Archive for March, 2012


New suspect in Titanic sinking: the Moon


Thursday, March 29th, 2012

It has been a century since the sinking of the Titanic and 247Moneybox.com have at least closed the file on this one.

This doesn’t see to be the case for Professor Donald Olson of Texas State University, however, who suggests that the Moon may have had a role in the catastrophe, and it must be said that it’s quite an interesting theory.

Everyone is well aware of the horrific story that claimed the lives of 1,517 travellers on 15th April 1912 after the “unsinkable” ship collided with an iceberg in the Atlantic sea. Professor Olson and his team of forensic astronomers believe that there may be a connection between the proximity of the Moon to the Earth and the resulting high tide, which may explain the vast number of icebergs that appeared in the Titanic’s path.

According to the physicists, on 4th January 1912 the Sun and Moon aligned, thereby enhancing the gravitational pull on one another, and during this time the Moon was the closest to the Earth than it had been for 1400 years.

As a result, this increased gravitational force on the Earth could have dislodged icebergs, causing them to float aimlessly around the Atlantic and eventually hit the ship.

Whether they’re on to something or not, one thing’s for sure – the debates will rage on and on…



McFounding Father


Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

An astounding and somewhat bizarre story appeared on the Metro website recently as a chicken nugget resembling George Washington was sold on eBay for £5,000!

A bidding frenzy unfolded within an hour of the image of the nugget, superimposed in front of an American flag and fireworks, being uploaded onto the auction site.

We at 247Moneybox.com were sceptical and in typically Britsh fashion felt it quite resembled Charles Darwin from a different angle. But having looked at all the images and even a YouTube video, which we’d urge you to check for yourself, it must be said that there is a certain likeness to the first President of the United States.

And fortunately for one c-lucky patriot, eBay overturned its initial decision to ban the sale of the item on the premise that it violated regulations on expired food.

What next, a chicken wing resembling Justin Bieber? Only in America, we guess.



A $100k Christmas carol


Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Ever thought about how much purchasing all the items from the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ song would cost? We neither.

But an article on The Consumerist website tries to pin down the exact  cost according to recent retail figures, despite the lack of clarity on how to secure the services of some piping pipers and drumming drummers (Covent Garden, we guess?).

PNC Financial have taken the time to analyse the changing trends in prices over the past few decades and we have apparently surpassed the $100k mark, reaching $101, 119.84.

This represents an astonishing 35% rise compared to five years ago despite the slight difference of 4.4% since 2010.

Coming in at the most expensive item is the seven swans a-swimming, at a whopping $6,300, closely followed by nine ladies dancing, at around $5 dollars cheaper than that.

The cheapest items are the milking maids … although we would love to get our hands on those udderly ridiculous calculations!



Who’s that wasp?


Thursday, March 1st, 2012

According to research by a curious graduate at the University of Michigan, the golden paper wasp, or Polistes Fuscatus, can recognise each other’s faces in a cognitive manner similar to humans. The trait was thought to be specifically human, in that we have evolved particular parts of the brain in order to recognise friend or foe.

The article in Nature magazine goes on to discuss the findings of the experiment, which involved a closely related species of wasp, an electric maze and an array of images of the other species and caterpillars. (And no – I know what you’re thinking – this isn’t a new ITV game show.)

During the test, the wasps tried to locate the safe zone in the maze by using the faces of wasps from their species, the other species and the caterpillars as markers. The golden paper wasps were quick to distinguish between faces of either species but found difficulty in distinguishing between caterpillars, while the other species found it easier to filter between the images of the caterpillars and wasps as opposed to the faces of the wasps specifically.

A truly “buzzing” experiment that begs the question – is this an evolutionary adaptation or something you pick up as you go through life?