Astonishing Facts....

[RizzoTheRat]

Ayahuasca said:

nonsequitur said:

Nimby said:

(Probably first saw this on PH)

It's the eastern-most end of the Panama Canal that joins the Pacific Ocean

When ships transit the locks of the canal they are pulled by 'Mules', little trains moving along the lock side. The clearance at the sides of large ocean liners is less than a metre.

Au contraire, they are not pulled by the mules. The mules only keep the ship centered. They ships move forward under their own propulsion

Apparently if the canal's narrow enough, the ship naturally self centres due to water trying to get past on both sides, this according to a chap who's sailed a warship through the Corinth Canal.

Random internet pic...

[Halmyre]

Ayahuasca said:

nonsequitur said:

Nimby said:

(Probably first saw this on PH)

It's the eastern-most end of the Panama Canal that joins the Pacific Ocean

When ships transit the locks of the canal they are pulled by 'Mules', little trains moving along the lock side. The clearance at the sides of large ocean liners is less than a metre.

Au contraire, they are not pulled by the mules. The mules only keep the ship centered. They ships move forward under their own propulsion

I think the new locks use tugs, but I'm not sure if they're just for position keeping or for, er, tugging.

[julian64]

Russian Troll Bot said:

Another Napoleonic fact - a significant proportion of the British Army did not wear red jackets. Depending on role or rank it could have also been blue, green, yellow etc.


For another random fact, adult cats virtually never meow at eachother, it's something they develop specifically to communicate with humans. Since it's a similar frequency to a baby's cry, we're hardwired to respond to it.

Cat thing isn't true. We have two adult cats. They communicate with 'meow' very commonly with each other. My wife is a cat lover and I hate cats (prefer dogs) so I'm not much for upping cats. However they do have two very distinct 'meows' they use for communication with each other. One is to say I'm bringing a mouse into the house come and have a look. They used to do this with their kittens and they still do this between themselves even though the kittens are long gone. They also have a where are you 'meow' , and when you hear this the two cats rush together look at each other as if they've just been called to arms and then wander away from each other again.

The meows are so distinct and definitive that everyone in the house can tell when a cat has bought a mouse in and rushes to retrieve it prior to the it escaping somewhere In the house. Never been wrong.

[Halmyre]

julian64 said:

Russian Troll Bot said:

Another Napoleonic fact - a significant proportion of the British Army did not wear red jackets. Depending on role or rank it could have also been blue, green, yellow etc.


For another random fact, adult cats virtually never meow at eachother, it's something they develop specifically to communicate with humans. Since it's a similar frequency to a baby's cry, we're hardwired to respond to it.

Cat thing isn't true. We have two adult cats. They communicate with 'meow' very commonly with each other. My wife is a cat lover and I hate cats (prefer dogs) so I'm not much for upping cats. However they do have two very distinct 'meows' they use for communication with each other. One is to say I'm bringing a mouse into the house come and have a look. They used to do this with their kittens and they still do this between themselves even though the kittens are long gone. They also have a where are you 'meow' , and when you hear this the two cats rush together look at each other as if they've just been called to arms and then wander away from each other again.

The meows are so distinct and definitive that everyone in the house can tell when a cat has bought a mouse in and rushes to retrieve it prior to the it escaping somewhere In the house. Never been wrong.

The noisy mogs outside my house are definitely not mewing for my benefit...

[nonsequitur]

Halmyre said:

Ayahuasca said:

nonsequitur said:

Nimby said:

(Probably first saw this on PH)

It's the eastern-most end of the Panama Canal that joins the Pacific Ocean

When ships transit the locks of the canal they are pulled by 'Mules', little trains moving along the lock side. The clearance at the sides of large ocean liners is less than a metre.

Au contraire, they are not pulled by the mules. The mules only keep the ship centered. They ships move forward under their own propulsion

I think the new locks use tugs, but I'm not sure if they're just for position keeping or for, er, tugging.

(some French stuff), No propulsion allowed through the locks.

It was 1968 and we made our passage through them there locks and it was tight, so tight that looking down amidships it looked as if we were over the edge. Them mules did a great job pullin' us through. Then blow me down we struck a submerged object which took a propellor orf. We limped to Miami on one where we had a week for repairs. Then back to blighty.
That's all Cap'n.

Edited by nonsequitur on Friday 13th April 10:26

[nonsequitur]

Mammasaid said:

nonsequitur said:

The clearance at the sides of large ocean liners is less than a metre.

That's because they're Panamax sized;

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

Before my time. We went through the hard way when sailors were real sailors.

[Halmyre]

nonsequitur said:

Mammasaid said:

nonsequitur said:

The clearance at the sides of large ocean liners is less than a metre.

That's because they're Panamax sized;

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

Before my time. We went through the hard way when sailors were real sailors.

