Facts that blow your mind

It took over 6,000 trees to build HMS Victory of which 90% were oak and the rest made up of pine, fir and elm. There was also a small percentage of lignum vitae that grows mainly in the Caribbean and South America.

After the frame was constructed, it was left to weather for several months and held together using 6ft copper bolts. Victory was left to weather for three years due to the end of the 'Seven Years War' and it is widely stated that this helped in her longevity.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
It took over 6,000 trees to build HMS Victory of which 90% were oak and the rest made up of pine, fir and elm. There was also a small percentage of lignum vitae that grows mainly in the Caribbean and South America.

After the frame was constructed, it was left to weather for several months and held together using 6ft copper bolts. Victory was left to weather for three years due to the end of the 'Seven Years War' and it is widely stated that this helped in her longevity.
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Victory was badly damaged by a Luftwaffe bomb in 1941. A lot of what you see is post 1941.
 
Soutra said:
Victory was badly damaged by a Luftwaffe bomb in 1941. A lot of what you see is post 1941.
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I knew that - I've had the pleasure of going around it on two occasions and also recently watched a programme (prime - Britain's Greatest Ships) on the history of it.

I do think a lot of these things are like Trigger's broom.
 

If there are 23 people in a room, there is a 50 percent chance two of them share a birthday​

 
Laughing said:
no. There are an infinite number of odd numbers and an infinite number of even numbers.

If you add odd and even together you get infinity, the same as odd numbers. So the set of odd and even numbers is equal in size to the set of odd numbers.
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That's the most boring one yet to be fair :ROFLMAO:
 
No one knows how the aborigines of Australia got there, they were there 60’000 years before the first seagoing craft were made. (According to bill Bryson anyway)
 
IR35 said:
No one knows how the aborigines of Australia got there, they were there 60’000 years before the first seagoing craft were made. (According to bill Bryson anyway)
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Down under. Great book that is. I love the way he tells the story of nothomyrmecia macrops
 
SmallTown said:
I've hears this before but.... how does that work?
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Looking at it logically as each person enters;

Ignore the first.

When the second enters there is a 1 in 365.25 chance that he/she shares a birthday with the first.

When the third enters there is a 1 in 182.625 that they share a birthday with each of the other two.

I'm guessing without working it all out that either the cumulative odds add up to 1 in 2 or close to, given that some times of the year contain more births, such as September.
 
Something surprising happens part way through this one. 👍🏻

One to the power of one equals one (1^1 =1)
Also, zero to the power of zero equals one (0^0 =1)

If you gradually work your way down from 1^1 then 0.9^0.9, then 0.8^0.8 etc., you’ll see a very strange occurrence on your way to 0^0.

1^1 = 1.000
0.9^0.9 = 0.909
0.8^0.8 = 0.836
0.7^0.7 = 0.779
0.6^0.6 = 0.736
0.5^0.5 = 0.707
0.4^0.4 = 0.693

Here’s where the strange occurrence happens…

0.3^0.3 = 0.696
0.2^0.2 = 0.724
0.1^0.1 = 0.793

0.05^0.05 = 0.860
0.02^0.02 = 0.924
0.01^0.01 = 0.954
0.001^0.001 = 0.993
0.0001^0.0001 = 0.99907939
0.00001^0.00001 = 0.99988487
0.000001^0.000001 = 0.99998618


I’m not very good at maths but I love the surprises it always throws up.
 
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