The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[emm]

NOT THE NBA = NO SPORTS ALLOWED

This thread is for trivia unrelated to sports. You can still dump your sports trivia in Sports Talk (formerly the NBA).

OT here, but I keep forgetting that sometimes we (in the US) pronounce things differently than the rest of the world. I was reading some small print in The Economist yesterday and came across the word "expiry" where we would normally say "expiration date". I had never run across that one before.

FYI - we use the term 'expiry date' more commonly than 'expiration date'. Sometimes I get a long-cancelled voice message resurfacing on my cellphone out of nowhere which I can’t delete and I’m told repeatedly that it 'has passed its expiry date'. It costs me money to keep on being told the same thing over and over and I’ve never learnt how to clear the stupid thing.

[Hud]

This is probably a good place to tell this:

I have a sister-in-law in Florida who sends all her siblings a "Waterford 12 days of Christmas Ornament". For some reason, she wasn't able to get the 1999, 5 golden rings one. She always bought them after Christmas to get them at half price. I finally decided to research them on Ebay to see if they are available. It turns out that they are quite rare and the last couple of them have sold for over $500US. When we bought the last one awhile back (sis-in-law was in Baltimore for a funeral, it cost $10. I suppose we won't be filling out the collection. I think I'd be afraid to hang it on the tree anyway.

[mikejapan]

Only using the letters on the top row of a typewriter, the longest word you can spell (repetition of letters allowed) is; TYPEWRITER

[r.e.s.]

Only using the letters on the top row of a typewriter, the longest word you can spell (repetition of letters allowed) is; TYPEWRITER

Unless instead of QWERTY the keyboard uses, say,
the One-Handed Dvorak Layout (with top-row letters JLMFP).
Hmm ... is M longer than J, L, F or P?

With the regular two-handed Dvorak (top-row letters PYFGCRL),
I can only get up to a six-letter word. I won't give it away, though.

[mikejapan]

True r.e.s.
If you use the "Ajepto" keyboard which only has the letters ASMLD, you can make the phrase "A SMALL LLAMA SALAD"

[underquark]

And if you hold both shift keys down and type all the letters?

ACDEGIJLNRSTUVWY

[mikejapan]

Using your left hand only and hitting the keys it's meant to hit if you were typing properly (on a QWERTY keyboard), the longest word you can spell (with letter repitition) is;
STEWARDESSES

r.e.s
What 6 letter word can you make with the letters on a Dvorak keyboard assuming it's not a proper noun, an acronym, Welsh or from some language that has an aversion to the use of vowels?

[Bigtone53]

r.e.s
What 6 letter word can you make with the letters on a Dvorak keyboard assuming it's not a proper noun, an acronym, Welsh or from some language that has an aversion to the use of vowels?

Mike,

Regular if slightly specialised English gives you the word.

[mikejapan]

crylyc?

[r.e.s.]

r.e.s
What 6 letter word can you make with the letters on a Dvorak keyboard assuming it's not a proper noun, an acronym, Welsh or from some language that has an aversion to the use of vowels?

The word I had in mind is GLYCYL. <-- highlight to read
It's in none of those special categories you mention.

[mikejapan]

Here's a typewriter-related 4 second funny video.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2952038997758539618&q=blond+joke+typewriter

Of course! The monovalent acyl radical NH2CH2CO.

[mikejapan]

Once someone has answered the following question, I'll post what I thought was a very interesting bit of useless information.

Each day I'll post an additional five names to this list until someone gets the correct answer (ie; the answer I'm thinking about)

What do the following people all have in common?

Abraham Lincoln
James Maddison
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
William Howard Taft

[MCC]

Just to get things going.

How about the obvious:
They are American presidents

Or:
The initials of their first names are in alphabetical order


Mike, is it anything to do with them being presidents


Supplimentary question.
Which Simpson became president


MCC

[mikejapan]

They are all Presidents is true but not the answer I want.

Was it Homer Simpson?

As it's the next day here in Japan I'll post the next five names.

Albert Einstein
Ernest Hemingway
Walt Disney
Helen Keller
Benjamin Franklin

[Smythe Dakota]

If you want trivia, here's one. It has a Chicago connection:

What did the TV programs "Marcus Welby MD" and "Zoom" have in common?

Answer: They were the last programs broadcast by channels 7 (ABC) and 11 (PBS), respectively, before they moved their transmitters to the Sears Tower.

Bill Smythe