| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
"Barak Khazad! Khazad ai-menu!" :-)
|
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (doing business since 2012 as ASHRAE) is a global professional association seeking to advance heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems design and construction. Founded in 1894 it now has more than 50,000 members worldwide, composed of building services engineers, architects, mechanical contractors, building owners, equipment manufacturers' employees, and others concerned with the design and construction of HVAC&R systems in buildings. The society funds research projects, offers continuing education programs, and develops and publishes technical standards to improve building services engineering, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and sustainable development.
American actor Indiana "Indy" Neidell (b. 1967), best known for his work as the host of the YouTube series The Great War and World War Two, has also done voice work for video games, most notably providing the voice for Questor the Elf in the 2014 reboot of Gauntlet, as well as providing several voices for the infamously bad 2003 Xbox game Drake of the 99 Dragons.
The word "cybernetics," referring to the science of communication and control between organic and machine, the study of controlling automatic processes and communication, and computerized technology in general (according to Wiktionary), is derived from the Ancient Greek word κυβερνητικός [kubernētikós], meaning "good at steering; good pilot," through the French cybernétique ("governance; art of governing"). The word itself was coined in 1948 by American mathematician and philosopher Norbert Wiener (1894-1964).
The English suffix "-tron," denoting computational devices, elementary particles, machine algorithms, and particle accelerators, is derived from the Ancient Greek suffix -τρον (-tron), meaning "instrument."
However, the word "electron" (negatively charged subatomic particle) [and related terms such as "positron" and "neutron"] is derived from the words "electric ion" (atom or atoms bearing an electrical charge). The word "ion" itself is derived from the endings of "anion" and "cation," referring to negatively and positively charged particles, respectively. In the Ancient Greek, "anion" and "cation" mean, roughly, "thing that goes up" and "thing that goes down."
|
|
A herniated disk refers to a problem with one of the rubbery cushions (disks) between the individual bones (vertebrae) that stack up to make your spine.
A spinal disk is a little like a jelly donut, with a softer center encased within a tougher exterior. Sometimes called a slipped disk or a ruptured disk, a herniated disk occurs when some of the softer "jelly" pushes out through a tear in the tougher exterior.
A herniated disk can irritate nearby nerves and result in pain, numbness or weakness in an arm or leg. On the other hand, many people experience no symptoms from a herniated disk. Most people who have a herniated disk don't need surgery to correct the problem.
Been there and had the surgery. To this day, though, I still have chronic back pain.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Bissell Inc., also known as Bissell Homecare, is a privately owned vacuum cleaner and floor care product manufacturing corporation headquartered in Walker, Michigan in Greater Grand Rapids. The company is the number one manufacturer of floor care products in North America in terms of sales, with 20% marketshare.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The fish family Psychrolutidae (derived from the Greek psychrolouteo, meaning "to have a cold bath"), commonly known as "blobfishes," consists of bottom-dwelling marine sculpins with large heads and bodies that taper back into small, flat tails.
Most members of the blobfish family are extremely long-lived, and have a slow rate of reproduction, growth, and aging. In some cases, blobfish have been documented at an age of roughly 130 years old.
A blobfish's skin is loosely attached and movable, and the layer underneath it is gelatinous, allowing it to withstand the immense pressure of its deep-sea habitat. The popular impression of the blobfish as bulbous and gelatinous is largely an artifact of the decompression damage done to specimens when they are brought to the surface from the extreme depths in which they live. In their natural environment, blobfish appear more typical of their superclass Osteichthyes (bony fish).
Been there and had the surgery. To this day, though, I still have chronic back pain.
My father and his three brothers, as well as my mother's only brother, have all had the surgery. I'm counting down the years until I inevitably have mine.
|
|
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is a comic book distributor serving retailers in North America and worldwide. They transport comic books and graphic novels from both big and small comic book publishers, or suppliers, to retailers, as well as other pop-culture products such as toys, games, and apparel. Diamond distributes to the direct market in the United States, and has an exclusive distribution arrangements with most major U.S. comic book publishers, including Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Marvel Comics, and more.
