Astonishing Facts....

[glazbagun]

Not sure where to put this.

Scientists trying to understand the growth of the black sea at the end of the last ice age ended up discovering a whole ton of ships from the 9th to 19th century in remarkable states of preservation:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/black-...

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2109843-dozen...

In a time when the whole earth has been explored and we have 24hr realtime contact across the planet I find it facinating when things like this have been lying there for centuries oblivious to the history playing out above them.

[bongtom]

Frimley111R said:

davhill said:

Thesprucegoose said:

"pulling your legs'' comes from when people where hanged, the death was not quick, so your friends would pull your legs to kill you quicker.

I think this begs a question. Where did,'Pull the other one, it's got bells on.' Come from?

The legendary jester executions of AD1296 perhaps.

Or maybe it's from the 1642 morris dancer pogrom.

Edited by davhill on Sunday 18th March 14:26

Actually the bells one does refer to jesters but not hanging any of them. And the hanging one is also not thought to be true, from a quick google search it seems no-one really knows where the phrase came from.

I thought it was when they tied string to the dead in their grave and put a bell on the other end?

So anyway.
Super glue. Stick it in the freezer and it’ll stop it going off or blocking the nozzle.

[Narcisus]

The Sun consumes about 600 million tons of hydrogen..... Per second !

[Mr E]

Narcisus said:

The Sun consumes about 600 million tons of hydrogen..... Per second !

And at that rate it will still be a very long time before it runs out.

It may only take a photon 8 minutes to get from the suns surface to the earth, but it might take 100,000 years for the photon to make it from fusion in the core to the surface in the first place.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/04/24/...

[Narcisus]

Mr E said:

And at that rate it will still be a very long time before it runs out.

It may only take a photon 8 minutes to get from the suns surface to the earth, but it might take 100,000 years for the photon to make it from fusion in the core to the surface in the first place.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/04/24/...

Yeah that's a nice fact. Love this stuff. Just mind bending numbers !

[dromong]

Fly Fishing by J. R. Hartley is a non-existent book by a non-existent author, and became a number one bestseller and had two sequels.

[Brother D]

In the hot section of her engine the metal blades/stators are operating in gas temperatures way above their melting point.

[Johnspex]

Brother D said:

In the hot section of her engine the metal blades/stators are operating in gas temperatures way above their melting point.

Pardon? To whose blades/stators are you referring?

[gothatway]

Brother D said:

In the hot section of her engine

Is that a euphemism ?

[anonymous-user]

'Uncle Joe' Stalin's daughter became a UK citizen..

[Dr Jekyll]

Rudolf Abel, the notorious Soviet spy featured in the film 'Bridge of Spies'. Was originally called William Fisher, born on Tyneside, and never left the UK until he was 18.

[Jimmy Recard]

Dr Jekyll said:

Rudolf Abel, the notorious Soviet spy featured in the film 'Bridge of Spies'. Was originally called William Fisher, born on Tyneside, and never left the UK until he was 18.

True, but his parents were Russian and friendly with Lenin before Abel was born so there was some influence there!

[Bonefish Blues]

Bonefish Blues said:

'fraid so:

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/201...

The good news is that his last book coming out, it seems.

[Brother D]

Johnspex said:

Brother D said:

In the hot section of her engine the metal blades/stators are operating in gas temperatures way above their melting point.

Pardon? To whose blades/stators are you referring?

Ha, f'ing auto correct. Jet I meant a jet : )

[julian64]

Brother D said:

Johnspex said:

Brother D said:

In the hot section of her engine the metal blades/stators are operating in gas temperatures way above their melting point.

Pardon? To whose blades/stators are you referring?

Ha, f'ing auto correct. Jet I meant a jet : )

Really I thought the front blades were air cooled anyway in aluminium/tungsten and the rear blades were iconel or some such exotic material especially designed to have a higher melting point than the combustion. spinning in a furnace doesn't reduce the temp of the blades

[RizzoTheRat]

Brother D said:

Johnspex said:

Brother D said:

In the hot section of her engine the metal blades/stators are operating in gas temperatures way above their melting point.

Pardon? To whose blades/stators are you referring?

Ha, f'ing auto correct. Jet I meant a jet : )

These days the high temperature turbine blades are each made from single crystals of metal, with the cooling channels already in place as the crystal grows.

[Brother D]

RizzoTheRat said:

Brother D said:

Johnspex said:

Brother D said:

In the hot section of her engine the metal blades/stators are operating in gas temperatures way above their melting point.

Pardon? To whose blades/stators are you referring?

Ha, f'ing auto correct. Jet I meant a jet : )

These days the high temperature turbine blades are each made from single crystals of metal, with the cooling channels already in place as the crystal grows.

Also the blades have laser cut cooling holes.
And highly proprietary ceramic coatings applied by physical vapour deposition.

My final year dissertation was on coatings used.

Rough overview here which is quite interesting

http://www.phase-trans.msm.cam.ac.uk/2003/Superall...

[MrJuice]

I was at the butterfly.exhibition at the natural.history museum. There were two benches both with interesting.facts on the back rests

1. It take one million water droplets to make a drop of rain

2. There are more living organisms in a tablespoon of soil than people on earth

[toastybase]

Before the internet, the Pistonheads forum was held in Wokingham town hall every Thursday between 7–10pm.

Opinions were spoken through a letterbox with the members wearing blindfolds and the records written down and sent out by post.

[toastybase]

Before the internet, the Pistonheads forum was held in Wokingham town hall every Thursday between 7–10pm.

Opinions were spoken through a letterbox with the members wearing blindfolds and the records written down and sent out by post.