[Vhfcn-l] Monday musings

[Gary Thewlis]

A thunderstorm is never as bad on the inside as it appears on the outside.
It's worse. 

Unknown

 

The trouble with blaming powerless people is that although it's not nearly
as scary as blaming the powerful, it does miss the point. Poor people do not
shut down factories... Poor people didn't decide to use 'contract employees'
because they cost less and don't get any benefits. 

Molly Ivins 

 

An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not
to have taken it.

Laurence J. Peter

 

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

Oscar Wilde

 

Experience suggests it doesn't matter so much how you got here, as what you
do after you arrive.

Lois McMaster Bujold

 

That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another....

Charles M. Schulz, Charlie Brown in Peanuts

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Space Shuttle

 

The Space Shuttle Main Engine operated at greater temperature extremes than
any mechanical system in common use at the time. At -423 degrees Fahrenheit,
the engine's fuel, liquefied hydrogen, is the second coldest liquid on
Earth. When it and the liquid oxygen were combined and combusted, the
temperature in the main combustion chamber is 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit,
hotter than the boiling point of iron.

 

The energy released by the three Space Shuttle Main Engines at their full
power (calculated in watts) was equivalent to the same amount of energy
created by 13 Hoover Dams.

 

The Space Shuttle Main Engine fuel turbopump weighed approximately the same
as a V-8 automobile engine but developed 310 times the brake horsepower and
developed as much torque as 18 V-8 auto engines. The main shaft of the
turbopump rotated at 37,000 rpm - a car operating at 60 mph typically runs
at 2,000 rpm.

 

One Space Shuttle Main Engine generated enough thrust to maintain the flight
of 2.5 Boeing 747s.

 

Even though a Space Shuttle Main Engine weighed one-seventh as much as a
locomotive engine, its high-pressure fuel pump alone delivered as much
horsepower as 28 locomotives, while its high-pressure oxidizer pump
delivered the equivalent horsepower of an additional 11 locomotives. The
maximum equivalent horsepower developed by the three main engines was more
than 37 million horsepower.

 

The combined volume of the External Tank's liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
tanks was 73,600 cubic feet, equal to the volume of nearly six
1,600-square-foot homes.

 

If all the weld joints in the External Tank were laid out in a straight
line, they would stretch more than half a mile.

 

The External Tank was covered with a thermal protection system, or foam
insulation which, if spread on the ground, would cover nearly one-half acre.

 

The External Tank was more than half the length of a football field and 34
feet longer than Orville Wright's historic first flight in 1903. Despite its
size, the aluminum skin of the tank was only an eighth of an inch thick in
most areas.

 

The two Solid Rocket Boosters generated a combined thrust of 5.3 million
pounds, equivalent to 44 million horsepower or 14,700 six-axle diesel
locomotives or 400,000 subcompact cars.

 

At liftoff, the two Solid Rocket Boosters consumed 11,000 pounds of fuel per
second. That's two million times the rate at which fuel is burned by the
average family car.

 

The twin Solid Rocket Boosters generated a combined thrust of 5.3 million
pounds. That equals about 40 million horsepower or the energy of 14,700
six-axle diesel locomotives or 400,000 subcompact cars.

 

At 149.2 feet tall, the Solid Rocket Booster was only two feet shorter than
the Statue of Liberty. But each 700-ton loaded booster weighed more than
three times as much as the famous statue.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Who designed the WW I plane, the Camel and co designed the Hurricane?

A:  Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith

 

What did Bartommelo Christofori invent?

A:  The Piano

 

What was invented by Henry D Perky  in 1893 in Denver Colorado?

A:  Shredded Wheat

 

In 1901, who was it that first sent radio signals across Atlantic ocean?

A:  Marconi

 

James Dewer invented what in 1872?

A:  Vacuum or thermos flask

 

William Young invented what in 1800?

A:  Different shoes for the left and right feet

 

Lexico was a game that was invented in 1932. What was its name changed to?

A:  Scrabble