Little Known Facts

Discussion in 'New Roundtable' started by Bengal B, Feb 27, 2014.

  1. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    We have been kind of rough on @TigerTap We should buy him one of those as a peace offering and to show there are no hard feelings give him some money and send him into a donut shop filled with cops. Then as he reaches the cashier call him.
     
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  2. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    David Rice Atchison was the President of the United States for one day:

    1801-1850

    March 4, 1849
    President for a Day



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    On a statue in Plattsburg, Missouri, an inscription reads, "David Rice Atchison, 1807-1886, President of the U.S. [for] one day." The day of President Atchison's presumed presidency occurred on March 4, 1849.

    A proslavery Democrat, David Atchison served in the U.S. Senate from 1843 to 1855. His colleagues elected him president pro tempore on 13 occasions. In those days, the vice president regularly attended Senate sessions. Consequently, the Senate chose a president pro tempore to serve only during brief vice-presidential absences.

    Until the 1930s, presidential and congressional terms began at noon on March 4. In 1849, that date fell on a Sunday, causing President Zachary Taylor to delay his inauguration until the next day. For some, this raised the question of who was president from noon of March 4 to noon of March 5. Of course, we now know that Taylor automatically became president on the fourth and could have begun to execute the duties of his office after taking the oath privately, a day before the public inauguration.

    In 1849, the Senate president pro tempore immediately followed the vice president in line of presidential succession. That era's ever-present threat of sudden death made it essential to keep an unbroken order of succession. To ensure that there was a president pro tempore in office during adjournment periods, the vice president customarily left the Senate chamber in an annual session's final days so that the Senate could elect this constitutional officer. Accordingly, the Senate duly elected Atchison on March 2, 1849. His supporters, to the present day, claim that the expiration of the outgoing president's and vice president's terms at noon on March 4 left Atchison with clear title to the job.

    Unfortunately for Atchison's shaky claim, his Senate term also expired at noon on March 4, thereby denying him the chance to become president. When the Senate of the new Congress convened the following day to allow new senators and the vice president to take the oath of office, with no president pro tempore, the secretary of the Senate called members to order.

    No one planning to attend Taylor's March fifth inauguration seems to have realized that there had been a "President Atchison" in charge. Nonetheless, for the rest of his life, Atchison enjoyed polishing this story, describing his "presidency" as "the honestest administration this country ever had."



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  3. tirk

    tirk im the lyrical jessie james

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    2 weeks before the asian owner reports it.
     
  4. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    Before 1859 umpires sat behind home plate in rocking chairs.
     
  5. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    The official Twitter account of @Sweden is given to a different citizen every week to manage.
     
  6. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    There is more gold in a ton of mobile phones than in a ton of gold ore.
     
  7. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    But most of it is not recoverable.
     
  8. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    I thought they had recycling places that recovered the gold as well as any other usable parts. There is gold in other electronics too like old TV tuners.
     
  9. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    They do. But much of the gold used is incredibly thin micro-coatings and it is difficult to separate it from the plastic and other metals without vaporizing it.
     
  10. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    If you ever thought gumps were a little buggy this clinches it. University of Alabama student Cameron Brantley-Rios at insect laced meals 3 times a day for 30 days.
     

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