Thread: Trivia and other useless but interesting items

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

On Changes in another thread had me chuckling

"The introduction of horses in the firehouse was itself a controversial innovation that had been fought tooth-and-nail by traditionalists. Originally, fire engines had been pulled by volunteer teams of men and boys. But in 1832, when the Fire Department’s force was depleted by the city’s cholera epidemic, horsepower came to the rescue. “Not enough men, nor even supernumeraries, boys, and youths who loved to linger in the shadow of the engine house and be permitted to mingle with the hardy fire fighters, could be mustered to drag the engine to the scene of the conflagration.” Necessity, being the mother of invention, forced the FDNY to spend a hefty $864 on a fleet of horses to replace the sick and dying fire men"

I enjoyed this trivia

The Day the Horse Lost Its Job - Microsoft Today in Technology

Thanks, me too. That image of many Horses, Carriages & drays is reminiscent of the East End Market trading days in Adelaide. These days the EEM is out of town in outer suburbs & no horse **** to be seen anywhere.


I can just recall seeing the Horses etc at the EEM when I did refrig. service on some of the coolrooms. Then they relocated.

Our Property had a long association with horses & trolleys & all sorts of Horse drawn Farm implements. one photo shows a Wagon loaded up to about 15' high ( the height of two blokes standing next to the vehicle, no not on each others shoulders ) ready to leave here for the EEM There are six horses all ready to go.

The Grandson of the previous owners told me over the life of horse transport from here they went through about 40 horses.
Most are in a common grave dug on a corner of a paddock. The earthen grave heap is very flat now as all sorts of machinery have been driven over it but we know they are there.
Our big shed at one end has a Brick on edge floor divided into 4 loose boxes. Don't know how many shared a stable. The surrounding woodwork has gone, probably about the time they got an International truck & was used elsewhere but they did have a Mezzanine floor built over the stables, not only would have that given the nags a bit of warmth as well as a storage area for the many bags of onions.

I still find horsey bits & pieces around the property


Sometimes when the house Air Cond is used we can get the feint whiff of old chaff which probably blew in from the stables & the odour is sucked into the ac. Which is nice.


Fire Horses were also in action in Adelaide & the stories from Witnesses in the old days are quite common. Pre WW2 the brigade Fleet of appliances were upgraded & eventually the Chief Officer got him & his duty driver a Jaguar XK120 to enable them to get to the scene of a fire in double quick time. which they did on one occasion & saved a young lad which sort of justified the cost of the Jag in many folks eyes.


He apparently just went out & bought it because he believed it was a necessity. No long winded committee meetings for approval or owt.

By then, 2 way radio, Flashing red lights & cool chrome sirens, Intersection Traffic Light controls were in use to allow a clear passage. C/O Whyte's Jag was eventually sold in Brigade reshuffles & re-equipping & is now owned by an enthusiast. The brigade, like most has changed in equipment, structure & manpower etc & today is a highly regarded statewide.service .
It is no longer SAFB SAFire Brigade but had a name change waaaay back to MFS Metropolitan Fire Service
I suppose to differentiate it from CFS Country Fire Service.

My Son in Law is currently a Commander at a Southern Area Station. I recall when he first applied he didn't really think he would be chosen & was surprised when he was about 34 years ago.. The Brigade used to take ex-Sailors, inc Submariners, Wrestlers & other assorted types but today it is more technical orientated & you need a decent brain not just muscle . His Uncle was a Firey for years so I guess it was a natural progression.

I recall the Cast Iron caps fixed on top of the timber White Fire Plug street indicators had cast into them FP xx many feet away & the post was oriented in that direction. Of course, kids being kids used to quote the FP as Father ****ed 5 feet. 5 ' usually being the set distance to the cast iron hydrant plug.

Bloody school Kids!

One event I clearly recall was at the end of WW2 the SAFB had both their aerial Extension Turntable Ladders form an inverted V in King William Street ,meeting about the centre of the road. Each complete with flags & a fireman at the top.
One was the Leyland Metz Ladder from the UK in the late 1930s (?).The other was a Le Fance Ladder from the USA. The Leyland Ladder was mounted on a huge chassis. Last heard of it was located at the National Motor Museum at Birdwood in the Adelaide Hills.



I see the XK120 was discussed on here back in 2011

Jaguar XK 120 Fire Engine - Adelaide

Originally Posted by 4bee

Thanks, me too. That image of many Horses, Carriages & drays is reminiscent of the East End Market trading days in Adelaide. These days the EEM is out of town in outer suburbs & no horse **** to be seen anywhere.


I can just recall seeing the Horses etc at the EEM when I did refrig. service on some of the coolrooms. Then they relocated.

