The Thought for the day...

[Iconic Ride]

The earth is spinning at roughly 1041 MPH

This cannot possibly be true, Jeremy. As everyone knows (despite recurrent and persistent claims to the contrary), the earth is flat, and you would be flung off into space. Unless, of course, you happened to reside at the center of the disc, and even then you would need to employ a "tether" for any forays towards the circumference. To date, my travels have revealed no such tethers, therefore I must conclude that the disc is stationary.

[mayevora]

 

Did you know…………..the First World War will end this Sunday.  The guns may have fallen quiet 92 years ago, but the war will only officially conclude this weekend when Germany pays back the final instalment of reparations.

 

Under the Treaty of Versailles Germany had to pay 226 billion Reichmarks (£24 billion at the time) in compensation to the ravaged nations of Belgium and France and to the Allies to cover some of the costs of the war.  The amount owed was later reduced to 132 billion Reichmarks.  Most of the money goes to individuals, pension funds and corporations holding debenture bonds.

 

 

 

[Advantage]

With the end of WW1 in mind, ever thought how it would be described if it were a bar fight?

[Kimbers]

In Redondo Beach, Calif., a police officer arrested a driver after a short chase and charged him with drunk driving. Officer Joseph Fonteno's suspicions were aroused when he saw the white Mazda MX-7 rolling down Pacific Coast Highway with half of a traffic-light pole, including the lights, lying across its hood. The driver had hit the pole on a median strip and simply kept driving. According to Fonteno, when the driver was asked about the pole, he said, "It came with the car when I bought it."

The same man who led the attack on the Alamo, Mexican Military General, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, is also credited with the invention of chewing gum.

[molemot]

Back in the dark distant days of the last century, when long hair was in vogue for the young male population....I was working for the London Fire Brigade. One of the members of the Brigade had been warned about the length of his hair on several occasions...as it was very long and his superiors considered it, reasonably enough, to be a fire hazard. He...being that sort of chap...did nothing to crop the crop, as it were..and finally he was dismissed the service.

Of course, there followed the usual claim for Wrongful Dismissal...and it finally came to court. Speeches were made, pleas were heard...and in the end, it came down to the defence's claim that human hair was so naturally resistant to catching fire that the hazard was negligeable. To prove this, the defence lawyer took a cigarette lighter and held it to his own hair....

Sadly, he was one of these bouffant types who used hair spray.......!!

Forunately, this being a Fire Brigade hearing, he was swiftly extinguished....as was the claim for wrongful dismissal!!

[Iconic Ride]

Further incredibly useless information on Santa Anna:

"In 1838, Santa Anna had a chance for redemption from the loss of Texas. After Mexico rejected French demands for financial compensation for losses suffered by French citizens, France sent forces that landed in Veracruz, Mexico in the Pastry War. The Mexican government gave Santa Anna control of the army and ordered him to defend the nation by any means necessary. He engaged the French at Veracruz. During Mexican retreat after a failed assault, Santa Anna was hit in the leg and hand by cannon fire. His shattered ankle required amputation of much of his leg, which he ordered buried with full military honors."

"Santa Anna famously used a prosthetic cork leg; during the Mexican-American War, it was captured and kept by American troops. The false leg is displayed at the Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield. The Mexican government has repeatedly asked for its return."^[7]

[molemot]

From my mis-spent youth at the Hammersmith Folk Centre...we used to sing shanties:

O! Santianna fought for fame!

Away Santianna!

And Santianna gained a name

All on the plains of Mexico!

Mexico, Mexico,

Away Santianno!

Mexico is a place I know!

All on the plains of Mexico!

O! Santianna had a wooden leg

Heave away, Santianna!

He used it for a wooden peg (this line was always accompanied by a rude gesture, right hand on left bicep and left fist clenched..)

All on the plains of Mexico!

Chorus:

Heave her up, and away we'll go

Heave away, Santianna!

Heave her up, and away we'll go

All on the plains of Mexico'''

O! Santianna fought for his gold

Heave away, Santianna!

The deeds he did have oft been told

All on the plains of Mexico

Chorus

O! Santianna gain'd the day,

Heave away, Santianna!

He gain'd the day at Molly-Del-Rey*.

All on the plains of Mexico

Chorus

He won the day at Molly-Del-Rey,

Heave away, Santianna!

And General Taylor he ran away.

All on the plains of Mexico

Chorus

O! Santianna fought for his life,

Heave away, Santianna!

He gained his way in the terrible strife.

