Really TRUE odd factoids

[Punkawallah]

Unless evey single person goes at exactly the same moment.

A ‘moment’ is 90 seconds long.

 

[Chris S]

Over 90% of US banknotes have been contaminated with cocaine.

 

[Dave7]

A ‘moment’ is 90 seconds long.

Is it? I never knew that.
Every day's a schoolday.

 

[Punkawallah]

Is it? I never knew that.
Every day's a schoolday.

Indeed. From the days we used sun-dials, apparently, with 40 ‘moments’ to the hour.

 

[Beebo]

Indeed. From the days we used sun-dials, apparently, with 40 ‘moments’ to the hour.

So a moment is longer than a minute.

 

[Dave7]

So a moment is longer than a minute.

Good question.
Give me a moment, I'll let you know in a minute

 

[DaveReading]

While we're talking about moments, I'm reminded of the difference in the meaning of "momentarily" between British and American English.

I used to fly a lot within the USA and I never tired of hearing pilots saying "we will be landing momentarily".

 

[Chris S]

While we're talking about moments, I'm reminded of the difference in the meaning of "momentarily" between British and American English.

I used to fly a lot within the USA and I never tired of hearing pilots saying "we will be landing momentarily".

When people in Ireland say that they will do something 'now' they mean 'next'.

 

[Electric_Andy]

When people in Ireland say that they will do something 'now' they mean 'next'.

There's a wealth of regional dialect used for similar things and I find it fascinating.

Welsh (English): "I'll be there now in a minute"
Irish (English): "I'm just after going to the library. I'm just before going to the pub"
Devonshire: "I'll see you dreckly", which is dependant on context. If you're sitting on the sofa and someone asks you to put the bin out, dreckly could mean in the next half an hour. If you see someone in the rural post office, and you say "zee 'ee dreckly", it means see you soon, see you later, see you whenever, even if that's a year from now

 

[Gwylan]

All mine from the other thread were true.

Gordon Bennett was amazing.

Has a street named after him
Rue Gordon Bennett

 

[winjim]

Has a street named after him
Rue Gordon Bennett

Fantastic, he truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Today's ultra wealthy could learn a thing or two from him.

 

[Gwylan]

Fantastic, he truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Today's ultra wealthy could learn a thing or two from him.

What peeing in the fireplace?
Just how drunk do you have to be?

 

[Chris S]

Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid received a police caution for scamming slot machines when he was a teenager.

 

[Beebo]

Pi to just 30 decimal places will enable you to calculate the circumference of the universe down to the width of an atom.
Computers have calculated Pi to hundreds of trillions of digits.

 

[DaveReading]

Pi to just 30 decimal places will enable you to calculate the circumference of the universe down to the width of an atom.
Computers have calculated Pi to hundreds of trillions of digits.

But won't it have changed, in the time between typing in the first and the last d.p. ?