! Trivia Tribe !'s topics - tribe.net

Trivia about Poker and other card games..

Bloke72 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:17:16 GMT

DID YOU KNOW

On a deck of cards, the king of spades represents David, King of Israel; the king of Clubs represents Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia; the king of Hearts is Charlemagne, King of France; and the king of Diamonds is Caesar Augustus, Emperor of Rome.
(Although snopes says this is wrong - see http://www.snopes.com/history/world/cardking.asp )

It is commonly believed that the 4 suits in a deck of playing cards -- spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs, derive from French decks of cards. In French decks, the suits represent the four classes: Spades represent nobility, hearts stand for the clergy, diamonds represent merchants, and clubs are peasants.

John Montague, Earl of Sandwich, was a man of doubtful integrity and a compulsive gambler who lived in the 1700s. He was so reluctant to leave a card game even for a meal that he had a servant bring him a piece of meat between two slices of bread so he could eat with one hand and play cards with the other. The new invention was dubbed a sandwich.

Groucho Marx got his name because he used to carry all his poker money in a Grouch Bag. What's a Grouch Bag? It's a bag that hangs around your neck to keep your possessions in.

http://www.freerollhaven.com/pokertrivia.html

Quiz on Poker Quotes. http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Entertainment/Poker-Quotes-314725.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

Antimatter found in lightning

crarko — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:12:54 GMT

" Designed to scan the heavens thousands to billions of light-years beyond the solar system for gamma rays, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has also picked up a shocking vibe from Earth. During its first 14 months of operation, the flying observatory has detected 17 gamma-ray flashes associated with terrestrial storms — and some of those flashes have contained a surprising signature of antimatter."

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49288/title/Signature_of_antimatter_detected_in_lightning

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 13 replies

Fishy Trivia

Bloke72 — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:33:56 GMT

We seem to be on a theme in the picture game... :)

A thread on trivia about fish...

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 33 replies

Ernst Haeckel

si — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:01:13 GMT

Naturalist and artist... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel . also coined the word ecology...

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 4 replies

hard core video for Zoinks

Astrid_Seftali — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:14:03 GMT

"A deeper depth of shallow " brings you a "Geman sparkle party video":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-jN3vH26NQ
(don't ask me, I don't get the German bit about this either)

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 4 replies

Trivia Question.

Zoinks! — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:54:07 GMT

Okay, so where can I found some hot Maori porn?

(Just joking--more or less...)

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 10 replies

Wizard of Oz Trivia

Wizzard — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:24:15 GMT

Just watched "The Wizzard of Oz" again for the eleventyeth time or so. I first saw this one at the Florida Theater on Adams St. when I was about six. I remember that I thought the Witch looked about ninety years older than God then. Today, I watch the film and think, "My God, how young she looks." Times change, huh.

Jack Haley, who played the Tin Man in the movie was the second choice for that role. The part was first offered to a young song and dance man named Buddy Ebsen. Ebsen accepted the role of Tin Man but had to drop out when he found he had a serious alllergy to the metallic make-up required. Then Haley stepped in to replace him. Haley also had a close relationship to Judy Garland when his son, also named Jack Haley, married Judy's daughter, LIza Minnelli, some years later.

And Margaret Hamilton, who played the Witch of the West, had a number of very close calls with the pyrotechnics used on set. Several times she narrowly escaped being set on fire when the flash powder went off.

Anyone got any more trivia on this classic favorite?

With love under will,

Bob, Adastra,
The Wizzard of Jacksonville

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 22 replies

cool spider stuff for denisey!

aunt bea says argh!! — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:30:21 GMT

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090424-spider-resurrection-coma-drowning.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 89 replies

Throwing a wrench in it - figuratively

rivernic — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:35:15 GMT

I looked for but didn't find a 'physic-y' thread so I just made one up:

Baguette Dropped From Bird's Beak Shuts Down The Large Hadron Collider (Really)
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-11/bread-loving-bird-shuts-down-lhc

For more on the Large Hadron Collider:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_hadron_collider

- didn't it play some sort of role in the book/film "Angels and Demons" ?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 0 replies

Rice Paddy Art

Sky Angel — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:41:29 GMT

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/07/rice-paddy-art/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 8 replies

Plumbing Trivia...

Bloke72 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:08:25 GMT

It is around us almost every day..

How much do you know about plumbing ?

Tap mechanisms

The first screw-down tap mechanism was patented and manufactured by the Rotherham brass founders, Guest and Chrimes,in 1845. Most older taps use a soft rubber or neoprene washer which is screwed down onto a valve seat in order to stop the flow. This is called a "globe valve" in engineering and, while it gives a leak-proof seal and good fine adjustment of flow, both the rubber washer and the valve seat are subject to wear (and for the seat, also corrosion) over time, so that eventually no tight seal is formed in the closed position, resulting in a leaking tap. The washer can be replaced and the valve seat resurfaced (at least a few times), but globe valves are never maintenance-free.

Also, the tortuous S-shaped path the water is forced to follow offers a significant obstruction to the flow. For high pressure domestic water systems this does not matter, but for low pressure systems where flow rate is important, such as a shower fed by a storage tank, a "stop tap" or, in engineering terms, a "gate valve" is preferred.

Gate valves use a metal disc the same diameter as the pipe which is screwed into place perpendicularly to the flow, cutting it off. There is no resistance to flow when the tap is fully open, but this type of tap rarely gives a perfect seal when closed. In the UK this type of tap normally has a wheel-shaped handle rather than a crutch or capstan handle.

Cone valves or ball valves are another alternative. These are commonly-found as the service shut-off valves in more-expensive water systems and usually found in gas taps (and, incidentally, the cask beer taps referred to above). They can be identified by their range of motion—only 90°—between fully on and fully off. Usually, when the handle is in line with the pipe the valve is on, and when the handle is across the pipe it is closed.

Source and picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_(valve)#Tap_mechanisms

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 9 replies

what do you want for christmas?

aunt bea says argh!! — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:09:24 GMT

top x-mas toys for last 48 years.
http://www.permuto.com/blog/2009/11/03/the-most-popular-christmas-toys-by-year-since-1960/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 13 replies

33 Names of Things

LoveLiZrd — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:32:31 GMT

1. AGLET- The plain or ornamental covering on the end of a shoelace.
2. ARMSAYE- The armhole in clothing.
3. CHANKING- Spat-out food, such as rinds or pits.
4. COLUMELLA NASI- The bottom part of the nose between the nostrils.
5. DRAGÉES- Small beadlike pieces of candy, usually silver-coloured,
used for decorating cookies, cakes and sundaes.
6. FEAT- A dangling curl of hair.
7. FERRULE- The metal band on a pencil that holds the eraser in place.
8. HARP- The small metal hoop that supports a lampshade.
9. HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER- A 64th note.
(A 32nd is a demisemiquaver, and a 16th note is a semiquaver.)
10. JARNS,
11. NITTLES,
12. GRAWLIX,
13. and QUIMP- Various squiggles used to denote cussing in comic books.
14. KEEPER- The loop on a belt that keeps the end in place
after it has passed through the buckle.
15. KICK or PUNT- The indentation at the bottom of some wine bottles.
It gives added strength to the bottle but lessens its holding capacity.
16. LIRIPIPE- The long tail on a graduate's academic hood.
17. MINIMUS- The little finger or toe.
18. NEF- An ornamental stand in the shape of a ship.
19. OBDORMITION- The numbness caused by pressure on a nerve; when a limb is 'asleep'.
20. OCTOTHORPE- The symbol '#' on a telephone handset.
Bell Labs' engineer Don Macpherson created the word in the 1960s by combining octo-,
as in eight, with the name of one of his favourite athletes,
1912 Olympic decathlon champion Jim Thorpe.
21. OPHRYON- The space between the eyebrows on a line with the top of the eye sockets.
22. PEEN- The end of a hammer head opposite the striking face.
23. PHOSPHENES- The lights you see when you close your eyes hard.
Technically the luminous impressions are due to the excitation
of the retina caused by pressure on the eyeball.
24. PURLICUE- The space between the thumb and extended forefinger.
25. RASCETA- Creases on the inside of the wrist.
26. ROWEL- The revolving star on the back of a cowboy's spurs.
27. SADDLE- The rounded part on the top of a matchbook.
28. SCROOP- The rustle of silk.
29. SNORKEL BOX- A mailbox with a protruding receiver
to allow people to deposit mail without leaving their cars.
30. SPRAINTS- Otter dung.
31. TANG- The projecting prong on a tool or instrument.
32. WAMBLE- Stomach rumbling.
33. ZARF- A holder for a handleless coffeea cup.

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 5 replies

who knew? part two

goatlisa — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:25:05 GMT

Charles Macintosh invented the waterproof coat, the Mackintosh, in 1823.

and I thought it was Mr. Gortex!

http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/elastic_2.htm

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 95 replies

Origins of Phrases and Terms 2!

Denisey — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:08:39 GMT

The original thread was getting very long, so I thought I'd start a new one. Continuing on from:
http://tribes.tribe.net/triviarocks/thread/9c2a19f8-c0a4-4a09-90b7-a30452bf03df

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 15 replies

Great City Parks Around the World

Denisey — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:33:50 GMT

“When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?” - Ralph Marston

Most great cities around the world have great parks - a green space where one can find respite from the chaos.
These are a few of my favorites...what are yours?

