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Buzkashi posted:Holy poo poo stop talking about vaginae and listen to my fun fact Lustig actually scammed Al Capone. He told Capone that if he gave him $50.000 Lustig could double that. Capone gave Lustig the money who did absolutely nothing with it. He then returned the money saying that the deal fell through. Impressed by his "integrity" Capone gave Lustig $5000.
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Nov 6, 2015 18:47
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Invisible Clergy posted:Thanks for this. I'm really enjoying it so far. your description is fair and accurate. 
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Nov 7, 2015 16:26
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Some fun facts about ancient Egypt: Ramesses II had 96 sons and 60 daughters. He outlived many of them. If you were hungover you were entitled to a paid sick day from work. The first recorded strike happened in the 12th century BC. Craftsmen who were working on tombs in the Valley of Kings were not given rations and decided to stop working. Women in ancient Egypt was equal to men. They could lend money, divorce, received equal pay as their male colleagues and could sell and buy property. They could even make a prenup. Ancient Egypt had at least three female heads of state. Modern America has so far had none. Some Egyptian tombs had curses written on them to fend of grave robbers, the tomb of Tutankhamun didn't. Cleopatra was the first member of the Ptolemaic Dynasty to speak Egyptian.
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Nov 9, 2015 18:58
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Loxbourne posted:I've seen this mentioned twice now and nobody has brought up just what the rations were. Specifically, they were onions and mascara. They didn't just want onions: "The prospect of hunger and thirst has driven us to this; there is no clothing, there is no ointment, there is no fish, there are no vegetables. Send to Pharaoh, our good lord, about it, and send to the vizier, our superior, that we may be supplied with provisions."
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Nov 9, 2015 19:23
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FreudianSlippers posted:One of the things that the Greeks thought was really barbaric and horrible about the Persians is that they allowed women to lead armies and inherit property. They also mocked them for wearing trousers and for the Romans trousers were a sign of barbarism.
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Nov 10, 2015 21:05
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Nov 11, 2015 20:07
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The word "crusade" is relatively modern. The people who participated in the crusades referred to themselves as fideles Sancti Petri (the faithful of St. Peter) or the knights of Christ.
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Nov 14, 2015 12:40
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Five famous royal mistresses: Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson met Louie XV at a costume ball. She was dressed as sheepherder and he was dressed as a tree. He made her Marquise de Pompadour and she practically ran the country while the king was busy hunting and partying. She didn't do a very good job but she did protect writers like Voltaire from being censored. Lola Montez (1821-1861) Born in Ireland Montez had affairs with Lizt and Dumas before becoming the mistress to King Louie I of Bayern. Her liberal influence on the king was on of the reasons why he had to abdicate in 1848. She then moved to America to become an actress. She died in poverty in 1861. Neil Gwynne (1650-1687) Daughter of a brothel madam Gwynne sold oranges and starred in comedies at the Dury-Lane theater before becoming a mistress to Charles II of England. She gave birth to two sons, one died young while the other became the duke of St. Albans. Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566) Became the mistress to Henry II of France when she was 35 and he was 16. She was actually related to Henry's wife Catherine de' Medici and not only made sure that they had sex often in order to produce a royal heir but nursed Catherine back to life when she was ill. After the king's death she was forced to leave the court and lived the rest of her life in obscurity. Dyveke Sigbrittsdatter (1490-1517) The mistress of Christian II of Denmark-Norway. Her mother was the political adviser to the king. When Sigbrittsdatter died the king suspected that she was poisoned and executed his liege man Torben Oxe. Oxe was a popular man amongst the nobles and his execution alienated the king from the nobles and was one of the reasons why he had to abdicate in 1523.
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Dec 2, 2015 20:05
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The first documented use of the word "gently caress" is found in a English court document from 1310. In the document a man from Chester is referred to as "Roger Fuckebythenavele".
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Dec 15, 2015 16:06
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In 1287 Arghun Khan sent the Nestorian monk Rabban Bar Sauma to form an alliance between him and the European monarchs. Unfortunately for Arghun Rabban Bar Sauma was far more interested in visiting various holy places and ask for holy relics than he was in talking with the kings. He also proved to be useless at recording what he saw because he wasn't interest in anything not related to christianity and misunderstood the customs (he wrote that the pope crowns kings with his feet for example).
