Author Topic: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread  (Read 204646 times)

Offline MLeo

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #520 on: June 22, 2008, 05:36:56 PM »
What you call a "Flyover" or something like that.

Except usually less than 5^235252353 roads crossing. :P
I still can't read peoples minds, nor can I read peoples computers, even worse, I can't combine the two to read what is going wrong with your BC install...

"It was filed under 'B' for blackmail." - Morse, Inspector Morse - The dead of Jericho.

Weasel

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #521 on: June 22, 2008, 05:46:24 PM »
What you call a "Flyover" or something like that.

Except usually less than 5^235252353 roads crossing. :P

Ah. I believe the American term for that is, "overpass".

Offline Senator

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #522 on: June 22, 2008, 09:38:08 PM »
Its a blue hole:





Weasel

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #523 on: June 22, 2008, 09:54:42 PM »
Now, that is COOOL! Link me, please.

Offline Senator

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #524 on: June 22, 2008, 10:19:53 PM »
Now, that is COOOL! Link me, please.
Well... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_hole
But this site is also interesting because of the sketches it has:
http://www.smallhope.com/CTSD/OceanBlueHoles.html
Containing and some cool information wikipedia doesn't (and you'd probably want to know if you dived into one)
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Because the ocean blue holes are connected to those inland and even to those blue holes on the west side of the island, they are affected by the tides. The ocean blue holes will "blow" and "suck" making it necessary to dive them at certain times. The "blow" usually pumps out cold subterranean water which may be milky with hydrogen sulfide and algae or, during the "suck," the water will be gin clear as it sucks in the surrounding sea water. These different conditions create very different ways for us to enjoy the blue holes while diving.

Weasel

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #525 on: June 22, 2008, 10:29:25 PM »
Hmm. Reminds me of Venezuela's sink holes. I'm sure that would be a fantastic place to send a remotely-piloted underwater vehicle. I myself wouldn't attempt to dive it, until I'm assured that there aren't any Cloverfield, or Bloop-related beasties lurking in the depths.

Weasel

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #526 on: June 22, 2008, 10:32:17 PM »
Oh, and on that note: The "Bloop":


Offline Kirk

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #527 on: June 22, 2008, 10:38:07 PM »
Is it an animal?

Weasel

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #528 on: June 22, 2008, 10:54:46 PM »
Well, experts ( obviously American naval military experts, ) believe that it IS organic in origen, but it's unknown as to what animal could possibly make such a powerful sound. It's been estimated due to the fact that the sound traveled more than 5000km to an Amercian underwater listening station, that if it WAS an animal that made that sound, it would have to be about 500 times larger than a blue whale- 50,000 ft. long???

That is not just improbable, it's completly ridiculous. But something- or a lot of somethings, made that noise.

Offline Kirk

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #529 on: June 22, 2008, 10:58:12 PM »
I have just acquired a fear of the deep sea.

Weasel

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #530 on: June 22, 2008, 11:12:00 PM »
That is a fear that you should have acquired a long time ago, believe me. Marine biology and the study of cephalopods, in particular, have long been a hobby of mine.

We already know that there are some VERY big, nasty, vicious creatures in the deep water- and it's pretty logical to assume that there are more to be discovered.

Offline captain_obvious

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #531 on: June 23, 2008, 03:45:59 AM »
That is a fear that you should have acquired a long time ago, believe me. Marine biology and the study of cephalopods, in particular, have long been a hobby of mine.

We already know that there are some VERY big, nasty, vicious creatures in the deep water- and it's pretty logical to assume that there are more to be discovered.

then let's nuke 'em! nuclear winter yeehaa!!

One type of nuclear bomb is a gun type.  Another is an implosion type.
I miss :bigdance:

Offline limey BSc.

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #532 on: June 23, 2008, 06:41:33 AM »
The "bullet" type is, I beleive, Uranium-235. It works by having a sub-critical mass of the Uranium and firing a bit more Uranium into it, making it super-critical. This promptly goes bang! The "implosion" type uses Plutonium-239. It works by having a sub-critical mass of Plutonium with a load of explosive (it used to be C4, don't know whether it still is) carefully placed around the outside. When the explosive is detonated, it compresses the Plutonium into a much denser ball, which is of super-critical mass. And thus, a very loud bang results.
MUSE!!!


Weasel

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #533 on: June 23, 2008, 08:30:34 AM »
No, it was not C4. The gun-type devices were detonated with TNT. I've uh, had my hands on a few of the things, actually.

