A Conversation for Ask h2g2

LessUsed Facts

Post 9881

Mr. X ---> "Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!"

How did it get that area code? It seems unlikely to have had it when NASA first moved in.

smiley - pirate


LessUsed Facts

Post 9882

Baron Grim

They didn't. It was noticed later that the 321 area code wasn't taken. Originally all area codes had either a 1 or a 0 as its middle digit. (According to the discussion on Reddit today about this, I believe theirs was originally 407). When they had an opportunity to add a new area code due to population growht, they picked the obvious 321.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9883

ITIWBS

"Officer Joe Friday's" badge number from Jack Webb's "Dragnet" TV serial was "714", at the time, the area code for the greater Los Angeles area.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9884

Baron Grim

Alice Cooper baby sat Keanu Reeves.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9885

You can call me TC

Wasn't Alice Cooper's dad a church minister (of some reformed church I think)? He's quite orn'ry really.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9886

Baron Grim

I wouldn't be surprised. One of my favorite little facts about Alice Cooper is that The Amazing Randi designed his early stage stunts and performed on stage with him.

http://youtu.be/M32t8j-cyuU


LessUsed Facts

Post 9887

swl

WWI German gas masks were made from dog skins. Dogs don't sweat so their skin isn't porous.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9888

Baron Grim

Awww! smiley - sadface

I didn't want to know this.


I follow Snopes on Boofcake and Twatter and they've recently featured a preposterous internet rumor that Microsoft uses dog noses for the thumb sticks on their Game Cube controllers (image shows a Sony Playstation controller).

http://m.snopes.com/gamecube-dog-nose-controllers/


LessUsed Facts

Post 9889

Rev Nick - dead man walking (mostly)

Being Canadian and ex-military - most folks here associate the wedge cap with badge as Royal Canadian Air Force attire. But as with many aspects of military uniform, it originated in the Royal Canadian Army.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9890

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Not only is the above factoid amazingly useless, but it is a classic example of that genre of information known as 'fascinates Canadians, bores the life out of the rest of the planet.' smiley - magic


LessUsed Facts

Post 9891

swl

The fuse used in British artillery shells during WWI was actually a German design. After the war, the British Government had to pay Krupps a fee for every shell used to cover the licensing rights.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9892

Rev Nick - dead man walking (mostly)

And there was an example of 95% of this site - applying to British interests, and boring the hell out of everyone else. smiley - winkeye


LessUsed Facts

Post 9893

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - snork


LessUsed Facts

Post 9894

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

All right, just to bore everybody, an equal-opportunity useless factoid:

In the US, cornhole tournaments (a kind of bean-bag toss) are growing in popularity at regional festivals.

They are often held to benefit psychiatric clinics and addiction-recovery centres.

The connection between trying to get a bagful of dried maize into the hole in a board and the promotion of mental health is not entirely clear...


LessUsed Facts

Post 9895

ITIWBS

Catatonic schizophrenic* mental patients often can reflexively catch objects like bean bags tossed to them, a point developed in one of Robin Williams films on a mental health theme, though they're incapable of social responsiveness in most other ways.




*One of the most gravely pathetic and debilitating mental diseases.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9896

Baron Grim

Cornhole is very similar to a popular game in Texas called Washers. Instead of small sacks of corn kernals, washers uses, 2.5 inch washers and instead of a box to throw them into, two 3 inch pipe "cups" set in the ground 21 feet apart are the targets. Points are awarded for washers that fall in the cups, nearest washer to the cup, "leaners" and "see through leaners".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washer_pitching#Texas


LessUsed Facts

Post 9897

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Sounds a bit like quoits? smiley - bigeyes


LessUsed Facts

Post 9898

Baron Grim

Jupiter is so massive that it and the Sun mutually orbit each other around a point outside the Sun itself.


LessUsed Facts

Post 9899

Baron Grim

The actors who have played James Bond are contractually prohibited from appearing in any other films in a tuxedo. Pierce Brosnan stretched this rule in his remake of _The Thomas Crown Affair_ by unbuttoning his shirt and draping a white bow tie around his neck.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Why-Pierce-Brosnan-Wears-Ugliest-Suit-Ever-Thomas-Crown-Affair-68301.html


LessUsed Facts

Post 9900

Baron Grim

When the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, the local natives greeted them in English.

(They had learned from fishermen who had been fishing for cod.)


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