Did You Know.....

[W. Gray]

Thanks Larry, I had not heard of the British calling a glove box a jockey box but here are some automobile differences I have heard of:

British to American

Bonnet – Hood
Boot – Trunk
Cubby Box – Glove box
Damper - shock absorber
fascia - dashboard
hood - convertible top
Lorry - Truck
Silencer - Muffler
[My favorite] Torch - Flashlight
Windscreen – Windshield
Petrol – Gasoline
Tyre – Tire
MOT – DOT (Ministry of Transportation-Department of Transportation)

And what we call an alligator clip, the British call a crocodile clip.

Also, I can recall when heaters were an extra cost option on all cars. An included heater became standard sometime in the late 60s and maybe even later. Don't know about air conditioning or automatic transmission.

I remember talking to a salesmen when I was wanting a '61 Ford and he said a heater was optional because some areas of the country, such as Florida, did not need one. I thought at the time it was weak thinking, if that was the thinking.

And I remember those shallow cup holders. You had to grab the cup when turning or coming to a stop. They were hardly functional. Dont know what Detroit was thinking about with those things.

[Diane Amberg]

 Very Interesting. If I'm still allowed to post something, my new 1970 Ford Maverick didn't have a glove box either, just an open shelf in the same place. I kept nothing there. I put all the stuff in a box under the driver's seat instead.

[larryJ]

Speaking of air conditioners..................do you remember the tubular things that hung on the passenger window with ice water in them?  There was an air intake in the front and an outlet to let the cool air into the car.  I seem to remember the only person to benefit from this thing was the front seat passenger.

Larryj

[jarhead]

Remember them well Larry. Back when I was a lad I rode in the back seat of an early 50's Chevy to Martinville, Arkansas, that had one in the passenger window. When the driver hit a rough RR crossing I would get a liberal dash of cold water slung on me. Wasn't much different than riding in the back of Pops's 51 Desoto with the windows down and him chewing Beech-Nut chaw 

[W. Gray]

If they were on the right front passenger window side, I remember them and knew they were for cooling but never came in contact with one. You could also get little fans that sat on the dashboard.

There was a time in the early 50s when I thought that those who had air conditioned cars were considered to be rich folks.

[Warph]

.....Athletes can be attached, (figuratively, of course) to their uniform numbers.  Famously, the wide receiver born Chad Johnson renamed himself "Chad Ochocinco," a Spanish-ish reference to his uniform number, 85.  ("Ocho Cinco" is "Eight Five;" "eighty five" would be "ochenta y cinco.")  In the world of sports, especially when superstitions can be exceptional, a player's uniform number is not simply a random designation.  But when a player changes teams, sometimes, his much-loved uniform number is already taken.  What is a superstar to do? 

Pony up.

In 1993, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson found himself traded, shipped off by the Oakland A's to Toronto.  He had worn #24 since joining the Yankees in 1985 (save for a few weeks in 1989) and wanted to don that same number, now as a member of the Blue Jays.  But another outfielder, Turner Ward, already had #24.  Henderson saw an easy solution.  Ward's salary for the season was $160,000; Henderson's was north of $3 million -- and he received $300,000 extra in exchange for consenting to the trade.  Henderson wrote Ward a check for $25,000 for the number. 

Since then, pro sports have seen similar exchanges.  Pitcher Roger Clemens gave slugging first baseman Carlos Delgado a Rolex, valued at $20,000, for uniform #21.  Former NBA player Vin Baker once bought his number from another player for the relative bargain price of $10,000.   In 2007, NFL player Jason Simmons used the opportunity to do a good deed, giving new teammate Ahman Green #30 if Green agreed to pay the down payment on a home for a disadvantaged single-parent family.

