INTERESTING FACT OF THE DAY

[sorebutt]

there are no female speaking parts in the film Laurence of Arabia!

And,

The last surviving flying Vulcan Bomber needs around £40K to get her into the air this year! - And she's the only thing around that sounds better than a V-Twin!

[punyXpress]

Dickie Bird 80 today - former footballer, cricketer & cricket umpire.
Who made the cake?

[fenjer]

On this day in 1902 Pierre and Marie Curie refined radium cholride...

And tomorrow 22nd April is the traditional date of the Foundation of the City of Rome in 753BC.

[punyXpress]

Today = ... --- ...

[TheRuffellator]

There are almost more atoms in a grain of sand, than there are grains of sand on Earth. There's one for ya!

[85jas]

One breathes and farts enough molecules in a lifetime that everyone, everywhere will always be breathing in your farts. Same goes for drinking water and wee :)

[punyXpress]

You're welcome!
I have the advantage of being older than most of you so wont have to put up with so much. ;)

[hannah.s]

On the 2011 Czech Republic census, over 15,000 people listed their religion as "Jedi."

[Hernonthehead]

The longest word you can write on just the top line of a typewriter, is "typewriter".

[DarrenSV650S]

Typewriters only have one of each letter ;)

[Shawthing]

The longest word you can write on just the top line of a typewriter, is "typewriter".


I know the value of an ownership interest in the front of a ship.

Prow-equity ;)

[BanannaMan]

An Olympic Gold Medal is almost 99% silver.

The first-place medal is actually 550 grams of silver covered with a thin layer of gold (6 grams)!
A silver medal is 509 grams of silver and 41 grams of copper.
The bronze medal is composed of mostly copper, with some zinc and tin mixed in.

[fenjer]

On this day in 1931 Al Capone was indicted on 5000 counts of prohibition and perjury and in 1942 Anne Frank was given a diary for her birthday.

[Matt-EUC]

And tomorrow 22nd April is the traditional date of the Foundation of the City of Rome in 753BC.


Construction having begun on the 21st.

[Fruity-ya-ya]

I must be getting old as my eldest lad (6) taught me a fact about monkeys, more specifically spider monkeys and that they don't have thumbs.

A quick Google and byjingo he was right.

The thumb is not opposable in all primates — some primates, such as spider monkey and colobus, are virtually thumbless. The spider monkey compensate this by using the hairless part of its long, prehensil tail for grabbing objects.

[Grant66]

In case your not feeling old yet, the Lion King was released 19 years ago...

Your welcome.

15th July 1994

[Grant66]

If you want to download a Youtube video, simply add ss to the URL between www. and Youtube

[2000curvy]

Do you remember Frankie Dettori winning all 7 races at Ascot? When he was wearing blue and did his flying dismount? on 28 September it will be 17 years since he did that!

[Griff-SV]

Every 5 seconds there are two Boeing 737 airliners either landing or taking off

[punyXpress]

Today is the 'Glorious Twelfth' - unless you're a Grouse :(

[Brettus]

Today is apparently Left handed day, all a load of cack handed nonsense if you ask me. why not Gingers day or tongue curlers day, why stop at dexterity. (if either of those stupid suggestions exist PLEASE do not tell me!)

[ClunkintheUK]

Today is apparently Left handed day, all a load of cack handed nonsense if you ask me. why not Gingers day or tongue curlers day, why stop at dexterity. (if either of those stupid suggestions exist PLEASE do not tell me!)

Yeah, its all very sinister.

[Amadeus]

Come back the good old days where they got tried for witchcraft... :-)

[haggis]

Yeah, its all very sinister.

I see what u did there! But then I'm sinister myself . ;)

[Richie]

The Earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons.

and you thought Yo Mama was big ;)

[ophic]

The Earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons.

and you thought Yo Mama was big ;)
Metric or Imperial? Short tons or long?

[wyrdness]

The Earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons.

and you thought Yo Mama was big ;)

No it doesn't. The Earth weighs nothing at all. It has mass, but no weight.