Central Park - NYC
“"I really believe I was happier when I slept on a park bench in Central Park than during all the years of the 'perfect lover' stuff.''”
- Rudolph Valentino

In 1858, the City of New York had already
initiated plans for a new park at the center of
Manhattan and elicited designs through an
open contest.
Calvert Vaux, who had been working on a
design for the park made the right political
move and approached Olmsted with the idea
of forming a working collaboration. Called the
Greensward Plan the effort of that union was
submitted to the park competition.
The strategy proved to be fateful when the
examining committee chose theirs as the
winning design.

http://www.centralpark2000.com/database/park_designers.html
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/CP/CP.htm

Olmsted and Vaux would combine forces again to see the development of Prospect Park in Brooklyn:
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/BKN/BKN006.htm
"...The largest and by far the most important of the seven proposals was referred to as Mount Prospect Park. Its name came from the bill on which the reservoir was located, near the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and present Eastern Parkway. The commissioners stressed that it was expedient for the purity of the water to retain undeveloped ground around the reservoir; and, as with the recommendation for the small park on Brooklyn Heights, they made a case for the vista from Prospect Hill, which overlooked the eastern part of Kings County, Brooklyn, Jamaica Bay, New York, the harbor, the New Jersey shore, and the Narrows and adjoining slope of Staten Island. The park was to consist of 320 acres, bounded by Washington Avenue from Warren to Montgomery streets, then following the Flatbush township line south-southwesterly to a point now in Prospect Park about equidistant from the three sites of the Nethermead Arches, and Lullwater and Terrace bridges, then west-northwest along 9th Street to Tenth Avenue (approximately the site of the Tennis House), then along Tenth Avenue to 3rd Street (northeast corner of the Litchfield Villa lot), then over to Ninth Avenue (Prospect Park West), then north-northeast to Flatbush Avenue, a short distance along this thoroughfare (crossing what is currently Grand Army Plaza) to Vanderbilt Avenue, four blocks north to Warren Street, and back to the beginning at its intersection with Washington Avenue. The area designated took in most of the present grounds of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, all of the Museum, Library and old reservoir, and almost as much land lying due north, plus about two-fifths of the final Prospect Park precinct. The committee justified the economics of the park venture with the argument that the increased value of real estate in the vicinity would bring in greater tax returns to counterbalance the expenditure. They buttressed it with the humanitarian appeal that: "The intense activity and the destructive excitement of business life as here conducted, imperatively demands these public places for exercise and recreation"; and they noted that, although not centrally located in Brooklyn, Mount Prospect Park would be easily accessible "to the masses of our people," either "on foot or the cheap railroad lines."
(and it is! 6 subway lines have stops around the perimeter of the park, and many buses serve the park as well.)

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 61 replies

Fun Proverbs International

Astrid_Seftali — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:14:17 GMT

"All mushrooms are edible; but some only once." Croatian proverb.

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

American varietas

Zoinks! — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:42:48 GMT

http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/douchebags-classified-by-region

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 0 replies

Spooky sounds from space....

crarko — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:58:52 GMT

Danger, Will Robinson! Aliens approaching!

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/solar_system/SpookySoundsJPL-cc.mov

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

small thing shakes...

si — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:21:11 GMT

...is what you get if you type in" Trivia rocks" using Blahblahfish !. Its like Babelfish but translates from English to a choice of languages and then back to English. http://www.blahblahfish.com/en/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 6 replies

Superstition Death Trivia

revo101 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:52:39 GMT

If a dead person's eyes are left open, he'll find someone to take with him.

It's bad luck to count the cars in a funeral cortege.

Nothing new should be worn to a funeral, especially new shoes.

If 13 people sit down at a table to eat, one of them will die before the year is over.

A bird in the house is a sign of a death.

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 48 replies

Science Lesson Size of Molecules (are we skeptical ?)

Bloke72 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:28:33 GMT

HOW SMALL MOLECULES ARE

Most molecules are of such small dimensions (the number of molecules in 1 cubic centimeter of water is about 3.3 x 1022) that even scientists experience considerable difficulty in visualizing their relationship to the everyday physical world. For this reason, a few data will be devoted to this problem by considering molecules in line, on surfaces, as individual units, and in bulk.

A Chain of Iron Atoms. A chain composed of as many iron atoms as there were people in the U.S. in 1960 (180 million) would extend for a distance of approximately 2 centimeters (less than 1 in.).

A Monolayer of Molecules. If every square meter of the earth's dry surface were occupied by 6 men, their total would approximate the number of molecules in a monolayer of air one centimeter square (1,000,000,000 million).

A Teaspoonful of Molecules. One teaspoonful of water contains at least as many molecules as the Atlantic Ocean contains teaspoonfuls of water.

Columbus's Water Molecules. If Columbus had emptied a glass of water in the ocean, and assuming that this water were now thoroughly mixed and distributed through the seas of the world, then each glass of water taken from the nearest tap or other source of water would now contain up to 250 molecules of the original contents of Columbus's glass.

Counting Molecules. Counting by hand the individual molecules composing 1 cubic centimeter of water at the rate of one per second, the whole of recorded history would still represent the merest fraction of the time necessary to carry out the operation. If the task had been finally completed today by an army of counters equal to the population of the city of Rochester, N.Y., the 300,000 participants would have had to have begun counting the water molecules three thousand million years ago, i.e. at about the time the earth is now thought to have been created.

Source http://www.trivia-library.com/b/science-lessons-size-of-molecules.htm

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

Halloween Trivia

revo101 — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:28:45 GMT

Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century.

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 7 replies

The Hanging Coffin

Bloke72 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:45:01 GMT

First appearing during the Spring and Autumn Period (722-481BC), hanging coffin is a unique funeral and sacrifice custom of the minority groups in southern China. People put the bodies of their ancestors into wooden coffins that were later placed in caves of precipitous cliffsides.

Most coffins were made with one whole piece of wood into various shapes. It was said that the hanging coffins could prevent bodies from being taken by beasts and also bless the soul eternally.

From http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_curiosity/2004-10/26/content_62632.htm where there is a picture.

More http://www.china.org.cn/english/travel/71037.htm
Another pic http://www.cers.org.hk/brochure/brochure1.php?issue=b04.03
Another pic http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Philippines/Ilocos/photo156205.htm

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 2 replies

The USS Liberty incident

Bloke72 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:57:49 GMT

The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a neutral United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli jet fighter planes and motor torpedo boats on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two Marines, and a civilian), wounded 171 crew members, and damaged the ship severely. The ship was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nautical miles (47.2 km) northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish.[1]

Both the Israeli and US governments conducted inquiries into the incident, and issued reports concluding that the attack was a tragic mistake, caused by confusion about the identity of the USS Liberty.

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

Halloween Customs, Traditions, etc.

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:28:26 GMT

Ok, ok. let's get this train moving. Geezo. Trivia, people.

Here is too much info about Halloween. http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_cu.htm

This amuses me:

"Apples were considered have long been associated with female deities, and with immortality, resurrection, and knowledge. One reason is that if an apple is cut through its equator, it will reveal a five-pointed star outlined at the center of each hemisphere. This was a pentagram -- a Goddess symbol among the Roma (Gypsies), Celts, Egyptians, etc. There are many Halloween folk traditions associated with apples:

* Unmarried people would attempt to take a bite out of an apple bobbing in a pail of water, or suspended on a string. The first person to do so was believed to be the next to marry.

* Peeling an apple in front of a candle-lit mirror was believed to produce the image of one's future spouse. 3
Attempting to produce a long unbroken apple peel was said to estimate the number of years you had to live. The longer the peel, the longer your life expectancy. "

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 29 replies

Keeping Promises can be Inspirational.

Bloke72 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:09:45 GMT

A Man on A Mission...

A bit of an inspirational story. And yes, I admit it. It came from Oprah which I watch on a semi annual basic. Glad I tuned in yesterday..

In 1998 a very successful Mircosoft Executive who rubbed shoulders with Bill Gates took some time out from the Corporate World and took a hiking trip to Nepal. Visiting a small village, he found their school in poor condition and a lack of books. Most titles were cast offs from Backpackers and inappropriate for young kids. He promised to return with some. A man in the village told him many promise to do so, but none ever had. He soon came back with mules and books that he and his family had gathered.. And it changed his life and the lives of many others.

He went back to work and told Oprah how Bill Gate's PA would e-mail him about something he was in charge of and he would read it. Ho hum. Then he would get an e-mail from someone offering to donate 20 books and he would get excited.

The short version is he left his job and began getting books donated to deliver to places and people that did not have them. The project is now huge and takes all of his time. More than organising book delivery, he now has facilitated school building and even the publication of children's books in native languages in many different countries.

I like this guy, and I love his story.. and his mission..

And he is looking for donations - books or cash..

