018, 03:54 PM

smithnsig

Useless Facts

quote:
Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
In WWII, the Italian armed forces were the only troops in the war wearing boots with rubber soles, and the first to do so in the world. Vibram boot soles, named for the inventor Vittorio Brimani, have been quite popular since.

Similarly, in Germany Adolph and Rudolf Dassler were shoe makers in the 1920's. They designed the first modern athletic shoe. When the Berlin Olympics rolled around, they knew they had a chance to make their name. They approached Jesse Owens as he exited a bus upon arrival in Berlin and made a deal with him. He wore their shoes to win his events. Fast forward a bit, and the war breaks out. Adolph joins the SS and allegedly becomes a party member, Rudolph doesn't. Postwar, they become rivals over this, with Adolph starting his own brand based off his nickname "Adi" and the first part of his last name, Dassler and Adidas was born. Rudolph named his company Puma, and they settled to seperate parts of their hometown of Herzogenaurach, which is divided by a river. To this day, there's a rivalry reflecting the brother's falling out during wartime with the two football clubs in the town each having chosen a respective brand label: Puma on one side of the river and Adidas on the other.

The reason they had a falling out was that Rudolph resented Adolph’s young wife interjecting herself in business decisions. Rudolph hated Adolph’s wife.

March 30, 2018, 05:34 PM

flashguy

Here are 2 English words that have each of the vowels once and once only, in alphabetical order:

facetiously
abstemiously

flashguy

March 30, 2018, 07:08 PM

PHPaul

quote:
Originally posted by smithnsig:
quote:
Originally posted by StorminNormin:
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver and purple.

You’ve obviously never had a purple nurple.

Owwwwwwwww. Flashback to high school...

March 30, 2018, 07:13 PM

P220 Smudge

quote:
Originally posted by smithnsig:
The reason they had a falling out was that Rudolph resented Adolph’s young wife interjecting herself in business decisions. Rudolph hated Adolph’s wife.

Thanks, I had heard it the other way but that makes a lot more sense, honestly.

March 30, 2018, 09:25 PM

jigray3

quote:
Originally posted by tacfoley:

Those little pimples on a golf ball actually help to streamline it, and make it travel further.

tac

Yes, dimples help a golf ball go farther, but, technically, rather than "streamilne" they create a turbulent layer that clings to the surface and in conjunction with spin provides lift. The lift is why the ball goes farther.

This attribute was discovered by accident when it was noticed that older scarred balls flew farther than new ones. Shortly thereafter, caddies were put to work hammering small imperfections in newly rolled golf balls.

March 30, 2018, 10:24 PM

flashguy

quote:
Originally posted by jigray3:
quote:
Originally posted by tacfoley:

Those little pimples on a golf ball actually help to streamline it, and make it travel further.

tac

Yes, dimples help a golf ball go farther, but, technically, rather than "streamilne" they create a turbulent layer that clings to the surface and in conjunction with spin provides lift. The lift is why the ball goes farther.

This attribute was discovered by accident when it was noticed that older scarred balls flew farther than new ones. Shortly thereafter, caddies were put to work hammering small imperfections in newly rolled golf balls.

And the Mythbusters actually put dimples on a car to see if doing so would improve its gas mileage--it did.

flashguy

March 31, 2018, 09:17 AM

egregore

On the back side of the old-style ten-spot, there were four automobiles.

April 04, 2018, 08:03 AM

ffips

The world's largest ball of twine is in Cawker City, KS.

April 04, 2018, 01:12 PM

zoom6zoom

quote:
And the Mythbusters actually put dimples on a car to see if doing so would improve its gas mileage--it did.

It never worked when my girlfriend did it... of course, she didn't have a system.

April 04, 2018, 01:17 PM

smithnsig

quote:
Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
quote:
Originally posted by smithnsig:
The reason they had a falling out was that Rudolph resented Adolph’s young wife interjecting herself in business decisions. Rudolph hated Adolph’s wife.

Thanks, I had heard it the other way but that makes a lot more sense, honestly.

I read what you did. I then listened to a podcast about business giants and how they became so. They debunked the Nazi story, but said that was widely reported.

April 04, 2018, 01:49 PM

LS1 GTO

quote:
Originally posted by heathtx:
The belly radiator of a P51 Mustang generated forward thrust by the Meredith Effect.

That just sent me down a path of research. Never heard of the Meredith Effect, thank you.

April 04, 2018, 04:29 PM

PR64

The origin of the word shit...

Shit originated from the ships that were transporting manure aka fertilizer. when the bags would get wet they would off gas methane and when the crew went down there with lamps or torches they would blow up

To counter this they started marking the manure bags with the letters S H I T = Ship High In Transit.

The rest as they say is history.

April 06, 2018, 06:41 AM

V-Tail

Evelyn Wood moves her lips when she reads.

April 07, 2018, 07:19 PM

Chris42

Pure aluminum melts at 1218 degrees f. Brass and bronze around 2200-2400. Steel around 3000. The oxy-acetylene flame, correctly adjusted, burns in the 5000 degree range. Everything on earth will melt at 7000 or less (approximately, including stone and diamonds) A plasma torch, commonly used in metal shops/welding shops, burns in the range of 50,000 degrees.

While the above is interesting and of some use, the core of the sun is figured to run some 27 million degrees F. Truly useless information.

I can handle 50k and have done so on numerous occasions. Actually have such a torch in my shop. Like many other tools, easy to use safely if you understand and respect the dangers involved.