Trivia Bits 31 August

 

 

The supersonic Concorde jet (pictured) made its first trial flight on January 1, 1969.

The quarries where the Romans extracted travertine for the Colosseum and other great structures are still being mined today.

Singaporean sprinter C Kunalan's feat of 10.38 seconds in the 1968 Summer Olympic Games 100 metres was a national record for 33 years.

The Vince Lombardi Trophy is the annual trophy for the winners in the Superbowl for the sport of Gridiron also known as American Football and was named in honour of legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi.

Jane Delano, a relative of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, founded the American Red Cross nursing service on January 20, 1910.

Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series that began the Battlestar Galactica franchise starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict running for one season in 1978–79.

The Republic of Israel was established April 23, 1948.

The seven wonders of the ancient world were: ... 1. Egyptian Pyramids at Giza ... 2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon ... 3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia ... 4. Colossus of Rhodes - or huge bronze statue near the Harbor of Rhodes that honoured the sun god Helios ... 5. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus ... 6. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus ... 7. Lighthouse at Alexandria.

The shortest war on record was fought between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

The standard U.S. railroad width (4 feet, 8.5 inches) is directly derived from the width of Roman war chariots. This is because the English expatriates who designed the U.S. railroad system based their measurements on the pre-railroad tramways built in England. Those tramways were built using the same tools used to build wagons, which were also that width. The reason wagons were built to that width is because otherwise, they would break during long treks across the old English roads. Those roads--built by the Romans--were full of ruts carved out by Roman war chariots. All Roman chariots were built to a standard width of 4 feet, 8.5 inches, and so English wagons were built so that their wheels would fit into those ruts.