Diamond is also the parent company of Alliance Game Distributors, Diamond Book Distributors, Diamond UK, Diamond Select Toys, Gemstone Publishing, E. Gerber Products, Diamond International Galleries, Hake's Americana & Collectibles, Morphy's Auctions, the Geppi's Entertainment Museum, and Baltimore magazine.
Diamond is the publisher of Previews, a monthly catalog/magazine showcasing upcoming comic books, graphic novels, toys, and other pop-culture merchandise available at comic book specialty shops. The publication is available to both comic shop retailers and consumers.
And depending upon which retailer you talk to are completely incompetent.
|
|
75 Mind-Blowing McDonald’s Facts
I didn't go through them all, so I cannot determine if the title of the article is misleading or not.
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The Goon Show was a radio show that aired on the BBC from 1951 to 1960. The show starred Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, and Michael Bentine (1951-1953).
The show used radio to create scenes that were not limited by physical possibility, and frequently broke the fourth wall. One scene I like had characters trapped in the catacombs beneath Rome. Neddy Seagoon sees a manhole overhead.
SEAGOON: "No good. It's too high. Eccles, stand on my shoulders and pick me up!"
ECCLES: (grunts with effort) "Here, I'd like to see them try this on television."
The show's surrealistic humor was a major influence on Monty Python.
Episodes can be found HERE.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Café du Monde (French for "Café of the World" or "the People's Café") is a renowned open-air coffee shop located on Decatur Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a New Orleans landmark and tourist destination, known for its café au lait and beignets.
Mmmmm...beignets.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Man, there sure are an awful lot of synonyms for "stupid". :-)
|
|
Sylvester Stallone still has the pet turtles who showed up in the original Rocky.
Awwww..Cuff and Link.
|
|
In 1967, the band The Sixpence recorded a single called "The Birdman of Alkatrash". Before the single was released, the band changed their name, and the B-side (remember those?) of "The Birdman of Alkatrash" became a number 1 single in the summer of 1967.
I once met a guy who claimed to have been one of the Strawberry Alarm Clock's drummers in a bar in Batesville, Arkansas. Nice guy. Don't know if he was telling the truth or not, though. This was in the days before you could verify stuff online in seconds.
|
|
Box hockey is an active hand game played between two people with sticks, a puck and a compartmented box (typically 5–8 feet or 1.5–2.4 meters long), and typically played outdoors. The object of the game is to move a hockey puck through the center dividers, of the box, out through a hole placed at each end of the box, also known as the goal. The two players face one another on either side of the box, and each attempts to move the puck to their left. If a player succeeds in getting the puck to exit the box through the goal, the player scores one point (or goal). The first player to score the predetermined number of goals wins the game.
|
|
Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Jeannette was founded in 1888. The city got its name from one of the original city fathers, who wished to honor his wife by giving the new town her first name: Jeannette. The city celebrated its 125th anniversary in July 2013. The population was 9,654 according to the 2010 census.
Admittedly I've only driven THROUGH Westmoreland...but I do recall seeing signs for this place.
|
|
The Far Side is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world, logical fallacies, impending bizarre disasters, (often twisted) references to proverbs, or the search for meaning in life. Larson's frequent use of animals and nature in the comic is popularly attributed to his background in biology. Reruns are still printed in many newspapers.
The Far Side was ultimately carried by more than 1,900 daily newspapers, translated into 17 languages, and collected into calendars, greeting cards, and 23 compilation books.
Larson was recognized for his work on the strip with the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1985 and 1988, and with their Reuben Award for 1990 and 1994.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
A thagomizer is the distinctive arrangement of four to ten spikes on the tails of stegosaurid dinosaurs. These spikes are believed to have been a defensive measure against predators.
The arrangement of spikes originally had no distinct name; the term Thagomizer was coined in 1982 by cartoonist Gary Larson in his comic The Far Side, and thereafter became gradually adopted as an informal term within scientific circles, research, and education.
I had this conversation with someone just the other day.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Far Side is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist).
An integral part of my newspaper comic-reading childhood. I still own multiple volumes of Far Side comics.
There are articles online hinting Larson may be about to bring the Far Side back.
