I never knew that!

[McBeck]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

^Nope. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Daghlian Slotin was not the first in the incident involving the seven men in the room, in 1946, in the 'tickling the dragons tail'. The first fatality was Haroutune Krikor "Harry" Daghlian Jr. who accidentally irradiated himself fatally on August 21,1945 from the same fissile pile, "During an experiment on August 21, 1945, Daghlian was attempting to build a neutron reflector manually by stacking a set of 4.4-kilogram (9.7 lb) tungsten carbide bricks in an incremental fashion around a plutonium core. The purpose of the neutron reflector was to reduce the mass required for the plutonium core to attain criticality. He was moving the final brick over the assembly, but neutron counters alerted Daghlian to the fact that the addition of that brick would render the system supercritical. As he withdrew his hand, he inadvertently dropped the brick onto the center of the assembly. Since the assembly was nearly in the critical state, the accidental addition of that brick caused the reaction to go immediately into the prompt supercritical region of neutronic behavior. This resulted in a criticality accident. Daghlian reacted immediately after dropping the brick and attempted to knock the brick off the assembly without success. He was forced to disassemble part of the tungsten-carbide pile in order to halt the reaction." He died 25 days later: This core, subsequently nicknamed the "demon core": was later involved in the death of physicist, Louis Slotin. He died nine days after saving the others in the room...not the way to go in either case...The courage of the two physicists in preventing greater damage at their own lives' cost is remarkable.

I read that too, but misread the part about when he died. I read years when it in fact states days

[Jeff-Groves]

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

[Jimbuna]

Only female mosquitoes will bite you.

[u crank]

We can only directly see 4 percent of the universe.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by u crank

We can only directly see 4 percent of the universe.

Source?

[Moonlight]

Originally Posted by u crank

We can only directly see 4 percent of the universe.

Really? these people may disagree with that.

As technology has evolved, astronomers are able to look back in time to the moments just after the Big Bang. This might seem to imply that the entire universe lies within our view. But the size of the universe depends on a number of things, including its shape and expansion. Just how big is the universe? The truth is, scientists can't put a number on it.

http://www.space.com/24073-how-big-is-the-universe.html

[Von Due]

Lufthansa has a system for classifying how critical various systems on their aircrafts are. They put a letter, A-D on each system where A means this really, really REALLY should not fail, to D which means minor discomfort. Their onboard coffee machines have the letter C on them. They take their coffee seriously.

Also, apparently hijacing an aircraft was not outlawed until 1961.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Source?

Originally Posted by Moonlight

Really? these people may disagree with that.

http://www.space.com/24073-how-big-is-the-universe.html

All the stars, planets and galaxies that can be seen today make up just 4 percent of the universe. The other 96 percent is made of stuff astronomers can't see, detect or even comprehend.

http://www.space.com/11642-dark-matt...rse-panek.html

[Moonlight]

Errr, I've just got one question to ask, perhaps you may know it, how do they know there's only one universe and not millions of others as well.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Moonlight

Errr, I've just got one question to ask, perhaps you may know it,

I don't know anything. I am just a humble pilgrim traveling through space and time.

..how do they know there's only one universe and not millions of others as well.

There is a theory about this but....does it really matter? If there is another universe out there with another me in it, I hope I'm smarter, richer and better lookin'.

[Tango589]

Hyphephilia are people who get aroused by touching fabrics

[Jimbuna]

As part of David Hasselhoff's divorce settlement, he kept possession of the nickname "Hoff" and the catchphrase "Don't Hassle the Hoff."

[Eichhörnchen]

I haven't checked this out yet but I just heard on the radio (Frank Skinner's "The Rest is History", R4) that Attila The Hun died of a nosebleed. They said he was asleep in bed and drowned in his own blood.

[Fubar2Niner]

He must have had one huge hooter !

[Jimbuna]

Traditionally, it has been claimed that Attila the Hun died of a nosebleed on his wedding night. He may have died of something like a hemorrhoid in his esophagus caused by heavy drinking. Reader Tom Utterback says: "Chronic alcoholism leads to acid reflux disease which culminates eventually in esophageal varices rupturing."

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/a...ttiladeath.htm