PYF Historical Fun Fact: (USER LOSETH POSTYNG PRIVILYGES FOR FOUR AND TWENTY HOURS)

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Platystemon: Feb 13, 2012; BREADS

I know that that fact is about the Great War, but if you were a Soviet male born in 1923, you had a 68% chance of dying prior to fall 1945.

# ? Jan 17, 2017 12:19

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# ? May 16, 2024 14:18

Tarantula: Nov 4, 2009; No go ahead stand in the fire, the healer will love the shit out of you.

Platystemon posted:

I know that that fact is about the Great War, but if you were a Soviet male born in 1923, you had a 68% chance of dying prior to fall 1945.

Has there been a period in history where it wasn't poo poo to live in Russia? It seems like history constantly takes a dump on them in one gigantic fashion or another. Yea being a peasant in the medieval era sucked balls but I can't help but think it would have naturally been worse to be a Russian peasant.

# ? Jan 17, 2017 12:27

Take the plunge! Okay!: Feb 24, 2007

Tarantula posted:

Has there been a period in history where it wasn't poo poo to live in Russia? It seems like history constantly takes a dump on them in one gigantic fashion or another. Yea being a peasant in the medieval era sucked balls but I can't help but think it would have naturally been worse to be a Russian peasant.

Being a Russian peasant still sucks balls, and sucked balls so hard in the pre-revolutionary era. The Romanovs got off too lightly with only being shot in the basement.

The only era when it was better to be a poor peasant in Russia was during the Great Terror, when you were at risk of being purged only if you were a party cadre. Sucked before it though, because dekulakization wasn't only for rich peasants (some villages fulfilled their quotas by killing all the elderly people or families in alphabetical order). And it sucked afterwards, because Hitler.

e: Also, this fact isn't fun or my favorite, but here it is: the Russian peasants used to calm crying male infants by taking their penis in their mouths. This was customary until at least the October Revolution. Ergo: being a Russian peasant sucked baby wieners.

Take the plunge! Okay! has a new favorite as of 14:03 on Jan 17, 2017

# ? Jan 17, 2017 13:57

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

C.M. Kruger posted:

. Who subsequently tried to kill Agrippina with a trapped boat (either designed to sink itself or crush her with a collapsing ceiling over the bed, it's unclear) because (in part) she wouldn't stop mocking his girlfriends. This failed and he ended up having to send assassins.

Agrippina's last words were "stab me in the womb first".

# ? Jan 17, 2017 18:40

OldTennisCourt: Sep 11, 2011; by VideoGames

Nero also had the body of his mom brought back to his palace and he and his weird friends spent a night examining it and making comments about how she looked.

EDIT: It seems like weird poo poo like that was more prevalent back in Roman times. Is it a case of it being more "accepted" I guess back then or, as mentioned before, was it a case of ancient historians being like "Gotta spice this poo poo up!"?

OldTennisCourt has a new favorite as of 19:59 on Jan 17, 2017

# ? Jan 17, 2017 19:53

VanSandman: Feb 16, 2011; SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER

OldTennisCourt posted:

Nero also had the body of his mom brought back to his palace and he and his weird friends spent a night examining it and making comments about how she looked.

EDIT: It seems like weird poo poo like that was more prevalent back in Roman times. Is it a case of it being more "accepted" I guess back then or, as mentioned before, was it a case of ancient historians being like "Gotta spice this poo poo up!"?

Their social mores were radically different from ours. No, really, they were.

# ? Jan 17, 2017 20:00

ToxicSlurpee: Nov 5, 2003; -=SEND HELP=-; Pillbug

During certain periods of time you had people with ludicrous amounts of power that nobody said "no" to their entire lives. They just kind of did whatever they wanted.

# ? Jan 17, 2017 20:17

Nckdictator: Sep 8, 2006; Just..someone

Ok, weird historical thing here. So I was reading up on Nazi collaborators on Wiki and one had a brief reference to a massacre by French soldiers in World War 2

quote:

Nevertheless, on 9 May 1940, immediately prior to Fall Gelb, Van Severen was one of a number of far right and far left activists arrested.[5] The arrested men were put under the care of the French Army and stationed near Abbeville. On 20 May, when the advancing German Army cut off the area, a group of French soldiers carried out a massacre and killed a number of members of Verdinaso, Rex and the Belgian Communist Party, among them Van Severen.[5] Twenty one suspects of varying political stripe were selected and executed without trial.[9]

Now, that confused me because I consider myself vaguely well read and hadn't heard of anything like that so I did a google search and found more details posted on various, it reads like a darkly comic farce

http://www.ww2f.com/topic/50389-abbeville-massacre-by-french-troops-1940/

quote:

On 15 May the prisons of Bruges in Belgium were overflowing with "fifth columnists" and with the approach of the German Army the 79 suspects were despatched to Abbeville in France.