Offline JimmyB76

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #534 on: June 23, 2008, 08:30:53 AM »
Dubya Bush and Karl Rove exploited a system of campaign funding that skirted limits on personal giving by rewarding individuals who bundled together checks from their funds...  
they were dubbed "Pioneers" for $100,000 in contributions, and "Rangers" for $200,000...  
who were these masked men?

  • Jack Abramoff - Lobbyist...  convicted on bribery charges...
  • Duke Cunningham - Congressman...  convicted on bribery charges...
  • Ken Lay - Former Enron CEO...  convicted of fraud and conspiracy...
  • Hank Greenburg - Head Of AIG...  ousted for suspicion of stock manipulation...
  • Tom Noe - Bush 2004 Ohio Campaign Chair...  indicted for campaign money laundering...
  • P. Nicholas Hurtgen - Chicago Invesment Banker...  indicted for hospital construction extortion...

Offline Senator

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #535 on: June 23, 2008, 12:28:58 PM »
Hmm. Reminds me of Venezuela's sink holes. I'm sure that would be a fantastic place to send a remotely-piloted underwater vehicle. I myself wouldn't attempt to dive it, until I'm assured that there aren't any Cloverfield, or Bloop-related beasties lurking in the depths.
Meh, who ever died from a giant squid.

Now here on the other hand are 10 transparent cm (with several m tentacles) of extruciating pain:

Quote
While an appreciable amount of venom (contact from about ten feet or three metres of tentacle) needs to be delivered in order to have a fatal effect on an adult human, the potently neurotoxic venom is extremely quick to act. Fatalities have been observed as little as four minutes after envenomation, notably quicker than any snake, insect or spider; and prompting its description as the world's deadliest venomous animal. Frequently a person swimming who gets stung will have a heart attack or drown before they can even get back to the shore or boat.

Weasel

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #536 on: June 23, 2008, 03:04:19 PM »
While I'll submit that any deaths caused by giant squid/octopii/other may be unsubstantiated, more than enough people have claimed to have seen it happen.

Anyway, yes, I also a have a profound fascination, healthy respect, and profound fear of sea jellies like the sea-wasp, box jellie, and the irukandji.

The good news is, sea turtles eat jellies like cows eat grass. The bad news is, we need more sea turtles, and they're already endangered.  Ironically enough, it's very likely that some of the larger, meaner species of giant and colossal squid, could prey on sea turtles.

Offline JimmyB76

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #537 on: June 24, 2008, 07:46:50 AM »
On June 22, 2005, while addressing the Conservative Party of New York State, Karl Rove said, "Conservatives saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and prepared for war; Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers"...

Families of September 11, an organization of those who lost relatives in the attacks, asked Rove to "stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortune of others" and called his behavior "offensive"...

Offline Senator

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #538 on: June 25, 2008, 07:04:49 AM »
Speaking of diving, here is another little Blue Hole:

It doesn't look very impressive, but apparently it has killed, 40+ according to the local authorities, 70+ according to everyone else who says that the authorities try to play down the number, divers.

Why you might ask. Well, it so happens, that this blue hole, has something called "The Arch". An underwater tunnel from the bluehole to the sea.
(no btw, thats not the shallow part from the sea side in the photo).


And of cource, everyone going there, just can't resist searching for it, not to mention swimming through it. But here is the thing:
Quote
Accidents are frequently caused when divers attempt to find the tunnel through the reef (known as "The Arch") connecting the Blue Hole and open water at about 52m depth. This is beyond the PADI recreational diving limit (40m) and nitrogen narcosis begins to have an influence. Divers who miss the tunnel sometimes continue descending hoping to find the tunnel farther down and become increasingly narcotised. The "Arch" is reportedly extremely deceptive in several ways:

It is difficult to detect because of the odd angle between the arch, open water, and the hole itself.

Because of the dim lighting and the fact that most light enters from outside it appears shorter than it really is. Divers report that the Arch appears less than 10m long but measurements have shown it is 26m from one end to the other.

There is frequently a current flowing inward through the arch towards the Blue Hole, increasing the time it takes to swim through.

The arch continues downward (even deeper) to the seabed which is beyond view and there is therefore no "reference" from below.

As a result, the bottom of the blue hole is apparently littered with diver corpses, as this underwater vehicle finds out:



Of cource the fact that someone has freedived the thing doesn't really help much...

She as well:


Offline Senator

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RE: Somewhat Useful Facts Thread
« Reply #539 on: June 26, 2008, 06:56:14 PM »