Bolsius Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 To step away from the sciency bit: The reason that all telephone numbers in (american) films have the area code 555 is that in an old musical (whose name escapes me) they had a song with the telephone number "Pennsylvania 65000" repeated through the chorus. Unbeknownst to the author it was an actual phone number and the owner got a heap of crank calls from fans of the movie and sued the author, film studio and music company. They now use the area code "555" as it doesn't exist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobSheffield Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 why do 24 hour shops have locks on the doors? or indeed doors at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 To step away from the sciency bit: The reason that all telephone numbers in (american) films have the area code 555 is that in an old musical (whose name escapes me) they had a song with the telephone number "Pennsylvania 65000" repeated through the chorus. Unbeknownst to the author it was an actual phone number and the owner got a heap of crank calls from fans of the movie and sued the author, film studio and music company. They now use the area code "555" as it doesn't exist Pennsylvania 65000 is a song by Glen Miller. If I remember my totally useless trivia correctly it was the phone number of the hotel the band stayed in. It might have been in a musical later I guess, but it was deliberately the phone no of the hotel in the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboldham Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I studied quantum mechanics for several years at Uni - you get to one level then there is yet another inadequate theory to explain the one below - how far you wish to "understand" depends on how many layers of abstraction you are willing to digest - still they argue in the small rooms across many campuses - it's is a law of diminishing returns, a bit like accellerating to the "speed of light" which is a measurable figure with no value. One gets the feeling there is a fundamental law lurking somewhere that at one fell swoop will snap all earlier arguments out of existence when it is expressed simply. R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboldham Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 Why is there only one Monopolies Commission? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboldham Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 "mind numbingly comprehensive" http://home.earthlink.net/~mthyen/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gzaerojon Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 its ok for a blind man and his dog to walk into a shop because it has a sign that READS "no dogs allowed accept guide dogs"?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboldham Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I still have trouble with the whole quantum U -> R process and it leaves me with an uneasy feeling that either we will never know the truth or we have got it quite wrong (or both)! http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v406/n6793/full/406243a0_fs.html R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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