The convoy included Leon Degrelle - the well known Belgian Fascist. He was lucky; he was recognised and dragged out and beaten-up by French soldiers and handed over to the Suret�.

Also included was Joris Van Severen, head of a party called Verdinaso, very right wing and advocates of Greater Belgium (based upon Charlemagne's "Frankish -Flemish" Empire of 800ish). This party, however, was very anti-German.

The remainder were a very mixed bunch:

14 Germans, 6 Dutch, 3 Luxembourg, 9 Italians, 2 Swiss, 1 French man (from Alsace - with a German accent), 1 Austrian, 1 Czech and 1 Canadian - Robert Bell, Ice-Hockey Coach.

The remainder were of unknown nationality - in most cases lack of "papers" had been sufficient to get them incarcerated.

This motley group arrived in Abbeville on night of 19th may 1940 and for want of anything appropriate were locked in the cellar of a large shop. An unfortunate Belgian who had refused to join the French Army was added to the group.

On the very next day, 20 May Guderian's Panzers arrived.

Capitan Marcel Digeon (Major rank in the US or British Army) and his 5th Company, 28th Regional Regiment was in charge. He orders Sgt Mollet to dispose of the prisoners.

Mollet was uncomfortable and returns to Dingeon who this time is more explicit "shoot the lot" is the answer.

To get it over with a French soldier throws a grenade into the Cellar but it does not explode. Then Lieutenant Rene Caron, whose Platoon is involved and who is believed to be drunk, joins the group.

The prisoners are taken out and shot in groups of two and four.

A total of 21 are summarily murdered without even an attempt at a Courts Martial.

The slaughter is only stopped when another French Officer, Lieutenant Leclabart also of 28th RR comes by - "are you mad" he exclaims and stops the massacre.

Too late to save the 20 men and one old lady who have already been executed. Those executed included, a Benedictine Brother (but German), four Anti-fascist Italian Refugees, the driver of the transport (shot by mistake) and the Canadian Ice Hockey Team Coach.

The Germans set up Trial in 1941 but Capitan Dingeon committed suicide immediately prior to its sitting - it is unclear what happened to others involved.

That just raised more questions on how the hell a Canadian hockey coach ended up being killed by French soldiers and another Google search supplied some more brief information.

http://forums.internationalhockey.net/showthread.php?7370-Bobby-bell

quote:

Robert Arthur Bell

He was born in Lachine, Quebec 1905 and attended McGill University in the mid 1920's. [Not to be confused with legendary McGill coach Robert Blagrave Bell]. Bell then came over to Europe in 1927 as a member of the Montreal Victorias, invited by Swedish sponsors. Their exhibition tour in Sweden was a smashing success and they quickly recieved invitations from another six countries, ending up playing 14 games on their European tour, winning them all [Total score was 155-10]. The team had two ex-NHL'ers (Dave Campbell and Earl Robinson], plus one future NHL'er [Joe Lamb], so it was a very good team.

Bell was approached by HC Davos just after the Victorias had won a mini-tournament in Milano. Bell had scored 3 goals against a Davos/St.Moritz combination and impressed the Davos management. He wasn't cheap though, recieving a hefty 2,000 Swiss francs per month, which was a lot of money back then. Bell went on to play and coach for HC Davos between 1927-29. Bell also played for the Paris Canadians in 1928-29, made up of mainly Canadians studying in Paris.

He continued to play and coach for Z�rcher SC, SC Bern and once again HC Davos until 1935, before moving to Germany. There he played for teams made up by German and European Canadians. He then played and coached for D�sseldorfer EG between 1936-38, before coaching SC Riessersee. In D�sseldorf he earned close to 400 reichsmark a month, plus a car and apartment.

Bell was well respected and popular among the players, a very good coach. He was hired to coach the German national team during the second half of the 1930's, leading them to several EC-medals.

Many details about his death is still unclear, but it is clear that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that eventually cost him his life. He was detained during a border control in early March 1940, unclear where, and transported to Brussels on March 3. The reason was that he was travelling from Germany but had no papers/documents at all. He was suspected of being a German collaborator/spy. Bell was in a Brussels prison for nearly two months.