From one of his sites
~~~
Over the next five years John would make the unlikely marriage between Microsoft business practices and the world of non-profits to create Room to Read, an organization that has created a network of over 5,500 schools and libraries throughout rural and poor communities in Asia and Africa.

The organization is now one of the fastest growing, most effective, and award-winning non-profits of the last decade. John has been recognized in the worldwide media as a "21st century Andrew Carnegie," building a public library infrastructure to help the developing world break the cycle of poverty through the lifelong gift of education.

~

Results to Date
Since inception in 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of over 1.9 million children by:

* Constructing 442 schools
* Establishing over 5,630 libraries
* Publishing 226 new local language children's titles representing over 2 million books
* Donating over 2.2 million English language children's books
* Funding 6,922 long-term girls' scholarships
* Establishing 155 computer and language labs

Source and brief history http://www.roomtoread.org/about/index.html

~

In His Own Words
See John describe the book in his own words in this short video:
Check http://www.leavingmicrosoftbook.com/
They have a youtrube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Roomtoread
The Web site http://www.roomtoread.org/ and history http://www.roomtoread.org/about/index.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 2 replies

Laurel & Hardy Trivia

Bloke72 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:18:35 GMT

Laurel and Hardy were a popular comedy team composed of thin, English-born Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and heavy, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). They became famous during the early half of the 20th century for their work in motion pictures and also appeared on stage throughout America and Europe

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_and_Hardy

At one point, Stan Laurel had married his first wife once, his second wife twice, and his third wife three times. 1-2-3.

According to Movie Mirror (1933), Oliver Hardy bought the rights to their famous signature tune, Cuckoo, from the composer Marvin Hatley for $25. "I thought it was funny" said Stan.

A monkey plays the role of Mickey Mouse in Babes In Toyland, one of the few times you're likely to see an appearance by a Disney character in a non-Disney film. Walt Disney himself was a Laurel and Hardy fan, as well as a close friend to Hal Roach.

Stan was instrumental in the career of the young Marcel Marceau. After seeing Marceau perform in Paris in 1950, Stan praised him as an unsung genius and helped Marceau gain attention in the French press.

Hardy played the Tin Man in a 1925 silent version of The Wizard Of Oz.

Blake Edwards, known for his PINK PANTHER films with Peter Sellers, dedicated his 1965 film The Great Race to "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy", while Kurt Vonnegut dedicated his novel Slapstick to "Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy, two angels of my time.".

Source http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/

Lost films
Most of the Laurel and Hardy films survive, and have never gone out of circulation permanently. Three of their 106 films are considered lost, as they have not been seen in full since the 1930s. The silent Hats Off (1927) has vanished completely. The first half of Now I'll Tell One (1927) is lost and the second half has yet to be released on video. In the operatic Technicolor musical The Rogue Song (1930) Laurel and Hardy appear in 10 sequences, only one of which is known to exist. Two other films have missing content although they aren't considered lost. Duck Soup (1927) was considered lost until a print was discovered in the mid-1970s, this print appears to be missing a few minutes of footage at the beginning and end. The Battle of the Century (1927) has several minutes of missing footage bridging the first and second halves and the final half-minute is also missing.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_and_Hardy#Aftermath

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

mad scientist trivia!

aunt bea says argh!! — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:30:10 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81duSmkPJ5k

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

Electrical Trivia..

Bloke72 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:14:41 GMT

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He is frequently cited as one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution....... Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but due to his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist.

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

Short snappy trivia about anything..

Bloke72 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:42:44 GMT

The Gold Stealing Detection Unit (GSDU), or Gold Stealing Detective Squad (GSDS), is a special unit of the Western Australian Police, based in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. It investigates criminal activity and allegations at all stages of the gold production process in the state.

The unit consists of a very small number of detectives but is the oldest specialist police service in Western Australia

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Stealing_Detection_Unit

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 73 replies

Ida: Early Primate (and where discerning, young palaeontologists do deals these days)

Bobster — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:31:33 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/21/fossil-ida-nature-magazine-revelation

An interesting article, but what caught my eye was where the deal was sealed.

"Hurum bought Ida for US$1m after agreeing to meet a private dealer in a vodka bar in Hamburg where he was shown a series of photographs of the fossil. At the time, its exact place in evolutionary history was unclear. What Hurum did know was that Ida came from a time when the primate lineage that led to monkeys, apes and humans split from another group of animals that became lemurs and lorises. Hurum took a gamble. "It would have been quite an expensive lemur," he told the Guardian at the time."

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

ten laws of the internet...

aunt bea says argh!! — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:57:32 GMT

my sister should pay especial attention to the tenth one!!!!!!!!

Internet rules and laws: the top 10, from Godwin to Poe
The internet has matured into a world of its own, and like the real world, it obeys certain immutable laws. Here are 10 of the most important.

By Tom Chivers
Published: 7:30AM BST 23 Oct 2009

Comments 67 | Comment on this article

Godwin's Law in action Photo: AP - SHEPARD FAIREY
Any internet user will know that the web, like the outside world (or “meatspace”), follows certain rules.

We take a look at 10, with the most well-known and widely used towards the top and some of the lesser lights lower down. If you know any more, let us know below.

Related Articles
Google launches system to stop email accidents
50 tech advances kids will laugh at
50 most annoying things about the web
The 20 worst science errors in films
50 things that are being killed by the internet
Jewish group sues Amazon over 'Nazi' booksEqually, of course, if you have formulated one yourself, do likewise – but you might want to include your real name, not just a web pseudonym. Otherwise it will be known forever as Gherkin555’s Law, or whatever, and you will miss your shot at posterity.

We should state that we are not endorsing these laws or the views they imply, merely reporting them.

1. Godwin’s Law
The most famous of all the internet laws, formed by Mike Godwin in 1990. As originally stated, it said: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." It has now been expanded to include all web discussions.

It is closely related to the logical fallacy “reductio ad Hitlerum”, which says “Hitler (or the Nazis) liked X, so X is bad”, frequently used to denigrate vegetarians and atheists.

Common Godwin's Law appearances include describing women's rights campaigners as “feminazis”, comparing the former US President George W Bush to Hitler, or saying Barack Obama's proposed healthcare reforms are the new Holocaust.

In its broader sense it can be used to describe any situation where a poster loses all sense of proportion, for example describing New Labour as “Zanu-Labour” after Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwean political party Zanu-PF.

As well as the descriptive form, it can be used prescriptively: so if any poster does mention the Nazis in a discussion thread, Godwin’s Law can be invoked, they instantly lose the argument and the thread can be ended.

If this is done deliberately to end the argument, however, it does not apply. This codicil is known as “Quirk’s Exception”.

2. Poe’s Law
Not to be confused with the law of poetry enshrined by Edgar Allen Poe, the internet Poe’s Law states: “Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.”

It was originally formulated by Nathan Poe in 2005 during a debate on christianforums.com about evolution, and referred to creationism rather than all fundamentalism, but has since been expanded.

Poe’s Law also has an inverse meaning, stating that non-fundamentalists will often mistake sincere expressions of fundamentalist beliefs for parody.

Examples abound – one particularly difficult-to-judge site claims that “Heliocentrism [the belief that the Earth orbits the Sun, rather than the other way around] is an Atheist Doctrine”.

One that must, surely, be a parody is sexinchrist.com (WARNING: link contains adult material), a site that offers Christians advice on the rights and wrongs of such activities as threesomes and pubic shaving, among much more.

However, it is hard to be entirely certain, given the existence of christiannymphos.org (WARNING: link contains adult material), an apparently entirely serious site.

Here is an example of a parody site that embodies both Godwin's and Poe's Laws.

3. Rule 34

States: “If it exists, there is porn of it.” See also Rule 35: “If no such porn exists, it will be made.” Generally held to refer to fictional characters and cartoons, although some formulations insist there are "no exceptions" even for abstract ideas like non-Euclidean geometry, or puzzlement.

For obvious reasons it is not appropriate for lengthy discussion in a family newspaper, but the recent appearance of Marge Simpson on the cover of Playboy, pictured above, was a (very mild) example of the law in action, and going mainstream.

The spread of fanfic, slash fiction and hentai around the internet, as well as the rise of furries, are making this law more and more accurate every day.

The other 33 rules change frequently, except one and two, which are “Do not talk about /b/” and “Do NOT talk about /b/”, respectively, referring to a message board on the 4chan.org website.

4. Skitt’s Law
Expressed as "any post correcting an error in another post will contain at least one error itself" or "the likelihood of an error in a post is directly proportional to the embarrassment it will cause the poster."

It is an online version of the proofreading truism Muphry’s Law, also known as Hartman's Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation: "any article or statement about correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling is bound to contain at least one eror".

Language Log quotes the following example, from Paul Ordoveza’s How Now, Brownpau? blog:

"For too long, we linguistic pedants have cringed, watching this phrase used, misused, and abused, again, and again, and again. 'This begs the question...' [we hear], and we must brace ourselves as the ignoramii of modern society literally ask a question after the phrase."

While Mr Ordoveza’s point is entirely valid (“begging the question” is a logical fallacy, meaning to "beggar the question", or assume your conclusion in your premise – not to raise the question), the plural of ignoramus is ignoramuses.

It was apparently first stated by G Bryan Lord, referring to a user named Skitt, on Usenet in 1998.

5. Scopie’s Law
States: “In any discussion involving science or medicine, citing Whale.to as a credible source loses the argument immediately, and gets you laughed out of the room.” First formulated by Rich Scopie on the badscience.net forum.

This law makes little sense without a background knowledge of Whale.to, a conspiracy theory site which includes such items as the complete text of the anti-Semitic hoax Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as well as claims that Aids is caused by vaccination programmes, and that Auschwitz never happened.

It has been expanded by posters on rationalwiki.com to include any use of Answers in Genesis in an argument about creationism and evolution.

6. Danth’s Law (also known as Parker’s Law)
States: “If you have to insist that you've won an internet argument, you've probably lost badly.” Named after a user on the role-playing gamers’ forum RPG.net.

