Post up facts and things that hardly anyone knows...... (for entertainment purposes only. NO need to fact check)

[DeltaV]

I picked that meme from another site. I know very little about aircraft.

Not that I'm fact checking, but at least the part about Betty Lou's fall is true.

The longest freefall survived in an elevator is 75 stories (over 300 meters or 1,000 feet). This record is held by Betty Lou Oliver, who survived a plunge in the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945, after a B-25 bomber crashed into the building, severing the elevator cables.

 

[Kern Dog]

That is impressive.

 

[DeltaV]

One more for Betty Lou!

As a young 20 year old bride, Betty Lou Oliver was the elevator operator of elevator #6 in the Empire State Building when Lt. Col. Willian F. Smith's B-25 hit the north side of the building between the 79th and 80th floor on July 28th, 1945. Seriously injured, she was put in an elevator for evacuation to medical help. Unbeknownst to everyone, the right engine of the plane smashed its way through an elevator door and went crashing down the elevator shaft, severing cables as it went. This was the very same shaft of the elevator that Betty Lou Oliver had been put in. The car and elevator operator plunged 1,000 feet (75 stories) into a sub-basement. The freefall of the elevator was broken by the massive coils of cables that had fallen to the bottom of the shaft. Despite suffering a broken back and legs, the operator survived. She had to be cut from the mangled wreckage. July 28th was supposed to be her last day on the job. She recovered in less than eight months, and returned to Ft. Smith, AR, with her husband Oscar Lee Oliver. She had three children and seven grandchildren. She died November 24, 1999, and is buried alongside her husband (who died in 1986) in the Ft. Smith National Cemetery, Ft. Smith, AR

 

[Detective D]

View attachment 1893247

LOL, that number for WI is probably for the ones on some list. Rural farmers own stuff from before there were lists.

 

[Photon440]

An office tower built in London managed to singe people's hair, melt plastic on a car and crack slate tiles, just because of its shape.

20 Fenchurch Street, the official name, is often called the "Walkie-Talkie" tower due to its shape.

Unfortunately, insufficient solar modelling meant that the curved facade of mirrored glass ended up acting like a parabolic mirror, focusing sunlight on the street.

This was noticed before the construction was even completed, in 2013.

Melted mirror on a Jaguar:

A sunshade solution was used to fix the problem.

 

[Kern Dog]

That is interesting. I like seeing mistakes in engineering that surely inspire phrases like....I never thought of that !

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Carved into the arid plains of Iran's central plateau, these mysterious formations are part of an ancient Persian innovation known as a qanat system—one of humanity’s earliest and most enduring feats of hydraulic engineering. These vertical shafts, some dating back over 2,500 years, stretch for kilometers beneath the desert surface, channeling groundwater from distant aquifers to thirsty farmlands.
Each circular depression is a vertical access well, cut by hand through layers of rock and soil. When connected via gently sloping tunnels, they form a sustainable, gravity-fed system that transports water across vast distances without evaporation—ideal for dry, sun-scorched climates. This subterranean network nourished cities, fields, and caravans alike, ensuring survival in otherwise inhospitable terrain.
From the sky, they resemble a line of celestial craters or fossilized footprints of a forgotten colossus. Yet beneath lies a tale of resilience, science, and adaptation—a legacy of invisible rivers that still flow, silently binding past to present beneath the dust of time.