Useless fact of the day!

[Rowan MacD]

It's against the law to pawn your dentures in Las Vegas.

[Merlin the Elder]

They need to pass a law with some teeth in it... 

[Anna Iram]

No war has been fought where both countries had a Mcdonalds. *not sure how outdated this one is, but could be the answer to peace we've been looking for...

Coconuts kill more people in the world than sharks do. Approximately 150 people are killed each year by coconuts.

[Valiss]

The first African American elected to state office in Texas after the Civil War was also a Democrat, a woman, and gay.

[Rowan MacD]

Windmills always turn counter-clockwise.  Except for the windmills in Ireland.

[Rowan MacD]

The ball on top of a flagpole is called a 'truck'.

[Archer]

The ball on top of a flagpole is called a 'truck'.

That one wins most useless fact of the week.  More that half a century of trips around our nearest star and that one hasn't surfaced anywhere as important within the data/memory bank.  Bravo for that find.   

Oh yea, my useless fact ?   After 50 or so trips around that star,  it becomes patch, patch .... patch,  to keep ye vessel afloat. 

[Merlin the Elder]

The ball on top of a flagpole is called a 'truck'.

...Drunk driver, you think?...

[Anna Iram]

Rowen...I'm sorry!  I'm going to challenge that. At least slightly...It seems to be true that in the military the ball is called a truck, but in the civilian world it's called a finial. The truck is the part directly below which the finial attaches to that contains the pully mechanism to hoist the flag. Truck is short for truckle, a small wheel or rotor and is from the latin Trochlea, a system of pullys.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=truckle

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=truck

*how's that for way too much information? *  

[Valiss]

French mathematician Joseph Fourier believed wrapping his body in a blanket was beneficial to his health. He died after tripping on it and falling down the stairs.

[Merlin the Elder]

He deserved it...his transforms broke me...

[Valiss]

Xanax's active ingredient only costs $0.024 to make, but the consumer pays $137.79 for 100 pills; a markup of 570,000%

[Rowan MacD]

Rowen...I'm sorry!  I'm going to challenge that. At least slightly...It seems to be true that in the military the ball is called a truck, but in the civilian world it's called a finial.

That's fine Anna! I don't mind at all  
  In the military we called the fancy halberd type tips on the ceremonial flags for indoor and parade use 'finials', but not the base flagpole for some reason.    In my entire 24 years in the AF, we always called it 'the ball on top of the flagpole' or the 'truck'.  But you are correct; it is technically a 'finial' by any definition.
  Apparently 'truck' is, as you say, a military thing, probably because at one time or other the finials were used to house the truck mechanism to keep the halyards from tangling (and it sounds more macho  ).  


Today:  There are only 14 blimps in the world.
   
 

[Valiss]

The Japanese had an underwater aircraft carrier during WWII.

[Rowan MacD]

Farts have been clocked at a speed of 10 feet per second.

.....OK...I gotta ask...How did they clock it?