Useless Facts

[FoFa]

An Illinois woman died in 1996 when she was smothered in the trash. But she didn't die in a tragic garbage can accident or down at the dump. The woman was an obsessive collector of trash, piling it up inside her house. One day the trash piles collapsed on top of her.

 

[fuzzygeek]

The mouse house:

http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/news/5972914/detail.html


...

The poor guy had no insurance on his house. I guess now that he'll barely squeak by.

 

[selenau837]

On Dec 27th, 1933, America’s first ‘Blue Cross Baby’ was born in Durham, North Carolina. The entire cost of her deliver and her month’s 10 day hosp say totaled $60.

 

[FoFa]

In 1993 a guard at a TV station in Tulsa, OK helped a woman whose car wouldn't start by lettiing her in to use the phone. Once inside she pulled a gun on the guy and forced him to let in an accomplice to rob the place. Turns out how ever that it was a test dreamed up by the boss to see how employees would react.

 

[Ron_dK]

The highest point in the Netherlands is in the municipality
of Vaals, also known as the “Drielanden punt”. ( This is were
the borders of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany touch)
The actual height at that point is 322,20 meters above sea level.

 

[Kraj]

The tallest land-based structure in the world is the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota. It measures at 629 m (2,063 ft).

 

[Matt Greatorex]

Does that mean that there's a taller something-or-other at sea?

 

[jsanders]

The tallest land-based structure in the world is the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota. It measures at 629 m (2,063 ft).

It's only a little taller. The Houston area has dozens that are 2000 ft tall.

 

[jsanders]

In 1993 a guard at a TV station in Tulsa, OK helped a woman whose car wouldn't start by lettiing her in to use the phone. Once inside she pulled a gun on the guy and forced him to let in an accomplice to rob the place. Turns out how ever that it was a test dreamed up by the boss to see how employees would react.

Is the boss in prison?

 

[Kraj]

Does that mean that there's a taller something-or-other at sea?

Yes, oil drilling platforms extend from the ocean floor and break the surface. The Mars Tension-leg Platform in the Gulf of Mexico is 990.6 m (3,250 ft) tall.

 

[Matt Greatorex]

Okay, that'll count as my 'learn something new' for today

So, is that height measured from the sea floor or from sea level?

 

[ColinEssex]

Why do the numbers on a (UK) telephone go in the sequence 1234567890 (top left to right) and on a calculator go the opposite way 9876543210 (top right to left)?

Col

 

[Kraj]

From the sea floor.

 

[KenHigg]

Why do the numbers on a (UK) telephone go in the sequence 1234567890 (top left to right) and on a calculator go the opposite way 9876543210 (top right to left)?

Col

Kinda like the password on my bank's vru. I got used to the tele set up then when I had to use it on the computer keypad, it was bass-ackwards...

 

[ColinEssex]

Kinda like the password on my bank's vru. I got used to the tele set up then when I had to use it on the computer keypad, it was bass-ackwards...

There must be a reason somewhere surely

Col

 

[Kraj]

There must be a reason somewhere surely

Col

The telephone ordering probably comes from the western method of reading left to right, top to bottom. Why calculators are left to right, bottom to top, I can't say. My best guess is it has something to do with accounting, but it's a difficult topic to search on without getting flooded with commercial websites.

 

[KenHigg]

Which came first, the calc or tele pad? Does it have something to do evolution? They are both human tools...

 

[ColinEssex]

The telephone ordering probably comes from the western method of reading left to right, top to bottom. Why calculators are left to right, bottom to top, I can't say. My best guess is it has something to do with accounting, but it's a difficult topic to search on without getting flooded with commercial websites.

Thanks Kraj, I tried searching google but gave up

Maybe that can be a project for someone to find out why it is.

Col

 

[Matt Greatorex]

Why do the numbers on a (UK) telephone go in the sequence 1234567890 (top left to right) and on a calculator go the opposite way 9876543210 (top right to left)?

Col

http://www.vcalc.net/Keyboard.htm

 

[Kraj]

Go Matt! I'm humbled by your powers