[Brettus]

No it doesn't. The Earth weighs nothing at all. It has mass, but no weight.

I found the pedant :)

(for once it isn't me ;) )

[wyrdness]

I found the pedant :)

(for once it isn't me ;) )

I just think that the Earth weighing nothing is a more interesting fact than its mass being 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ton

[yorkie_chris]

But how much does it weigh when in the gravitational field of Richie's moma?

[punyXpress]

Today is apparently Gingers tongue curlers day! )
I know what they are & really don't like them!

[punyXpress]

" I have a Dream "

[Matt-EUC]

" I have a Dream "

LOL!

[andrewsmith]

" I have a Dream "

Its 50 years since the speech that started a dramatic shift in race views in America

http://youtu.be/smEqnnklfYs

smEqnnklfYs

[nikon70]

Cats breath smells like cat food.

[Brettus]

50 Cent made less than 10% of his wealth from rapping, the rest was from an investment in a vitamin water which was bought by Coca-Cola:
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/rappers/50-cent-net-worth/

[Bibio]

the album David Bowie - Aladdin Sane is 40 years old

[punyXpress]

Today in 1963 Jim Clark won the Formula One World Championship, appropriately at Monza.

[punyXpress]

Last flight of VC10 today, in fact landing in just over an hour:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-24165590 :(

[Bibio]

for the older ones amongst us that can remember the TV program Weekend World, the theme tune was Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride. for many many years i have been listening to this song and today i woke up with the tune in my head so decided to google it to play on youtube i then came across what the song is about and to my amazement it's about whale fishing and the song title is a reference to what happens when the whale is harpooned, the boat that the whalers are on gets towed by the whale and the name of this is called a Nantucket Sleighride (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantucket_sleighride).

[L3nny]

for the older ones amongst us that can remember the TV program Weekend World, the theme tune was Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride. for many many years i have been listening to this song and today i woke up with the tune in my head so decided to google it to play on youtube i then came across what the song is about and to my amazement it's about whale fishing and the song title is a reference to what happens when the whale is harpooned, the boat that the whalers are on gets towed by the whale and the name of this is called a Nantucket Sleighride (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantucket_sleighride).


I once knew a man from Nantucket

[punyXpress]

I once knew a man from Nantucket

Go on
Give us the rest of the verse!

[L3nny]

Go on
Give us the rest of the verse!

As Homer Simpson said, the stories about him are greatly exaggerated

[Shawthing]

The National game of 'Association Football' in the form we know today, was born, by the creation of the FA, this day, just 150 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football

[Bibio]

Overtoun House Bridge. where dogs leap to their deaths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtoun_Bridge

[Brettus]

Well, this exists....
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/06/16/wasp-injector-knife.html
pretty creatively horrifying.

[yorkie_chris]

Lol, like that will work after being left in a soggy heap of dive sh*t for months

[serpentinebelt]

Thought I'd start here; did you know the uranium in the first atom bombs in WW2 came from (then) Belgian Congo? If you did, well done, otherwise, go read a book (but not while on a motorbike of course..).

[Richie]

On this day ...

1991 Operation 'Desert Storm' began against Iraq, for its invasion of Kuwait

[wyrdness]

People in Hungary are so unhappy, that if the happiest people there moved to the UK, it would reduce the average happiness in both countries.

Perhaps if Tim Wilky moved to Hungary, the opposite effect might occur.

[Amadeus]

On this day ...

1991 Operation 'Desert Storm' began against Iraq, for its invasion of Kuwait

Anyone here part of that?

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

50 pound notes are going to be scrapped as from April this year, I have only ever had one and I guess l will never have another one. Why scrap them though?

[Red ones]

Only the notes with Houblon on the back. The Boulton/Watt ones will remain.

[BanannaMan]

Might as well scrap them, nobody wants them and they are bloody hard to get rid of.
Some shops have signs saying they won't take them.

[Berlin]

Why scrap them though?

Because the European Union are about to take 10% out of everyone's bank account and any large notes can be used to hide cash. The UK is next.