The Germans troops were getting closer to Brussels, so on May 15,1940 it was decided that Bell and 78 other suspected collaborators for the "other side" would be transported on trucks over the border to France instead, where it was deemed safer. A convoy of three trucks arrived to Abbeville (Northern France) late on May 19/early May 20 and the prisoners were crammed into a cellar below a music store.

The German troops where however approaching fast there too, so the French commanding officer, Marcel Dingeon gave the order to kill all 79 prisoners. Aside from Bell there were more than 20 Belgians, 18 of unknown nationality, 14 Germans, 9 Italians, 6 from the Netherlands, 3 from Luxembourg, 2 from Switzerland, 1 each from France, Spain, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Denmark.

Groups of two or four prisoners at a time were brought out from the cellar and executed with gunshots or stabbed with a bayonette. One of them was Bell, who according to the survivors heroically stood up and voluntarily climbed up the stairs out of the cellar, showing no fear at all. After having killed 21 of the prisoners (including Bell), the soldiers wanted to speed things up, so one of the soldiers threw a handgrenade into the cellar, but it didn't explode. The German bombardment around them intensified and the French soldiers had to take cover all the time, delaying the executions.

At that point, lieutenant Jean Leclabart went by the scene, knowing the rules of POW's very well. He asked them if they had all gone crazy and demanded to see a written statement that these executions were sanctioned. When the soldiers failed to give him any documents he ordered them to stop the killing, thus saving the other 58 prisoners. Later that day, the Germans brushed through Abbeville, completely destroying the village.

The questionmarks here:

1) Bobby Bell is said to have coached SC Riessersee to a German title in 1941.

2) I have a note from December 1940 saying that he was the coach for SC Riessersee during a tour to Italy.

3) Some sources say he was killed in 1945

But that can't be correct unless that was another hockey playing Bobby Bell.
In any case, it's a tragic but fascinating story, one of many in the hockey world.

Not really unnerving but still bizarre how some poor hockey coach ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

# ? Jan 17, 2017 20:26

Ellie Crabcakes: Feb 1, 2008; Stop emailing my boyfriend Gay Crungus

OldTennisCourt posted:

An effect of this was that the Coliseum shows got real lovely.

I can assure you that the quality of shows in the Colloseum remained entirely unchanged, by virtue of it not existing yet.

# ? Jan 17, 2017 20:42

OldTennisCourt: Sep 11, 2011; by VideoGames

John Big Booty posted:

I can assure you that the quality of shows in the Colloseum remained entirely unchanged, by virtue of it not existing yet.

Where would they have been shown then?

# ? Jan 17, 2017 21:41

VanSandman: Feb 16, 2011; SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER

OldTennisCourt posted:

Where would they have been shown then?

Temporary amphitheaters. For really big ones, maaaaybe the Circus Maximus. Rome in the late Republic and early empire didn't have permanent theaters like the Greeks did in the city.

# ? Jan 17, 2017 22:02

Ellie Crabcakes: Feb 1, 2008; Stop emailing my boyfriend Gay Crungus

VanSandman posted:

Temporary amphitheaters. For really big ones, maaaaybe the Circus Maximus. Rome in the late Republic and early empire didn't have permanent theaters like the Greeks did in the city.

There were at least two in the late Republic: Pompey's Theater and the Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus, both located on the Field of Mars. Caligula was building his own amphitheater, but construction ended along with him.

# ? Jan 18, 2017 00:10

VanSandman: Feb 16, 2011; SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER

John Big Booty posted:

There were at least two in the late Republic: Pompey's Theater and the Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus, both located on the Field of Mars. Caligula was building his own amphitheater, but construction ended along with him.

Both technically outside the city, unless I misremember!

# ? Jan 18, 2017 02:58

BravestOfTheLamps: Oct 12, 2012; by FactsAreUseless; Lipstick Apathy

Thomas Aquinas argued for the existence of hermaphroditic demonic spermjacking:

quote:

This is the difficulty Aquinas faced when addressing the existence of incubus demons. Although it was a necessary condition of their spiritual natures that demons could not generate human offspring, Thomas recognized that both authority and common experience reported otherwise. To reconcile this apparent contradiction, he constructed an elaborate and unconvincing scenario in which succubi received semen from their human partners and then used this as incubi to inseminate women.²⁰ Normally, of course, human semen lost its calor naturalis, and hence its potency, when removed from the body, but the superhuman speed of demonic motion was sufficient to overcome even this obstacle. But if this provided a satisfactory explanation for how demons seemed able to generate human offspring, it did not really explain why they should want to do so in the first place. For unlike Guibert of Nogent�s demons, who sought intercourse with women for �sport alone,� the demons of the Summa take no delight in carnal sins and looked only to lead men into perdition.²¹