Did you work your passage?

[nonsequitur]

Halmyre said:

nonsequitur said:

Mammasaid said:

nonsequitur said:

The clearance at the sides of large ocean liners is less than a metre.

That's because they're Panamax sized;

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

Before my time. We went through the hard way when sailors were real sailors.

Did you work your passage?

No, but it requires decorating.

[Ayahuasca]

nonsequitur said:

Halmyre said:

Ayahuasca said:

nonsequitur said:

Nimby said:

(Probably first saw this on PH)

It's the eastern-most end of the Panama Canal that joins the Pacific Ocean

When ships transit the locks of the canal they are pulled by 'Mules', little trains moving along the lock side. The clearance at the sides of large ocean liners is less than a metre.

Au contraire, they are not pulled by the mules. The mules only keep the ship centered. They ships move forward under their own propulsion

I think the new locks use tugs, but I'm not sure if they're just for position keeping or for, er, tugging.

(some French stuff), No propulsion allowed through the locks.

It was 1968 and we made our passage through them there locks and it was tight, so tight that looking down amidships it looked as if we were over the edge. Them mules did a great job pullin' us through. Then blow me down we struck a submerged object which took a propellor orf. We limped to Miami on one where we had a week for repairs. Then back to blighty.
That's all Cap'n.

Edited by nonsequitur on Friday 13th April 10:26

No buddy. Ships go through the canal under their own steam and under the command of a local pilot. The mules just keep them centred. By the way from where I write this I can see the Pacific end of the canal. Some friends of mine work on it including the guy in charge of the tug boat fleet and some canal pilots.

See here: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/projects/locomotive.ht...





See how the locomotive is pulling the ship in, rather than along? Another one is doing the same thing on the other side.





The new locks do indeed use tugs instead of locomotives. Function is still to keep the ship centred.

The new locks operate in parallel to the old 1914 ones.

All the water in the canal is rainwater. Now that is astonishing!

[Dixy]

All the water on the planet has probably come down as rain thousands of times.

[S6PNJ]

Ayahuasca said:

See how the locomotive is pulling the ship in, rather than along? Another one is doing the same thing on the other side.

Are the loco's clamped onto the rails or what stops them from being pulled in?

[Ayahuasca]

Dixy said:

All the water on the planet has probably come down as rain thousands of times.

True. The canal water is rain that fell in the last few months. It collects in a couple of man made lakes and is fed into the canal. Every time the lock gates are opened tons of it escapes into the sea. Any freshwater fish that were in it die in the salt water. The crocodiles grow quite big eating them up.

[Nik da Greek]

Dr Jekyll said:

Another good Trafalgar fact was that the one of the French ships captured by the Royal Navy at Trafalgar was finally sunk in 1949.

My favourite Trafalgar fact is that the French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, captured along with his flagship, was eventually released by the British after years on parole. He returned to France, and traveling to Paris, was found dead in a coaching inn. Stabbed with apparently an ordinary cutlery knife, he had six wounds through his left lung and one through the heart

The French coroners recorded a verdict of suicide, in a very Blackadder "accidentally brutally cut his own head of whilst shaving" stylee

[nonsequitur]

Ayahuasca said:

No buddy. Ships go through the canal under their own steam and under the command of a local pilot.

See here: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/projects/locomotive.ht...

The canal yes, but in the 60's during my dozen or so transits, in the locks, I'm sure we were pulled through.

[Huff]

RizzoTheRat said:

Apparently if the canal's narrow enough, the ship naturally self centres due to water trying to get past on both sides, this according to a chap who's sailed a warship through the Corinth Canal.

Bernoulli's effect working in favour for once? I'm slightly surprised, actually.

[Ayahuasca]

nonsequitur said:

Ayahuasca said:

No buddy. Ships go through the canal under their own steam and under the command of a local pilot.

See here: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/projects/locomotive.ht...

The canal yes, but in the 60's during my dozen or so transits, in the locks, I'm sure we were pulled through.

No, you were not. You may have thought you were, but you were not.

[glazbagun]

Dolphins can sleep half a brain at a time.

[nonsequitur]

glazbagun said:

Dolphins can sleep half a brain at a time.

What? When they are swimming the Panama Canal? Very clever. But they are aren't they.

[nonsequitur]

Ayahuasca said:

nonsequitur said:

Ayahuasca said:

No buddy. Ships go through the canal under their own steam and under the command of a local pilot.

See here: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/projects/locomotive.ht...

The canal yes, but in the 60's during my dozen or so transits, in the locks, I'm sure we were pulled through.

No, you were not. You may have thought you were, but you were not.

[Roofless Toothless]

glazbagun said:

Dolphins can sleep half a brain at a time.

That's nothing. There's a guy on here who can sleep with one eye open.