Danth’s Law was most famously declared in “The Lenski Affair”, between microbiologist Richard Lenski and the editor of Conservapedia.com, Andrew Schlafly, who cast doubt upon Prof Lenski’s elegant experimental demonstration of evolution.

After what is widely held to be one of the greatest and most comprehensive put-downs in scientific argument from Prof Lenski, Mr Schlafly declared himself the winner.

7. Pommer’s Law
Proposed by Rob Pommer on rationalwiki.com in 2007, this states: “A person's mind can be changed by reading information on the internet. The nature of this change will be from having no opinion to having a wrong opinion.”

8. DeMyer's Laws
Named for Ken DeMyer, a moderator on Conservapedia.com. There are four: the Zeroth, First, Second and Third Laws.

The Second Law states: “Anyone who posts an argument on the internet which is largely quotations can be very safely ignored, and is deemed to have lost the argument before it has begun.”

The Zeroth, First and Third Laws cannot be very generally applied and will be glossed over here.

9. Cohen’s Law
Proposed by Brian Cohen in 2007, states that: “Whoever resorts to the argument that ‘whoever resorts to the argument that... …has automatically lost the debate’ has automatically lost the debate.”

Has also been stated in the much longer version, "Whoever resorts to the argument that 'whoever resorts to the argument that... 'whoever resorts to the argument that... 'whoever resorts to the argument that... 'whoever resorts to the argument that ... 'whoever resorts to the argument that... ...has automatically lost the debate' ...has automatically lost the debate' ...has automatically lost the debate' ...has automatically lost the debate' ...has automatically lost the debate' has automatically lost the debate."

10. The Law of Exclamation
First recorded in an article by Lori Robertson at FactCheck.org in 2008, this states: "The more exclamation points used in an email (or other posting), the more likely it is a complete lie. This is also true for excessive capital letters."

It is reminiscent of the claim in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels that the more exclamation marks someone uses in writing, the more likely they are to be mentally unbalanced.

According to Pratchett, five exclamation marks is an indicator of "someone who wears their underwear on the outside".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6408927/Internet-rules-and-laws-the-top-10-from-Godwin-to-Poe.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 7 replies

Cellular Jail

Bloke72 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:30:06 GMT

The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī (Hindi: काला पानी क़ैद ख़ाना, literally 'Black water', a term for the deep sea and hence exile) situated in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India) was completed in 1906. The prison was known to house many notable Indian activists during the struggle for India's independence.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_Jail

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

Space TV

si — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:28:36 GMT

Are aliens watching TV ? http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=157559 ...here's what they got so far...

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 7 replies

Landmark Court Cases..

Bloke72 — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:10:54 GMT

Court cases can change the world. Movies are made about them. Books are written. People lives, culture and societies are changed...

A good topic for a trivia tribe thread methings..

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 16 replies

Hotels with extraordinary swimming pools

Bloke72 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:40:54 GMT

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/6125562/Hotels-with-extraordinary-swimming-pools.html

Got a fav ?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 11 replies

The stuff of fiction.. flying platforms and the like...

Bloke72 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:14:19 GMT

Wingless Aviation.. interesting stuff and captured the imagination of designers and toy makers :)

But they are very much (impractical) fact.

There has just been a mystery pic on it here http://tribes.tribe.net/triviarocks/photos/dbed1d68-3568-4bf5-903d-666eae17c7c3

"The Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee (US military designation, earlier Army designation: HO-1) was a unique direct lift rotor aircraft, using a counter-rotating ducted fan inside a platform that the single pilot stood upon for lift, and controlled by the pilot shifting his body weight around to tilt the platform. The platform was developed starting in 1953 under an Office of Naval Research R&D contract to Hiller Aircraft Corporation, and flew successfully starting in 1955."

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VZ-1_Pawnee

"This invention relates generally to ways and means for propelling a person through the air in a controlled flight. More particularly the invention provides a wingless aircraft propelled by thrust reaction and capable of vertical ascent for take off and climbing, hovering in the air, horizontal flight, and vertical descent under such conditions that directional control, and transition from vertical to horizontal flight and vice versa are effected by body movements or balance of the pilot flying the machine." (A statement from the Patent # 2,953,321)

More at http://www.hiller.org/flying-platform.shtml

And see it fly here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFS6pMvkjo8

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 6 replies

Welcome thread No Seven (7) !

Bloke72 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:07:35 GMT

Well. The first welcome thread got very long and annoying to load and those that followed went the same way (how wonderful!) - so welcome to the Welcome Thread Number SEVEN !

For those of you who turned up early – I salute you and others can admire you at http://tribes.tribe.net/triviarocks/thread/c0e434ed-fb98-43a5-8d98-631a566f7408
For those of you who turned up after those pioneers - the second welcome thread is here http://tribes.tribe.net/triviarocks/thread/e7c8a132-d856-42af-ab3c-41a0a3e7e714#ce80cd06-e954-42e6-98a9-d6f5e9b83c3c
For the valuable members who joined the fun on the third intake - the thread is here.. http://tribes.tribe.net/triviarocks/thread/8d14994c-b742-459f-9f46-6e639c400bb3
The fabulous people in the Fourth Welcome thread can be found here http://tribes.tribe.net/triviarocks/thread/5547f5ec-ab3a-44b4-a113-dd923e4347ff
And the fantastic people who came in the fifth wave are recorded for posterity here http://tribes.tribe.net/triviarocks/thread/97866316-8f34-45f2-8c29-8b3e045fd4df

And the sexy people who turned up in the Sixth Wave can be found here http://tribes.tribe.net/triviarocks/thread/71734528-ab4f-426b-995d-225b9e3b27be

For the new kids on the block – Welcome and post some Trivia ! I love it when members sight sources and also do not object to content being added to old old threads!

And there is a link to the current main mystery picture in the tribes description.

Please tell others about the Trivia Tribe .. please *Bloke on knees*

I love this tribe.. and the wonderful folks who add to it (or just read it.. ) !!!

Cheers and welcome

Bloke

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 86 replies

One for the birds... what is the Dickens ?

Bloke72 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:08:44 GMT

The Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in war. It is a large bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried on ribbon of striped green, dark brown and pale blue. Traditionally, the medal is presented by the Lord Mayor of the City of London. It has become recognised as "the animals' Victoria Cross".[1] As of February 2008, it has been awarded 62 times

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickin_Medal

Commando was a pigeon used in service with the British armed forces during the Second World War to carry crucial intelligence. The pigeon carried out more than ninety missions during the war, and received the Dickin Medal (the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross) for three particularly notable missions in 1942. The medal was later sold at an auction for £9,200.

After the war, Commando enjoyed a somewhat celebrity-like status. He also participated in an exhibition of wartime homing pigeons. Commando was later put to stud

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commando_(pigeon)

William of Orange was a male pigeon soldier of MI14 (British secret service). He was awarded the 21st Dickin Medal for delivering a message from the Arnhem Airborne Operation. This message saved more than 2000 soldiers combined at the time of the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. Its official name in military record is NPS.42.NS.15125. He received the medal in May 1945

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Orange_(Pigeon)

G.I. Joe (March 24, 1943 in Algiers - June 3, 1961 in Detroit) was a pigeon noted for its service in the United States Army Pigeon Service.

During World War II, G.I. Joe saved the lives of the inhabitants of the village of Calvi Vecchia, Italy, and of the British troops occupying it. The village was scheduled to be bombarded by the Allied forces on 18 October 1943, but the message that the British had captured the village, delivered by G.I. Joe, arrived just in time to avoid the bombing. Over a thousand people were saved.[1]

In November 1946, G.I. Joe was presented the Dickin Medal for gallantry by the Lord Mayor of London. After World War II, he was housed at the U.S. Army's Churchill Loft at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey along with twenty-four other heroic pigeons

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Joe_(pigeon)

Paddy (Pigeon number NPS.43.9451)[1] was an Irish carrier pigeon awarded the Dickin Medal after being the first pigeon to arrive back in England with news of the success of the D-Day invasion, out of hundreds dispatched. He flew 230 miles across the English Channel in four hours and five minutes [2], the fastest recorded crossing, and was awarded the medal on 1 September 1944, just under three months after the crossing.[3] Paddy was trained by John McMullan of Carnlough and is the only bird in Ireland to be awarded this medal. [4] The medal citation reads,

"For the best recorded time with a message from the Normandy Operations, while serving with the RAF in June, 1944."

His medal was sold at auction for almost £7,000 in September 1999

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy_(pigeon)

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

Cool Cursors..

Bloke72 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:25:07 GMT

Okay.. not really trivia.. but lots of Internet sites change your cursor to something cool.

Here is one that does something which made me smile - bubbles !

http://www.premiumseafood.com/seafood_humor.htm

Got any others ?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 5 replies

museum tirvia

aunt bea says argh!! — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:56:51 GMT

One of New York's living legends is turning 50. Today, exactly five decades after it opened its doors, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is celebrating its birthday with free admission all day long.

The Fifth Ave. landmark, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is one of the most controversial pieces of architecture ever erected in New York and one of the most awe-inspiring. Need another reason to check it out? Try 50.

THE BUILDING

1. The structure faced harsh criticism when it opened in 1959. One critic dismissed it as "a war between architecture and painting, in which both come out badly maimed." Another called it "an indigestible hot cross bun." NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses snapped that it looked like "an inverted oatmeal dish."

2. The exterior of the museum is made of gunite, a mixture of sand and cement that is sprayed on the inside of a wood and steel frame, which is later removed.

3. Curator Hilla Rebay, a German baroness, chose the museum's architect. Some theorize that she selected Wright, a renowned American visionary, to pacify critics who accused her of favoring European creative minds over American ones.

4. To design the museum, Wright created more than 700 sketches.

5. The shape of the building is a play on a ziggurat, type of ancient Mesopotamian temple that narrowed as it rose. In Wright's design, the building widens as it rises.

6. Wright wanted the building to have curved surfaces to convey "an atmosphere on the unbroken wave." He was adamant that there be no distractions, not even carpeting or curtains.

7. As for the unusual look of the building, Wright proclaimed, "It's going to make the Metropolitan look like a Protestant barn."

