Tuesday, July 12, 2005

The beer can "widget" was invented in 1990

It was the subject of debate at the poker table the other day and today's Metro has been kind enough to draw a line under the matter.

Other beer receptical related dates include:

  • The Ring Pull (1963)
  • Aluminium replacing Tin (1950s)
  • First canned beer in britain (1936)

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Omertà

The omertà (Sicilian for manliness) is the vow of silence taken by members of the Italian Mafia.

Particularly, it means that mafiosi will not involve the police or the government in the affairs of the mafia. Joe Valachi was the first person to betray the omertà when he publicly spoke out about the existence of the mafia, when he testified before the United States Congress. Within mafia culture, breaking the oath of omertà is punishable by death.


I was reading this blog post about trains when I came across the term. Although the bad spelling initially led me off the scent, a voyage of discovery through Google later, I am equipped with a new word that I fully intend to overuse in conversation from now on.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

The humber bridge is over a mile across

At least according to my car.

Wikipedia says it's the fourth-largest single-span suspension bridge in the world.

It was quite a shock to come round the corner and see it. Very impressive, my shit camera phone doesn't come close to doing it justice.