The smart money has been buying art, coins and anything else that is a means of withdrawing cash from the system without it depreciating. Art and coins can also be moved across border without tax if they are going from Museum to museum. Its going to get awfully mess in the next two years as the Euro crashes (watch this space, its already doomed)

My interesting fact of the day is that the world economy is going to crash on the 30th Setember 2015, far worse than it did in 2008. Sell your house before that date...

[Berlin]

The USA will break up in 2032. The United states will no longer be united. They will split into republican and democratic states.

[Matt-EUC]

The USA will break up in 2032. The United states will no longer be united. They will split into republican and democratic states.

This is a thread for facts. Can you verify this?

[Teejayexc]

@Berlin...you're full of the joys of the world this morning aren't you ?

[Richie]

On this Day in
1962: US spaceman orbits Earth
The first American to orbit the Earth has landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
Marine Lieutenant John Glenn, 40, travelled about 81,000 miles (more than 130,000km) as he circled the globe three times at more than 17,000 mph (27,000kph).

Lieutenant Glenn controlled nearly two of the orbits himself after reporting "minor difficulties" with the automatic altitude control system as he completed the third circuit - the maximum anticipated.

Messages from the astronaut were transmitted by radio stations across the United States and United Kingdom and his progress was monitored by 18 ground stations around the world.

As he re-entered the atmosphere after his four-hour and 56-minute journey Lieutenant Glenn said: "Boy, that was a real fireball."

His spacecraft, Friendship Seven, landed at 2040 GMT 240 miles north-west of Puerto Rico, where it was picked up by the US destroyer Noa.

Altogether, 24 American ships were ready to pick up the astronaut and his craft from various locations across the globe.

[wyrdness]

This afternoon, I took my 5-year-old into Hamleys toy shop on Regent Stree. They've got a huge selection of marbles there. This fact might be of interest to Berlin, who clearly needs some to replace those he's lost.

[Berlin]

Come back in 2033 and tell me its not a fact ;-)

The world follows a cycle. It always has. The cycle of Rome followed that of many other civilisations including the British Empire, Greeks, Persia, Russia and many other great empires.. The USA's cycle ends in 2032. Its already started to implode. The US government is no longer working for the benefit of the people but for the benefit of itself. The increase in paranoia and NSA spying on the people shows they are getting ready to defend themselves against their own populace. (Gun control, Homeland security ordering 5 billion bullets [why does Homeland security require 5 billion bullets?] New laws to govern protests and freedom of speech, The patriot act, etc)

I have no problem if you choose to ignore this or want to think its false. Your choice doesn't affect me. The events will. Is it better to know and be prepared or not know and wander blindly into it? :-)

Want some more good news? the war cycle is coming to a peak too. There seems to be quite a bit of unrest in the world at the moment. there seems to be a lot of Government curtailment of your right to protest and speak out about what's happening. The tipping point? Instability. How are you going to feel when Cameron takes 10% of the money you have? fairly annoyed I'd have thought. Spain is kicking off, Thailand is kicking off. Both those countries already had the new social control measures in place to prevent uprising. lets see if it works...

and if the cycle doesn't get them, the Asteroid will (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/18/asteroid-2013-tv135-hit-e_n_4120490.html) :-)

C

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

China will rise, not using their own people obviously, they will use India and Africa as soldiers, give up now, there is no hope, well maybe there is some we are small and insignificant maybe they will not notice as.

[kaivalagi]

Time to migrate to Fiji soon then! Will definitely get left alone over there!!

[Berlin]

Interesting fact! - It has now been proven that passive smoking does NOT give you lung cancer! In a study of 76,000 women there was ZER0 evidence of any lung cancer from second hand smoke. It has now been admitted that the information was false and a social engineering project to make the US a smoke free environment. Other countries also jumped on the band wagon, despite all evidence to the contrary.

[punyXpress]

. . . bit like global warming / climate change or whatever it's called today?

[mikerj]

Interesting fact! - It has now been proven that passive smoking does NOT give you lung cancer! In a study of 76,000 women there was ZER0 evidence of any lung cancer from second hand smoke.

