|
Post by mickthecactus on Mar 3, 2021 21:29:42 GMT
3,000 people still work in the Chernobyl power plant.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Mar 3, 2021 21:45:25 GMT
How is that even possible? I’m shocked.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Mar 3, 2021 21:51:41 GMT
They are required to maintain it apparently. It is a vast site.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Mar 3, 2021 22:08:56 GMT
200 people live permanently in Chernobyl and they have a big problem with squatters and social media nutcases. They even break into reactor number 4 control room and steal souvenirs.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Mar 3, 2021 22:13:54 GMT
The Chernobyl exclusion site is the size of Luxembourg.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Mar 3, 2021 23:02:29 GMT
200 people live permanently in Chernobyl and they have a big problem with squatters and social media nutcases. They even break into reactor number 4 control room and steal souvenirs. That's like dystopian fiction, except real. I guess the maintenance is to watch it to see if anything else oozes out. Something I didn't so much learn, but finally figured out yesterday or the day before, while I was sitting quietly minding my own business: the phrase "hissy fit" comes from "hysteria". How did I not automatically know this before?
|
|
|
Post by questa on Mar 3, 2021 23:45:02 GMT
Never occurred to me...I always saw it as a couple of cats hissing and claw-swiping at each other.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Mar 9, 2021 5:57:35 GMT
Using wifi on your telephone consumes 27 times less energy than using the 4G/5G network.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Mar 9, 2021 14:05:57 GMT
By energy, do you mean battery? Really, I would have thought that 27 times less was a conservative amount -- that it would have been at least 70% less or something.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Mar 9, 2021 15:05:53 GMT
No, I should have made it clear that it's the whole 4G/5G infrastructure that consumes the energy and destroys the planet. I guess I should say that the network consumes 27 times more energy than just using wifi.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Mar 12, 2021 15:28:20 GMT
The fattest U.S. president was William Howard Taft -- 150.6kg / 332 lb. The tallest U.S. president was Abraham Lincoln -- 1.93m / 6'4"
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on Mar 13, 2021 16:00:13 GMT
I am totally shocked that Donald Trump didn’t try to stretch his height to at least match Honest Abe.
(That would make his Basal Mass Index look better, too.)
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Mar 13, 2021 16:17:22 GMT
He says he is 6'3 while he is really 6'1, making him shorter than Barack Obama.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Mar 13, 2021 16:40:35 GMT
I was shocked to learn today that far, far more American soldiers were killed in the US civil war than in WWII.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Mar 13, 2021 16:49:06 GMT
Just think what could happen in the upcoming civil war. More seriously, huge medical progress was made in the 70 or so years between those wars.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Mar 13, 2021 17:58:09 GMT
True. Of the 620,000 recorded military deaths in the Civil War about two-thirds died from disease. However, recent studies show the number of deaths was probably closer to 750,000. sourceand Throughout America's first 145 years of war, far more of the country's military personnel perished from infectious diseases than from enemy action. This ... was finally reversed in World War II, chiefly as a result of major medical advances in prevention (vaccines) and treatment (antibiotics). ... Disease and combat mortality data from America's principal wars (1775-present) fall into two clearly defined time periods: the Disease Era (1775-1918), during which infectious diseases were the major killer of America's armed forces, and the Trauma Era (1941-present), in which combat-related fatalities predominated. The trend established in World War II continues to the present day. Although there are currently more than 3,400 U.S. military fatalities in Iraq, the disease-death toll is so low that it is exceeded by the number of suicides. sourceAll of those numbers are only on US military. Adding in the numbers from other military in various conflicts raises the figures to the unimaginable.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Mar 13, 2021 18:13:09 GMT
Coincidentally, I’ve just come across this list of 1883, war pensioners from Lackawanna County, PA, along with the cause for each pension. I assume most of the injuries happened during the Civil War. Lots of missing limbs. My second great-grandfather is one of those listed. genealogytrails.com/penn/lackawanna/military/1883pensioners.html
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Mar 13, 2021 18:23:16 GMT
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Mar 13, 2021 18:28:17 GMT
Wow! He certainly had lots of children, with births spread out over a long period of time.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Mar 13, 2021 18:39:16 GMT
No sh*t! My great-grandmother was the oldest daughter and much of the child care fell on her after her mother died.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Mar 13, 2021 20:18:49 GMT
I was shocked to learn today that far, far more American soldiers were killed in the US civil war than in WWII. In the Civil War the US were on both sides from the first whistle whereas in WWII they only turned up on one side at halftime. Civil wars are always much nastier.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Apr 12, 2021 1:18:31 GMT
It's part of Louisiana legend that because of his musical talent, Lead Belly was released from Angola prison by Governor O.K. Allen*.
What I found out a few minutes ago was that, because of his musical talent, Freddy Fender was released from Angola prison by Governor Jimmie Davis, a fellow musician. Fender had served three years in the penitentiary after being busted for possession of marijuana in Baton Rouge.
I also found out that the release by O.K. Allen is a myth, that Ledbetter was due to get out early anyway because of good behavior. Further, despite being a lifelong Lead Belly fan, I only now have learned that he recorded a song called "Governor O.K. Allen", which is the flip side of "Goodnight, Irene".
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Apr 12, 2021 18:31:44 GMT
In 1906 Paris had 1000 motor taxis.
London had 100.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Apr 12, 2021 18:51:30 GMT
Is it a myth that Irene was a cow?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Apr 12, 2021 21:52:45 GMT
I wonder why the disparity in the number of taxis in those two cities.
A cow?! I'm pretty sure the true origins of the song are lost back in time. I have fond memories of my grandfather singing this to his sister. He knew lots of songs that later regained popularity in the 2nd half of the 20th century. I don't know where he heard them all, but do know he remembered minstrel shows and other paddlewheel entertainment.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on May 2, 2021 17:42:17 GMT
The international space station has a camera positioned below the toilet seat for the user because it is absolutely essential for the anus to be lined up perfectly with the evacuation tube (?).
|
|
|
Post by questa on May 3, 2021 0:18:37 GMT
I get a mental picture of a weightless spaceman/woman floating around the cabin with a vacuum cleaner gathering up the remains of last nights curry. thank you very much, K2!...
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on May 4, 2021 15:36:38 GMT
For goodness sake--- such a small detail to get right. All you have to do is make the evacuation tube bigger than a mans arsehole.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on May 4, 2021 15:41:45 GMT
There is absolutely nothing simple about anything they do.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on May 4, 2021 16:55:31 GMT
I think I’d prefer astronaut diapers to a vacuum machine...
|
|