1000 Geos contest

[ScarskiN]

The person that can give me the most Idiot/funny/strange/ridiculeous fact's about a famous building, in this case the eifel-tower, win's a 1000 Geos.
Post a link/name of the website/book (or whereever you have it from) also here... I want to be able to Check it......
No double posting allowed, if someone come's up with a fact it's his, it won;t count for anyone else.

If this work's I'll probably do this again with another building... this is just a try out.
This contest will end Sunday the 7th of may at 19:00 (+1 GMT).

The person that come's up with the most Idiot/funny/strange/ridiculeous fact's about the Eifel-tower will win.

Scar

[Hugh Bain]

Eiffel Tower

During William Morris's last visit to Paris, he spent a great deal of time eating and writing in the restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. One day a friend remarked that he must be very impressed with the structure to be spending so much time there. "Impressed!?" Morris replied. "I remain here because it's the only place in Paris where I can avoid seeing the damn thing!"

http://anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=8328

[Hugh Bain]

In 1912 Austrian tailor Franz Reichelt dove off the Eiffel Tower in a sort of real life version of Wile E Coyote’s Acme Batsuit expecting to fly or glide or something leaf-like. He did not. Instead, Franz did the thing that things which are not leafs do when they find themselves in the thin blue air. To quote the WFMU blog from which we get this link: “The film ends with men ceremoniously measuring the crater left by Reichelt.”

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/12/roots_of_jackas.html

[Hugh Bain]

In 1889, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel publicly unveiled the 300 meter Eiffel Tower on the southern bank of the Seine River in Paris. Less publicly, he also unveiled a private love nest at the tower's peak to facilitate his personal trysts.

http://anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=14437


Patriotic Frenchmen (and women), not noted for their love of Germany, may be less than amused to learn the source of the name of the famous landmark which graces the southern bank of the Seine River in Paris.
The 300 meter Eiffel Tower was built by Gustave Eiffel, whose upholsterer godfather, born a Boenickhausen, adopted the name Eiffel - because his friends could not pronounce his name - before moving to Paris from Eifel, Germany.

http://anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=2564

[danqueca]

The world’s smallest scale replica of the Eiffel Tower is less than a millimeter high.

http://www.gullible.info/archive.php?m=2006-03

[danqueca]

Eiffel tower sold…twice!!
Victor Lustig was a confidence artist in the 20th century that sold the Eiffel tower to scrap dealers in Paris and got away with it.

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/2-20-2004-50787.asp

[danqueca]

At 300 meters (320.75 m including antenna), and 7,000 tons, it was the world's tallest building until 1930.
Sway of at most 12 cm in high winds
Height varies up to 15 cm depending on temperature.
15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets). 40 tons of paint. 1652 steps to the top
2.5 million rivets.
The tower was almost torn down in 1909, but was saved because of its antenna - used for telegraphy at that time
It was scaled by a mountaineer in 1954
Parachuted off of in 1984 by two Englishmen
In 1923 a journalist rode a bicycle down from the first level. Some accounts say he rode down the stairs, other accounts suggest the exterior of one of the tower's four legs which slope outward

All this from:

http://www.paris.org/Monuments/Eiffel/

[othafa]

all nighttime photos of the Eiffel Tower are now illegal without a license!! (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050202/1946248.shtml)

[brobie]

You want a crazy fact?

Crazy man, Tom Cruise, proposed to Katie Holmes at the Eiffel Tower....

Seriously...

Tom Cruise = Idiotic...
Tom Cruise = Strange...
Tom Cruise = Ridiculeous...


http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-06-17-cruise-holmes_x.htm

[tohann]

The Eiffel Tower is made of cheese. Weird. Here's the proof:

http://www.dingo7.com/eiffel_tower_facts.html

[ScarskiN]

Aight...
danqueca is on top with 10 fact's....
Seccond is Hugh Bain with 4 fact's
Thirth is Othafa with one fact

If more people join I'll also include a 2th and a 3th price.... the 2th will be : 350 Geo's and the 3th will be: 150 Geo's

Scar

[SJ]

The Eiffel Tower shrinks 6 inches in winter.


http://funny2.com/facts.htm


The Eiffel Tower has 1792 steps?

http://goto.glocalnet.net/funny/facts_about_tech_and_science.htm

[SJ]

The Eiffel Tower has 2,500,000 rivets in it.

http://www.floydpinkerton.net/fun/useless.html

[SJ]

As part of the original design, the names of 72 French scientists and other famous people is imprinted on the sides of the Eiffel tower.