All on the plains of Mexico

Chorus

O! Santianna's men were brave,

Heave away, Santianna!

Many found a hero's grave.

All on the plains of Mexico!

Chorus

O! Santianna's day is o'er,

Heave away, Santianna!

Santianna will fight no more.

All on the plains of Mexico!

Chorus

O! Santianna's day is gorn,

Heave away, Santianna!

We left him buried off Cape Horn.

All on the plains of Mexico!

Chorus

We dug his grave with a golden spade,

Heave away, Santianna!

And marked the spot where he was laid.

All on the plains of Mexico.....

[Iconic Ride]

A fine Irish drinking song if ever there were one, John.

[ramjet]

I had a thought today, but it's a secret...

[gghc87]

oh go on do say, I wont tell anyone

[jkr]

two wrongs don't make a right

but three rights make a left

arguments for RHD vs. LHD discussions:

the left is right

and the right is wrong

[Kimbers]

Just found this quote on a funny quote site, from someone we all know well.

"The secret of a successful marriage is not to be at home too much."

Colin Chapman.

[Jussi]

"Back and alive"

[Bibs]

[USAndretti42]

I second that emoticon.

[Jussi]

Thanks guys ....okay, today's: "Silently checking and studying this lost world" ....ehh that means this forum, perhaps

[mayevora]

Welcome back that man!

[lotus4s]

[USAndretti42]

We need pictures, Jussi.

[andydclements]

Good to hear from you again Jussi.

[Roger 912]

OK, so we have the best brains in the World on this Forum as we all own the best car in the World. Right, can someone please tell me why a pair of scales, that one stands on to weigh themselves, shows a higher reading when the scales are placed on a carpet than should they be on placed tiles. Another worry is if the sun and the moon can move huge amounts of water shown by the tides, why does our weight not vary with the moon and the suns position. Another for good measure is how come one can have a high tide on both sides of the Earth when both the moon and the sun are on the one side only. Most confusing.

Edited October 18, 2010 by Roger 912

[Bibs]

The feet of the scales should be on a solid surface, if not they'll sink into the carpet and the base of the scales will take some of the load therefore reducing the indicated weight.

The moon does affect your weight, you'll weight a discernible amount less with the moon overhead than when it's directly below you.

The sun doesn't affect tides very much, it's mainly the moon and a lot of the water follows it's gravitational pull. Think of the oceans as being stretched up towards the moon, the other side of the planet is squeezed as it's got nowhere else to go when being forced by the perpendicular low tides.

[molemot]

Neap and spring tides......the tidal range varies depending on the relative positions of the sun and moon.

The tides which we see in the oceans are due to the pull of the Moon and the Sun. The simplest explanation is that the water on the side of the Earth closest to the Moon is pulled, by the Moon's gravitational force, more strongly than is the bulk of the Earth; whereas the water on the side furthest from the Moon is pulled less strongly than the Earth. The effect is to make bulges in the water on opposite sides of the Earth. The effect of the Sun's pull is similar and the tides that we see are the net effect of both pulls.

When the pull from the Sun adds to that of the Moon the tides are large and we call them Spring tides whereas when the pulls are at 90 degrees the tides are small and we call them Neap tides. The heights of spring tides are governed by the distance of the Moon from the Earth, being largest at Perigee (when the Moon is closest to the Earth) and smallest at Apogee (when the Moon is at its furthest).

Because the Sun's pull is aligned with that of the Moon at New Moon and Full Moon these are the times when Spring Tides occur. The pull of the Sun is less than half that of the Moon and so the frequency of the tides is determined by the apparent passage of the Moon around the Earth which takes just over a day. We, therefore, in most places on the Earth have two tides a day with the time of each becoming later from one day to the next by just under an hour a day. (The actual period is, of course, determined by the rotation of the Earth and the orbit of the Moon.) As an aside, since Easter is set by the moon, that's also why the tides are always at crap times over the Easter hols!!

The difference between Spring Tides, where the sun's gravity assists, and Neap Tides, where it opposes can be quite significant. I've just had a shufti at the tide table for London Bridge, and in October the maximum Spring tide seems to be High of 7.4 metres and Low of 0.3 metres...a range of 7.1 metres..whereas Neap tides give a High of 5.5 metres and a Low of 2.1 metres, a range of only 3.4 metres. So the sun does make a very significant difference!!

Edited October 18, 2010 by molemot

[Jussi]

"Remember your medication"

Yep, I got flu....damn these finnish summer conditions...

Back to that Talisker 20year bottle