|
Some quotations that I
like
Malacca Henry
The first person to circumnavigate the world? And NOT a European.
The Puranic scale of time
Centuries, millennia? Indian timescales are much longer.
Stand up for what you believe
Going beyond what is expected ... far beyond..
Seven Wonders of the World
In antiquity these were: the pyramids of Egypt, the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon, the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Greek sculptor Phidias' chryselephantine statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the lighthouse on the island of
Pharos in the Bay of Alexandria.
Statues
If a statue of a person on a horse
has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle;
if the horse has one front leg in
the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle;
if the horse has all four legs on
the ground, the person died of natural causes.
(This is probably a British
convention not global. No horse = a civil servant?)
Railway Gauges around the world
From
http://www.sdrm.org/faqs/gauge/ a trainspotter's delight, all sorts of
railway information
| Broad gauge (Spain): |
1674 mm |
5' 5 9/10th" |
| Broad gauge (Portugal): |
1665 mm |
5' 5 11/20th" |
| Broad gauge (Ireland): |
1600 mm |
5' 3" |
| Broad gauge (Finland): |
1524 mm |
5' exactly |
| Broad gauge (former USSR): |
1520 mm |
5' |
| Standard gauge: |
1435 mm |
4' 8 1/2" |
| Narrow gauge (Cape gauge): |
1067 mm |
3' 6" |
| Narrow gauge (meter gauge): |
1000 mm |
3' 3 37/100" |
| Narrow gauge (US narrow): |
914 mm |
3' 0" |
Why the standard gauge is the way
it is (it's the Roman standard?!)
http://www.sdrm.org/faqs/gauge/gauge2.html
And a perhaps more reliable version
http://www.sdrm.org/faqs/gauge/gauge1.html ... but less fun.
http://www.didyouknow.cd/
and some strange links
www.hampsterdance.com
Try the interactive dance - I've no idea why someone went to all this effort,
but it is strangely compulsive
|