Broedel, Hans Peter. The 'Malleus Maleficarum' and the Construction of Witchcraft: Theology and Popular Belief

BravestOfTheLamps has a new favorite as of 11:00 on Jan 18, 2017

# ? Jan 18, 2017 10:56

Ellie Crabcakes: Feb 1, 2008; Stop emailing my boyfriend Gay Crungus

VanSandman posted:

Both technically outside the city, unless I misremember!

You do not. The bounds of the pomerium definitely did not keep pace with the expansion of the city.

# ? Jan 19, 2017 07:21

RenegadeStyle1: Jun 7, 2005; Baby Come Back

George Washington probably actually did lie once or twice.

# ? Jan 19, 2017 07:53

AgentF: May 11, 2009

His claim that he cannot tell a lie was a lie, thus disproving his claim that he cannot tell a lie.

# ? Jan 19, 2017 11:38

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

AgentF posted:

His claim that he cannot tell a lie was a lie, thus disproving his claim that he cannot tell a lie.

What if he was actually a robot programmed to tell the truth though? Literally incapable of lying. Those wooden teeth weren't dentures, he was actually a wooden robot.

# ? Jan 20, 2017 04:25

verbal enema: May 23, 2009; onlymarfans.com

What if he said I cannot tell a truth?

# ? Jan 20, 2017 05:07

FreudianSlippers: Apr 12, 2010; Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

George Washington, the person, was long dead before some rando made up a fable about the idealized infaliable God-King George Washington being a perfect being that couldn't even lie as a child.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 03:17

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad!

FreudianSlippers posted:

George Washington, the person, was long dead before some rando made up a fable about the idealized infaliable God-King George Washington being a perfect being that couldn't even lie as a child.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 03:23

Byzantine: Sep 1, 2007

I heard that motherfucker had like, thirty goddamn dicks.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 03:24

Khazar-khum: Oct 22, 2008; Cat Army
2nd Battalion

Byzantine posted:

I heard that motherfucker had like, thirty goddamn dicks.

But no kids.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 03:26

hard counter: Jan 2, 2015

Byzantine posted:

I heard that motherfucker had like, thirty goddamn dicks.

well what else is there to make with a chopped up cherry tree

# ? Jan 21, 2017 03:31

Carthag Tuek: Oct 15, 2005; Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
sl�gt skal f�lge sl�gters gang

FreudianSlippers posted:

George Washington, the person, was long dead before some rando made up a fable about the idealized infaliable God-King George Washington being a perfect being that couldn't even lie as a child.

This is true for pretty much all celebrities, by the way.

- Billy the Kid didn't kill nearly as many as claimed (I think some claim he didn't kill anybody at all ever)
- Apparently there's a pretty persistent rumor among old people that Nelson Mandela died in prison. I've never heard the rumor, but it appears to be a thing for 40+-year olds ?!
- idk more of that

# ? Jan 21, 2017 03:34

Nolan Arenado: May 8, 2009

Powaqoatse posted:

- Apparently there's a pretty persistent rumor among old people that Nelson Mandela died in prison. I've never heard the rumor, but it appears to be a thing for 40+-year olds ?!

Those people came from alternate universes where that did happen, don't be rude to them.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 03:43

RenegadeStyle1: Jun 7, 2005; Baby Come Back

I was one of the people who though Shazam was a real movie with Sinbad. Even though I now know it's false I can visualize very specific scenes from the fake movie.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 04:05

Carthag Tuek: Oct 15, 2005; Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
sl�gt skal f�lge sl�gters gang

RenegadeStyle1 posted:

I was one of the people who though Shazam was a real movie with Sinbad. Even though I now know it's false I can visualize very specific scenes from the fake movie.

yea the shazam thing is another one. its weird

OctoberBlues posted:

Those people came from alternate universes where that did happen, don't be rude to them.

ill keep the backdoor open so they can get back to the good world after experiencing our lovely world

# ? Jan 21, 2017 04:22

RagnarokAngel: Oct 5, 2006; Black Magic Extraordinaire

Powaqoatse posted:

yea the shazam thing is another one. its weird

And everyone's favorite jewish children's books the Berenstein Bears

# ? Jan 21, 2017 04:25

Carthag Tuek: Oct 15, 2005; Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
sl�gt skal f�lge sl�gters gang

RagnarokAngel posted:

And everyone's favorite jewish children's books the Berenstein Bears

ive seem idiots claim whatever on that but theyre obviously dumb as poo poo so

# ? Jan 21, 2017 04:27

funmanguy: Apr 20, 2006; What time is it?

