h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nope. It's a fact. Useless too, hence the inclusions here.

I read it in The Second World War by Anthony Beevor, and there's a photo and everything.

Wow. Thank you for sharing this valuable, but useless fact.

My pleasure.

Mercenary. Slavery. But what about the language barrier?

No idea.

I would imagine he'd report to a supervising officer in each case, who could speak whatever languages were necessary.

He even has his own wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Kyoungjong

Excellent. It's these kind of stories that have kept me tied to this thread for so many years.

I've seen this a few times recently (and I've personally mentioned it IRL at least once) but I can't recall seeing it here.


The largest tire manufacturer in the world is the Lego company, making more than 300 million toy tires yearly.

The number of Lego people will outstrip humanity by 2015.

But in both categories, bodies and tires, these 'larger' numbers
must not be allowed to diminish our appreciation for the physical
realities of overall bulk and mass.

It's like when astrophysicists tell us there are more stars in the sky
than all the grains of sand in all the deserts and on all the beaches
of planet earth.

Numbers are an abstraction, a human conceit, they belie the physical
nature of matter.

*conceit: "a simile or metaphor, that forms an extremely ingenious or
fanciful parallel between apparently dissimilar or incongruous objects
or situations." - dictdotcom


~jwf~

The preceding post definitely encapsulates what this thread is all about.

I am in awe.

~jwf~

50th anniversary useless fact:


50 years ago today, (in the afternoon, the day's almost over in this, the same time zone), as the car was heading westerly, a wife reached for her sunglasses. Her husband said "Take off the glasses, Jackie".

Those were the last words JFK said to her.

Petula Clark's 1967 hit 'This is my Song', was written by Charlie Chaplin.

PP.

"My Way"' the song most closely associated with Frank Sinatra was written by Paul Anka with a tune from a song originally in English, adapted into French and then back into English.

One of the most famous mountains in the world is rarely known by its proper name, Mount Lee.

Nearly everyone has seen it's southern face.

It's notable for the large white letters, H O L L Y W O O D, that adorn it.

It was named for car dealer and early radio and television station owner who put a TV transmitter on it. The HOLLYWOODLAND real estate development sign was already there when Lee bought the mountain property. It was later bought by Howard Hughes who intended to build a mansion for Ginger Rogers on it until their relationship ended.

Aww, it could have been the Ginger-Lee mansion.

Aldous Huxley had a house quite near the first letter O.
It had a veritable garden of delights which his wife continued
to tend until her death in 2007.

"Laura Huxley's house for the last 50-odd years stood below the first 'O' in the fabled "HOLLYWOOD" sign in Los Angeles. The garden was a profusion of triffid-like foliage and Laura was often to be seen pruning the roses in a gigantic straw hat. Even into her nineties, she had impish wit."
- quoted from:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/laura-huxley-widow-of-aldous-huxley-765500.html


~jwf~

The Chupa Chups logo was designed by Salvadore Dali

What are CHupa Chups? Are they edible?