Even if second hand smoke didn't increase the risk of lung cancer, it's still a bloody horrible thing to inflict on other people, and smoking unequivocally increases the risk of the smoker dying a really horrible death (whilst sucking money out of the health system).

[Grant66]

(whilst sucking money out of the health system).

Smokers contribute £10billion to the exchequer. It is estimated that £5 billion of the Nhs budget is spent on smoking related issues.
So if they successfully stopped smoking expect your taxes to rise.

[Berlin]

Smokers contribute £10billion to the exchequer. It is estimated that £5 billion of the Nhs budget is spent on smoking related issues.
So if they successfully stopped smoking expect your taxes to rise.

I'm afraid those figures can't be true.

[ClunkintheUK]

Why not? According to Ash (a smoking charity from my googlefu) there are 10 million smokers in the UK, so £10 Billion in revenues would be £1000 per smoker per year. Tax on a 20 pack of cigs in 2012 was £5.91 (most recent figure my googlefu could find in three minutes, I have no reason to dispute it). so £1000 of revenue from a smoker is about 169 packs a year, or about 9 cigarettes a day (very roughly) as the average number of cigarettes a smoker will smoke. That doesn't seem to ridiculous to me.

Total Budget for the NHS in England was £95 Billion in 2012-2013, 5% seems a fair guess, but honestly 15% also seems a fair guess.

[Grant66]

You're right, I didn't include vat. Revenue is over 12 billion

[mikerj]

You're right, I didn't include vat. Revenue is over 12 billion

And what about the other costs associated with smoking, e.g. loss of productivity from sick days, smoke breaks and early death? Also many domestic fires are caused through smoking, putting out house fires is an expensive pastime.

[Matt-EUC]

People much cleverer (read: better paid) than us have already done the maths and smoking is still profitable for the government. What I would like to see is Marijuana legalised and taxed into oblivion.

That would reduce illegal drug trade massively almost instantly and increase tax revenue. At the same time we'd have to get hotter on punishments for drug driving and increase police stop frequency but still. At least all stoned crashes will be at lower speeds than drunk crashes (citation needed)

[ClunkintheUK]

They did a study in 2002/3 (I think, my google fu is not up to it at the moment) sending drivers around a closed track, comparing the effects of moderate and high levels of intoxication with various substances, alcohol, weed, speed etc. The sober driver came out best overall, then the moderate weed driver was a very close second best. They did all the manouvers correctly, they were just a bit slow. they were only marked down as their slow driving would infuriate other drivers thus increasing the likelihood of accidents.

Even moderate (at the limit I think) alcohol was pretty bad and high alcohol was one of the worst, most of the stimulant drugs drove better.

People dying early is profitable for the government, in fact people not dying as early as they used to is a major problem (fiscally speaking) for the government. Even if you account for say £100,000 of treatment for a cancer patient, it is still profitable, because they do not need to pay for their pension. The NHS figures estimate £30,000, or about 6 years of pension payments.

[ClunkintheUK]

All animals over about 2 lbs in weight will only wee for a maximum of 20 seconds, be it a cat or an elephant. Ok the elephant can fill a couple of bathtubs in that time, but only 20 seconds.

[BanannaMan]

The most stupid, ignorant, rude and obnoxious people in the world are all Americans.
What's worse is they seem to be quite proud of the fact.
Trying to reason with them or just talk sense to them is as useless as banging your head against a stone wall.






And I think I 've had every one of them today at my shop. :rolleyes:

[davepreston]

I know banannaman we had one at AR one year ;)

[Matt-EUC]

They did a study in 2002/3 (I think, my google fu is not up to it at the moment) sending drivers around a closed track, comparing the effects of moderate and high levels of intoxication with various substances, alcohol, weed, speed etc. The sober driver came out best overall, then the moderate weed driver was a very close second best. They did all the manouvers correctly, they were just a bit slow. they were only marked down as their slow driving would infuriate other drivers thus increasing the likelihood of accidents.