Also a shocking number of people believe New Zealand is real.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 04:43

hackbunny: Jul 22, 2007; I haven't been on SA for years but the person who gave me my previous av as a joke felt guilty for doing so and decided to get me a non-shitty av

BravestOfTheLamps posted:

Thomas Aquinas argued for the existence of hermaphroditic demonic spermjacking:

Huh of all the sources of inspiration I could see Stephen King have, Thomas Aquinas would have never occurred to me in a thousand years. Yet here we are. This literally happens, exactly as described, in the Dark Tower saga

# ? Jan 21, 2017 04:46

WickedHate: Aug 1, 2013; by Lowtax

Byzantine posted:

I heard that motherfucker had like, thirty goddamn dicks.

Let me lay it on line he had two on the vine, I mean two sets of testicles, so divine.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 04:52

Olaf The Stout: Oct 16, 2009; FORUMS NO.1 SLEEPY DAWGS MEMESTER

RenegadeStyle1 posted:

I was one of the people who though Shazam was a real movie with Sinbad. Even though I now know it's false I can visualize very specific scenes from the fake movie.

Sounds like Kazaam with Shaquille O'Neal? The one where he's a genie living in a boom box.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 05:30

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

[quote="Powaqoatse" post="468578328"
- Apparently there's a pretty persistent rumor among old people that Nelson Mandela died in prison. I've never heard the rumor, but it appears to be a thing for 40+-year olds ?!
[/quote]

What the gently caress?

# ? Jan 21, 2017 05:45

Carthag Tuek: Oct 15, 2005; Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
sl�gt skal f�lge sl�gters gang

Aesop Poprock posted:

What the gently caress?

it's called the Mandela Effect & the old people have a website for it: http://mandelaeffect.com

Like for me, Mandela is a dude who came through insane isolation torture-prison, & became a president & is awesome ��but there's apparently a bunch of (probably white?) people who think he died 20 years ago.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 05:50

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Powaqoatse posted:

it's called the Mandela Effect & the old people have a website for it: http://mandelaeffect.com

Like for me, Mandela is a dude who came through insane isolation torture-prison, & became a president & is awesome – but there's apparently a bunch of (probably white?) people who think he died 20 years ago.

I mean I guess there's always room for another batshit insane conspiracy theory in my head but the dude literally met with multiple presidents and has been filmed a bunch of times post prison. It's just so stupid that you might as well give up and pretend everyone isn't who they appear to be

# ? Jan 21, 2017 06:01

Carthag Tuek: Oct 15, 2005; Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
sl�gt skal f�lge sl�gters gang

Aesop Poprock posted:

I mean I guess there's always room for another batshit insane conspiracy theory in my head but the dude literally met with multiple presidents and has been filmed a bunch of times post prison. It's just so stupid that you might as well give up and pretend everyone isn't who they appear to be

no doubt

But see above it's apparently a real thing that multiple people have the same delusion about a thing. The Berenstein bears A/E is probably the most popular in goon circles.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 06:07

Solice Kirsk: Jun 1, 2004; .

Powaqoatse posted:

it's called the Mandela Effect & the old people have a website for it: http://mandelaeffect.com

Like for me, Mandela is a dude who came through insane isolation torture-prison, & became a president & is awesome ��but there's apparently a bunch of (probably white?) people who think he died 20 years ago.

Huh, I always remember him for being one of the only people in the world that is forgiven for killing a bunch of civilians because the government he was fighting against was just so much worse. I mean outside of governments that do that poo poo on the reg. Obviously.

# ? Jan 21, 2017 06:08

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# ? May 16, 2024 14:18

Elyv: Jun 14, 2013

my personal favorite batshit crazy conspiracy theory is The Phantom Time Hypothesis

# ? Jan 21, 2017 06:08

The Something Awful Forums > Main > Post Your Favorite: Carefully Curated > PYF Historical Fun Fact: (USER LOSETH POSTYNG PRIVILYGES FOR FOUR AND TWENTY HOURS)

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