Useless (but interesting) trivia

[HoosierDaddy]

Know the difference between a German Shepherd and an Alsatian? There isn’t one.British military used the dogs for tactical and patrol missions, as did the Germans. The British didn’t want to acknowledge a dog with “German” in the title.

I always thought it was to avoid being called racist as are people who use terms like Chinese virus or Canadian Bacon, etc..

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[martinjlm]

That's also the region that gave birth to the Quiche Lorraine.

Folk band the Gipsy Kings is from that region as well. They sing in a dialect which is a mixture of regional languages (it sounds like Spanish to me).

One day I landed in Frankfurt, Germany and drove from the airport to Strasbourg, France. Unpacked at the hotel and joined some colleagues for lunch in a little town in Switzerland (3 countries in the course of a few hours!). I had learned a lot of German and a little French in preparation for the trip. The waitress at the pub we went to was speaking what my Strasbourg-based colleagues called Suisse-Deutsch (Swiss-a-doytch). A fluid blend of French and German. I could make out maybe every third or fourth word she said. Those were the same colleagues who told me about the GSD / Alsatian thing. I had shown them pictures of my dog. Strasbourg is in Alsace-Lorraine. The reason it has a German sounding name is because it has changed hands between France and Germany more than a few times. Also saw some Roman aqueducts while I was there.

 

[martinjlm]

Cadillac and Lincoln are competing car brands. They were founded by the same person. Henry Leland.

Leland started out developing an engine for Oldsmobile. Then he established Cadillac in 1902. In 1909 he sold Cadillac to General Motors and stayed on as an executive. He left and founded Lincoln and eventually sold Lincoln to Ford in 1922.

 

[martinjlm]

Buick was a training ground of sorts for early auto executives.

Charles W. Nash co-founded Buick Motor Company with David Buik (correct spelling of his name. The “c” was added).

Nash left Buick to found Nash Motors which eventually became known as American Motors which eventually was absorbed into Chrysler Corporation.

Speaking of Chrysler, while he was at Buick, Nash hired a guy named Walter P. Chrysler to run Buick manufacturing operations. Walter P. went on to run Buick Motor Company after Nash left. He himself then left to found his own company, named.... yup.

 

[martinjlm]

Since I’m on a roll with car company trivia, I’ll toss this one out there.

This guy had a car, a car company, and a rock band named after him.

He is Ransom E. Olds. Founder of Oldsmobile. He made a number of revolutionary early automobiles starting years before Henry Ford got into the business. He also did some racing and made a speed wagon. The REO Speedwagon.

 

[dpAtlanta]

Did you know that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the world's population....?

 

[lacanteen]

71.35% of all statistics in a conversation are made up on the spot.

 

[dpAtlanta]

50% of ALL practicing Doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class............!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Trump has kept more promises than he even made.

 

[CrashOverride]

A blue whale's tail produces 500 horsepower of thrust and it's heart is the size of a Volkswagen.
source

On the car trivia, Velocity (Or MT TV, or whatever it's called now) did a special on the history of the automobile. It's 4.5 hours long and is done really well.

 

[lacanteen]

The city of Cincinnati has a subway system that was built but never used.

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

 

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[martinjlm]

In 1969, Niagara Falls was actually turned off so that the rocks at the bottom could be cleared out.

 

[tcman54]

Chuck Norris is the only person that can punch a cyclops between the eye.

 

[Classic Lover]

The German ww2 battleship Bismarck is one of If not the only ship to be called he rather than she by her, make that his captain and crew. The captain of the ship Lindemann said a ship named after Otto von Bismarck was too powerful a ship to be called a she.

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