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Dec 15, 2015 17:41
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In 1857 H.C.Andersen was Charles Dickens' houseguest for five weeks. The Dickens family was not happy with that. Charles Dickens initially tried to smooth things over by saying “Hans Christian Andersen may perhaps be with us, but you won’t mind him– especially as he speaks no language but his own Danish, and is suspected of not even knowing that.” But his daughter verdict over Andersen was that “He was a bony bore, and stayed on and on”. After Andersen finally left Charles Dickens put a note above the door that read: “Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks — which seemed to the family AGES!”
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Dec 19, 2015 16:24
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On the tombstone of a gladiator named Urbicus, who died at age 23 after 13 fights, it is written: "I warn you to kill those whom you have defeated". On the tombstone of the gladiator Diodorus it is written: "After breaking my opponent Demetrius I did not kill him immediately. Fate and the cunning treachery of the summa rudis killed me." (Summa rudis was the referee).
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Dec 20, 2015 00:21
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It would've been fun to be able to watch the ancient Egyptians' reactions to Tut Ankh Amon's fame. When he lived he was the inbred son of a heretical pharao and he never accomplish much before he died. And now not even Ramses II, who was considered such a big deal that nine other pharaos took his name, is more well known than him.
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Dec 20, 2015 14:44
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RC and Moon Pie posted:Not a fun fact really, but a historical oddity. While browsing WIkipedia for information on the Cadeby mining disaster, I stumbled upon the 1858 Bradford sweets poisoning. The lesson of this is to never buy candy from someone named "Humbug-Billy".
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Dec 26, 2015 19:42
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TWIST FIST posted:There's some evidence that Napoleon's death was due to poisoning by his Scheele's green wallpaper. There's more evidence that he died of stomach cancer.
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Dec 27, 2015 10:24
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Aesop Poprock posted:To expand on this: On the flipside, Patton set up Task Force Baum to free his son-in-law when he was captured by the Germans. It was a spectacular failure. Of the 300 soldiers 32 were killed and only 35 evaded capture. All 57 vehicles that were used were lost.
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Dec 27, 2015 20:38
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TWIST FIST posted:Oh, huh. Everything back then contained arsenic as the article about Humbug Billy proves.
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Dec 27, 2015 22:12
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The execution of Charotte Corday has some weird details. The execution was postponed with a day so that a painter could paint a portrait of her. After she was beheaded a man called Legros picked it up and slapped it on the cheek, according to the crowd the head had an expression of "unequivocal indignation" when it was slapped. Legros was imprisoned for three months because of this. Afterwards the body was autopsied to determine whether or not she was a virgin, to everyone's dismay she was found to be virgo intacta. Her body was quickly disposed of but apparently her skull was preserved.
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Dec 28, 2015 13:26
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Nancy Wake a.k.a The White Mouse In 1940 Nancy Wake was living in France. There she helped Jews escape the Gestapo and was a courier for the resistance. Because she constantly evaded the Gestapo they called her the White Mouse. When a 5 million franc prize was set on her head she decided to flee France in 1942. She reached Britain and joined the SOE. Then in 1944 she parachuted into Auvergne (wearing high heels). There she led 7000 maquis and coordinated the communication to Britain. She led several raids and on one occasion killed a SS soldier with her bare hands. At one point the codes for communication were destroyed during a German raid and Wake had to bicycle 500 kilometres through several German checkpoints in order to resume communication. After the war she was awarded the George Medal, the United States Medal of Freedom, the Médaille de la Résistance, and thrice the Croix de Guerre.
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Dec 30, 2015 13:06
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In ancient Rome the only women who wore togas were prostitutes.
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Dec 31, 2015 15:04
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FreudianSlippers posted:Among Hitler's favorite reading material was Henry Ford's The International Jew, pulp westerns by Karl May and Uncle Tom's Cabin. One of his favorite movies were the Great Dictator. it's even speculated that he grew his moustache to resemble Chaplin's.