LOL yes!
|
|
The S-IC (pronounced S-one-C) was the first stage of the American Saturn V rocket. The S-IC stage was built by the Boeing Company. Like the first stages of most rockets, most of its mass of more than 2,000 t (4,400,000 lb) at launch was propellant, in this case RP-1 rocket fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer. It was 42 m (138 ft) tall and 10 m (33 ft) in diameter, and provided 33,000 kN (7,500,000 lbf) of thrust to get the rocket through the first 61 km (38 mi) of ascent. The stage had five F-1 engines in a quincunx arrangement. The center engine was fixed in position, while the four outer engines could be hydraulically gimballed to control the rocket.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
David E. Clarenbach (b. 1953) is a Wisconsin Democratic politician and gay activist who served nine terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly and as Speaker pro tempore for ten years.
While in high school in Madison, WI public schools, Clarenbach got involved in an effort to place student representatives on the Madison School Board, and in 1969, at age 16, he spent his spring break registering voters in rural Mississippi.
Clarenbach was elected to the Dane County Board of Supervisors in 1972, at age 18. In 1974, he was elected a Madison alderman, before being elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly that same year at the age of 21, succeeding fellow Democrat Edward Nager.
In 1982, Clarenbach was widely credited with helping push through the first law in the country which prohibited discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. It was a landmark achievement for LGBT rights in Wisconsin and across the nation. In 1983 he was elected Speaker pro tempore of the Assembly, a position he held until 1993.
Clarenbach did not seek re-election in 1992, instead running for Congress in Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district. In the Democratic primary election held on September 8, Clarenbach faced Ada Deer and lost with 31,961 votes (40.1%) to Deer's 47,777 (59.9%). Deer went on to lose to incumbent Republican Scott L. Klug in the general election. Clarenbach was succeeded in the assembly by Tammy Baldwin, who ran as the first openly gay legislative candidate in Wisconsin history.
Clarenbach led the Madison AIDS Support Network and later served as executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund from 1996 to 1997. Clarenbach was also a member of the Urban League, Humane Society, ACLU of Wisconsin, and National Council of Senior Citizens. He was a voting delegate to the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Democratic National Conventions.
David Clarenbach is the grandson of Wisconsin State Assembly member, WWI veteran, and pioneering animal welfare activist Alexander E. Frederick, and son of National Organization for Women co-founder Kathryn F. Clarenbach and Henry Clarenbach, a delegate for Eugene McCarthy.
|
|
A prime number has no factors other than itself and 1.
The largest prime number discovered so far is a prime number in the Mersenne sequence.
M82589933 = 2^82589933 - 1.
This number has 24,862,048 digits.
A Mersenne prime number is a prime number of the form 2^p - 1, where p itself is a prime number. The first few Mersenne primes are:
1: M2 = 2^2 - 1 - 3
2: M3 = 2^3 - 1 = 7
3: M5: = 2^5 - 1 = 31
4: M7 = 2^7 - 1 = 117.
5: M13 = 2^13 - 1 = 8191
Note that 2^11 -1 = 2047 is not a prime number: 2047 = 23*89.
Here are the names of some common phobias (aside from the two everyone likely already knows - arachnophobia and claustrophobia).
Phobia is derived from the Greek word Phobos, leaving fear or aversion.
A quick note: a phobia is generally understood to be more than a normal fear, but as an excessive or irrational fear (it isn't necessarily arachnophobia if you are freaked out when a venomous spider crawls up your leg, as that is a pretty normal and healthy thing to be apprehensive about)
Agoraphobia - the fear of open spaces (derived from the Greek word "Agora" which was a public open space)
Thalassophobia - fear of the open water of of the deep (Thalassa is the Greek word for "sea")
Katsaridaphobia - the fear of roaches (Katsarida is the Greek word for roach, thank goodness that the website I clicked on to find that etymology didn't have photos or illustrations)
Nyctophobia - the fear of the dark (derived from the Greek Nyx/Nyktos, meaning night)
Coulrophobia - the fear of clowns (I am unsure as to the etymology here, but probably the Greek word for clown, though it would likely be a modern word as clowns are a modern thing)
Ophidiophobia - the fear of shakes snakes (Ophidion being the Greek word for snake)
(I myself suffer from Katsaridaphobia, and have actually met a lot of people who share my phobia, turns out it is pretty common to be terrified of unkillable disease carrying pests that live literally everywhere that people live).