Even moderate (at the limit I think) alcohol was pretty bad and high alcohol was one of the worst, most of the stimulant drugs drove better.

People dying early is profitable for the government, in fact people not dying as early as they used to is a major problem (fiscally speaking) for the government. Even if you account for say £100,000 of treatment for a cancer patient, it is still profitable, because they do not need to pay for their pension. The NHS figures estimate £30,000, or about 6 years of pension payments.

Yeah, that.

[BanannaMan]

I know banannaman we had one at AR one year ;)




:shock: I've just been owned by davepreston!

:smt005 PMSL








(picks self off the deck and brushes off clothes while mumbling, "fookin overgrown leprechaun")
;)

[BoltonSte]

All animals over about 2 lbs in weight will only wee for a maximum of 20 seconds, be it a cat or an elephant. Ok the elephant can fill a couple of bathtubs in that time, but only 20 seconds.

Not me, maximum can be nearer a minute, average is higher than 30 seconds.

we need the org to monitor for a week and do a poll.

[ClunkintheUK]

Not me, maximum can be nearer a minute, average is higher than 30 seconds.

we need the org to monitor for a week and do a poll.

fact of the day: The org cannot do a poll without a KeithD option.

[CharleyFarley]

Watching Croc Hunter: Behind the scenes.



Fact of the day???






Dame Edna is Steve Erwin's Aunty...............


"Gas it w###a".........

[Bibio]

philadelphia cheese turns red when it goes off.

[ophic]

philadelphia cheese turns red when it goes off.

Yeah I thought it had peppers in it once. Was very very ill.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Grant66]

Never seen it go red, I stop eating it when it has fluffy mold on the top.

[BanannaMan]

Neil Armstrong was the first human being on another planet. (or moon)
Neil A. backwards is Alien.

[DJFridge]

The moon landings weren't actually faked. It was just made to look dodgy so that conspiracy theorists would go after that, instead of digging too deeply about the Vietnam war.

[punyXpress]

Lots of facts really - a veritable history lesson:

Where did "P1$$ Poor" come from? Interesting history.

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot.

And then once it was full it was taken and sold to the tannery...

if you had to do this to survive you were "P1$$ Poor".
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...

They "didn't have a pot to p1$$ in" and were the lowest of the low.

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature
Isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500's

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May,

And they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell,
brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour.

Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.

The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,

Then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.

Last of all the babies.

By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.

It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals
(mice, bugs) lived in the roof.

When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.

This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings

Could mess up your nice clean bed.

Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.

That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.

Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery
In the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing..

As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door,
It would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.



Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.

Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables
And did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers
In the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.

Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.

Hence the rhyme:

“Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.

When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.

It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon."

They would cut off a little to share with guests

And would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter.

Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.

This happened most often with tomatoes,
so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status..

Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.
The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days..
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.

Hence the custom; “holding a wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people.

So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.

When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had ben burying people alive.
So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.

Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be,
“saved by the bell" or was "considered a dead ringer."

And that's the truth.

Now, whoever said history was boring!!!

So get out there and educate someone!
Share these facts with a friend.
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering,
"What the heck happened?"
We'll be friends until we are old and senile.
Then we'll be new friends.

Smile, it gives your face something to do!

[ejsv650s]

I dont know how much of that is historical fact but it was a bl**dy good read!

[DJFridge]

I dont know how much of that is historical fact but it was a bl**dy good read!

I think an encyclopedia got eaten somewhere. Very interesting though

[ClunkintheUK]

The phrase "the whole 9 yards" comes from WW2. The cannons on a Spitfire or Hurricane had about 7 seconds of belt fed ammunition. The belts were 9 yards long. These were normally fired in short bursts and their focus would be on multiple planes in a single engagement. But if they expended all their ammunition in a single burst or at a single target they said they gave them "the whole 9 yards".