8. Twenty-one artists drew up a petition to complain about Wright's corkscrew-shaped design, fearing that the curved walls and ramp floor would make it impossible to hang their paintings level.

9. The building was named a landmark in 1990, one of the youngest ever to earn the distinction.

10. In 1992, an adjoining rectangular 10-story tower, taller than the original spiral, was added to the museum.

11. During the recent exterior restoration, it was discovered that the museum had first been painted tan and that its light gray color had been added later. After some debate, the restorers stuck with the light gray.

12. Wednesday night, the Empire State Building will be lit "Guggenheim red" in celebration of the museum's anniversary. Early on, Wright wanted the museum to be crimson, which he described as "the color of creation." Rebay wrote back, "Red is a color which displeases [founder Solomon Guggenheim] as much as it does me."

13. It took $3 million to build Wright's structure. The restoration of the exterior between 2005 and 2008 cost $29 million.

14. In one of Wright's original concepts, visitors to the museum would have been whisked via glass-tube elevator to the top of the building, where they could relax in a garden under a glass dome and then stroll down the ramp to view the art.

15. Neither Guggenheim nor Wright lived to see the building completed. Guggenheim died 10 years before the museum's opening. Wright missed it by six months. (His widow later said he wouldn't have attended anyway because he was offended by minor modifications to the design.)

16. Attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 21, 1959, were the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Arthur Flemming, United Nations Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge and New York City Mayor Robert Wagner.
17. Some 16,000 people visited the museum on opening day.

SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM

18. Art collector Guggenheim got his taste in modern paintings from his trusted adviser Rebay - more formally, Baroness Hilla Rebay von Ehrenwiesen - who was 29 years his junior. She was his confidante and, according to some, his lover.

19. Before founding the museum, Guggenheim displayed paintings in his eight-room suite at the Plaza Hotel. Some Old Masters, the first pieces he had bought, were relegated to his wife's bedroom.

20. Rebay steered Guggenheim toward "nonobjective" art - art that does not depict any physical object. For example, an abstract Picasso painting of a woman is not nonobjective, but the blocks of color on a Mondrian canvas are.

21. An artist herself, Rebay was commissioned to paint a portrait of Guggenheim in 1928. She was paid $9,000.

22. An early version of the museum was housed at 24 E. 54th St., where it was called the Museum of Non-Objective Painting. The gallery featured plush carpeting, burning incense, and a soundtrack of Bach and Chopin. The paintings were hung close to the floor so that they could be viewed by seated visitors.

23. One of the guards at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting was Robert De Niro Sr., father of the movie star.

24. The first show at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting was called "The Art of Tomorrow" and featured paintings by Wassily Kandinsky and Rudolf Bauer. Bauer was Rebay's lover.

25. Rebay served as the curator of Guggenheim's collection until shortly after his death, when she was expelled from the board of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, in part for her "tempestuous" personality.

26. Guggenheim was the fourth of seven brothers.

27. The Guggenheims made their money in mining, and Solomon spent his early career overseeing silver, lead and copper mines owned by his family. In 1906, he went to Alaska to found the Yukon Gold Co.

28. Solomon and his wife, Irene, were known for their opulent lifestyle. In addition to their suite at the Plaza, they had an estate called Trillora Court on Long Island where servants wore livery and stood behind the guests' chairs at dinner.

29. Guggenheim left his foundation $10 million. That's the equivalent of more than $70 million today.

THE ART

30. In 1998, the spiral ramp was turned into a giant parking garage for "The Art of the Motorcycle," an exhibit that displayed 114 classic bikes, including the first motorized bicycle, a Michaux-Perreaux Steam Velocipede from 1868 with wood-rimmed wheels.

31. Last year, an installation by artist Carsten Holler titled "Revolving Hotel Room" allowed guests to stay overnight in the museum. The piece included a bed and other furniture mounted on slowly revolving discs. Guests who paid the fee were provided with towels, robes and a continental breakfast. Actress Chloe Sevigny nabbed the first night's stay.

32. One of Guggenheim's favorite painters was Kandinsky; he bought more than 150 works by the artist. An exhibition of Kandinsky's work is on view at the museum through the end of the year.

33. Guggenheim helped the Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall flee Europe in 1941.

34. In 2004, director George Lucas unveiled a new cut of his sci-fi film "THX-1138" at the museum.

35. A photograph of a nude 10-year-old Brooke Shields, titled "Spiritual America," appeared as part of a 2007 exhibit. This month, an exhibit at Britain's Tate Modern was shut down for including the same photo amid charges of obscenity.

36. Guggenheim's niece, Peggy, was also a collector, and ran a New York gallery. The famous painter Jackson Pollock once worked there as a carpenter.

37. Some of Peggy's art collection was installed in her villa in Venice, which is now a museum itself.

38. One of Andy Warhol's final works, his series "The Last Supper," was displayed at the Guggenheim's satellite museum in SoHo, which has since closed.

39. Every year, the museum presents works by students in Learning Through Art, a program that sends professional teaching artists into the NYC public elementary schools. The annual exhibit is called "A Year With Children." Last year, approximately 1,500 students in grades 2 through 6 took part.

40. A 1912 watercolor by Chagall was stolen in the 1960s and later sold by an art dealer to New York collectors, who got to keep it after a settlement with the museum.

41. In 2006, Goya's 1778 painting "Children With a Cart" was stolen while en route to the museum for an exhibition of Spanish paintings. It was recovered by the FBI and went on display again in 2007.

THE MUSEUM TODAY

42. In the thriller "The International," Clive Owen's character takes part in a shootout in the Guggenheim rotunda. To film the scene, a replica of the interior was built to scale in a stage near Berlin.

43. The museum hosts popular parties called Art After Dark on the first Friday of each month, with drinks and dancing late into the night ($25; info at guggenheim.org).

44. The block of East 89th St. that runs by the museum between Fifth and Madison is named Fred Lebow Place after the founder of the New York City Marathon.

45. Lego recently unveiled a Guggenheim building set.

46. In August, during normal business hours, graffiti artist Mat Benote managed to stick one of his canvases to a wall in the museum, complete with an explanatory blurb. It was removed within minutes.

47. You can wear the museum. Fragments left over from the building's recent overhaul are on sale in a line of jewelry called "Restoration Rocks," released by the Guggenheim.

48. A Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, was designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 1997 to rave reviews. A Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, also designed by Gehry, is in the works.

49. A children's book by A.C. Hollingsworth, entitled "I'd Like the Goo-gen-heim," was reprinted this year.

50. This year, Alicia Keys reportedly threw a birthday fete for rapper Swizz Beatz at the museum.

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=301901

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 2 replies

Measuring the Hands of Time

Denisey — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:42:33 GMT

Art experts think they may have found the world's oldest painting to feature an image of a watch.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8313893.stm

The Science Museum is investigating the 450-year-old portrait, thought to be of Cosimo I de Medici, Duke of Florence, holding a golden timepiece.

Curators have sent their findings to renaissance experts at the Uffizi gallery in Florence, and are awaiting their comments.

The painting is being shown as part of the museum's Measuring Time gallery.

The first watches appeared shortly after 1500 in Germany and horologists believe the picture, painted by renaissance master Maso da San Friano around 1560, "may well be the oldest to show a true watch".

Coat of arms

Science Museum curator Rob Skitmore said the watch was thought to be from southern Germany.

"As Cosimo was a great patron of science and technology, it is entirely likely he would have owned a watch of this kind which he displays here with pride," he said.

"The picture shows the close linkage between science and art, especially in those days."

The painting has been in the museum's collection for 33 years after being acquired from a private donor.

As it was being taken out of storage for the gallery, curators decided to research the painting - which was when they made their discovery.

The clue to the painting's identity came when Mr Skitmore realised a seal containing the Medici coat of arms was on the back of the canvas.

He said: "In our painting Cosimo would have been about 41 and his appearance is entirely consistent with a later view of him from 1574."

The Measuring Time gallery traces the history of timekeeping and contains one of the biggest collections of clocks in Britain.
---

More on the gallery:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/time_measurement.aspx

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 4 replies

Hint Time :)

Bloke72 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:34:44 GMT

Just put one in on the main pic...

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 0 replies

The Real Story of the von Trapp Family

Bloke72 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:38:17 GMT

"I first saw the movie The Sound of Music as a young child, probably in the late 1960s. I liked the singing, and Maria was so pretty and kind! As I grew older, more aware of world history, and saturated by viewing the movie at least once yearly, I was struck and annoyed by the somewhat sanitized story of the von Trapp family it told, as well as the bad 1960s hairdos and costumes. "It's not historically accurate!" I'd protest, a small archivist in the making. In the early 1970s I saw Maria von Trapp herself on Dinah Shore's television show, and boy, was she not like the Julie Andrews version of Maria! She didn't look like Julie, and she came across as a true force of nature......"

Read on at http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 14 replies

Order 227 & Order 270, Barrier Troops and "They shall not pass"

Bloke72 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:22:32 GMT

Order No. 227 of July 28, 1942 was issued by Joseph Stalin acting as People's Commissar of Defence. It is famous for its line "Not a step back!!" (Russian: Ни шагу назад! (Ni Shagu Nazad!)), that became a slogan of Soviet antifascist resistance

No commander had the right to retreat without an order. Anyone who did so was subject to a military tribunal of the corresponding seniority level.

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_No._227

Order No. 270, dated August 16, 1941, was issued by Joseph Stalin acting as People's Commissar of Defense By the time of the order's issuance, German troops had achieved overwhelming successes in their advancement deep into Soviet territory.

In the preamble, the order gives examples of troops fighting in encirclement, as well as cases of surrender by military command.

The first article directed that any commanders or commissars "tearing away their insignia and deserting or surrendering" should be considered malicious deserters. The order required superiors to shoot these deserters on the spot. Their family members were subjected to arrest.

The second article demanded that encircled soldiers used every possibility to fight, and to demand that their commanders organize fighting; according to the order, anyone attempting to surrender instead of fighting must be killed and their family members deprived of any state welfare and assistance.

The order also required division commanders to demote and, if necessary, even to shoot on the spot those commanders who failed to command the battle directly in the battlefield.

Commenting on that order, Stalin declared: "There are no Russian prisoners of war, only traitors."

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_No._270

Barrier troops
Barrier troops, blocking units, or anti-retreat forces are formations of armed soldiers normally placed behind regular troops on a battle line to prevent panic or unauthorized withdrawal or retreat. Barrier troops may be utilized simply to raise the morale of frontline troops and for the purpose of constituting a reserve force, or they may be used to prevent unauthorized withdrawal of soldiers from the battlefield by any means, including indiscriminate killing.