After the Eiffel Tower was built, one person was killed during the installation of the lifts. No one was killed during the actual construction of the tower.

The Eiffel Tower weight is approximately 9441 tons.

The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world before the construction of the Empire State Building in 1930.

http://www.amusingfacts.com/facts/Places_and_Sites/Eiffel_Tower/index.html

Did you know?...The Eiffel Tower in Paris weighs over 1000 elephants.

http://www.area51newmexico.com/page8.php

A petition of 300 names — including those of Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Garnier (architect of the Opéra Garnier), and Dumas the Younger — was presented to the city government, protesting its construction. The petition read, "We, the writers, painters, sculptors, architects and lovers of the beauty of Paris, do protest with all our vigour and all our indignation, in the name of French taste and endangered French art and history, against the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower."

Nature lovers thought that it would interfere with the flight of birds over Paris.

It was almost torn down in 1909 at the expiration of its 20-year lease, but was saved because of its antenna — used for telegraphy at that time.

Beginning in 1910 it became part of the International Time Service. French radio (since 1918), and French television (since 1957) have also made use of its stature.

uilt to celebrate the science and engineering achievements of its age, soaring 300m / 984 ft. (320.75m / 1,052 ft. including antenna) and weighing 7000 tons, the structure consists of two visibly distinct parts: a base composed of a platform resting on four separate supports (called pylons or bents) and, above this, a slender tower created as the bents taper upward, rising above a second platform to merge in a unified column.

In the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the curve of the base pylons was precisely calculated so that the bending and shearing forces of the wind were progressively transformed into forces of compression, which the bents could withstand more effectively. Such was Eiffel's engineering wizardry that even in the strongest winds his tower never sways more than 4-1/2 inches.

* 300 steel workers, and 2 years (1887-1889) to construct it.
* 15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets).
* 2.5 million rivets.
* 40 tons of paint.
* 1671 steps to the top.
* Maximum sway at top caused by wind: 12 cm (4.75 inches).
* Maximum sway at top caused by metal dilation: 18 cm (7 inches).
* Total height in 1889: 300.51 meters (985 feet, 11 inches).
* Total height with television antenna: 320.755 meters (1052 feet, 4 inches).



* Height varies up to 15 cm depending on temperature.
* Size of base area: 10,281.96 square meters (2.54 acres).
* Weight of foundations: 277,602 kg (306 tons).
* Weight of iron: 7.34 million kg (8092.2 tons).
* Weight of elevator systems: 946,000 kg (1042.8 tons).
* Total weight: 8.56 million kg (9441 tons).



* Pressure on foundation: 4.1 to 4.5 kg per square centimeter, depending on pier (58.26 to 64 lbs. per square inch).
* Dates of construction: January 26, 1887 to March 31, 1889.
* Cost of construction: 7.8 million francs ($1.5 million).
* Total number of visitors during 1889 Exposition: 1,968,287.
* Total receipts during 1889 Exposition: 5,919,884 francs ($1.14 million).
* Total number of visitors during 2002: 6,157,042

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Paris/Monuments-Paris/Eiffel.shtml

[Splurge]

Original Permit for 20 Years

Originally, Eiffel had a permit to leave the tower standing for 20 years. This was a period calculated to allow him to more than recuperate his expenses. In 1909, at the expiration of original 20-year lease, the tower was almost torn down. Its salvation lay in the fact that its antenna was used for telegraphy. Since the tower was valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain beyond the end of the permit.

Tower Opening

The Prince of Wales [later King Edward VII of England] officiated at the ceremonial opening celebrating the science and engineering achievements of its age. The tower soared 300m [984 feet] or 320.75m [1,052 feet] including antenna. Its structure consisted of two visibly distinct parts: a base composed of a platform resting on four separate supports [called pylons or bents] and, above this, a slender tower created as the bents taper upward, rising above a second platform to merge in a unified column weighing 7000 tons.

