| Molly Cule
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| 156142. Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:35 am |
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The Eiffel tower is named after some German hills
If it weren’t for some French people who found German pronunciation quite hard then the Eiffel Tower could have been called Bonickhausen tower. This was Eiffel’s family name until the early 18th C when his German grandfather moved to France and no one could say his name, he changed it to Eifel because that was where he was from, he was born in Marmagen, in the Eifel hills, a low volcanic mountain range in Western Germany. Eifel is the same volcanic field as the Ardennes. The Eifel region is on a hotspot and is rising by 1-2mm every year.
The Eifel aqueduct is one of the longest aqueducts built by the Romans and providing the city of Cologne with water… So there is a link between Eifel and Eau de Cologne..
Gustave Eiffel was known as the ‘Magician of Iron’. He helped design the framework for the Statue of Liberty, which allowed the statue to become a reality – the statue was a gift from France to the US.
He also built Toulouse and Agen train stations, which is where Prunes come from a bridge in China, a bridge over the Douro river in Lisbon, a gas works in La Paz, Bolivia, locks in Russia and was involved unsuccessfully with designing locks for the Panama Canal. He also built cast iron railway bridges in France like the viaduct at Rouzat and Bouble and a lighthouse on Mona Island, Puerto Rico.
His company sold bridges in ‘kits’ which could be put up by 12 people in few days. |
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| Flash
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| 156152. Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:12 am |
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| MatC wrote: | | Have we ever done the "painting the Forth Bridge" myth? If not, this could be a link into it. |
We never have - what's the skinny? |
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| eggshaped
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| 156174. Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:42 am |
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The idea is that the forth bridge takes so long to paint that as soon as they finish painting it once, they have to go all the way back to the start and paint it again.
It's not true. |
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| MatC
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| 156193. Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:55 am |
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MYTHCONCEPTIONS: THE FORTH BRIDGE by Mat Coward
THE MYTH: The Forth Bridge is so big that as soon as maintenance crews have finished painting it, it’s time to start again. Thus, any task which can never be completed is said to be “like painting the Forth Bridge.”
THE "TRUTH": The world’s first steel, long-span, cantilever bridge, opened in 1890, remains one of mankind’s greatest engineering achievements. As a modern symbol of Sisyphean labour, however, it’s useless. On reflection, starting at one end and painting doggedly towards the other would be a deeply inefficient approach to such an immense and dangerous job. Sure enough, an inquiry to the Forth Bridges Visitor Centre Trust brought the categorical statement: “The bridge was never painted in that way. Different parts of the bridge suffer different levels of exposure to the elements; the maintenance schedules reflected that.” It’s all academic: the bridge is currently having its famous red paint replaced with an epoxy resin expected to last for 20-30 years. In America, incidentally, the equivalent expression is “like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.”
SOURCES: Correspondence with the Forth Bridges Visitor Centre Trust; _Sunday Herald_ (28 July 2002); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Rail_Bridge; http://netrover.com/~capaigle/Ponts/fortha.html; _The Independent_ (8 March 2002).
DISCLAIMER: If you know something which will force us to begin this Mythcon all over again, please take the next ferry to the letters page. |
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| Flash
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| 156206. Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:10 pm |
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| Though I suppose it's true in a sense: painting the bridge is a job that's never finished (pace the poxy resin). |
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| eggshaped
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| 162406. Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:00 pm |
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Does anyone know if this is true? It's a guy called Franz Reichelt who supposedly jumped off the Eiffel Tower using a self-designed overcoat as a parachute. Predictibly it didn't work.
WARNING. The following video could possibly be of a man plummeting to his death.
link |
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| Flash
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| 162412. Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:17 pm |
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| Also, for the notes, we have to remember "Victor Lustig", the man who sold the Eiffel Tower. |
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| 163227. Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:18 am |
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| DELETED |
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| dr.bob
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| 163283. Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:55 am |
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That picture looks familiar
post 149716
*cough* |
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| 163330. Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:30 am |
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| dr.bob
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| 164342. Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:34 am |
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| Errr, come again? |
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| 164538. Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:03 pm |
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| dr.bob
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| 164691. Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:46 am |
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| Ah, of course. If the comma had been there, I'd've got it instantly :) |
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| Molly Cule
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| 167785. Thu Apr 19, 2007 7:59 am |
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The BBC Broadcasting House in London has a mini Eiffel Tower on the roof.
s - i saw it on monday |
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| Gray
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| 167858. Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:07 am |
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