In the Red Army context http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_troops#Barrier_troops_in_the_Red_Army

"They shall not pass"

"They shall not pass" (French: "Ils ne passeront pas/On ne passe pas"; Spanish: "¡No pasarán!"; Catalan: "No passaran!"; German: "Sie kommen nicht durch!"; Romanian: "Pe aici nu se trece!") is a propaganda slogan used to express determination to defend a position against an enemy. It was most famously used during the Battle of Verdun in World War I by French General Robert Nivelle (although some have attributed it to his commander, Philippe Pétain). It appears on propaganda posters, such as that by Maurice Neumont after the Second Battle of the Marne, which was later adopted on uniform badges by units manning the Maginot Line. Later during the war, it also was used by Romanian soldiers during the Battle of Mărăşeşti.

It was again used in the Siege of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War by Dolores Ibárruri Gómez in her famous "No Pasarán" speech on 18 July 1936. "¡No pasarán!" became an international communist slogan (used by the British far-left during the October 1936 Battle of Cable Street, for example), and is still used in this context in some political circles. It was often accompanied by the word pasaremos (we will pass). Their opponent's, General Francisco Franco, response to this slogan was "Hemos pasado" ("We have passed") said after his forces had reconquered Madrid.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_shall_not_pass

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 0 replies

Unusual Items for Sale from the U.S. Government

Bloke72 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:34:23 GMT

Unusual Items for Sale from the U.S. Government
■Collectible Coins
■Copyrights
■Farmers Markets
■Flag Flown Over the U.S. Capitol
■Floral Arrangements for Overseas Veterans Graves
■Folk Music
■Greeting Cards
■Lighthouse Adoption
■Nixon Watergate Records
■Patents and Trademarks
■State Lottery Tickets
■Treasury Department 24-Karat Gold Ornaments
■U.S. Capitol Historical Ornaments
■Uncut Currency
■White House Ornaments
■Wild Horse and Burro Adoption

See http://www.usa.gov/shopping/souvenirs/specialty/specialty.shtml

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 2 replies

Hello Kitty

Bloke72 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:19:51 GMT

Hello Kitty (ハローキティ, Harō Kiti?)[1], is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. Designed by Ikuko Shimizu, the first product, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in Japan in 1974, and in the United States in 1976.[2][3]

The character is portrayed as a female white cat, with a red bow and no drawn mouth.

The Hello Kitty line has since developed licensing arrangements worth more than $1 billion a year in sales.[4] Examples of products depicting the character include dolls, stickers and greeting cards to clothes, accessories, school supplies, dishes and home appliances.[5] Hello Kitty has an official theme park, Sanrio Puroland.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty

Products
Hello Kitty can be found on a variety of consumer products ranging from school supplies to fashion accessories.

The Hello Kitty Airbus A330-200.Hello Kitty has her own branded album, Hello World, featuring songs inspired by Hello Kitty performed a collection of artists, including Keke Palmer and Cori Yarckin. Sanrio and Fender released a series of Hello Kitty guitars (the Hello Kitty Stratocaster), and even a jet airplane (the Hello Kitty Jet). She was also named, in May 2008, Japan Tourism Ambassador, representing the country in China and Hong Kong.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty#Products

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 13 replies

Unusual items stolen from hotels

Bloke72 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:40:05 GMT

'Toiletries and teabags may be considered "fair game". But some hotel guests have made a habit of stealing everything that isn't nailed down. Coat hangers, alarm clocks, slippers, sheets and bath mats are fairly common targets for light-fingered visitors. But it gets much worse...

Colin Bennett, a former general manager for the Starwood Hotel Group, recalled the most brazen theft he encountered during nearly 20 years in the business: "As soon as I walked into the lobby of one hotel," he said, "I immediately realised something was missing - but I couldn't put my finger on it. It transpired that three people had strolled into reception, dressed in overalls, and had wheeled the grand piano out of the hotel and down the street, never to be seen again..... "

Source & more http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/6219061/Unusual-items-stolen-from-hotels.html (then hit 'next")

Number 12 was a pretty crappy thing to do.. and 15.. ambitious as was 16 !

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 7 replies

Unusual Hotels..

Bloke72 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:45:55 GMT

How about this one.. sleeping in a dogs butt ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/4397883/The-worlds-weirdest-hotels.html?image=1

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 7 replies

cool reptile stuff for dale!

aunt bea says argh!! — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:53:01 GMT

http://babycreativeblog.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/conservation-by-snake/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 17 replies

Arabian nights

Astrid_Seftali — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:24:11 GMT

The first translation of Arabian nights appeared during Victorian times around 1885 and had over 6500 pages. Since so much of it were very graphic descriptions off sex, the translator, Sir Richard F. Burton, tried to escape censorship by making the edition available to academics only.
quote from the description by Tahir Shah, "In Arabian nights", p.165:

>The text itself is peppered with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of footnotes. Understanding them in their entireety calls for a working knowledgfe of Latin, Greek, German, French, and classical Arabic. They cover an edifying spectrum of material, and frequently border on the sacrilegious, the illegal, or more usually the obscene.
The more pedestrian notes address such areas as breeds of of Arab horses, camels' names, door hinges, carrier pigeons and cannibal tribes. A great number of others stray into territory that would have been regarded with ouright horror by gentle Vicotrian sensibilities. They dote in dazzling detail on matters such as syphilis, incest, penile size and dismemberment, flatulence, menstrual discharges and hymeneal blood., castration, eunuchs, aphrodisiacs, and bestiality. Indeed, a long note on that subject explains a safe and foolproof method of enjoying "congress" with a female crocodile.<

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 2 replies

Question ; Was Jackie Robinson the first black baseball player?

Bloke72 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:29:05 GMT

I saw a movie today called "The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) " described at IMDB 'Biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. " Interestingly, Jackie Robinson played himself in the movie... which represented him as the first professional black baseball player.. not really true....

ANSWER (to the above question in the subject of the thread)

There is some speculation between William Edward White and Moses Fleetwood Walker, and Bud Fowler as to who was the first. It is thought that the first African-American Major League Baseball player was Bud Fowler who began his career as a pitcher in the first documented account of him playing with Chelsea, Massachusetts in April 1878.

William Edward White who was brought in as a sub for the Providence Grays of the National League during a June 21,1879 game. White subbed as first baseman for Joe Start who was injured. White did not play the next game and was replaced by now Hall-of-Famer "Orator" Jim O'Rourke. White was 1-for-4 with a hit, a strike out and a scoring run as Providence won 5-3. White was a graduate of Brown University.

Moses Fleetwood Walker attended Oberlin College.

"In 1883, Fleetwood, a catcher, signed with the Toledo Blue Stockings of the Northwestern League. A year later the Blue Stockings join the American Association, which was considered a major league. Fleetwood played in 42 games in 1884 and hit .263; while his brother, Welday Walker played in six games. Until 1947, the Walkers were the only black players ever to play in the major leagues.

In 1891, Fleetwood Walker was assaulted outside a Syracuse bar on a Sunday afternoon as he returned home from church. He killed his attacker with a knife in self-defense. A jury acquitted him to the cheers of the spectators. Sebsequent to this event, Moses retired from playing baseball and returned to his home in Steubenville, Ohio." - Negro League Baseball Players Association.

Jackie Robinson is wrongly thought to be the first black major league baseball player.

But actually Jackie was the player the broke Major League Baseball's color barrier. While not the first African American professional baseball player in United States history, his Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers ended approximately eighty years of baseball segregation.

There were some integrated teams shortly after the War Between the States, but on December 11, 1868 the governing body of the National Association of Baseball Players voted unanimously to bar "any club which may be composed of one or more colored persons." This was the first appearance of an official "color line" in baseball.

When Robinson joined the Dodgers, the Negro National League was well established, but soon disbanded as young players could now play in the major leagues.

Along with William Edward White, Moses Fleetwood Walker, Welday Walker, second baseman Bud Fowler, pitcher George Stovey, pitcher Robert Higgins, second baseman Frank Grant, and almost 50 others were all African-American players in the Major Leagues until the late 1800s.

Bud Fowler is also credited with creating shin guards

Source http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Was_Jackie_Robinson_the_first_black_baseball_player

Interestingly 'Bud Fowler is the first known professional black player on an integrated team when he plays in Lynn (IA) exhibition games.'
From 'Black Famous Baseball Firsts' http://www.baseball-almanac.com/firsts/first8.shtml

Wikipedia has an artilce on the "Baseball coior line" here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_color_line

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 2 replies

Civil Rights Act of 1875 (USA)

Bloke72 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:16:04 GMT

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 (18 Stat. 335) was a United States federal law proposed by Republican Senator Charles Sumner and Republican Congressman Benjamin F. Butler in 1870. The act was passed by Congress in February, 1875 and signed by President Grant on March 1, 1875. It was declared unconstitutiona by the US Supreme Court in 1883. Many of the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 were passed into law in the 1960s with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act using the federal power to regulate interstate commerce.

The Act guaranteed that everyone, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was entitled to the same treatment in "public accommodations" (i.e. inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement).

If found guilty, the lawbreaker could face a penalty anywhere from $500 to $1,000 and/or 30 days to 1 year in prison. However, the law was rarely enforced (especially after the withdrawal of federal troops from the South after the 1876 Presidential election) and in the 1883 Civil Rights Cases the Supreme Court deemed the act unconstitutional on the basis that Congress had no power to regulate the conduct of individuals. The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination by the state, not by individuals.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1875

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 0 replies

cursed automobiles

aunt bea says argh!! — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:17:21 GMT

In 1897, the three brothers Graf formed a partnership with Josef Stift and produced Austria’s first automobile. In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie came to Serajevo in a brand-new Graf & Stift phaeton, a large red limousine with a four cylinder engine and front-wheel drive. The sleek automobile would have a rendezvous with history.
The Graf & Stift company had its origins in the bicycle business, but in 1914 they were building luxury automobiles for a prestigious clientele. Among the famous people who bought a Graf & Stift were members of the Austrian Imperial Court.
