Fun Fact Thread! (previously fun fact for the day, not limited to 1 per day anymore.)

[SunlitZelkova]

8 hours ago, cubinator said:

A microscopic trace of charcoal would be the thing to look for, I think.

Charcoal would indicate a plant (which also could have been flung to the Moon).

What one would look for would literally be dinosaur ashes.

[Hyperspace Industries]

Heavy metal is a direct descendant of classical music.

While creating one of their first songs, black sabbath had the idea to take Gustav Holst's Mars and drop some notes even lower to make it more evil, and thus, metal was born.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Hyperspace Industries

[DDE]

Rutherford isn't the first rocket engine with an electric pump.

Quote

The Agena upper stage, developed by Lockheed, had an auxiliary or integrated secondary propulsion system for roll control during the firing of the main Agena engine and also for some attitude control during the subsequent coast period. Initially this secondary sytem had small thrusters, its own small high-pressure propellant tanks with positive expulsion features, and a pressurized inert gas tank of its own. Later the propellants were obtained directly from the main engine's propellant tanks, which were at a much lower tank pressure and were pumped by a small set of gear pumps driven by an electric motor through magnetic (nonleak) couplings. This eliminated the separate heavy pressurized tank system. A bipropellant radiation-cooled thrust chamber with a pintle injector (furnished by TRW) provided about 90 lbf thrust, and the thrust could be pulsed at 1 -s intervals. The pump unit was developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Company and is shown in Fig. 4.4-10. It is the only known U.S. small flying thruster using a gear pump feed system. 

 

[cubinator]

3 hours ago, Hyperspace Industries said:

Heavy metal is a direct descendant of classical music.

While creating one of their first songs, black sabbath had the idea to take Gustav Holst's Mars and drop some notes even lower to make it more evil, and thus, metal was born.

I knew it!

11 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Charcoal would indicate a plant (which also could have been flung to the Moon).

What one would look for would literally be dinosaur ashes.

I have a feeling those two things wouldn't look very different after being flashed with the thermal energy of a meteor and then flung into the Moon.

[magnemoe]

1 hour ago, cubinator said:

I have a feeling those two things wouldn't look very different after being flashed with the thermal energy of a meteor and then flung into the Moon.

Agree, plant matter has the benefit that its magnitudes more of it even if the animal matter might be a bit more sturdy. 
Also why you can not use rocket engines or high explosives for fast barbecue, side note you can cook sausages by electrocuting them who is still Kerbal. 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Quote

Ogive 

I've had to disassemble and clean a lot of weapons over the years, along the way being forced to learn the nomenclature and function of the various parts.  One name that's always stuck with me (for its uniqueness) is the ogive plunger on the Mk-19.

Now I know this is an engineering heavy group... But how often do you run into the 'ogive' in regular life? 

If you are unfamiliar with the word... All here should be familiar with the shape!

 

I give you the ogive! 

Quote

An ogive (/ˈoʊdʒaɪv/ OH-jive) is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture and woodworking

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogive

(it's the name for the shape of the nose cone) 

[DDE]

This book might actually kill you.

[Hyperspace Industries]

Not all skunks are stinky, the black and white ones are, but the grey ones, nope.

[kerbiloid]

On 12/20/2021 at 5:28 AM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

But how often do you run into the 'ogive' in regular life? 

Always.
The KSP plane noses, some nosecones and shrouds are ogive.  

On 12/18/2021 at 1:45 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

Err... the debris didn't brake, would "dinosaur bits" (assuming any large part of this hypothetical dinosaur individual survived that particular event) survive impact?

Teeth.

They should be looking for dragon teeth on the Moon.

  

On 12/18/2021 at 2:17 PM, DDE said:

Type 95 didn't have a radio or an intercom (presumably the commander would communicate with the driver by kicking), and neither would small infantry units.

The SB-2 bomber didn't have the intercom, but a pneumatic tube to send paper notes between the pilot, the navigator, and the gunner, and a three-colored lamps in front of the pilot with three buttons at the navigator's hands, to show "keep left/right¹/right²"
_{1 - right here, 2 - more righter}

  

On 12/18/2021 at 2:17 PM, DDE said:

The Western Allies began impromptu adoption of externally mounted field telephones patched into the intercom circa 1943, not sure where they got the idea.

Is there an outlet to recharge the smartphone?

  

On 12/18/2021 at 7:30 PM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

1500 degrees and nylon.  Any guesses as to what happened? 

A weather balloon.

On 12/19/2021 at 2:29 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

Charcoal would indicate a plant (which also could have been flung to the Moon).

If the charcoal includes the fern flowers, it's from Eastern Europe.

On 12/19/2021 at 11:55 PM, DDE said:

Rutherford isn't the first rocket engine with an electric pump.

Of course. He's a man. A physicist.

43 minutes ago, Hyperspace Industries said:

Not all skunks are stinky, the black and white ones are, but the grey ones, nope.

The greys should get stinky, too. Their reputation is anyway hopeless, so why try to look better than you are.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Health and beauty products may be sold in the United States with the tag line, "the exact way _(product)_ works is not well known." 

 

One example: https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/gabapentin-nerve-pain-3557479/

 

[StrandedonEarth]

11 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Is there an outlet to recharge the smartphone?

With the original "Get Smart" phone, you just have to keep walking...

[kerbiloid]

5 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Health and beauty products may be sold in the United States with the tag line, "the exact way _(product)_ works is not well known." 