It takes light 8 minutes and 27 second to travel to earth from the Sun. The nearest star is a trinary system (three stars) the Centauri System, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B are only 4.37 light years away from the solar system, and Proxima Centauri a mere 4.2 lightyears. However it is only the third brightest 'star' (they appear as one) in the sky. The brightest start in the sky is Sirius. It is nearly twice as far away (8.6 lightyears) but because of its size is about twice as bright in the sky.

[Brettus]

Nice, didn't know the origin of that.

In the age of type setting, commonly used letters were stored in the closer to hand, lower case, whereas less used letters such as capitals were stored in the upper case. :-)

Italics has nothing to do with meaning slanty text, it's named after it's country of origin (Italy) and was developed to fit more text on a page.

Oh and the fact that blew my mind this week, your mother is a 3D printer and your father was just provided software.... (No offence or pun intended, just quite a true analogy I thought)

[ClunkintheUK]

On the subject of type setting.

The keys on a computer keyboard were actually laid out like they are to slow down typists in the early days of the type writer, so that the letter stamp thingys, no idea what they are called, wouldn't clash and get tangled.

[Grant66]

the letter stamp thingys, no idea what they are called

Typebar

Sent from a portable communication device.

[Matt-EUC]

On the subject of type setting.

The keys on a computer keyboard were actually laid out like they are to slow down typists in the early days of the type writer, so that the letter stamp thingys, no idea what they are called, wouldn't clash and get tangled.


Close, but no cigar. It was laid out in such a way that the most frequently used letters were far enough apart not to clash.

If it were to slow them down it would have only done so until they learned the new layout.

[Brettus]

+1 for the pedant ;-)
Anyone tried Dvorak layout or azerty?

[ClunkintheUK]

Close, but no cigar. It was laid out in such a way that the most frequently used letters were far enough apart not to clash.

If it were to slow them down it would have only done so until they learned the new layout.

Then why are e and a so close to each other?

[Luckypants]

The phrase "the whole 9 yards" comes from WW2. The cannons on a Spitfire or Hurricane had about 7 seconds of belt fed ammunition. The belts were 9 yards long. These were normally fired in short bursts and their focus would be on multiple planes in a single engagement. But if they expended all their ammunition in a single burst or at a single target they said they gave them "the whole 9 yards".

Sorry a few factual errors. Spitfires and Hurricanes were both armed originally with eight .303 Browning machine guns, they were not fitted with cannon until 1941/42. Also the Hispano cannon were drum fed not belt fed. So if referring to the length of the ammunition belts it must refer to the Browning machine gun equipped planes. If this is the case, then both the Spitfire and Hurricane had enough ammunition for 16 seconds continuous firing (not 7 seconds) and generally Hurricanes always had a little more.

I really don't think this is the origin of the phrase 'the whole 9 yards' and wikipedia seems to agree http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards

[/pedant off] ;)

[Matt-EUC]

Then why are e and a so close to each other?


Count the A's and E's in your own sentence, then think how often A and E are used together.

[ClunkintheUK]

Perhaps a bad example, perhaps T and H, E and R then I might get the thinking that some letters are used together are there right next to each other on the keyboard.

As Brettus inadvertently pointed out there are other layouts which have been designed for faster/easier typing in the electronic age.

Also its the mechanism and the closeness on the Typebar (thanks Grant66) that is the important part for not jamming commonly-used-next-to-each-other letters.

[ClunkintheUK]

Sorry a few factual errors. Spitfires and Hurricanes were both armed originally with eight .303 Browning machine guns, they were not fitted with cannon until 1941/42. Also the Hispano cannon were drum fed not belt fed. So if referring to the length of the ammunition belts it must refer to the Browning machine gun equipped planes. If this is the case, then both the Spitfire and Hurricane had enough ammunition for 16 seconds continuous firing (not 7 seconds) and generally Hurricanes always had a little more.

I really don't think this is the origin of the phrase 'the whole 9 yards' and wikipedia seems to agree http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards

[/pedant off] ;)

Really?! oh darn it. I really liked that story too. yes I was referring to the browning machine guns, I thought they were referred to as cannon too, because they were pretty big. I was remembering a story from way back when we went to the Imperial War Museum as a kid.