Former NFL punter Jeff Feagles is one of the few who has been able to sell a number twice -- although with mixed results.  His first transaction, with quarterback Eli Manning, went smoothly, and Feagles got a family vacation to Florida out of the deal.  His second one, however, did not go so well.  When wide receiver Plaxico Burress joined the New York Giants in 2005, he bought #18 off Feagles in exchange for an outdoor kitchen.  But as of August 2010, Feagles had not received the kitchen. (Apparently, this was unrelated to the fact that by this point, Burress was in prison for accidentally shooting himself in the leg at a New York City night club.)

While hiccups in these transactions are rare, Feagles' story isn't the only one.  In 2004, NFL running back Clinton Portis offered new Washington Redskins' teammate Ifeanyi Ohalete $40,000 for uniform #26, payable in three payments.  (Why Portis requested a payment plan is left unknown.)  Before the final $20,000 payment was made, the Redskins cut Ohalete from the team, so Portis, figuring that Ohalete's claim to the number had lapsed, refused to keep making payments. 

Ohalete sued, and the two settled for $38,000 total -- but not before Portis suggested an alternative resolution (which sadly, never happened): a boxing match.

Bonus fact:  In 1990, Rickey Henderson signed a five year, $8.5 million contract with the A's, which included a $1 million signing bonus.  About a year later, the A's were trying to balance their books, and kept coming up $1 million short.  The team called Henderson and asked him what he did with the check.  His answer: He put it up on his wall, uncashed, as a daily reminder that he was a millionaire.

[Warph]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

..... that the following article, "Mystery Tome" is from a book called the Voynich Manuscript.  Nearly everything about the book is a mystery.  We don't know who wrote it.  We don't know when he wrote it, or why.  We don't know what language it is in nor what script was used to write it -- the whole thing is unpronounceable gibberish.  We can recognize some of the illustrations -- there is one on most pages -- but only in general terms (e.g. herbs or zodiac signs) but do not know why they are there.   The consensus is that it's a pharmacology book, but that's clearly a guess.

The manuscript is, in its current state, 240 pages of vellum (a type of parchment).   It is named for Wilfrid Michael Voynich, bookseller from the early 1900s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_M._Voynich
....who came into its possession in 1912 and popularized the inherent mystery to the book; Voynich hoped to "prove" that the book was a long lost tome of famed philosopher Roger Bacon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon
.....which would make it exceptionally valuable.  (Indeed, some think the book is a hoax, intended by Voynich to defraud a purchaser out of a princely sum.)

The manuscript has some striking features, suggesting that it actually does mean something -- at least to the author.  The text is written left to right with an irregular right margin, and the pen strokes used suggest that the author was, at least in his mind, writing something intelligible.   The glyphs used to spell the "words" used are consistent throughout the manuscript, forming what appears to be an alphabet of twenty to thirty unique characters.   And these "words" follow rough rules of language -- some letters only appear with other letters; some letters appear only at the beginning/end of words; words appear in bunches around certain topics (as delineated by the illustrations).  All of this, combined, suggests that the Voynich Manuscript's corpus consists of a cohesive discussion about something.

But to date, no one knows what it all means.  Cryptographers since World War I have attempted to interpret it but to no avail.   Some researchers have managed to carbon date the vellum, placing it as near certainly created in the early 1400s -- so the book is probably not that of Bacon's, as he died in 1294.  Researchers have broken the illustrations into categories, with illustrations of astrological terms most readily apparent

Theories as to the manuscript's origins are as infinite as the mysteries the book provides.  It may be a hoax, but if it is, it is by far the most elaborate one from its time period -- unnecessarily so, given the Medieval period's relatively weak deciphering tools -- and without clear motivation.  Some believe that the book is the product of a delusional mind which managed to piece together a fake language known only to the author.  Finally, there are nearly a dozen suspected possible legitimate authors of the manuscript, but the reasons for the encryption are all suspect. See an example below:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voynich_Manuscript_%28121%29.jpg

In all, the Voynich manuscript is considered by many to be the world's most mysterious publication.

