Random possibly useful fact

[Queen Victoria]

As I was conditioning my hair in the shower this morning, I took time to read my shampoo bottle. I am in shock! The shampoo I use in the shower that runs down my entire body says  "For Extra Body and Volume."  Seriously, why have I not noticed this before?  Now I  understand why I am so full figured.

Tomorrow I am going to start using "Dawn" dish soap.  It says right on the label "Dissolves fat that is otherwise difficult to remove." It pays to read the labels, my friends!

[odeon]

[midlifeaspie]

Never ever take a picture with a squirrel.... they act vicious when their photo is taken....

Some like their picture taken.  You just have to find the right one, like Sugar Bush.

Isn't that a sugar glider?

Sugar Glider:

[lutra]

In the last hundred years Holland (average year) temperature has risen from 8.8C (in 1901) to 10.6C (in 2008) and the average rainfall went from 742mm (in 1906) to 828mm (in 2008).

[TheoK]

In 1910 Swedish recruits in average were 1709 mm tall. Today they are about 100 mm taller.

[odeon]

Jaguar used Nikasil coating in their early V8 aluminium cylinder bores, a decision they had reason to regret because they tested their new engines with racing-quality petrol rather than the mix available to consumers. Consumer-grade petrol in many countries contained higher concentrations of sulphur, and the sulphur dissolved the coating and destroyed the engine. Sulphur is a by-product when producing fuel but quite expensive to remove from the finished product, so until more recently, it was common to leave a lot of it in the fuel.

BMW and Porsche also used Nikasil, but interestingly, only Jaguar and BMW had problems.

You'll be pleased to know that the V8 engine in my Jag includes the more traditional steel coating.

[TheoK]

When automobiles were invented (or re-invented) in the 1880's many manufacturers made electric engines, but the oil barons convinced them to make them go on petrol instead. Well done.

[odeon]

What kind of batteries did they use then?

[TheoK]

Probably very primitive ones, but imagine that research would have been used on electric engines instead for over 100 years.

[odeon]

Probably. But then we wouldn't have had the thrill of a V8.

[Genesis]

@ Genesis - From her website:  "Sugar Bush Squirrel  is a real, live Eastern Gray Squirrel who is owned and photographed by  Ms. Kelly Foxton. Rescued, as a baby in her nest, from a tree which was being cut down, she is now living the 'good life' with Kelly in Boca Raton, Florida. A small, lime-green parrot, named Rio, is her big sister and constant companion."

 http://www.sugarbushsquirrel.com/

Oh.... cute....

[TheoK]

Latin lacks an exact equivalent of the adverb "yes". On the other hand the word sic covers whole phrases in analytical languages, like "That's really the way it is".

[Queen Victoria]

Latin lacks an exact equivalent of the adverb "yes". On the other hand the word sic covers whole phrases in analytical languages, like "That's really the way it is".

thank you for sparking my interest on the word "yes."  Fascinating read in Wikipedia on it.

[TheoK]

Swedish has three words for it: Ja, jo, ju. "Ja" is in principle the exact equivalent of the English "yes". "Jo" is used as a stronger kind of "ja" in some phrases. "Ju" is a kind of affirmative word, like "why" in "Why, of course".

I think that many Swedes don't relate "ju" to "ja" and "jo", but in German they use "ja" where Swedish uses "ju".

[Queen Victoria]

Those low bars on trucks?  Here's the story behind them.  (Aside: The 3 adults were killed. Jayne Mansfield's 3 children were riding in the back of the car. Her daughter, Mariska Hargitay, was the only child injured, a cut to her head.)

Mansfield Bar on truck

During the 1960s (june 1967), the actress Jayne Mansfield was killed in a gruesome accident when the car in which she was riding rear-ended a slow moving truck in the fog.

Her car went under the back of the truck. Accounts differ--some say she was beheaded by the impact, others that the impact scalped her, and others say that her wig was knocked off by the impact.

Whatever the details of the wreck, regulations were enacted to add a low bar at the rear of truck trailers, to prevent a car from running underneath the trailer from behind. Jayne's tragic death has left a legacy of improved safety equipment.