The "Did you know" thread.....

[Tmee2020]

Did you know that Detroit is north of Canada?

[scoundrel]

Harris Tweed is a traditional heavy duty woollen cloth which was and still is highly regarded for its' weather-resistence and extremely hard-wearing properties. It is 100% natural fibre and this still has a lot of advantages. The traditional methods of making it are very labour-intensive and still provide badly needed employment as a cottage industry in the Western Isles, especially Harris and Lewis.

When the cloth is woven it has to be 'waulked' in order to ''full'' the fibres. Fulling basically means distributing the microscopic wool fibres more evenly, stopping the gaps which cloth woven from strands of wool naturally has in between the weave. This is what gives Harris Tweed its well known wind and water resistence and makes it popular for outdoor wear in rotten climates like the Highlands of Scotland. There are machines to do the work (unless you are a purist who insists that hand-woven should also mean hand-waulked) and there are more modern chemicals, but the traditional method required at least 6 people (preferably 8 or 10, generally women, a table or a door taken off its hinges, and a large tub of human urine. It's really only done for the tourists now, like me...

The cloth needed to be thoroughly soaked in piss so it penetrated all the fibres. Then it was spread on the waulking table. There would be one woman at each end of the table, and two, three or four or even 5 along each side. The drill was to pull the cloth towards you, pass it slightly to your left, (this ensures a clockwise rotation: 'widdershins' or anti-clockwise is very unlucky) then push it back. In this way it was stretched evenly and at surprisingly exact tolerances. Precision was aided by the tradition of singing waulking songs with short verses and choruses. One woman would sing the verse, all the others sing the chorus, and the physical movements were timed by the music.

Here is an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFoO6A7oRH0
It looks like jolly hard work. Lets hope they washed their hands afterwards, especially if they were cooking the tea.

Of course, urine was a frequently used fixing agent to retain die in woollen cloth pretty much everywhere in the world.

[TCO95]

The most expensive coffee in the world, Kopi Luwak, is made from beans eaten by a cat then 'recovered' by a worker when they are 'excreted' by the cat.

You cannot mix pigs raised on separate farms. The flora/fauna they carry in their guts can be fatal to each other. Pig farmers will not even wear their work clothing in another pig farmers barn.

The female to male ratio among seagulls always favors females. So it is common among gulls to find long term lesbian relationships.

[Aitken Bonar]

Originally Posted by TCO95

The female to male ratio among seagulls always favors females. So it is common among gulls to find long term lesbian relationships.

Which explains that bloody daft song in the Beavis & Butthead movie.


Separately, did you know the electric chair was invented and championed by a dentist?

The use of alternating current in electrocution had as its loudest proponent one Thomas Edison, the head of a large business heavily invested in direct current.

At the turn of last century a prison trustee work crew helped build and install Ohio's electric chair. One prisoner, Charles Justice, is credited with creating a series of hook-like metal restraints for the chair which was copied throughout the Midwest. He was later paroled.

In 1911, found guilty of murder, Charles Justice was sent into eternity restrained by his own invention.

[Mal Hombre]

Louis the sixteenth designed the blade of the guillotine.The original blade was curved he suggested a straight angled one would cut better.He was proved right when it cut off his own head.

[bawjaws]

The Rolling Stones are named after a Muddy Waters song
The Killers are named after a fictional band in a video for "Crystal" by New Order
the Lightning Seeds are named after misheard lyrics "the lightning sees" in Prince's Raspberry Beret
I've no idea how the Nolans got their name

[scoundrel]

Queen Elizabeth I had a bath every year whether she needed it or not.

[Leprechaun]

People who take daily baths with lavender scented oil may experience improved mood, reduced aggression, and a more positive outlook. (Source: http://bastyrcenter.org/content/view/684)



So ya need more lavender, brotha!

[bramley]

London Underground pumps out 40 million gallons of water from it`s tunnels every day..

[Mal Hombre]

If you ate as much spinach as Popeye does you'd die of oxalic acid poisoning.