"Caution!
The fake, counterfeit Xmas toys have been reported in the shops.
They are looking and feeling like the authentic ones, but don't give any joy.
Please, be careful when buying."
(c) internet

Edited December 22, 2021 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

There is zero codified rhyme or reason to the Soviet tank naming scheme. Hence in 1940 there already were heavy tanks known as T-100, T-150 and T-220, as well as the T-40 amphibious tank and T-50 light infantry tank - later replaced with T-60 and T-70... all of them commissioned between the "mainline" T-34 and T-44. Whereas this is the other T-34:

[DDE]

According to head of TsNII Prometheus, it's safe to lick titanium poles in wintertime.

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, DDE said:

According to head of TsNII Prometheus, it's safe to lick titanium poles in wintertime.

If quickly bring the titanium pole from a warm room to the frost and lick, why not?

Upd.

He said "wintertime". Do we need to do it outdoors? It's not in "given".

[SunlitZelkova]

The Tu-4, a reverse engineered B-29, had many different variants proposed in the early 50s.

A list of the more eccentric proposals (some of which were built in small numbers), not in chronological order-

1. Tu-4 TV relay to improve the broadcast reception outside of Moscow

2. Tu-4 variant similar to the He 111 Z Zwilling, which would allow for a smaller crew and greater bombload

3. Tu-4 with six Yak-40 parasite fighters under the wings

4. Tu-4 interceptor (!!!) designated G-310, armed with the G-300 SARH AAM. It would work in tandem with S-25 (SA-2 Guideline) SAM sites to shoot down American bombers

5. Tu-4 with rear facing RS-2-U (AA-1 Alkali) AAMs for defence against interceptors

6. Tu-4 with a single MiG-15bis parasite fighter, towed and then released upon enemy contact

[DDE]

6 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Tu-4 with rear facing RS-2-U (AA-1 Alkali) AAMs for defence against interceptors

Convair Pye Wacket was the same idea for XB-70, only flatter:

6 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Tu-4 interceptor (!!!) designated G-310, armed with the G-300 SARH AAM. It would work in tandem with S-25 (SA-2 Guideline) SAM sites to shoot down American bombers

That's when they had SAMs. Before that, they were developing a 100 mm main gun, the Grabin V-0902. Ostensibly they kept the reload time to under 2 sec.

You also missed the proposal for a Tu-4 with an onboard reactor that would generate a large mass of highly radioactive isotopes, and would then use the aerial refuelling equipment to transfer that into armor-piercing radiation bombs carried by regular bombers. The Soviets were really desperate and tests near Leningrad suggested a dirty bomb strike on enemy warships would be devastatingly effective.

[FleshJeb]

I didn't realize we'd detected ANY rogue planets, much less 70. What a wild time to be alive:

https://www.inverse.com/science/largest-group-of-rogue-planets

[DDE]

"To find out who rules over you, simply find out whose existence you are not allowed to deny"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1093535/Primary-school-teacher-told-children-Santa-does-exist-fired.html

https://m.dw.com/en/santa-denying-orchestra-conductor-loses-his-job/a-36961006

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7161468.stm

[Hyperspace Industries]

37 minutes ago, DDE said:

"To find out who rules over you, simply find out whose existence you are not allowed to deny"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1093535/Primary-school-teacher-told-children-Santa-does-exist-fired.html

https://m.dw.com/en/santa-denying-orchestra-conductor-loses-his-job/a-36961006

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7161468.stm

Now that's just sad, getting fired for saying something everyone knows.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Hyperspace Industries

[Minmus Taster]

Did you know:

RMS Titanic's aft funnel was a dummy?

When building it and it's slightly older and lesser known sister ship Olympic it was decided to give the ship an extra funnel to make it look more impressive.

The aft funnel wasn't used for redirecting smoke like the first three funnels but it did find a small practical purpose as it was used for ventilation:

[Cuky]

Also I have read somewhere that first plans didn't have any masts on since Olympic class was never imagined with sails in mind. They were included because of two reasons: looks and somewhere to hang wireless antennas off.

[magnemoe]

4 hours ago, Minmus Taster said:

Did you know:

RMS Titanic's aft funnel was a dummy?

When building it and it's slightly older and lesser known sister ship Olympic it was decided to give the ship an extra funnel to make it look more impressive.

The aft funnel wasn't used for redirecting smoke like the first three funnels but it did find a small practical purpose as it was used for ventilation:

Think 4 funnels was the standard for fast liners, but as steam boilers got better you needed fewer of them and therefore fewer funnels. At the end you only need one like on late battleships, except if you distributed your power plant for redundancy on warships who is even relevant today with the last UK carrier.  

And the masts is not designed to carry any sails, assume they are for radio, lookouts and signal flags. It was obvious for everyone that radio would be critical for naval warfare. 
And in safety at the sea, if the com had worked Titanic had been an footnote in history not an tragedy. 

[kerbiloid]

13 hours ago, DDE said:

Primary-school-teacher-told-children-Santa-does-exist-fired.html

He's a heretic, what's wrong with firing?

12 hours ago, Minmus Taster said:

When building it and it's slightly older and lesser known sister ship Olympic it was decided to give the ship an extra funnel to make it look more impressive.

So, that's why Starship SuperHeavy has 30 nozzles...
The inner ones are for design purposes.

7 hours ago, magnemoe said:

At the end you only need one like on late battleships

+1

Spoiler

[Hyperspace Industries]

Between 1962 and 1971, chevy allowed astronauts to lease two cars from them for one dollar a year. They often took one family car and one fancy corvette.