Gilbert wrote the lyrics (and the rest of the dialog).

Sullivan wrote the music.

That's all I wanted to say, really. I could never keep them straight--hopefully writing it down like this will help.

I always assumed that Sheetrock was just there to give you something to paint/keep insulation from falling into your soup/keep out bears/whatever, but apparently, it actually serves a structural purpose. It's even load-bearing, although a bit indirectly. By attaching the Sheetrock (or other panelling) to the vertical struts in the wall, you're ( Read more... )

Librarians, brace yourselves ( Read more... )

Today I learned that those little prongs on the sides of the Kitchen-Aid paddles (that slide in and then turn to lock) are officially called "bayonet fittings" or "bayonet mounts." And that some electrical devices (fuses, light bulbs) are made with them. They're called that, straightforwardly enough, because that's how you used to attach a bayonet ( Read more... )

In 2009*, the Dallas Cowboys put up in AT&T Stadium some videoscreens that measured 160 feet across and 72 feet high. Converting that to inches and applying Pythagorean methodology, we find that this yields a diagonal size of... 2,105 inches. Not yet available for home consumers, but still. Frank would be pleased ( Read more... )

Another post for the annals of Obvious In Hindsight ( Read more... )

Mole fur has no nap. This means that it does not lie in any preferred direction against the skin. Presumably, this is useful if the mole has to reverse direction within a narrow tunnel, an act which would otherwise lead to a very bad hair day indeed. Moles have proverbially poor eyesight, so at least they wouldn't laugh at each other. It still ( Read more... )

Today I learned that it is possible, although very difficult, to couple an iPhone camera to a telescope free-hand.

The following is about a mile off-shore, and took me about five minutes to get a shot that wasn't off-center by 0.03 mm and therefore completely useless.

What I learned this morning at the optometrist ( Read more... )

The retro candy confection known as Pop Rocks are made by bubbling carbon dioxide through a solution of molten sugar (mixed with some color and flavorings), which traps the gas as the sugar hardens. It was invented in 1956 as a potential mix-in for Kool-Aid, but didn't work very well and so sat on the metaphorical shelf until the 1970s, when ( Read more... )