Useless knowledge
Useless knowledge
Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,914
Likes: 1
Useless knowledge
Did you know that the little bit of toothpaste you put on your toothbrush is called a dollup?
They call it a generator because it generates electricity, they call it a radiator because it radiates heat, they call it a piston because it...............
They call it a generator because it generates electricity, they call it a radiator because it radiates heat, they call it a piston because it...............
Hotshot
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 18,488
Likes: 22
From: The Big, Oregon
Useless knowledge
President Taft was the only president to be entrapped in a whitehouse plumbing fixture- At over 300 lbs, he got stuck in the tub.
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Postmaster
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 3,529
Likes: 1
From: The Star-Club, Hamburg
Useless knowledge
Did you know:
1) that the plastic or metal thing on the end of your shoelace is called an "Aglet"?
2) that an armband worn above the elbow is called a "brassard'?
3) that the belt worn by the RCMP that goes over one shoulder and attaches to the belt on the waist is called a "Sam Browne belt"?
1) that the plastic or metal thing on the end of your shoelace is called an "Aglet"?
2) that an armband worn above the elbow is called a "brassard'?
3) that the belt worn by the RCMP that goes over one shoulder and attaches to the belt on the waist is called a "Sam Browne belt"?
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,314
Likes: 35
Useless knowledge
- Did you know that the read/write heads of your hard drive spin so fast that it is like a Boeing 747 flying 1 inch off the ground at full speed? And that a smoke particle is large enough to fill the gap and crash it?
- When you look at the stars, you don't seem them they way they are now. You see them they way they were millions of years ago because that is how long it takes for the light to travel. If you could go to one of these stars and look at the Earth, you would see it the way it was in the past. With some kind of a telescope, you could even see historic figures like Napoleon walk around.
- The basic monetary unit of the country is the dollar. It is a unit of weight (of silver), not of worth. The basic gold monetary unit is the Eagle. It too was a unit of weight and had no denominations printed on it because they were redundant. So someone could pay you 10 dollars in mexican coin as long as the total weight of fine silver added up to 10 dollars.
- The largest organ of your body is your skin.
- You use only a few percent of your brain capacity, something like 6%.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 845
Likes: 2
From: Bakersfield Ca.
Useless knowledge
Originally posted by carpe_diem
- You use only a few percent of your brain capacity, something like 6%.
Did you know that John Wayne's name is really Marrion Morrison?
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,359
Likes: 0
From: Charleston, SC
Useless knowledge
Read and Write head in a hard drive do not spin even close to the speed of a single engine Cessna, because they don't spin at all. They are like the tone arm of a record player. The heads are attached to an arm, and change tracks in combination with the disks spinning, that changes sectors.
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,359
Likes: 0
From: Charleston, SC
Useless knowledge
Last edited by 1997RangerXLT; Apr 12, 2003 at 03:47 AM.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
From: In the hills of Colorado
Useless knowledge
How far we have come!
I'm a useless trivia buff myself, this kinda stuff is what I live for. So heres a REALY useless piece of trivia about a, well, useless bit of trivia. I've got a book called "Triviata" copyrighted 1975 that says the following:
"Computer chess? Forget it. Since a chess player has about 30 moves to choose from on each turn, and his opponent has about 30 possible answers to each of these 30 moves, then there are roughly 1,000 variations to just one complete move. Each of these complete moves allows another 1,000 potential moves, and so on. Thus, a computer would have to considder about 10 to the 75th power (1 and 75 zeroes) moves to determine the outcome of a short 25 move game. Even if the computer could calculate a million moves each second-far more than is now feasible-it would require 10 to the 69th power seconds to complete the calculations for the game. How long is that? Well, since the beginning of our solar system, 4.5 billion years ago, only 10 to the 18th power seconds have elapsed. "
Its still a cool book though, and if you can find it its worth a look.
I'm a useless trivia buff myself, this kinda stuff is what I live for. So heres a REALY useless piece of trivia about a, well, useless bit of trivia. I've got a book called "Triviata" copyrighted 1975 that says the following:
"Computer chess? Forget it. Since a chess player has about 30 moves to choose from on each turn, and his opponent has about 30 possible answers to each of these 30 moves, then there are roughly 1,000 variations to just one complete move. Each of these complete moves allows another 1,000 potential moves, and so on. Thus, a computer would have to considder about 10 to the 75th power (1 and 75 zeroes) moves to determine the outcome of a short 25 move game. Even if the computer could calculate a million moves each second-far more than is now feasible-it would require 10 to the 69th power seconds to complete the calculations for the game. How long is that? Well, since the beginning of our solar system, 4.5 billion years ago, only 10 to the 18th power seconds have elapsed. "
Its still a cool book though, and if you can find it its worth a look.
FTE Chapter Leader
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 42,551
Likes: 3,117
From: Fraziers Bottom, WV
Useless knowledge
The head of a hard drive does not spin and yes the disk or platters do spin from 3400 rpm to 7200 rpm depending on the Mfg. The head moves from the center of the disk to the outside in an arc. But the head does ride/fly above the disk riding on a layer of air (an air gap). The smallest dust particle could/can make the drive unreadable. Most drives are sealed with a filtered vent to release pressure differences.