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After the mongols won the Battle of Mohi, they cut off the right ear of every dead soldier, to calculate the death toll. They filled 9 large sacks, basically 9 camel loads.
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Aug 15, 2018 11:48
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ChocNitty posted:After the mongols won the Battle of Mohi, they cut off the right ear of every dead soldier, to calculate the death toll. They filled 9 large sacks, basically 9 camel loads. Legend has it that after the battle one of the Mongol columns was decimated near the town of Stramberk when the locals opened the floodgates of nearby ponds and drowned many of the camping soldiers. Afterwards sacks of ears were found at the abandoned campsite, and to commemorate the victory, bakers in the region still make gingerbread treats shaped like ears and prosaically called "Mongol ears".
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Aug 15, 2018 12:11
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The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, is a palm-sized, greenish-gray animal that hails from the ponds and rivers of sub-Saharan Africa, where it lived for millions of years without anyone injecting it with urine. That unbroken streak changed in the 1930s, thanks to a British scientist with the fantastic name of Lancelot Hogben. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/how-a-frog-became-the-first-mainstream-pregnancy-test/525285/
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Aug 15, 2018 14:22
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Such Fun posted:it lived for millions of years without anyone injecting it with urine. (That was a good read, never knew how that came about)
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Aug 15, 2018 14:43
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steinrokkan posted:Legend has it that after the battle one of the Mongol columns was decimated near the town of Stramberk when the locals opened the floodgates of nearby ponds and drowned many of the camping soldiers. Afterwards sacks of ears were found at the abandoned campsite, and to commemorate the victory, bakers in the region still make gingerbread treats shaped like ears and prosaically called "Mongol ears". I guess we're lucky that there weren't any bakers present after battles in ancient Egypt...
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Aug 15, 2018 18:42
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Alhazred posted:I guess we're lucky that there weren't any bakers present after battles in ancient Egypt... 
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Aug 15, 2018 19:10
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ChocNitty posted:After the mongols won the Battle of Mohi, they cut off the right ear of every dead soldier, to calculate the death toll. They filled 9 large sacks, basically 9 camel loads.
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Aug 15, 2018 19:29
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Alhazred posted:For a very long time the best pregnancy test was to piss on frogs. does that work e: nevermind, i cant read chernobyl kinsman has a new favorite as of 21:15 on Aug 15, 2018 |
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Aug 15, 2018 21:13
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FreudianSlippers posted:Czar Ivan Grozny is usually translated as "Ivan the Terrible" but a better translation would be "Awesome John" Grozny means terrifying, threatening or formidable
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Aug 16, 2018 15:24
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So Groznyj Grad in MGS3 was "Powerful City"?
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Aug 16, 2018 15:48
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bony tony posted:So Groznyj Grad in MGS3 was "Powerful City"? Yes
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Aug 16, 2018 18:48
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Such Fun posted:Lancelot Hogben. Oh, neat. Some years ago I inherited a two volume book, "Videnskab for Hvermand". It's the Danish translation of "Science for the Citizen", written by Hogben (the Danish translation is by a guy named Iver Gudme, a name which is equally fantastic). It was written in 1938 as a lay science book, and I think it's fascinating how relatively modern it seems. Its coverage of fields like optics, classical mechanics, geometry and even biology is not really that different from what you'd find in a high school book today. For instance, the section on microbiology contains drawings and microscopic images showing cell structure and mitosis (it also defines a virus as a micro-organism that's too small to observe, even with a microscope). Of course, there's a ton of things we've discovered since the book was written, that it doesn't mention. There's a lot about "the chromosome hypothesis", but nothing about DNA. There's a chapter about electromagnetism (wonderfully titled "The Waves That Rule Britannia") which informs us that X-rays are kinda good because they can darken a photographic plate and "readily penetrate to a great depth through relatively organic substances like animal tissues. For practical purposes, that is the most interesting thing about them." There's nothing about radar, but it tells you more or less how to build a television. And the epilogue is a bit scary: quote:The other [question] is whether the bulk of mankind will reap the benefit of the new powers and inventions which advancing scientific knowledge has placed at our disposal, or whether the vast destructive instruments which it has also created will be used by power-seeking men to destroy any immediate hope of a brighter future for the human race. The entire epilogue is a (somewhat naive?) explanation of his hope that science will help mankind form a new, more equal society, free from war and poverty: quote:War is not a moral picnic. It threatens to destroy the entire fabric of our civilization, if we do not eradicate it with as much promptitude and ruthlessness as we have eradicated, or a eradicating, smallpox, malaria, and yellow fever. According to Wikipedia he was a pacifist in world war one, against eugenics, and married a feminist who didn't even take his name. Sounds like a cool guy for the time. And by the way, Science for the Citizen is available online: https://archive.org/details/scienceforthecit032798mbp
