Interesting facts

[Fruitcake]

During construction of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, wire cables were strung across the Avon Gorge for workers to cross, and to support the chain sections as they were being installed.
The bridge took over thirty years to build, with delays caused by the Bristol Riots, lack of funds, and Brunel’s death.

At some point, the traverse cage mechanism jammed mid-way. Eventually, Brunel decided to cross the cables without any safety gear, and eventually managed to free the cage.
As a result, he was given the nickname, “the reckless engineer.”

A few years ago it was discovered that the bridge support on the Somerset side was hollow, and made from a series of arched vaults, complete with stalactites.
Occasionally, guided tours of these vaults are organised.

[Bruce]

Those towers look so similar to the four towers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge the big difference is that those on the Sydney Harbour Bridge serve no practical purpose whatsoever. The entire weight of the bridge is supported by a “hinge” at the base of the lower arch the hinge allows the bridge to expand and contract according to the temperature. I believe its height increases by something like 450mm on a hot day

As you can see there is no connection from the pylon to the arch.

[Bruce]

I rather belatedly found a picture of the Sydney Harbour Bridge hinge, the entire weight of the structure is supported by this (at each end)

(Not my photo)

You can just see the wall of the pylon on the top left.

[Fruitcake]

I couldn’t work out what you meant from your first post/piccy about the bridge, but the second one makes much more sense.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge load is taken mostly on two hinge/pivot points, in the same way that a suspension bridge total load is mostly split across two fulcrum points where the chains or cables pass over the top of each support.

I say mostly, because a small part of the bridge deck is supported by the land at each end.

[Fruitcake]

Speaking of Oz, I am reminded of a geography lesson that I had around 1968, where the subject under discussion was the vast distances produce amongst other things was transported across the country, mostly by road.

'Twas there that I first heard about the Australian Hashmagandy Stew. We we shown a Government Information Film following an Ozzy lorry (truck) crew as they drove food across the Outback.
How we laughed when the lorry got a flat, and the spare wheel rolled down a hill and had to be pushed with much effort back up to the dirt road.
How we laughed when the wheel with the flat did the same and had to be pushed back up the hill again.

Come evening, the crew stopped by pulling to one side of the road, which was ill-defined and probably 20m wide at that point. Gradually, other lorries stopped including Road Trains. These things are vast and usually consist of a rigid lorry unit and two trailers.

Someone started a fire using brushwood, and produced a huge cooking pot. The conversion then centred on what each crew was hauling.
“We’ve got a load of tinned corned beef.”
“We’ve got Ardmona cling-peaches.”
“We’ve got meatballs.”
“We’ve got baked beans.”
“We’ve got fruit cocktail”
“We’ve got potatoes.”

… and into the pot it went.

Some years later, I was reminded of this when a fellow apprentice mentioned seeing the same film.

I made it using the ingredients I remembered for some friends on a camping trip. They thought it was hilarious as well as tasty yet nutritious.

A few years after that, I made it for my lovely cousins.
The fifteen-year-old was indifferent. The seventeen-year-old told me in no uncertain terms that I was never to cook such a dish for her again.

Years later, I made the same dish again for My Lovely Cousin and our kids, again using the ingredients I remembered from the film. The boys thought it was hilarious, but again, my Lovely Cousin was indifferent. I have never made the dish since.

The important thing to note that the general definition of a Hashmagandy is that it is made from whatever ingredients available to hand to sustain life.

In other words, it it was edible, it goes into the stew-pot.

[Fruitcake]

In Sweden, a hospital asked a nurse to change his name. He agreed, and instead asked to be referred only by his middle name, Manuel. Why?

Because his first name was Jesus. The hospital did not want patients freaking out when told, Jesus will see you soon, or Jesus is coming for you today at 3pm, or Jesus is going to take your blood or …

[Fruitcake]

A secretary was originally, ( and possibly still is), a keeper of secrets.