Bonus fact:  Roger Bacon, one of the earliest advocates for the modern-day scientific method, had calendars as a particular interest.... he found the now nearly-defunct Julian calendar to be a mathematical abomination.  The Gregorian calendar (the one we use today) suffers from many of the same flaws.  In 1930, a Brooklyn woman proposed the "World Calendar," which solved many of the mathematical problems by, amongst other things, creating a day just before New Year's Day (at the expense of December 31st) called "Worldsday."  The inclusion of Worldsday would ensure that January 1 was always a Sunday (and December 30 always a Saturday) as Worldsday would be outside of the parlance of the normal week.  The proposal failed to find adoption when religious group pointed out that their holidays followed seven day cycles and could not simply ignore the presence of Worldsday

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Calendar

[Warph]

...that you should live every day as if it is your last.  That may be easier said than done.  But what if you really knew the exact day when will the world end?

There have been and still are many End-of-World predictions:

In the year 70, Rabbi Jose, the Galilean, predicted that the world would end in the year 130.

In 90 CE, Saint Clement 1 predicted that the world would end at any moment.
Apparently a writer called Tichonus predicted the end of the world would take place in the year 381.

Both Hyppolytus (170-236) and Lactantius (250-330) put the date at about the year 500.

In the 900s, many predicted that the year 1000 would be the end of time.

In 1147, Gerard of Poehlde said the world would end in 1306.

In 1179, John of Toledo predicted the end of the world during 1186.

Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202) suggested the world might end at around the year 1300.

Mother Shipton (1488-1561) predicted the world would end in 1881.

In the early 1500s, Zwickau prophets (a Christian sect) believed that the world would end soon (around 1520).

Joseph Smith (b. 1805, founder of the Latter Day Saints movement, the Mormons) said, "I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, and let it be written.... the Son of Man will not come in the clouds of heaven till I am eighty-five years old."  Which would have been the year 1890... but he was assassinated in 1844.

In 1836, John Wesley (co-founder of the Methodist Church) wrote that "the time, times and half a time" of Revelation 12:14 were 1058 and 1836, "when Christ should come."  His brother Charles (the other co-founder) predicted in 1794 that Doomsday would take place in that year.

In 1874, Charles Taze Russell predicted the Rapture in 1910 and the end of the world in 1914.

When the Jews reclaimed Jerusalem in 1967 many predicted the end of time is near.

Isaac Newton calculated that the world will end in 2060.

Nostradamus predicted it to be the year 3786 or 3797.

The Islamic faith Qiyamah (the Day of Resurrection) is predicted "When immorality overtakes shamelessness and is perpetrated publicly," amongst other things.

And, according to The Bible, in Matt 24:36 : "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

In the meantime, try to live every day as if it is your last.  Smile more and love more.



Bonus Fact:  More "End of the World Predictions"  http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm

[Diane Amberg]

If the ancients could "see" solar flares I can understand where some of these old predictions could come from. We've got a big build up again right now on through 2012.
I could start some great rumors for the people who believe anything negative, about the electro magnetic forces from the coming solar flares stopping pacemakers, ruining solar panels, frying everyone's computer, causing birds to get lost, and power surges setting peoples' houses on fire.
Maybe I can really write that up and sell it to National Inquirer for big bucks.
There will really be some minimal problems but not worse than any other time of increased solar activity .It's being planned for right now. Should make for some beautiful Auroras though.

[Warph]

....If the government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles?

....23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts.

....the "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

....there are actually two types of humans? The slightly larger and less intelligent kind, males, have protruding external genitalia called "penises" that are used for making important life decisions. Meanwhile, females have these nifty things called "vaginas" that no one understands yet, especially males.

....If you could count the number of times a cricket chirps in one minute, divide by 2, add 9 and divide by 2 again, you would have the correct temperature in celcius degrees... How do they know that?

....The Dutch town of Leeuwarden can be spelled 225 different ways-

1. Leeuwaarden
2. Leewaarden
3. Leewarden
4. Leuwarden
5. leuwaardenn
6. Leuuwarrden......
224. Bradford

....If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds recieved in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.