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Aug 16, 2018 22:51
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I was just flicking through one of those Taschen history of art book and came across a Renaissance painter unfamiliar to me, called 'Il Sodoma' This was not his real name, as you might have guessed, just a nickname. The book helpfully told me this much, but failed to offer any explanation of why he was so called - was it intended as an insult? Was he (unlikely, I know) simply from a town called Sodoma? So I went and looked him up, and it means exactly what you think it does, was probably originally intended as an insult, but one which he took and wore proudly and openly - he was a gay man who hung around with handsome men, and who also had a houseful of cool animals and birds that would come and play with you if you visited. From Vasari: quote:In the beginning he executed many portraits from life with that glowing manner of coloring which he had brought from Lombardy, and he thus made many friendships in Siena, more because that people is very kindly disposed towards strangers [foreigners] than because he was a good painter; and, besides this, he was a gay and licentious man, keeping others entertained and amused with his manner of living, which was far from creditable. In which life, since he always had about him boys and beardless youths, whom he loved more than was decent, he acquired the by-name of Sodoma; and in this name, far from taking umbrage or offence, he used to glory, writing about it songs and verses in terza rima, and singing them to the lute with no little facility. He delighted, in addition, to have about the house many kinds of extraordinary animals; badgers, squirrels, apes, marmosets, dwarf asses, horses, barbs for running races, little horses from Elba, jays, dwarf fowls, Indian turtledoves, and other suchlike animals, as many as he could lay his hands on. But, besides all these beasts, he had a raven, which had learned from him to speak so well, that in some things it imitated exactly the voice of Giovanni Antonio, and particularly in answering to anyone who knocked at the door, doing this so excellently that it seemed like Giovanni Antonio himself, as all the people of Siena know very well. In like manner, the other animals were so tame that they always flocked round anybody in the house, playing the strangest pranks and the maddest tricks in the world, insomuch that the man's house looked like a real Noah's Ark.
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Aug 19, 2018 10:58
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What an awesome guy, goddamn
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Aug 19, 2018 11:53
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There was a play written in Britain, entitled: Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery, which in it's first scene sums up the plot of the play by having the King of Sodom, Bolloximian, declare: 'I do proclaim, that buggery may be used o'er all the land, so oval office be not abused.' You can find the rest of it here. I wonder why it isn't taught in schools alongside Shakespeare?
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Aug 19, 2018 12:23
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quote:DRAMATIS PERSONÆ: Mods, please change my name to FUCKADILLA E: Or Pimp of Honour
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Aug 20, 2018 20:13
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I'm CUNTICULA
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Aug 21, 2018 00:27
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I really should take that to Orlando Fringe 2020.
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Aug 21, 2018 00:41
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Buggermaster-general She-pimp of honour
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Aug 21, 2018 03:47
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Samovar posted:There was a play written in Britain, entitled: Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery, which in it's first scene sums up the plot of the play by having the King of Sodom, Bolloximian, declare: 'I do proclaim, that buggery may be used o'er all the land, so oval office be not abused.' You can find the rest of it here. It was a more innocent time.
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Aug 21, 2018 13:53
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Here's a story from my parent's neighbor, during his conscription in the Danish Army, he volunteered for the Life Guard (Royal Guards). Now, this is around the time where the Danish King only had daughters and as such, his brother was going to inherit the throne and was as thus know as: Hereditary Prince Knud. Now, even though the laws of inheritance were changed before he got even near the throne, he kept the special title until his death, as a sort of compensation. Now, he was known as a giant loving oval office, and that old man next door told me that he was guarding one of the royal residences one evening. And Hereditary Prince Knud pissed on him, apparently the fucker couldn't be arse to actually walk to the bathroom and just went to balcony: And pissed over the edge on the guards below. This royal waste of space, is why Denmark know has a Queen.