[Fruitcake]

In 1926, a pilot called Art Goebel, who was one of Hollywood’s top stunt fliers, was in the middle of a performance when one of the wheels fell off his 'plane. This prevented him from being able to land. (No sh*t Sherlock)!

A daredevil wing-walker called Gladys Ingle strapped a spare wheel to her back and went into the air, standing on the wing of a fellow stunt pilot’s 'plane, flown by another stunt pilot called Bon MacDougall. The event was recorded on film and shows how Gladys moved along the wings of MacDougall’s plane and, once Goebel gets close enough, transfers to his plane.
She then climbed down to the undercarriage and fitted the new wheel, allowing Goebel to land safely with his unplanned passenger.

The following year, the use of parachutes was made compulsory.

Gladys Ingle - Mid-air wheel change (1926)

[Psmith]

The term “daredevil” is certainly the right description.
A life well-lived.

Gladys Ingle

[OldGreyFox]

That’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. It certainly earns it’s place in history and in the ‘Interesting Facts’ thread on the forum. I can’t believe the bravery of that woman…

[Fruitcake]

It is snowing by here on the Somerset Riviera.

[Fruitcake]

Marigolds (the flowers, not the rubber gloves) are sometimes grown in order to sell to chicken farms.
Yellow marigolds cause the meat to turn yellowish.
Orange marigolds cause egg-yokes to become darker/have an orange colour.

I am quite sure this is purely for health reasons and in no way to make people think a chicken has been fed on corn, or that eggs are a better quality than others available.

[Fruitcake]

The first bridge across the Niagara river between Canada and the USA was a suspension bridge, and opened in 1848. Construction began with a boy flying a kite across the river in order to pass the first line.
This temporary bridge was later replaced with the first ever working railway suspension bridge in the world.

[Fruitcake]

Many surnames are derived from the jobs people did.

In the UK for example, Thatcher and Cartwright.

Some names derive directly from the separate jobs needed in making a longbow.

For example,

Fletcher (arrow and feathers)
Bowyer (bow-maker)
Arrowsmith (arrowhead-maker)
Stringfellow (string-maker)

Once assembled, the person who would use it was called an Archer or Bowman.

During the 100 year war, (14th-15th century), English males over the age of seven had to practice archery for up to two hours every Sunday after church, by law.

[Fruitcake]

Whilst walking through a kirkyard in Scotland. Charles Dickens noticed a gravestone with the name, Ebeneezer Lennox Scroggie, and the epitaph, “He was a mean man.”

Of course, we now know what he did with that information. Unfortunately for Mr Scroggie’s family, Mr Dickens misread the wording on the tombstone. Mr Scroggie was actually a corn dealer, and his epitaph actually read, “He was a meal man.”

[Fruitcake]

Origin of the term “patch” in computing.

[Bruce]

That was interesting.

When I worked for the GPO in London they started computerising fault cards so we used to have to poke little squares of perforated paper out of each card to indicate the type of fault, duration etc

[Fruitcake]

@Bruce

When I worked for the GPO in London they started computerising fault cards so we used to have to poke little squares of perforated paper out of each card to indicate the type of fault, duration etc

When I was a young lad in grammar school, we were taught a bit about pooters and given cards, a punch, and a card holder with rubber strips to “write” our own “programme” which was nothing more really than simple arithmetic at the time.

From memory we poked little rectangles out of individual cards using a tool like a flat pen with a round blob on the end to push the tiny strips of card out between the rubber strips. You had to be careful to make sure these tiny bits of card were completely pushed through otherwise they would remain attached and affect the result.

Decades later, this method of punching cards caused problems in a US election where there arguments about chads and hanging chads affected results.

[OldGreyFox]

Computers and AI with be the downfall of the human race ah tell ya!

[d00d]

In Switzerland, it is illegal to own only one goldfish, as well as other social animals like guinea pigs and budgies, due to the belief that keeping them alone in isolation is considered inhumane.