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Dec 31, 2015 16:52
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Babe Magnet posted:This Hitler guy sounds pretty cool Don't be so sure about that. He was, after all, a vegetarian.
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Dec 31, 2015 18:15
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GenericOverusedName posted:Ugh, I bet he was one of those crazy obsessive dog lovers too. He adopted a stray dog during WW I. He called him Foxl and was heartbroken when someone stole him.
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Dec 31, 2015 18:50
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Fun fact about the walls of Constantinople: In 447 an earthquake destroyed large parts of the wall and since Attila the Hun were a-coming Theodosius II needed to fix the walls in a hurry. Luckily for him chariot racing was popular in Constantinople and there were two major groups of supporters, the blues and greens. So he arranged a little contest to see which team could repair the wall fastest. This tactic worked and the wall was repaired in 60 days. In 1452 a guy named Orban offered Constantine XI to build a massive canon to protect the city. The emperor couldn't afford it and Orban went to Mehmet who could not only afford to build Orban's massive canon but several other canons as well.
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Jan 1, 2016 12:35
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Gold wasn't the most valuable metal in all cultures. In ancient Egypt iron was actually rarer. The only way the Egyptians knew how to get iron was from meteorites and iron meteorites smashing down in Egypt wasn't an everyday occurrence. This means that the iron dagger found in Tut Ankh Amon's tomb was probably more valuable than all the gold he was buried with. The Aztec called gold "teocuitlatl" which means excrement of the gods. To them gold was good for making jewellery but otherwise they considered it worthless. To them feathers from the quetzal bird was far more valuable, it was even used as currency. It was considered a crime to kill the bird so they had to capture it alive, pluck some feathers and then release it. When Cortez arrived he was given a cape made from quetzal feathers which was considered a royal gift, worth far more than any gold they had.
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Jan 1, 2016 21:43
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Before he became a revolutionary Fidel Castro tried his luck in Hollywood. He got a line in the movie Havana After Midnight but his scene was cut. Shortly after that he returned to Cuba to join the revolution.
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Jan 10, 2016 12:28
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In 256 b.c. Li Bing constructed the Dujiangyan irrigation system using mostly bamboo. It is still in use today.
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Jan 11, 2016 20:22
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The symbolism of viking weapons: The sword: The Norse word for sword, sverđ , literally means penis. It was connected to Freyr who amongst other things was the god of fertility. It was believed that sword amulets improved your virility. The ax: The ax symbolized strength and health. It was connected with Tor. The spear: It was believed that Odin started the first battle by throwing a spear. The spear was therefore considered a royal weapon and vikings would often start the battle by throwing a spear. The shield: The shield was considered a bit feminine because its connection with Freya. Like a mother protecting her child the shield would protect the warrior.
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Jan 11, 2016 20:41
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How tennisballs cost King James I of Scotland his life In 1437 a group of noblemen was fed up with the king and decided to kill him. On the day of the assassination the king's chamberlain had removed the bolt from the door of the room in which James and his queen were staying. When the group tried to enter the room the queen's lady in waiting, Catherine Douglas, tried to stop them by placing her arm through the staples to bar the assassins' entrance. Which was a considerable more badass move than running into the sewer tunnel which was what the king did. This could've been his escape but only a few days earlier he had sealed the exit to prevent his tennisballs from getting lost.
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Jan 15, 2016 19:06
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Full Battle Rattle posted:I was surprised to learn that one of my favorite albums, (Turisas - To Holmgaard and beyond, and it's followup, Stand up and Fight) is actually based on historical fact. It's heavily based on the varangian guard: The varangian guard was also called "the emperor's winesacks" because of they had a habit of getting shitfaced drunk. Speaking of Hagia Sophia, there's been found several runic inscriptions on the walls. Alhazred has a new favorite as of 11:27 on Jan 16, 2016 |
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Jan 16, 2016 11:23
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Solice Kirsk posted:When did "conservation" actually become a thing that the majority of people got behind? Was it sometime in the 1800's? I'd love to know when we went from "Boy, you don't see too many of these animals anymore.....pass me the rifle so I can shoot and eat it," to "Boy, you don't see too many of these animals around....we should stop shooting them." Some of the first animal protection laws was created in the thirties. By Adolf Hitler.