When he came to the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, on 29 June 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, risked his life. In the great Austro-Hungarian empire all sorts of people were revolting: anarchists, Serbian nationalists… And he had been warned by the “Turnfalken”, the ravens which presaged disaster for the Hapsburgs.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie visited the city in their brand-new six seat, open touring car. As the Graf & Stift approached the corner of Rudolph Street, shots were fired by Gavrilo Princip, a student anarchist. Both Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed, but the Graf & Stift survived the attack unscathed. With this event started a conflict that soon would be known as “the Great War” and that we call now “World War One”.
read more:http://athingforcars.com/autos/franz-ferdinands-cursed-car-graf-stift-1914/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

Naughty...

Bloke72 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:19:40 GMT

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/875991/puddle-splash-hoax-backfires-on-driver

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

Thanks Nisey

Bloke72 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:35:50 GMT

Thanks Nisey

I neglected to say an official thank you for looking after the tribe while I was busy.,

Thanks Nisey !

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 38 replies

Welcome back!

Zoinks! — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:26:00 GMT

Welcome back sexy britches! :)

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 9 replies

The Wall.

Zoinks! — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:45:33 GMT

Israel’s Wall: The Facts

Currently, approximately 409 km (or 57%) of the planned route has been constructed. 66km (or 9%) is under construction; and construction has not yet begun on 248km (or 34%) of the planned route.

The Wall’s total length is 723km, which is twice the length of the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line) between the West Bank and Israel.

When completed, approximately 14% of the Wall will constructed on the Green Line or in Israel, while 86% will be inside the West Bank.
Approximately 385,000 settlers in 80 settlements are located between the Wall and the Green Line.

Approximately 35,000 West Bank Palestinians will be located between the Wall and the Green Line (an area known as ‘no man’s land’). They require permits to live in their homes and can only leave their communities via a gate in the Wall. This is in addition to the majority of the 250,000 East Jerusalem residents.

Approximately 125,000 Palestinians in 28 communities will be surrounded on three sides by the Wall.

Approximately 26,000 Palestinians in 8 communities will be surrounded on four sides by the Wall, with a tunnel or road connection to the rest of the West Bank.

The cost of the Wall to the Israeli government: approximately $3.7 million per kilometer, and approx $4 billion when completed. Building the Wall along the Green Line would have saved Israel 5.7 billion NIS i.e. approx $1.7 billion (calculated with 3.4 exchange rate).

[ source: http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article4 ]

More info:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clbpyNePW5k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYJ_HdI55eM&feature=related

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

Murder Act 1751

Bloke72 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:46:51 GMT

The Murder Act 1751 (25 Geo.2 c.37) was an Act of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The Murder Act included the provision "for better preventing the horrid crime of murder".. "that some further terror and peculiar mark of infamy be added to the punishment", and that "in no case whatsoever shall the body of any murderer be suffered to be buried" by mandating either public dissection or "hanging in chains" of the cadaver. The act also stipulated that a person found guilty of murder should be executed within 2 days of being found guilty unless the execution would happen of a Friday in which case the execution should take place on the Saturday

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_Act_1752

In 1843 England outlawed gibbeting.

Source and more http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Gibbet#encyclopedia

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 7 replies

"Romper Room."

Zoinks! — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:20:12 GMT

"In Japan, there was a localised version called "ロンパールーム" (Ronpaaruumu), which aired from 1963 to 1979. Just before this show debuted, the first Japanese hostess, Midori Namiki, visited New York for training with other hostesses from several countries. ([1])

Hostesses of the Japanese version were always named Miss Midori, with "Midori" meaning "green".

The Japanese version had a controversial episode, when hostess Midori Utsumi (the second "Miss Midori") asked the kids, "Who can tell me a word that begins with ki?" (き or キ). A boy answered: "I know: Kintama!" -- a slang term for "testicles" that is roughly equivalent to "balls" or "nuts" in English. Hoping to give the boy a gentle little hint, Miss Midori suggested "Maybe you could think of something that sounds a bit more kireina?" -- with careful emphasis on the first syllable of this word, which means "nice" or "pretty". The boy immediately responded "Kireina kintama!" -- i.e., "Nice nuts!". After a commercial break, the boy was replaced with a teddy bear. Midori Utsumi, who has since become a major media personality, often tells this story on some TV programs that she appears in."

"Miss Sherri (USA)
In 1962, the hostess of the Phoenix franchise of Romper Room linked her own name with that of the ongoing controversies over abortion. Sherri Finkbine, known to television viewers as "Miss Sherri", sought hospital approval for abortion on the ground that she had been taking thalidomide and believed her child would be born deformed. Being a community-minded woman, Finkbine made a public announcement about the dangers of thalidomide.
The hospital refused to allow an abortion, apparently because of her announcement and its own fear of publicity. Finkbine traveled to Sweden for the abortion. Upon completion, it was confirmed that the fetus had no legs and only one arm.
The incident became a made-for-TV movie in 1992, A Private Matter, with Sissy Spacek as Finkbine."

[ More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romper_room ]

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 16 replies

Bert Newton.....Australians can be an innocent bunch

Bloke72 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:51:33 GMT

Most people will know the scene in Crocodile Dunee where "Mick" says "That's not a knife.."

If is funny.. but sometimes things which pass through the minds of others can be totally lost on me.. the idea I would get mugged is kinda weird.

There was a thread in here talking about how things get lost in translation and I was looking for a video clip at the time - and just found it..

Bert Newton is very well known on Australian TV (and radio) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Newton

'At the Australian Logies Awards in 1979, Bert Newton introduced Muhammad Ali. While joking around with the boxer, Bert said, “I like the boy” which Muhammad took to be a racial slur. Bert managed to joke his way out of the gaffe. Later, Muhammad was the one to announce Bert had won the Gold Logie.'

Source http://www.tv.com/bert-newton/person/54595/trivia.html

Here it is.. happens at about 2 minutes in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWKyDGGptA4

Poor bloke.. I can imagine how he felt when he realized this simple phrase commonly heard would have serious and different connotations in other countries..

If only others reacted with as much affability to such things like Ali did.. I dont think Newton 'joked' his way out of it.. I think Ali saw it for what it was - an innocent comment..

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 4 replies

William "Captain" Kidd

Bloke72 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:48:02 GMT

William "Captain" Kidd (c. 1645 – May 23, 1701) was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer. Kidd's fame springs largely from the sensational circumstances of his questioning before the English Parliament and the ensuing trial. His actual depredations on the high seas, whether piratical or not, were both less destructive and less lucrative than those of many other contemporary pirates and privateers................. Captain William Kidd was either one of the most notorious pirates in history, or one of its most unjustly vilified and prosecuted privateers in an age typified by the rationalization of empire. Despite the legends and fiction surrounding this character, his actual career was punctuated by only a handful of skirmishes followed by a desperate quest to clear his name.

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kidd

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

2 Illegals star in what movies?

Bewith — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:03:02 GMT

Hint-- they both can fly!

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 14 replies

records in traveling- people who want to go everywhere!

Astrid_Seftali — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:25:40 GMT

Ranking of locations, according to rarity of visits and difficulty of access:

http://mosttraveledpeople.com/Rank-Locations.cfm#0

I have been told on that website that my "most difficult place" was Ogasawara islands (rank 117). It was 36 hours by ferry, and you can do jungle hiking whale watching and swimming with dolphins there. ; ) However, Ogasawara is officially part of Tokyo!

history of http://mosttraveledpeople.com/:

"MTP was founded in 2005 to address a lack of standards for travelers who want to go "everywhere." In the year 2000, Guinness abandoned its list of countries and territories, and declared itself unable to judge the Most Traveled category. They requested that a legitimate 3rd party organization pick up this task. The Travelers Century Club, a social travel club, also declared themselves unable to judge this category, so MTP was born.

MTP's Master List of countries and territories began by rationalizing the 4 major overlapping lists (TCC, Guinness, DXCC, and John Todd lists) into a single, more detailed list. Then a voting system was created, so that members would have a say in nominating and accepting new land areas, or in rejecting existing ones from the list.

It is important to recognize that MTP's Master List is not a list of "must-see" destinations, but a division of all land area on Earth into geographically or politically separate components.

Note that this website uses the phrase "Most Traveled" to mean pure geographic coverage of the land on Earth. There is no further subjective criteria. This is because different people have different travel goals. Some people choose to spend substantially in order to travel in luxury, while others take great pride in their resourcefulness and see authenticity in their frugality. Some strive to eat local food, to use local transportation, to find local romance, to see World Heritage Sites, etc. - and count their successes in their own individual ways. While such experiences are certainly core to everyone's travel experience, they are individually subjective. And as such, this site does not try to objectify or quantify them.

This site asks, simply: "Were you there? Was it legal? And can you prove it?"

Members on the site can share their travel advice on difficult or interesting places, attach photos, view each other's personal profiles, and compare notes with other members who wish to be contacted. You can see who has visited each place most recently, and find out how they managed to get there.

Travel agents and exotic tour operators can post their trips for members, so that all members are up-to-date on what's available.

So please take a moment to register and start creating posts to share your stories and photos with like-minded travelers.

Thank you for your interest, and welcome to the ranks of the World's Most Traveled People!"

The record is held by Charles Veley of SF, Ca., who has visited 711 out of 762 locations.

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 0 replies

Flettner Fl 282

Bloke72 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:26:24 GMT

Interesting.. I did not know helicopers saw service in WW2

"The Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri ("Hummingbird") is a single-seat open cockpit intermeshing rotor helicopter, or synchropter, produced by Anton Flettner of Germany."

Operational history
By 1943 over 20 B-1 models were in service in the Baltic, Mediterranean and Aegean. Their roles included ferrying items between ships and reconnaissance. However, as the war progressed, the Luftwaffe began considering converting the Fl 282 for battlefield use. Until this time the craft had been flown by a single pilot, but now a position for an observer was added at the very rear of the craft, resulting in the B-2 version. The B-2 proved a useful artillery spotting aircraft and an observation unit was established in 1944 comprising three Fl 282 and three Fa 223 helicopters.