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Aug 22, 2018 08:17
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There's also the Danish expression "one more time for Prince Knud", meaning to repeat something to make sure everyone absolutely gets it. The story is that in 1958 the prince was attending the ballet Le Rendez-Vous Manque (by Françoise Sagan), and when asked afterwards by the theater director if he enjoyed it, said that he had missed a certain (apparently risque*) scene. So he was treated to a special reenactment of that scene. A tabloid article followed leading to the general impression that Knud was a bit stupid, and the next year a popular theatrical revue song immortalized it with its refrain. * I haven't found any details on the scene in question, but a French essay that mentions the eroticism of the ballet is found here. Carthag Tuek has a new favorite as of 09:39 on Aug 22, 2018 |
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Aug 22, 2018 09:36
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I like that much better than “one more time for the people in the cheap seats” and the variations thereof
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Aug 22, 2018 11:09
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Krankenstyle posted:There's also the Danish expression "one more time for Prince Knud", meaning to repeat something to make sure everyone absolutely gets it. "En gang til for Arveprins Kund". Sadly, it's no longer used that much, as much of the younger generations don't have a loving clue who the hell Hereditary Prince Knud actually is.
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Aug 22, 2018 11:10
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canis minor posted:Grozny means terrifying, threatening or formidable That's what I said.
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Aug 22, 2018 12:45
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New User Name = BORASTUS, Buggermaster-general
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Aug 22, 2018 18:47
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RagnarokZ posted:"En gang til for Arveprins Kund". Also his children are super ugly.  (Count Ingolf of Rosenborg and Princess Elisabeth of Denmark)  (Count Christian of Rosenborg) I bet the monarchy would've been abolished real quick if Ingolf was about to be crowned.
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Aug 22, 2018 18:55
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Krankenstyle posted:Also his children are super ugly. JESUS loving CHRIST. I thought the British Royal family were bad...
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Aug 22, 2018 20:32
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Krankenstyle posted:Also his children are super ugly.
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Aug 22, 2018 20:53
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Is this an inbreeding thing?
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Aug 22, 2018 21:12
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Got some real Shadow over Innsmouth going on
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Aug 22, 2018 21:23
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bamhand posted:Is this an inbreeding thing? I mean probably, but the actual royal line doesn't look too bad.
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Aug 22, 2018 21:24
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I'm pretty sure the Danish* and British royal families are very closely related. I think Elizabeth and Prince Philip are both descendants of Christian IX of Denmark. Also through Victoria who is great great grandma to both of them. Of course Victoria loved to gently caress and had a million kids and those kids all had a million kids and all married into every royal family. *and Swedish and Norwegian and Greek etc FreudianSlippers has a new favorite as of 21:36 on Aug 22, 2018 |
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Aug 22, 2018 21:32
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Krankenstyle posted:Also his children are super ugly. Oh god, I forgot about those freakshows. This is why it's banned to marry first cousins, THIS IS WHY! It's inbreeding as hell.
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Aug 22, 2018 23:26
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Marriage between first cousins is actually legal in Denmark as well as almost the entire world lol
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Aug 23, 2018 00:41
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It's against the law of good sense!!!
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Aug 23, 2018 01:20
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Krankenstyle posted:Marriage between first cousins is actually legal in Denmark as well as almost the entire world lol 
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Aug 23, 2018 12:03
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FreudianSlippers posted:I'm pretty sure the Danish* and British royal families are very closely related. I think Elizabeth and Prince Philip are both descendants of Christian IX of Denmark. I remember watching an absolutely fascinating documentary about where the British Royal family used to spend their holidays in the mid-to-late 19th century. Which sounds boring as gently caress to be fair, and it was until it got to the bit about how they'd often holiday with relatives (as many people did and continue to do). Denmark was a popular spot to see their Danish Royal family relatives, and some noble relatives from Sweden and other countries would pop over and they'd drink tea and discuss the issues of the day whilst the kids were allowed to run off and play together. Two of the kids got on really well and became close friends, but another one wasn't very popular with either them or the extended family and was gradually ostracised. It's been suggested that he held a grudge for that into his adult life. That kid grew up to become Kaiser Wilhelm II and the other two kids became King George V and Tsar Nicholas II.
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Aug 23, 2018 13:13
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Unrelated, this is pretty neat: https://twitter.com/s8mb/status/1030352376639696897
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Aug 23, 2018 14:26
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It seems really lucky that the current crop of british royals are mostly notorious hotties- Edward III, Elizabeth II, and Princess Margaret were all considered lookers and William and Harry are practically sex symbols. Even Charles was decent in his day.
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Aug 23, 2018 15:10
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