Thread: Strange and Unusual Facts

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Volkswagen was sued by Czechoslovakian car maker Tatra before WWII because the original
Beetle was so similar to the Tatra T97. After Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, the
lawsuit was canceled by the Nazis.

Originally Posted by Simon43

They had small willies in those days.....

and no nuts.....

America’s Biggest Owner Of Farmland Is Now Bill Gates

Bill Gates, the fourth richest person in the world and a self-described nerd who is known for his early programming skills rather than his love of the outdoors, has been quietly snatching up 242,000 acres of farmland across the U.S. — enough to make him the top private farmland owner in America.

Moon over Gifu Castle, Japan.

The Stiletto Snake's fangs' angle allows it to "bite" backward, making the typical technique of grabbing it behind the head very dangerous.

Gibraltar's International Airport has a runway that is bisected with a 4-lane highway.
The runway is closed with barriers before a plane lands or takes off.

Originally Posted by jabir

Gibraltar's International Airport has a runway that is bisected with a 4-lane highway.
The runway is closed with barriers before a plane lands or takes off.

So is Nauru's.

Originally Posted by tomcat

The Stiletto Snake's fangs' angle allows it to "bite" backward, making the typical technique of grabbing it behind the head very dangerous.

Yeah, on a list of animals I'd like to grab behind the head, that's pretty fokin' far down.

Originally Posted by jabir

Gibraltar's International Airport has a runway that is bisected with a 4-lane highway.

Called Winston Churchill Avenue, btw.


Winston Churchill was also the last ever white person to be given the name Winston.

Originally Posted by jabir

yep, looks like a donkey track but that'll do.

Looks like they've upgraded it since I was last there. Appears the highway goes around the runway now.

Daisugi is a Japanese foresty technique that gives you lumber without cutting down trees. By pruning cedar trees, they're able to create "shoots" that can be harvested.

Originally Posted by tomcat

Daisugi is a Japanese foresty technique that gives you lumber without cutting down trees. By pruning cedar trees, they're able to create "shoots" that can be harvested.

Also known as coppicing and practised in the UK for centuries. This one is not really strange or unusual. Just saying.

Nice pic though.

Originally Posted by Edmond

Yeah, on a list of animals I'd like to grab behind the head, that's pretty fokin' far down.

Hehehe

Yes indeedy.

Google Street view car has not been to Nauru

Originally Posted by Edmond

Yeah, on a list of animals I'd like to grab behind the head, that's pretty fokin' far down.

There is one that has its fangs sticking out of the side of its head. I watched some doco where some herpetologist was playing up the snake grabbing for the cameras; he misidentified the snake and it got him. He ordered the cameras out of the ER because he was so fucking embarrassed.

It's called a Stiletto snake I think.

^

Originally Posted by tomcat

The Stiletto Snake's fangs' angle allows it to "bite" backward, making the typical technique of grabbing it behind the head very dangerous.

Usain Bolt won eight gold medals at 3 Olympics, running a total of 2 minutes, earning $119 or $1m per second.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

There is one that has its fangs sticking out of the side of its head.

It made me think of an implement of torture that was in some Czech or Hungarian museum of medieval torture and general shenanigans, that we plodded along to.

A wooden knob shaped like (and called) the tulip bulb, with 3 holes in it.

Stuck up yer klacker.
Then the bottom piece screws in which pushes out 3 barbs.

Rope attached to pull it out, before starting again.

They did know how to party, those medieval lads.

Originally Posted by Edmond

It made me think of an implement of torture that was in some Czech or Hungarian museum of medieval torture and general shenanigans, that we plodded along to.

A wooden knob shaped like (and called) the tulip bulb, with 3 holes in it.

Stuck up yer klacker.
Then the bottom piece screws in which pushes out 3 barbs.

Rope attached to pull it out, before starting again.

They did know how to party, those medieval lads.

In Jo Nesbo's book, Leopard, it makes an appearance in there wherehe calls it Leopold's apple and attributes it to the fun-loving Belgians who used it as an instrument of torture in the Congo.

He made this bit up though. Clearly, he goes to the same museums of happiness as you do for inspiration.

The kunt's got more tales than Roald Dahl

Originally Posted by Edmond

was in some Czech or Hungarian museum of medieval torture and general shenanigans, that we plodded along to.

The longest flight was 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and five seconds.

On 4 December 1958, the two pilots Robert Timm and John Cook rose to the challenge of beating the 49 days flight record without landing. On 4 February 1959, the two pilots landed, having flown nonstop for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and five seconds.

This record was achieved by matching speed with a refuelling truck driven along a highway.



The Cessna 172 aircraft, named Hacienda, is displayed at the McCarrran International Airport in Las Vegas.

London. Home to over 10 million people. A hub of cultures colliding into a mishmash of food. Steaming fish and chips and spicy curry. Hot tea and sticky toffee pudding.

If a restaurant is ranked as being the best in London, it has to be good, right?

In April 2017, Oobah Butler, a writer for Vice who had previously been bribed by restaurants to give good reviews, set out to test the system, to prove a point.

He decided to fake an entire restaurant.

He named his fictitious restaurant, "The Shed at Dulwich,” after his own shed in Dulwich.



Next, he began to add meat to the bones. A $13 burner phone was all he needed to verify it on Yelp. Then he set up a website, completed with ever so inspired dishes and delicious photos of food.











Initially, the restaurant was ranked #18,149, the worst in London. Butler contacted friends and asked them to write fake reviews, and within the first couple of weeks, the 'Shed' was in the top 10,000, having served not a single customer, and within a few more weeks it soars to #1,456.

By the end of August, it has reached the top 200 restaurants in London, while Butler’s burner phone is burning from reservation calls.

Companies track the location and begin to mail free samples.



On November 1st, 2017, The Shed at Dulwich becomes London’s top rated restaurant, despite nobody ever having dined there.

Despite having created one of the largest fast food franchises, Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas decided to go back to school and earn his GED in 1993 at the age of 61.

His GED class voted him 'Most Likely to Succeed'.