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Useless (but interesting) trivia

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lacanteen

lacanteen

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The picture is probably just a reference to make the story more interesting. There weren't many cameras around back then. If true, both cars were probably from the same area and the owners probably knew each other and were probably racing.
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The picture is probably just a reference to make the story more interesting. There weren't many cameras around back then. If true, both cars were probably from the same area and the owners probably knew each other and were probably racing.
I believe they were leaving the 1st ever cars and coffee.
 

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The water hose has technically been around since over 2000 years ago when the ancient Greeks found that they could use ox intestines connected to bladders to pump water onto fires.
 

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The picture is probably just a reference to make the story more interesting. There weren't many cameras around back then. If true, both cars were probably from the same area and the owners probably knew each other and were probably racing.
Could be. Equally likely they were test vehicles owned by the same builder. There were a lot of companies working to build “horseless carriages” in the late 1890s. Usually they were bicycle manufacturers or coach builders adding motors to their products.

Since the 1st acknowledged sale of a car in the US didn’t happen until 1898 (in Cleveland) and the accident is reported to have happened in 1895, I’m inclined to believe it was an accident involving prototypes or test units.
 

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AZlb5.0

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The Saguaro Cactus, found in South-western United States does not grow branches until it is 75 years old.
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More useless saguaro trivia. The saguaro is the largest cactus in the United States. Most of the saguaros roots are only 4-6 inches deep and radiate out as far from the plant as it is tall. There is one deep root, or tap root that extends down into the ground more than 2 feet.
 

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Today’s topic… sperm whales.
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The name: In the early 1700s a whaling ship killed one and dragged it ashore. By the time they got it to shore it was covered in a white waxy substance. They assumed it was… yup. So now that’s the name. Eventually they realized the substance came from the big head, not the little one and called the substance “spermaceti”. They also found out it was more useful as a lamp fuel than the blubber from the Right Whales they were used to hunting. Other uses for the liquid were found and the sperm whales were hunted almost to the point of extinction.

The big head: Serves a number of purposes, one of which is potentially deadly. It helps the whale maintain buoyancy as well as manage long dives to the deepest parts of the ocean where it does its best hunting. There are also several complicated structures in those big ol’ heads that allow them to make a number of sounds that range from clicks to loud hammering bangs. These noises are used to locate food via sonar and to communicate with each other. Some scientists think there is evidence that some of the whales use specific sequences of clicks to call each other “by name” .

Killer voice: They make the loudest sounds of any animal on the planet. The huge head serves as sort of an echo chamber, multiplying the resonance to reach volume of more than 200 decibels. There are reported instances where scientists studying sperm whales have been impacted by the vibrations produced by some of their sounds to a point where they’ve experienced temporary paralysis in some limbs. In one case, a scientist’s arm was immobilized for several hours. Scientists hypothesize that at its potential loudest, the sound from a sperm whale may be able to vibrate a human to death.
 

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Do you like using QR codes? They were invented by automotive supplier Denso to help them manage inventory.
 

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The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought Captain John DS. Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was LAT 0Âş 31' N and LONG 179 30' W.

The date was 31 December 1899. "Know what this means?" First Mate Payton broke in, "We're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line".

Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. He called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship's position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed.

The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At mid-night the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The consequences of this bizarre position were many:

The forward part (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer.
The rear (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter.
The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899.
In the bow (forward) part it was 1 January 1900.

This ship was therefore not only in:
Two different days,
Two different months,
Two different years,
Two different seasons,
But in two different centuries,
All at the same time!
 

HoosierDaddy

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The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought Captain John DS. Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was LAT 0Âş 31' N and LONG 179 30' W.

The date was 31 December 1899. "Know what this means?" First Mate Payton broke in, "We're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line".

Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. He called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship's position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed.

The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At mid-night the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The consequences of this bizarre position were many:

The forward part (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer.
The rear (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter.
The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899.
In the bow (forward) part it was 1 January 1900.

This ship was therefore not only in:
Two different days,
Two different months,
Two different years,
Two different seasons,
But in two different centuries,
All at the same time!
Even more useless trivia is that nobody ever told Captain Phillips 1900 is in the same century as 1899. Century changed at the end of 1900 not the start of it.
 
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lacanteen

lacanteen

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