TAXDAL-isms
On April 12, 1981, the first space shuttle, Columbia, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on its maiden flight into space. The shuttle was powered by three liquid-fueled engines and a pair of giant strap-on, solid-fuel boosters. The basic principle that makes it work is exactly the same as that behind a simple firework rocket or a balloon that zooms across the room when you let go of its neck. It is the principle of action and reaction.
TAXDAL-ism
In 1919, the atom was split for the first time in a gloomy cellar laboratory at Manchester University by New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford.
TAXDAL-isms
Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, one of the greatest achievements of Western art, has probably suffered more damage than any other great work. The 12 foot high mural was finished in the late 1490s and within 20 years paint was already flaking off. By 1587, the painting was described as “half-ruined”.
TAXDAL-ism
During WWII, airplane factories were made to look like small towns to avoid becoming a bombing target. One of the best examples was the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant. With netting and some extra props, it was virtually impossible to tell it from the surrounding small towns.
TAXDAL-ism
A cat survived the sinking of not one, not two, but three ships! He was then called Unsinkable Sam. He started on a German boat and transferred to a British boat, both of which sank. He went on another British vessel which was also sunk by torpedo and they finally retired him. He lived for another 14 years on a farm just outside of Belfast.
TAXDAL-ism
Russia and Japan have still not signed a peace treaty to end the war. Believe it or not, a dispute over four islands have kept them from finishing “the war to end all wars”. To this day, they both lay claim to them.
TAXDAL-ism
A woman, The Baroness de Beausoleil, of Nice in France, was the first person known to have used a dowsing rod for water-divining.
TAXDAL-ism
The modern plastics industry began in the 1860s with a competition in America to find a better and less expensive billiard ball than those made of ivory. The winner of the $10,000 dollar prize was John Wesley Hyatt, an American inventor who made a ball from a substance he called Celluloid.
TAXDAL-ism
If you stood 30 feet (9m) away from a small amount of fresh waste water from a nuclear reactor for ten minutes, you would have only a 50 per cent chance of living.
TAXDAL-ism
About half of the aluminum drink cans purchased each year in America are remelted after use and made into new tins. Within six weeks they are back on the supermarket shelves.
The Graveyard Shift
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Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose / The more things change, the more they stay the same
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