Things You Don’t Know About Modern Elevators

Earlier today we posted on a New Yorker piece about a man trapped in an elevator for 41 hours. But the real gem of the article was the mountain of "Did you know..." facts laced throughout. Like that Door Close button you're always pushing?

Yeah, it doesn't work. Here's the full list:

As mentioned above, the Door Close button is there mostly to give passengers the illusion of control. In elevators built since the early '90s. The button is only enabled in emergency situations with a key held by an authority.

The only known occurence of an elevator car free falling due to a snapped cable (barring fire or structural collapse), was in 1945. A B25 Bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, severing the cables of two elevators. The elevator car on the 75th floor had a woman on it, but she survived due to the 1000 feet of coiled cable of fallen cable below, which lessened the impact.
Elevators are twenty times safer than escalators. There are twenty times more elevators than escalators, but only 1/3 more accidents.
Elevators are also safer than cars. An average of 26 people die in elevators each year in the U.S. There are 26 car deaths every five hours.
Most people who die in elevators are elevator technicians.
The Otis Elevator Company carries the equivalent of the world's population in their elevators every five days.
The New York Marriott was the first to introduce a smart elevator system that assigned passengers to elevators depending on what floor they were heading to.
Elevators used to require a two-man dispatcher/operator team to function. The advent of navigational buttons rendered those jobs obsolete.
The area required for personal space is 2.3 feet. The average amount on elevators is generally 2 feet.
Elevator hatches are generally bolted shut for safety reasons. In times of elevator crisis, the safest place is inside the elevator.
The myth about jumping just before impact in a falling elevator is just that — myth. You can't jump fast enough to counteract the speed of falling. And you wouldn't know when to jump.
Due to the laws of physics, elevators can't be any taller than 1700 feet. Hoist ropes become too heavy after that, snapping at 3200 feet.

And as an interesting closing note, Nicholas White, the man trapped in the elevator, received a low six-figure settlement after filing a $25 million lawsuit against the building. But in the process, he lost his job, his money and his apartment. He is now unemployed. [The New Yorker]

http://gizmodo.com/380741/things-you-dont-know-about-modern-elevators

Bored much joffa ? Slow news day ?

Nearly 200 people died last year in road accidents where they were not wearing seat belts

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/nrma-want-police-to-target-motorists-not-wearing-a-seat-belt/story-fndo48ca-1226541983419

You’ll never guess which Canadian artist outsold John Lennon Add to ...
Brad Wheeler

The Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Dec. 21 2012, 6:00 PM EST

Perhaps it was her unimaginable 1974 cover of Day Tripper that did it, but Anne Murray has sold more albums in the United States than John Lennon. According to freshened-up figures from the Recording Industry Association of America, the Snowbird songbird has sold 14.5 million records, ranking her a half-million ahead of Ted Nugent, Olivia Newton-John and the former Beatle. Then again, the Beatles proper top the list with 177 million certified album sales, followed by Elvis Presley (134.5 million). Others cracking the 100-million circle are Garth Brooks (128); Led Zeppelin (111.5); and the Eagles, who took it easy and to the limit (100). Australian rockers AC/DC and Barbra Streisand (the top-tallying female artist, and 10th overall) each have sold 71.5 million LPs, one million ahead of Michael Jackson. The top Canadian? Celine Dion, who sits at 23rd overall with 50 million albums sold, three spots ahead of fellow Sin City starlet Shania Twain. At the bottom of the eight-figure list is Avril Lavigne, whose 10.25 million is half of what fiancé Chad Kroeger and Nickelback have pushed.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/article6641165.ece

Everyone is a talking monkey flying through the universe taking things way too seriously

Only a licenced electrician can change a light bulb

Both the Liberal Party and Labor Party are equally fucked in the head and only care about power and couldn't give a flying fuck about the country.



Edited by RJL25: 20/12/2012 08:51:38 PM

Both the Liberal Party and Labor Party are equally fucked in the head and only care about power and couldn't give a flying fuck about the country.



Edited by RJL25: 20/12/2012 08:51:38 PM

"Spam much?"
Spams.

Kevin Federline's brother claims he fathered Britney Spears' eldest son

From: news.com.au December 27, 2012 12:07PM

..The bombshell was revealed in court papers filed by Christopher Federline in his application for a temporary restraining order against Spears, Radar Online reports.

Federline alleges the X Factor judge blackmailed and harassed him and took $4,500 from his bank account after stealing his credit card.

When he confronted her about the theft, the star allegedly made fun of him and told him he had a "small penis".

Federline claims to have slept with Spears during her marriage to his brother Kevin, fathering her eldest son Sean Preston, 7.

In recent years, however, she had used their secret to gain leverage over him, he said.

“She is out-of-control and a maniac,” Federline stated in documents tendered to the Florida court.

"She told me my brother Kevin ruined her life. She made fun of me and told me I have a small penis.

“She also blackmailed me and told me if I tell the police that she stole my credit card, that she will tell the world I’m the true father of Sean Preston, not Kevin.

"I do confess I slept with Britney, and I am the true father, but the public does not need to know."

Spears' camp has yet to make a comment.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/kevin-federlines-brother-claims-he-fathered-britney-spears-eldest-son/story-e6frf96x-1226544016524

She made fun of me and told me I have a small penis.

Heskys middle name is ivanhoe

Annual loss recorded: a year in the life of death

DateDecember 29, 2012

Cancer is the big killer but lifestyle illnesses are on the rise, writes Amy Corderoy.

