The Strange Things Thread

[kurchatovium]

Ok this is s new idea.... simple thpugh just put strange things in life that are known. Feel free to comment on things posted or add on them. The thread is basically like truth is stranger then fiction... or Ropleys Believe it or not...

First strange thing:

THE CASE OF THE CORAL CASTLE

Edward Leedskanlin was born in Latvia in the late 1800s He was suppose to marry a young girl he loved who was only 16. She left at the altar. Heartbroken Edward took various jobs until he landed in Florida. There he set put to build a castle to win his love back. Edward wss a frail sickly man only 5 foot tall. Yet all by himself he built a 1100 ton castle out of coral. Some of the rocks weigh 7 tons and are perfectly balanced so you can push them to one side with a finger. People asked Ed how he did it ... haha did he knew the secret of the pyramids.. Edward died at 64 ... his true love never came back to him

The story inspired Billy Idol to write the song Sweet 16. The castle is a mystery to this day.

 

[Edge]

I think that's a good mystery but love is a bigger mystery than the castle even 🙂.

 

[milagros317]

I wonder what happened to the young girl. In particular, did she marry somebody else and have 7 children and 25 grandchildren?

 

[Edge]

Maybe Kurch can solve the mystery for us.

 

[milagros317]

Here is something that I have always found strange.
First, let us remember that dogs are often called "man's best friend."
Next, let us note that an adult female or male dog, respectively, will be called by dog breeders, a "bitch," or a "son of a bitch."

So, then, why are those two expressions considered to be highly insulting?

 

[kurchatovium]

I think that's a good mystery but love is a bigger mystery than the castle even 🙂.

Yea jus all about the love. He built an 1100 ton castle to win his girl back nut never did. Very sad.

 

[milagros317]

Yea jus all about the love. He built an 1100 ton castle to win his girl back nut never did. Very sad.

I am quite sure that I would not be able to build an 1100 ton castle for any purpose. 😱

 

[kurchatovium]

I wonder what happened to the young girl. In particular, did she marry somebody else and have 7 children and 25 grandchildren?

No one ever says what happens to the girl. She moved of of Latvia as well She was 9nly 16 . My guess is she started her life over somewhere els.

 

[kurchatovium]

I am quite sure that I would not be able to build an 1100 ton castle for any purpose. 😱

Yea it's an amazing building. Edward was only 5 foot tall and very Braille. He studied a ton in the library and apparently learned something there. Coral rock gas unique properties I guess

 

[Edge]

Yea it's an amazing building. Edward was only 5 foot tall and very Braille. He studied a ton in the library and apparently learned something there. Coral rock gas unique properties I guess

That's pretty amazing.

 

[kurchatovium]

That's pretty amazing.

The Edward guy spent lots of time in the library and he did claim to have unlocked the secret to how the edyptyians built the pyramids. Never really said more then that. Nobody ever has been able to replicate what he did.

 

[Edge]

You got anything stranger than that for us Kurch? Cause that was a good one.

 

[kurchatovium]

You got anything stranger than that for us Kurch? Cause that was a good one.

The Case of Chlorine Trifluoride. World's nastiest chemical.

Chlorine Trifluoride is a powerful corrosive and toxic chemical. The Nazis tried to use it as a nerve gas but it was even too dangerous for them. It reacts with almost everything. Only steel vessels exposed to fluorine can store it cause of the protective coating of iron fluoride, but if that flakes off the whole vessel leeks and sets everything ablaze. The compound burns through bricks and concrete and actually set them on fire. A spill of a ton of it burned through a foot of concrete and a couple of feet of dirt creating toxic clouds of hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride.

Oddy the chemical find use I cleaning circuit boards for high end elecrtonics. In very very small amounts.

The story is strange only at the lengths evil people ( the Nazis) will go to gain power. If the chemical were a little better behved the war might have been an even nastier one. Even as nasty as this chemical was, the Germans made 30 tons of it. They wanted 90 tons.

 

[Edge]

The Case of Chlorine Trifluoride. World's nastiest chemical.

Chlorine Trifluoride is a powerful corrosive and toxic chemical. The Nazis tried to use it as a nerve gas but it was even too dangerous for them. It reacts with almost everything. Only steel vessels exposed to fluorine can store it cause of the protective coating of iron fluoride, but if that flakes off the whole vessel leeks and sets everything ablaze. The compound burns through bricks and concrete and actually set them on fire. A spill of a ton of it burned through a foot of concrete and a couple of feet of dirt creating toxic clouds of hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride.

Oddy the chemical find use I cleaning circuit boards for high end elecrtonics. In very very small amounts.

The story is strange only at the lengths evil people ( the Nazis) will go to gain power. If the chemical were a little better behved the war might have been an even nastier one. Even as nasty as this chemical was, the Germans made 30 tons of it. They wanted 90 tons.

30 tons wow!

 

[kurchatovium]

30 tons wow!

Yea and they wanted 90... the stuff is too dangerous to store in large quantities.

 

[milagros317]

I found this online:

The following passage by rocket scientist John D. Clark is widely quoted in descriptions of the substance's extremely hazardous nature:

It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water—with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals—steel, copper, aluminum, etc.—because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride that protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.

 

[kurchatovium]

I found this online:

Awesome find. Thanks for sharing. Yea running shoes would sure come in handy lol.

There is an Australian guy who has YouTube videos under Explosions And Fire. He tried to come up with a nastier chemical. He came up with Fluorine Peroxide. FOOF for short. It's is very nasty but very hard to make in a big amounts as it requires a very powerful mercury lamp.

 

[Edge]

All I did in Chemistry class in high school was almost blow up the lab accidentally.

 

[milagros317]

All I did in Chemistry class in high school was almost blow up the lab accidentally.

My high school chemistry teacher was fanatic about safety in the lab. He banned anybody who violated one of his safety protocols from the lab forever.

 

[kurchatovium]

All I did in Chemistry class in high school was almost blow up the lab accidentally.

Well i did work as an explosives Chemist for a year. Made my own fireworks too when I was young. It's a miracle I didn't blow myself up lol.

 

[kurchatovium]

My high school chemistry teacher was fanatic about safety in the lab. He banned anybody who violated one of his safety protocols from the lab forever.

Safety is alwats super critical. You really need layers of protection. My profressor was pretty good at instructing us in safety.

 

[milagros317]

The average high school student has no idea how dangerous the chemicals in the lab are. 😱

 

[kurchatovium]

The average high school student has no idea how dangerous the chemicals in the lab are. 😱

Yea I didn't do much chemistry lab work till college. Especially ss a grad student at UCLA you get to work with the cool stuff.... well dangerous cool stuff lol

 

[kurchatovium]

Next case....

The Stone Spheres Of Costa Rica

There are over 300 perfect polished Stone Spheres in Costa Rica from Diquis Culture fade from about 500 to 1500 AD. The stones range in size from aboit a few centmeters to 2 meters ot about 6.6 ft. Some are made from a basalt like material, others from sandstone and some from limestone. They appear to be made by hammering rocks with orher rocks. No one knows why they were made... some scholars think its a celebration of the universe.

The Case is strange in why there were made but also that people refuse to give ancient cultures ant credit for being smart or innovative. They rather believe aliens traveled thousand of light years to make a bunch of spherical rocks in a jungle lol

 

[milagros317]

I had never heard of those stone spheres. They probably had religious significance for the people who created them, but, in any case, they were an excellent engineering feat given the lack of technology at that time.