George
Washington was not the first president … 2004-01-05
Remember there
were the Articles of Confederation ...
http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html
Fedex logo
I never knew
this, but if you saw 60 minutes last nite, there is a 'hidden' arrow in the
logo.
More useless
trivia … 2004-01-07
Regarding our
discussions today:
Conversion from
Julian to Gregorian Calendar. Actually
Ranko and I were both partly right.
The conversion took place at different times in different countries
between the 16th and 18th centuries:
http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/cal_art.htm#Adoption
Wind Chill
Factor:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/windchill/index.shtml
http://www.weatherimages.org/data/windchill.html
Degree days:
http://www.castlebridge.com/ddd.html
Full 'Wolf'
Moon - today's trivia
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/full_moon_names_040102-1.html#jan
Wolf Moon
Luna's Crazy Names: Full 'Wolf' Moon on January 7
By Joe Rao
SPACE.com's Night Sky Columnist
posted: 07:00 am ET
02 January 2004
Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs
howled hungrily outside Indian villages. It was also known as the Old Moon or
the Moon After Yule. In some tribes this was the Full Snow Moon; most applied
that name to the next moon.
You can call it just a Full Moon, but throughout human history the
ever-changing face of Earth's satellite has been viewed more creatively. Luna's
names -- different each month -- derive from many cultures.
Many Full Moon names used in North America date back to Native
Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. Those tribes
of a few hundred years ago kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names
to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in
which each occurred.
To be sure, there were some variations in the Moon names, but in
general the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New
England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs
and created some of their own names.
Since the lunar ("synodic") month is roughly 29.5 days
in length on average, the dates of the full Moon shift from year to year. Here
is a listing of all the Full Moon names, as well as the dates and times (for
the Eastern time zone) for the next twelve months.
More useful
information - Cool Lunar Cycle Facts
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/full_moon_names_040102-1.html#jan
In our
Gregorian Calendar, 372 years provides an excellent long period cycle for the
recurrence of a particular phase on a given date. Thus, we know with absolute
certainty that the same Full Moon that shines down on us on June 3 of 2004 will
also be shining on June 3 in the year 2376.
(that also might be indicative of SMDB needing to reuse internal
numbers by 2376)
Bronx county
border
Redirection of harlem ship canal portion of Bronx stays in
new york county
Tensile
strength of box trivia --- Cobb factor
http://www.fcbm.org/activities/tests_for_corr_media.htm
Now here is the certification you can find on some boxes giving you the
ratings, such as crush strength, etc.
Plastic
recycling code trivia
http://www.export911.com/envi/plasCode.htm
Interstate
Highway 'Numbering Schema' trivia
fyi ... from the web site below.
Feel free to come by my map of the United States to confirm this. Now you can rest easy knowing why the BQE is
called 278, LIE 495, and NJ Turnpike is part of 95.
http://www.ihoz.com/basic.html
“The Interstate
Highway System generally follows a couple of simple rules. For two digit roads,
east/west roads have even numbers, and north/south roads have odd numbers. The
n/s routes start out west with I-5 and increase in value until you get out to
I-97
in Maryland. The lowest even number Interstate is I-4
in Florida; as you go north you can go up to I-96
across Michigan. The one other rule is that roads divisible by 5- 5, 10, 15,
20, etc. tend to be the major roads that cross most, if not all, of the
country.
Seems pretty simple so far right? Well we then get to the exciting
issue of the 3 digit Interstates. Most Interstates have children when they
reach major cities. If the baby Interstate goes through the city or all the way
around the city, then it will start with an even number. If it stops somewhere
in the city, then it gets an odd number. For example, in Pittsburgh I-279 loops
from I-79
into the city and then reconnects with it further north. In contrast, I-376
leaves I-76
to go into Pittsburgh and ends downtown. In principle this shouldn't be that
big of a deal, but in practice it is frequently debatable as to whether the
first number should be even or odd. Some highly questionable choices have been
made, which annoys a lot of us road geeks (and don't even get us started on I-238).”
NYC subway voice trivia and psychology
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ICQ/is_2002_Dec_2/ai_95643859
Canadian coins same size as American
http://archives.stupidquestion.net/sq61099coins.html
Houston St.
pronunciation
Pronounced “howston” not like the city of Houston. Who is it named after?