Illuminati-R-Us

According to Google one Flemish ell is equal to 27 inches. But is that per hour, day...fortnight?

It would be one ell per the number of years equal to the 2.25 times the recession rate of St. Anthony's Falls, measured in feet per year.

MM_Dandy wrote:According to Google one Flemish ell is equal to 27 inches. But is that per hour, day...fortnight?

About 10,018.29 microcenturies.

Glad you asked.

http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/2R137.html

Ok, then, that's about 27 inches per year, which is not the correct answer.

In 1869, an attempt to tunnel under the falls ended with a catastrophic collapse and nearly destroyed the falls. The situation was remedied with a major engineering effort which drastically changed the face of the falls.

MM_Dandy wrote:Ok, then, that's about 27 inches per year, which is not the correct answer.

In 1869, an attempt to tunnel under the falls ended with a catastrophic collapse and nearly destroyed the falls. The situation was remedied with a major engineering effort which drastically changed the face of the falls.

In that case, I would say they recede more in some years than in others

That was certainly the case in the mid-1800's, but the rate has been fairly constant since the engineering project.

No guesses? One more hint, then: The solution implemented was the installation of a wooden "apron", which later soon replaced with concrete.

Ah, too bad. I really thought the last few posts would give it away. The 'apron' basically made the falls into a spillway. They are in the same place now as they were then. In fact, even had there been no disaster, without the apron, the falls probably would be just a rapids today, as they would have receded to the point were the limestone shelf ends.

Thousands of years ago, the falls were much further downriver, past the confluence of today's Minnesota River. At the end of the last ice age, a large inland sea covered parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. At some point, it breached what is called the Big Stone Moraine on the Minnesota/South Dakota border, and gave rise to what is called River Warren. The Warren cut out the valley that the much smaller Minnesota Rivers runs through today. Near present-day Minneapolis, the Warren was joined by the Mississippi, which itself is thought to have been somewhat larger than modern times due to glacial runoff. From there, the Warren proceeded northeasterly until reaching what is now downtown St.Paul and spilling over the massive Warren River Falls.

NBA trivia: what team drafted Kobe Bryant in 1996?

Bonus trivia: what player was drafted 1st in that draft?

MM_Dandy wrote:Ah, too bad. I really thought the last few posts would give it away. The 'apron' basically made the falls into a spillway. They are in the same place now as they were then. In fact, even had there been no disaster, without the apron, the falls probably would be just a rapids today, as they would have receded to the point were the limestone shelf ends.

Thousands of years ago, the falls were much further downriver, past the confluence of today's Minnesota River. At the end of the last ice age, a large inland sea covered parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. At some point, it breached what is called the Big Stone Moraine on the Minnesota/South Dakota border, and gave rise to what is called River Warren. The Warren cut out the valley that the much smaller Minnesota Rivers runs through today. Near present-day Minneapolis, the Warren was joined by the Mississippi, which itself is thought to have been somewhat larger than modern times due to glacial runoff. From there, the Warren proceeded northeasterly until reaching what is now downtown St.Paul and spilling over the massive Warren River Falls.

I was just about to say that. Yeah. Me and my wife ... Morgan Fairchild, we talk about that all the time. After sex. Yeah. :P

KLA2 wrote:I was just about to say that. Yeah. Me and my wife ... Morgan Fairchild, we talk about that all the time. After sex. Yeah. :P

Now there's a bit of trivia I didn't know. It also conjures imagery of Morgan Fairchild and a robot having sex. Very disturbing.

As of the end of the 2010-2011 season, there were still 9 players (including Bryant) from the '96 draft on active player rosters in the NBA; all but one (Steve Nash) with playoff teams. Even though Nash and Derek Fisher currently play for the teams that drafted them, none of these nine have spent their entire careers with their respective draft teams.

MM_Dandy wrote:Now there's a bit of trivia I didn't know. It also conjures imagery of Morgan Fairchild and a robot having sex. Very disturbing.

Most women have sex with robots at least once in a while.

R. Dangerfield on/ My wife told me she wanted to probed long and hard. Then she sent a RFP to NASA! No respect! /off

The Morgan Fairchild bit was from a recurring skit on Saturday Night Live by Jon Lovitz in the late 80's portraying a chronic (and transparent) liar.

Sorry for derailing this thread. (An action almost unprecedented in the history of this board.)

OK, folks. Back to MM_Dandy's question:

NBA trivia: what team drafted Kobe Bryant in 1996?

Bonus trivia: what player was drafted 1st in that draft?

Seeing as there haven't even been any guesses so far, I'll go ahead and post the answers, and relinquish the torch to whomever wishes to take it.

[spoiler]Kobe Bryant was drafted 13th by the Charlotte (now New Orleans) Hornets. Alan Iverson was picked 1st overall by the Philadelphia 76ers.[/spoiler]

The richest 1200 people in the world own 3 % of the world's wealth.

So does the poorest half of the world's population.

In Hong Kong, holders of Octopus cards may make a free transit (within thirty minutes) between Tsim Sha Tsui and East Tsim Sha Tsui stations, but users of single-journey tickets must purchase two.

In snooker, the highest possible break in normal play is 147 (15 pairs of red and black balls, plus yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and finally, black.

I saw one player actually do it.

The rest of the Circle Line should open in October.

Katy Perry's cat's name is Kitty Purry.

Lance appreciates a cute, fuzzy pussy. As do I. :wink:

This used to be a trivia Q/A thread :P

The Kremlin is a huge walled compouned in downtown Moscow. It is so big, you can be inside it, and be completely unaware that you are in an enclosed area.

There once was another, nearby, walled compound, almost as big as the Kremlin. The walls have almost completely been destroyed, but the mayor of Moscow has recently announced plans to have then rebuilt.

What is the (inappropriate) name of this other walled compound?

Are these the C16th city walls that Ivan the Terrible put up? I don't know the name of them tough.

Heid the Ba' wrote:Are these the C16th city walls that Ivan the Terrible put up? I don't know the name of them tough.

They were indeed.

The name is something of a mystery. It means something in modern Russian, that makes no sense at all. There are a couple of theories about the origin of the name.

It would be quite alright to post an English translation of the name. Many cities around the world have a district with a similar name, although it is usually much more appropriate.

In modern Russian, the name of this part of town sounds like it was named after an ethic group, but it almost certainly was not.