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

I doubt "Nobody" Knew, They are just not quotable.
Given Kodak's involvement with government projects on imaging and materials, it's not a total surprise.

That thing was not from the description a reactor, but a high power source, smaller ones are used for examining welds in critical metalwork.

Indeed. I laugh when areas proudly proclaim themselves a "Nuclear Free Zone". No x-ray machines in their hospitals I suppose and no connection to the National Grid.

Well, I'm glad I stated that poorly. I was beginning to think this thread was abandoned.

There are areas that claim to be nuclear free zones...? I haven't heard of that before. Examples would be good.

Apparently, Berkeley, California is one:

http://go4nuclear.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/living-in-a-nuclear-free-zone/

Greenwich council in London declared itself a nuclear free zone in the 1980's.
Obviously no-one had told them about the reactor in the training submarine at the Royal Navy College, and yes there was a small one so the nuclear submarine crews could be trained.

Vicodin (Hydrocodone) is so named because it is six (VI) times as strong as codeine.

That information may not be useless, but it is certainly annoying.

How so?

Sort of like a bad visual pun.

Actually, I was rather impressed. I worked in a pharmacy when I was a kid and I just assumed drug names were picked at random from a box full of vaguely Greek/Latin/Extraterrestrial syllables.

It seems that way to me, too. I suspect they may work jokes in there more than we've been led to believe.

Perhaps the Baron's worries about this thread dying out are unfounded. Or rather, they are not unfounded, the thread may be dying out, but there are less useless facts around - more and more facts are becoming useful.

Maybe?

For example, the fact about a drug being 6 times the strength of codeine is not only useful, it could, under certain circumstances, be a matter of life and death.

OK, here's a useless fact: I have a scar on my left knee from when I cut it at the age of about 6 years old.

It's a fact - the scar is there. It's useless because you won't see it unless you meet me face-to-face and I'm wearing shorts or a short skirt (not likely!).

Among famous members of the America First Committee, which tried to keep the US out of World War II:

Gerald Ford
Walt Disney
Charles Lindbergh
Sinclair Lewis
The CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Co.

A young JFK sent them a hundred dollars. They disbanded after December, 1941. Wonder why...

A young JFK sent them a hundred dollars. They disbanded after December, 1941. Wonder why...
Several loud bangs in Pearl Harbour.
To be fair they had already done a lot without committing to joining in.
Lend Lease etc.

The America First Committee fought FDR all the way. They opposed Lend Lease. He couldn't get it through until he became the first three-term President...

FDR brought in the big guns. He sent Wild Bill Donovan over to confer with the sneaky people in the UK...and the Brits planted a fake map of South America where the FBI would find it. Under some German Bund guy's bed or similar...

The map had South America all divided up into Protectorates. No word on who was supposed to be Gauleiter of Buenos Aires...

Truth is So much weirder than fiction...I love history...

The Canary Islands were not named after the birds. http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/04/canary-birds-were-named-after-the-canary-islands-not-the-other-way-around/

F S

Well, now, that's interesting!

But was Admiral Canaris named for canaries, or his dog? (Sorry, been editing . It will take a while for reality to return.)