Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for April 06, 2014
Transcript:
Ripley's Believe It or Not! A baseball struck by a bat accelerates at 3,000 times the force of gravity, 30 times faster than a ballistic missile! Leonardo Da Vinci wrote everything in reverse-- you have to use a mirror to read his notebooks! This may have been done to dissuade theft of his ideas. The star-nosed mole can smell underwater using its bizarre-shaped nose -- and is the only mammal thought to be capable of this.
billcor over 10 years ago
he wrote right to left because he was left handed and would have had to push a quill pen against the nib. (they break easily)
Weakstream over 10 years ago
I smell better after I’ve been in the water.( with some soap)
TelcomSam Premium Member over 10 years ago
I don’t know if I buy the baseball deal. 30 times?
Simon_Jester over 10 years ago
THAT’S all you have to do to crack the Da Vinci Code?
sonnygreen over 10 years ago
You may want to rethink the baseball statement. A Nike-Ajax Ballistic Missile, circa 1958, exceeded the speed of sound (767 MPH).
ceylondiver over 10 years ago
Dolphins and whales don’t smell underwater? Seriously?
ghretighoti over 10 years ago
Nike-Ajax which I worked on was a SAM (Surface to Air Missile) not a ballistic missile. Ballistic missiles are nothing special in terms of acceleration and the people who go into space are riding atop the same type of vehicle. People can’t survive 100 g’s (3000/30) but they do ride ballistic type rockets and experience maybe 5 g’s. The Nike-Ajax accelerated from zero to 1500 miles per hour in 2-1/2 seconds and that must be what Ripley’s meant.
GeorgeJohnson over 10 years ago
So, why do fish have nostrils then? Did they come out of the sea, then go back? Certainly not for breathing, that’s why they have gills.
SMMAssociates over 10 years ago
The Church definitely scared Leonardo at the time. Just reversing his handwriting seemed too simple, but mirrors were a little rare at the time. It might keep the maid from snooping, if she could read.
One downside – people who could read Hebrew (and a few other languages) might not have noticed the difference.
I was sitting in a doctor’s office one afternoon, idly reading the diplomas on his wall, when I noticed some of the words were spelled strangely. Something clicked, and I realized it was in Latin…. My Latin (and my Hebrew) are pretty awful, but once in a while a blind pig finds a truffle….
tuslog64 over 10 years ago
Leonardo did not envision computers and scanners, where a scanned item can be mirrored at the touch of a button.
mbraun over 10 years ago
Being a mammal, wouldn’t the mole drown?