Fact O' The Day

[Colorado700R]

I worked on a surface to air missle radar that had an optical scope on it....it's job was to illuminate an aircraft for the missle to "ride on" to the target....we used to slew it around and point it at crows standing on fence posts......flip the switch, and that pencil beam of energy would go out.......crow was dead before it knew it was cooking

[Peelz]

I worked on a surface to air missle radar that had an optical scope on it....it's job was to illuminate an aircraft for the missle to "ride on" to the target....we used to slew it around and point it at crows standing on fence posts......flip the switch, and that pencil beam of energy would go out.......crow was dead before it knew it was cooking

LOL  yeah I heard stories like that from him too.

wait for seagull to land, flip switch...seagull nuggets.

[Colorado700R]

Alka selsers + Seagulls = Awesome

[Krandall]

Seagull and nice and gooey roasted marshmallow for the win!!


we did that, seagull stabbed it w/ his beak and flew off. Marshmallow stuck

[Krandall]

Macau has the fastest-growing economy in the world.'
Since receiving tens of billions of dollars in foreign investments over the past decade, Macau had the highest estimated GPD growth rate in 2009. With an economy largely built on gaming and tourism, Macau is the largest gambling center in the world, having overtaken Las Vegas in 2006. Gaming-related taxes account for almost 3/4 of the government's revenue.

[Mad Dog]

I learned that from TV....A short lived Aaron Sorkin network drama called "studio 60 on the sunset strip" included among it's cast of characters the head of "NBS", a fictional US television network.  The storyline highlighted the importance of Macau as the source of tremendous growth and business opportunity which was primed to explode with progress.

This series was aired in late 2006 through mid 2007; prophetic in my eyes and one more reason television is more than just a method for rotting one's brain.

[vern burny]

I remember that show and I like it.  Because I liked it the show was cancelled.  Sorry, it is a curse I have.

[Krandall]

Some people currently alive will live to be 150. '
Stephen Austad, head of the Comparative Biology of Aging Center, is "virtually certain" that some children now alive will live until halfway through the 22nd century. Austad argues that, even without the benefit of medical advances, humans -- even those in preindustrial societies -- are living longer and longer due to evolutionary changes. (He's certain enough about his proclamation that he and a friend each bet $150, to be placed in a trust fund, the $500-million result of which will go to the winner's nearest living relative in 2150.)

[Krandall]

'232 million prescriptions were written for antidepressants in 2007.'


A 2008 study on the efficacy of antidepressants determined that the drugs improved a patient's depressive symptoms by a "clinically insignificant" degree compared with a placebo, in all but the most severely depressed subjects. The study also noted that antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S., at 232.7 million prescriptions nationwide (keep in mind that there were only 303 million people in the country altogether in 2007).



I'm sure some would argue, but IN MY OPINION... Depression is a made up thing.

[Krandall]

'The word "snob" used to mean exactly the opposite of what it does now.'


Though "snob" was once suggested to be a contraction of "sine nobiltate" (without nobilty), and that theory is now regarded as very unlikely, the fact remains that the term was used to refer to the lower classes by the kinds of people who were deeply concerned with their status (i.e., snobs). The word was initially used to describe a shoemaker or his apprentice, then was adopted by Cambridge students to refer to non-students, and eventually came to stand for anyone "of the ordinary or lower classes."

[Colorado700R]

The .223 Rem (M16 rifle round) is fast. It shoots a 55 or so grain bullet at about 3300 feet/sec, give or take. It's the fastest of all these rounds (except one).

When you move up to the .30 caliber rounds, the bullets jump up in weight to 160-200 grains. Speeds run from about 2600 to 3000 fps or so.  

The .338 Lapua is the king of the sniper rifles these days and shoots a 350 grain bullet at 2800 fps or so. They kill bad guys at over a mile with that one.  

The .50 BMG is really big.  Everyone who picks one up thinks it's some sort of fake, unless they know big ammo. It's really huge with a bullet that weighs 750 grains and goes as fast the Lapua.

The bullet for the 30x173 GAU-8 Avenger (Gun to which the A-10 Warthog is built around)has an aluminum jacket around a spent uranium core and weighs 6560 grains (yes, over 100 times as heavy as the M16 bullet, and flies through the air at 3500 fps (which is faster than the M16 as well).  The gun shoots at a rate of 4200 rounds per minute. Yes, four thousand. Pilots typically shoot either one- or two-second burst which set loose 70 to 150 rounds. The system is optimized for shooting at 4,000 feet. Each of those seven barrels is 112" long. That's almost ten feet. The entire gun is 19-1/2 feet long.

Glad it’s on our side…..If you don’t agree, perhaps you could ask the 12 Iraqi armored divisions that encountered it??  Oh…that’s right you can’t …………they’re dead

[Krandall]

'The first smartphone dates back 17 years. '
Demonstrated as a concept in 1992 and released in 1993, the IBM/BellSouth Simon "Personal Communicator" combined the functionality of a pager, fax machine, e-mail device, calendar, appointment/address book, calculator, and stylus touchscreen. (It also offered games). Though all its features are pretty much standard fare for contemporary phones, the device was one-of-a-kind in 1993, and retailed for $899.

[Peelz]

bag phones FTMFW!

[Krandall]

'The internet is rapidly running out of addresses. '


IP addresses aren't just used for computers; an address gets assigned to every device that accesses the internet (including, for instance, phones and cars). John Curran, president of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, estimates that 94% of the IP addresses currently available have already been allocated. This is largely a problem for service and content providers, but it is one that will have to be resolved within a year.

[Krandall]

'The most densely populated area in the U.S. is a community in Maryland.'

Friendship Village, technically a "census-designated place" as opposed to an incorporated village or town, covers a mere 1/20 of a square mile but had a population of 4,512 during the 2000 census. That works out to a population density of nearly 82,000 per square mile, or three times the population density of New York City.