It tells us as much about life as it does about death. The Bureau of Statistics' causes of death data paints a picture of nearly 150,000 lives which ended in 2010.

Some lingered, some disappeared in the blink of an eye.

More than 43,000 people were taken by the Big C, even more by circulatory conditions like heart disease. But four people passed away ice-skating, skiing, roller-skating or skateboarding. And six people came to a grisly end after a run in with snakes, lizards, hornets, wasps or bees.



Many drowned or fell from ladders. Many more died violently through assault or car accidents.

Derek Williamson spends his days leading tours though the history of death in his role as director of the Museum of Human Disease at the University of NSW.

As he walks among the samples - diseased arteries, cirrhotic livers, even an ovarian tumour grown out of confused cells that have allowed it to sprout hair and teeth - he sees warnings for the living.

''So much of this is about quality of life. Long before you die from lung cancer, smoking has affected your life in so many ways,'' he says.

Williamson says our biggest killers are self-inflicted. "Twenty years ago we didn't worry about most people in the population getting diabetes, it was the few people who were born with it," he says.

Childhood has become safer, though, with vaccination programs virtually eliminating diseases like measles and diphtheria.

A big cut in smoking, a better diet and better traffic safety have meant a faster rise in life expectancy for Australians compared to Americans, says Theo Vos, the director of the Centre for Burden of Disease and Cost-effectiveness at the University of Queensland.

In 1970 in the US and Australia, a 15-year-old boy had a similar chance of dying before the age of 60 - about 23 per cent in the US and just over 21 per cent here. Today this figure has decreased to only 8 per cent in Australia but is still up around 14 per cent in the US, according to an online database the university developed with the University of Washington.

"Homicides are a substantial proportion of the injuries in the US, whereas you can hardly see the homicides in the Australian figures," Vos says. ''And when it comes to ischaemic heart disease, we have continued to improve whereas the US seems to have subsided in the last 10 years.''

Despite this good news, death in Australia can be controversial. The director of the Research Centre for Injury Studies at Flinders University, James Harrison, says the recording of suicides has been a hot issue.

"The statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics from 2000 to 2010 seemed as if the suicide rate was declining really sharply," he says. "But when we and others looked at it … there was something misleading in the data".

The bureau has made changes to try to fix the problems (which largely stem from the way coroners choose to record, or rather not record, suicides) but it is still a controversial topic.

So how will death come in 20 years? University of Western Australia experts have estimated that if current trends in obesity continue, Australians aged about 20 will be the first to see their life expectancy fall.

Advances in surgical techniques and drugs can only do so much. In the end it is the way people live their lives that determines how they die.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/annual-loss-recorded-a-year-in-the-life-of-death-20121228-2bz8u.html#ixzz2GRW1LrqC

Beer science: How to keep coldies cooler, longer

by: By Claire Porter, Technology editor From: news.com.au January 21, 2013 11:37AM

SO you're gearing up for a scorcher. You've got the air-con running, the cricket is on the tele, snags on the barbie, you're rocking the boardies and you're about to whack your six pack into a tub of ice.

But did you know that surrounding your beer in ice is actually one of the most inefficient ways of keeping your coldies cool?

Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Australian Synchrotron, Helen Maynard-Casely told news.com.au that there is a much more scientific way to ensure your beers stay cooler for longer using basic household items.

"The recipe I came up with is to find a big tub like an esky or bucket and put in one cup of salt and three cups of water and then throw in loads and loads of ice," she said.

"It will equilibrate in temperature and should get down to about minus 10 degrees, roughly."

...
Every scientist worth their salt uses this trick which is known as "freezing point depression," Ms Maynard-Casely said.

And if you're out of salt, try using washing powder instead.

"It doesn't have to be salt," Ms Maynard-Casely told news.com.au. "It can be anything in your house that dissolves in water because it's not what is in the water but how much is dissolved."

The process works by keeping water molecules away from each other and stops them from freezing or melting.

And because the liquid naturally flows around your beer, it will do a much better job of keeping it cool than sticking a lump of ice on top of it.

It's also more effective than putting it in the freezer.

"In a freezer, you don't have much contact," Ms Maynard-Casely said. "You're just relying on cold air molecules, so they bump into each other every so often."

"Dare I say it, the ice bath is a great emergency stand by to keep your beer nice and cold."

So how did Ms Maynard-Casely come across this process? You have the heavens to thank.

The same kind of science that keeps your beer cold is responsible for the formation of the various planets that make up our universe.

The space boffin has been studying how the planets of our solar system were formed.

Freezing point depression is thought to be responsible for the icy moon of Saturn, known as Encaeladus and Jupiter's "Europa".

"Because you depress the temperature and because it's really, really cold, you can get volcanoes and different things melting," she said.

"It gives rise to the amazing surfaces we see."

It also keeps your beer cold.

Other tricks to keeping a cold one cool:

-Stick your glass or beer receptacle of choice in the freezer so it's nice and frosty. Better yet, whack it in the ice bath along with your beers.

-Beer cozy or stubby holder - invest in one.

- Stick your beer into a wet sock and hang it in the wind. Make sure it is attached securely to a washing line or other attachment or otherwise the minute the wind blows, your beer will be all over the ground and your sock will be full of glass shards. And of course, make sure the sock is clean first.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/sci-tech/beer-science-how-to-keep-it-cooler-for-longer/story-fn5iztw3-1226558091063