Interesting Facts - Page 63

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311

The Berlin Brandenburg airport was originally scheduled to open in 2011. After a few delays, invitations to the grand opening were sent in 2012. But then a problem appeared. And then another, and another. The airport finally opened in late 2020. So much for German efficiency.

312

Of all the legal tender coins made by the U.S. mint, every one is made mostly of copper except the penny which is 97.5% zinc.

313

The Basque language, spoken in parts of Spain and France, is not closely related to any other known language.

314

The Harlem Globetrotters used to be a serious basketball team. In 1948, they beat the Minneapolis Lakers, considered by many at the time to be the best team in the country.

315

Middle names weren't always common in the United States. Only three of the eighteen Presidents that served prior to 1868 had middle names.

25 Comments

Level 92

Jul 21, 2019

#311 Never buy an Audi and try to work on it. Even the simplest of simple things requires removing the grill and radiator.

Level ∞

Jul 24, 2019

Lol, you're not kidding. I own a VW. It started leaking coolant. It took the shop 10 hours to replace a simple seal. Also VW uses a special kind of coolant which costs 4x as much as regular coolant and is only available at dealerships.

Level 92

Jul 28, 2019

Same thing here...for a windshield wiper fluid bottle. It also sticks down beyond the fender where it naturally gets hit.

Level ∞

Dec 15, 2020

Honestly I still like the car though. It's very fun to drive. I just have to pray that it never needs repair, and also to accept that it costs $250 for an oil change.

Level 53

Apr 18, 2021

A long time ago I thought an Audi was simply a less pretentious Mercedes.

Level 68

Jul 22, 2019

I suggested #315, btw.

Level 68

Aug 10, 2019

Theodore Roosevelt did not have a middle name as well just for the record.

Level 80

Dec 11, 2019

#311: Also, German trains are notoriously unpunctual.

Level 80

Apr 12, 2023

Are you German? The supposed unpunctuality of German trains has to be our favourite pet peeve. And as a commuter, I have to say they really are *horribly* unpunctual! :-( But is that true only by our own standards or also in international comparison? According to a 2018 survey I found, about 88% of German trains are punctual (within 5 min), with Germany coming in 19th out of 27 surveyed countries. Not too good. However, among the EU27 countries, the average is 90%, so not much higher. The survey may also be flawed because apparently, different definitions of punctuality apply in different countries.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1255048/punctuality-regional-passenger-rail-services-europe-by-country/

Level 82

Feb 2, 2025

I've seen videos of Germans in the UK marvelling at how punctual and reliable OUR rail system is. The bar must be underground.

Level 68

Jan 11, 2020

You have to update #311, it is now 2020 and it is still not operational.

Level 68

Sep 9, 2020

8 months later... not like it really needed to be.

Level 66

Sep 16, 2020

lol

Level 66

Nov 18, 2020

Now it is. And directly in danger to go into bankruptcy because of the Coronavirus ...

Level ∞

Dec 15, 2020

Updated.

Level 50

Jan 26, 2020

Having learned what little I know about basketball from the Simpsons, this is the first I realised the Globetrotters are not in fact a proper team.

Level 72

Aug 17, 2020

he's spinning the ball on his finger! just take it!

Level 60

Jan 31, 2021

Was #315 already on here? It might not have been, I just seem to remember it.

Level 41

Aug 18, 2021

Re 313: It is actually not related at all to any extant language (at least that is the overwhelming scholarly consensus, unsurprisingly they are some fringe theories that try to claim otherwise, but they lack substance). If I am not mistaken, some Roman-era inscription fragments found in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula are conjectured to be cognate with Basque, but other than that, no other relations could be demonsrated (although the theory that Basque must have been cognate with Etruscan which likewise lacks known relatives was once popular).

Level 41

Aug 18, 2021

Re 311: Few years ago, you could buy postcards in Berlin with a portrait of the late East German Communist leader Walter Ulbricht (who infamously said "No-one is going to build a wall" less than two months before it was build) and a caption "We are going to build an airport") :)

Level 80

Apr 12, 2023

Re 311: That doesn't count. Berlin, just like Bavaria, is a cultural enclave within Germany. People there live in their own reality ;-)

Level 33

May 1, 2023

There is a town in Norway that is called Hell. They named it that because the norweagen word for luck is hell.

Level 28

Jan 19, 2024

The U.S. State of Georgia has a population almost 3x greater than the country of Georgia.

Level 55

Nov 9, 2024

#313 - Albanian language also isn't related to any language.

Level 75

Dec 13, 2024

False. It is a Indo-European language.