Our Property had a long association with horses & trolleys & all sorts of Horse drawn Farm implements. one photo shows a Wagon loaded up to about 15' high ( the height of two blokes standing next to the vehicle, no not on each others shoulders ) ready to leave here for the EEM There are six horses all ready to go.

The Grandson of the previous owners told me over the life of horse transport from here they went through about 40 horses.
Most are in a common grave dug on a corner of a paddock. The earthen grave heap is very flat now as all sorts of machinery have been driven over it but we know they are there.
Our big shed at one end has a Brick on edge floor divided into 4 loose boxes. Don't know how many shared a stable. The surrounding woodwork has gone, probably about the time they got an International truck & was used elsewhere but they did have a Mezzanine floor built over the stables, not only would have that given the nags a bit of warmth as well as a storage area for the many bags of onions.

I still find horsey bits & pieces around the property


Sometimes when the house Air Cond is used we can get the feint whiff of old chaff which probably blew in from the stables & the odour is sucked into the ac. Which is nice.


Fire Horses were also in action in Adelaide & the stories from Witnesses in the old days are quite common. Pre WW2 the brigade Fleet of appliances were upgraded & eventually the Chief Officer got him & his duty driver a Jaguar XK120 to enable them to get to the scene of a fire in double quick time. which they did on one occasion & saved a young lad which sort of justified the cost of the Jag in many folks eyes.


He apparently just went out & bought it because he believed it was a necessity. No long winded committee meetings for approval or owt.

By then, 2 way radio, Flashing red lights & cool chrome sirens, Intersection Traffic Light controls were in use to allow a clear passage through the city streets. C/O Whyte's Jag was eventually sold in Brigade reshuffles & re-equipping & is now owned by an enthusiast. The brigade, like most, has changed in equipment, structure & manpower etc & today is a highly regarded statewide.service .
It is no longer SAFB SAFire Brigade but had a name change waaaay back to SA MFS((Metropolitan Fire Service)
I suppose to differentiate it from SACFS Country Fire Service.

My Son in Law is currently a Commander at a Southern Area Station. I recall when he first applied he didn't really think he would be chosen & was surprised when he was about 34 years ago.. The Brigade used to take ex-Sailors, inc Submariners, Wrestlers & other assorted types but today it is more technical orientated & you need a decent brain not just muscle . His Uncle was a Firey for years so I guess it was a natural progression.

I recall the Cast Iron caps fixed on top of the timber White Fire Plug street indicators had cast into them FP xx many feet away & the post was oriented in that direction. Of course, kids being kids used to quote the FP as Father ****ed 5 feet. 5 ' usually being the set distance to the cast iron hydrant plug.

Bloody school Kids!

One event I clearly recall was at the end of WW2 the SAFB had both their aerial Extension Turntable Ladders form an inverted V in King William Street ,meeting about the centre of the road. Each complete with flags & a fireman at the top.
One was the Leyland Metz Ladder from the UK in the late 1930s (?).The other was a Le Fance Ladder from the USA. The Leyland Ladder was mounted on a huge chassis. Last heard of it was located at the National Motor Museum at Birdwood in the Adelaide Hills.

I see the XK120 was discussed on here back in 2011

Jaguar XK 120 Fire Engine - Adelaide

The letters of OMICRON can be rearranged to MORONIC, not sure what that means though, might be something for the conspiracy theories.

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

The letters of OMICRON can be rearranged to MORONIC, not sure what that means though, might be something for the conspiracy theories.

Funny how they skipped the Greek alphabet letter Xi.....

If you reaarange the letters of DELTA and OMICRON, you get MEDIA CONTROL.

Then again, you also get EROTIC ALMOND...

Originally Posted by cripesamighty

If you reaarange the letters of DELTA and OMICRON, you get MEDIA CONTROL.

Then again, you also get EROTIC ALMOND...

You'd be nuts to think that was ominous.

"Boxed wine — also known as cardboardeaux, bag-in-box (Bi or more commonly, goon (from flagon) — is one of Australia's most extraordinary contributions to the wine industry.

Australian winemaker Thomas Angrove patented the design for a one-gallon polyethylene bladder in a cardboard box in 1965, inspired by the ancient method of storing wine in goat skins." Link

I did not know Mr Thomas Angrove Ozzie patented the idea. Cool
I have not had a cardboardeaux since living in Perth were someone brought a 10litre Brown Bothers red box. That fixed my drinking problem

"House Wine" is often from a goony bag. Fess up. are you a goonie bag type? Mia Culpa. I did find a new environmentally gentler than glass "Chateau de Tetra pack" wine a few years ago. Honestly it wasn't a bad drop

The other thing about the old goon bag, is at the end of the night you have a pillow to rest your head on🤣🤣