Number of Visitors

However difficult its birth may have been, the Tour Eiffel is now completely accepted by both Parisians and all French citizens, and is internationally recognized as the symbol of Paris itself. The world's acceptance of this icon is confirmed by the number of yearly visitors to the tower since its building:
Year Yearly Visitors
1889 1,968,287
1890 393,414
1999 6,368,534
2000 6,315,324
2001 6,103,987
2002 6,157,042
2003 5,864,969
2004 6,230,050


As of 2004, a total of 216,476,171 visitors, from the four corners of the world, have gone up to at least the tower's first level.

Design Competition
The French government organized the 1889 International Exposition to mark the anniversary of the French Revolution, and held a design completion for a suitable monument. From over 7 hundred submittals, the proposal by the noted bridge engineer Gustave Eiffel was chosen unanimously. It called for an entirely open-lattice iron tower 984-feet [300-meters] tall.

[SJ]

Maintenance on the tower includes applying 50 metric tons of three graded tones of paint every 7 years to protect the 200,000 square meters of iron lattice work from rust.

The darkest paint is used at the bottom and the lightest shade at the top.

Each repainting, by 25 painters working for 15 months, requires 1500 brushes, 5000 sanding disks and 1500 sets of work clothes

On occasion, the color of the paint is changed. The tower is currently painted to a shade of brown.

On the first floor, there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for the color to use for a future session of painting.

Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the Eiffel Tower will shift away from the sun by eight centimeters because of expansion of the sun-warmed metal.

Of the 7.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity used annually, 580 thousand are used exclusively to illuminate the tower.

he tower's annual operation also requires the use of 2 tons of paper for tickets, 4 tons of rag or paper wipes, 10,000 applications of detergents, 400 liters of metal cleansers and 25,000 garbage bags.

During its period of existence, the Eiffel Tower has witnessed a number of strange scenes, including the arrest of the infamous World War I German Spy, the Danish dancer Mata Hari, was due to the interception of one of her radio messages by the tower's radiotelegraphic center.

In 1925, a con artist by the name of Victor Lustig, managed to sell the tower for scrap.

During World War II, the Germans hung a sign on it that read: "Deutschland Siegt Auf Allen Fronten" ["Germany is victorious on all fronts"].

In 1958, a few months before Fidel Castro's rise to power, Cuban revolutionaries hung their red-and-black flag from the first level

1979, an American from Greenpeace hung a sign reading: "Save the Seals

In 1989, the Tower celebrated its centennial with music and fireworks [the show lasted 89 minutes].

Some of the movies it has appeared in are: North by Northwest, The lavender Hill Mob, The War of the Worlds, The Great Race, the James Bond movie and A View to a Kill.

One of the great Hollywood movie clichés is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the Eiffel Tower. In reality, one can be a few hundred meters away from the tower and unable to see it.

http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/Newsletters_and_Articles/facts_about_the_eiffel_tower_vii.htm

[Gazza]

FACTS ABOUT MACS!
A lot of people are confused about Mac computers. So let's clear up that confusion .........

If you dropped a Mac and a PC from the top of the Eiffel Tower at exactly the same time, you would get the most satisfaction from watching the Mac hit the ground and shatter into a thousand white shards.

http://www.idiottoys.com/2005/11/facts-about-macs.html


;)

[palau]

1. Visitors to the Eiffel Tower in Paris can now skate 150 feet above ground while admiring one of the best views of the city. For the first time in its 115-year history an ice skating rink has opened between two of the tower's massive steel legs.link (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4234903)

2. This is a picture of the great fireworks to be seen on the 14th of July 2005
http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/upload/4/Image170.gif

3. Last year visitor numbers increased by 3.18% while the web site visitors increased by 16.4%. In 2 years there will be more people visiting the website than the tower itself :D

[ScarskiN]

And the winner is...... How suprising ;) Princesssunshine with 37
1000 Geos on the way to your account now.

Seccond is: Danqueca with 11 fact's.
350 Geos comming your way.

Third is: Hugh Bain with 4 fact's.
150 Geos comming your way.

I hope you all liked it....

Scar

[SJ]

Thanks Scarskin that was a nice addition to my bank
princess