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Jan 16, 2016 20:00
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On september 1. 1939 the 18th Pomeranian Uhlans, a Polish cavalry unit, charged German armored vehicles. The charge was successful.
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Jan 17, 2016 15:47
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szary posted:You mean this? quote:It took place on the evening of September 1, 1939, near the Pomeranian village of Krojanty. Polish soldiers advanced east along the former Prussian Eastern Railway to railroad crossroads 7 kilometres from the town of Chojnice (Konitz) where elements of the Polish cavalry charged and dispersed a German infantry battalion. Machine gun fire from German armoured cars that appeared from a nearby forest forced the Poles to retreat. However, the attack successfully delayed the German advance, allowing the Polish 1st Rifle battalion and Czersk Operational Group to withdraw safely.
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Jan 17, 2016 17:18
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Pornographic Memory posted:is there a reason early modern europeans shifted to being stinky dirtballs? Public bathouse was shut down because they were seen as immoral and people began to believe that covering your pores with a layer of dirt was healthy. In the 19th century bathing had been taboo for so long that books on how to wash yourself had to be made.
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Jan 23, 2016 14:08
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SeanBeansShako posted:He's been the only guy so far who knew his limits when it came to power okay. He was the designated driver. He was also the guy who executed thousands of people and made a fortune selling their property. Fun Fact: One of Sulla's rivals, Quintus Sertorius, owned a white fawn that he claimed communicated with Diana.
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Jan 23, 2016 19:18
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Speaking of how people became emperor. Claudius, who was lovingly referred to by his mother as "a monster, a man whom Mother Nature had begun work upon but then flung aside", became emperor when Caligula was assassinated. When the praetorian guard started to kill noblemen he ran and hid behind a curtain. The praetorian named Gratus pulled the curtain away and declared him emperor on the spot. When Claudius was later poisoned by mushrooms Nero made the joke that mushrooms must be the food of the gods because Claudius ate it and became a god.
Alhazred has a new favorite as of 18:50 on Jan 25, 2016 |
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Jan 25, 2016 18:44
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At age eight Sun Yaoting was castrated by his father so that he could serve the Chinese emperor as an eunuch. Eight months later the emperor was deposed.
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Jan 30, 2016 17:57
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Kennel posted:And boy, were those family dinners awkward after that. Luckily for his father, Sun Yaoting was sent to a work camp after the revolution.
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Jan 30, 2016 19:23
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System Metternich posted:The last woman to be (legally) executed as a witch was Anna Göldi from Sennwald, Switzerland. Göldi had worked as a maidservant for Johann Jakob Tschudi, one of the richest and most powerful men in Glarus. After being accused of literally spitting nails and conjuring even more nails into the milk of one of Tschudi's daughters, she finally confessed to conspiring with the Devil under torture and was sentenced to death by the sword, a sentence which was carried out immediately. Her trial and death were regarded as scandalous by people all over Europe even at the time, though, which was probably the reason why the reason for her sentence was changed to "poisoning" in the official documents. Later historians discovered that Göldi probably had had an affair with Tschudi who wanted to remove all evidence of his infidelity. The last witch trial took place in 1944. During a seance Helen Duncan spoke with a deceased sailor from HMS Barham and revealed that the ship had been sunk in the Mediterranean, although the War Office did not officially release this fact until several months later. Fearing that Duncan might reveal more the government arrested her and sentenced her to nine months in prison. The Witchcraft Acts wasn't repealed until 1951.Which didn't stop the police from raiding Duncan's apartment in 1956, this time trying to arrest her for fraud. Five weeks later she died.
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Jan 30, 2016 21:43
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System Metternich posted:The Witchcraft Acts only made it illegal for any person to claim to possess magical powers, though That doesn't really make it less stupid though.
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Jan 31, 2016 17:34
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