In 1944 the German Air Ministry issued a contract to BMW to produce 1,000 examples. However, the company's Munich plant was destroyed by Allied bombing raids after producing just 24 machines.

Towards the end of World War II most of the surviving Fl 282s were stationed at Rangsdorf, in their role as artillery spotters, but gradually fell victim to Soviet fighters and anti-aircraft fire.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_Fl_282

And before that.. .

The Flettner Fl 265 was an experimental helicopter designed by Anton Flettner.

The helicopter was developed in 1938 with support of the German Navy. In contrast to the Fl 185, the Fl 265, believed to be the pioneering example of a synchropter, had two intermeshing rotors 12 m in diameter. Power was provided by a 160 horsepower (120 kW) BMW-Bramo Sh 14 A radial engine. Six helicopters were constructed. Series production was curtailed in favor of the Flettner Fl 282.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_Fl_265

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

Latin Phrases !

Bloke72 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:53:21 GMT

Hit me with some !

How about ;

Caveat lector, "let the reader beware"
Caveat emptor, "let the buyer beware"
Caveat venditor, "let the seller beware"
Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caveat

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 87 replies

50 facts on New York

Bloke72 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:19:03 GMT

New York Facts and Trivia
1.The first American chess tournament was held in New York in 1843.

2.The 641 mile transportation network known as the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway is the longest toll road in the United States.

3.A brewer named Matthew Vassar founded Vassar College in Poughkeepsie in 1861.

4.In 1979 Vassar students were the first from a private college to be granted permission to study in the People's Republic of China.

5.The Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan is the only school in the world offering a Bachelor of Science Degree with a Major in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing.

6.Union College in Schenectady is regarded as the Mother of Fraternities because Delta Phi is the oldest continually operating fraternity and Kappa Alpha and Sigma Phi Societies were started on the campus.

7.The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair was actually held in Bethel.

8.Dairying is New York's most important farming activity with over 18,000 cattle and or calves farms.

9.In 1807 The Clermont made its maiden voyage from New York City to Albany making the vessel the first successful steamboat.

10.Sam Schapiro began the Kosher wine industry on New York's Lower East side with their famous extra heavy original concord wine in 1899.

11.New York City has 722 miles of subway track.

12.Power Mill Park situated outside Rochester has a house on Park Road shaped like a group of mushrooms.

13.Chittenago is the home of L. Frank Baum, author of the "Wizard of Oz". It features a yellow brick inlaid sidewalks leading to Aunti Em's and other Oz-themed businesses. Chittenago is the location of an annual Munchkins parade.

14.Oneida has the world's smallest church with the dimensions of 3.5' X 6'.

15.The first daily Yiddish newspaper appeared in 1885 in New York City.

16.The first international sports hero, boxer Bill Richmond of Staten Island, was born August 5, 1763.

17.The "New York Post" established in 1803 by Alexander Hamilton is the oldest running newspaper in the United States.

18.John Babcock invented both the indoor rowing machine and the sliding seat during the winter of 1869/1870.

19.The first railroad in America ran a distance of 11 miles between Albany and Schenectady.

20.The first capital of the United States was New York City. In 1789 George Washington took his oath as president on the balcony at Federal Hall.

21.Hartsdale has a pet cemetery established in 1896 and containing 12,000 plots.

22.In November for Boy Scouts and in March for Girl Scouts the annual Urban Camp-Outs are hosted at the Empire State Building.

23.The Catskills are the home of the legend of Rip Van Winkle, brown trout and flycasting.

24.The first presentation of 3D films before a paying audience took place at Manhattan's Astor Theater on June 10, 1915.

25.Sam Wilson, a meatpacker from Troy who's caricature Uncle Sam came to personify the United States is buried at Troy's Oakwood Cemetery. During the War of 1812, he stamped "U.S. Beef" on his products which soldiers interpreted the U.S. abbreviation as meaning Uncle Sam.

26.The Genesee River is one of the few rivers in the world that flows south to north.

27.Rochester is known as both the Flour City and the Flower City. The community is home to the first abolitionist group, bloomers, marshmallows, Jell-O, French's Mustard, baby shoes, gold teeth and the mail chute.

28.Gennaro Lombardi opened the first United States pizzeria in 1895 in New York City.

29.On July 28, 1945 an Army Air Corps B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building at the 79th floor level.

30.New York's largest lake in Oneida measures 79.8 square miles.

31.New York's highest waterfall is the 215 foot Taughannock.

32.The Erie Canal, built across New York State in the 1820s, opened the Midwest to development and helped New York City become a worldwide trading center.

33.The first Boy's Club was established in New York City in 1876.

34.European settlers who brought seeds to New York introduced apples in the 1600s.

35.The Big Apple is a term coined by musicians meaning to play the big time.

36.The first Eagle Scout was Arthur R. Eldred from Troop 1 in Oceanside. He was bestowed the honor in May 1912.

37.Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp in Narrowsburg is the largest council owned camp in the country.

38.Joseph C. Gayetty of New York City invented toilet paper in 1857.

39.Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr. played against each other in Rochester vs. Pawtucket Red Sox in the longest game in baseball history. The game went a total of 33 innings.

40.The oldest cattle ranch in the US was started in 1747 at Montauk on Long Island.

41.Adirondack Park is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Olympic Parks combined.

42.New York was the first state to require license plates on cars.

43.Niagara Reservation became the first state park in the United States.

44.Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh was the first publicly owned historic site.

45.New York State is home to 58 species of wild orchids.

46.New York has over 70,000 miles of rivers and streams.

47.The first public brewery in America was established by Peter Minuit at the Market (Marckvelt) field in lower Manhattan.

48.Mount Kisco's landmark, a statue of Chief Kisco, was once an elaborate fountain for watering horses. The statue stands at the intersection of Routes 117 and 133. D.F. Gorham, a strong supporter of prohibition, presented it to Mount Kisco in 1907. The inscription on the base to the statue reads "God's Only Beverage for Man and Beast."

49.The name Canandaigua (pronounced Can-an-DAY-gwa) is derived from a Native American word meaning the chosen spot.

50.Horseheads is the first and only village in the United States dedicated to the service of the American military horse.

Source http://www.50states.com/facts/newyork.htm

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 12 replies

Mini Rex found!

Thystle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:57:02 GMT

WASHINGTON — About 125 million years ago a tiny version of Tyrannosaurus rex roamed what is now northeastern China. Tiny, that is, by T. rex standards — you still wouldn't want to meet it face to face. Described by paleontologist Paul Sereno as "punk size," this early predator stood about nine feet tall.

It just seems small compared to the giant T. rex that evolved millions of years later and was as much as 100 times more massive.

"It really is the blueprint for the later (T. rex) dinosaurs," Sereno said, "it was a blueprint that was scalable."

Described for the first time in Thursday's ScienceExpress, the online edition of the journal Science, the new dinosaur has been named Raptorex kriegsteini.

Sereno reports that Raptorex has all the hallmarks of T. rex, including a large head, tiny arms and lanky feet — just in a smaller size.

"What we're looking at is a blueprint for a fast-running set of jaws," Sereno said at a briefing arranged by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The giant T. rex dominated much of the planet from about 90 million years ago until the great extinction 65 million years ago.

Raptorex would have weighed only about 150 pounds, said Sereno, of the University of Chicago and also a National Geographic explorer in residence.

The newly described remains were found by fossil hunters in northern China, smuggled out of that country and offered for sale to collector Henry Kriegstein of Higham, Mass., Sereno said. Kriegstein, for whom the animal is now named, donated the materials to science and they will be returned to China.

The fossil was encased in a single block of stone, Sereno said. That stone allowed the researchers to trace the find to its original location.

The way the bones were fused indicates the animal died at the age of five or six, which is nearly adult. It would have matured at eight or 10 and been old by 20, added co-author Stephen Brusatte of the American Museum of Natural History.

The find also shows that features such as the animal's tiny arms did not evolve as T. rex grew larger, but were present in the much earlier forms, Brusatte said.

"Much of what we thought we knew about T. rex turns out to be simplistic or out-and-out wrong," Brusatte said.

Sereno said Raptorex was a predator. Some scientists debate whether T. rex was a predator or scavenger.

Dinosaur expert John R. Horner of the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University was cautious about the find.

"It's hard to evaluate their conclusions," he said, calling the report interesting but adding that the drawing in the paper shows some differences from a T. rex in addition to being smaller.

However, he added, he didn't see anything that would disprove their theory that Raptorex was an ancestor of T. rex.

The research was funded by the Whitten-Newman Foundation and the National Geographic Society.

___

On the Net:

Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 7 replies

Can I get avian influenza from eating or preparing poultry or eggs?

Bloke72 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:30:52 GMT

You cannot get avian influenza from properly handled and cooked poultry and eggs. There currently is no scientific evidence that people have been infected with bird flu by eating safely handled and properly cooked poultry or eggs. Most cases of avian influenza infection in humans have resulted from direct or close contact with infected poultry or surfaces contaminated with secretions and excretions from infected birds. Even if poultry and eggs were to be contaminated with the virus, proper cooking would kill it. In fact, recent studies have shown that the cooking methods that are already recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for poultry and eggs to prevent other infections will destroy influenza viruses as well. So to stay safe, the advice is the same for protecting against any infection from poultry:

• Wash your hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling raw poultry and eggs.
• Clean cutting boards and other utensils with soap and hot water to keep raw poultry from contaminating other foods.
• Use a food thermometer to make sure you cook poultry to a temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit Consumers may wish to cook poultry to a higher temperature for personal preference.
• Cook eggs until whites and yolks are firm.

The U.S. government carefully controls domestic and imported food products, and in 2004 issued a ban on importation of poultry from countries affected by avian influenza viruses, including the H5N1 strain. This ban still is in place. For more information, see Embargo of Birds from Specified Countries.

From http://www.jhsph.edu/flu/morefaq.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

Cool Saturn stuff

crarko — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:51:38 GMT

OK, not trivia but I know some of you like these things...

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/thesaturnsystemafeastfortheeyes/flash/index.cfm

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 5 replies

goldrush trivia

aunt bea says argh!! — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:27:18 GMT

http://www.icebike.org/History/HistBroken.htm

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

Festivals..

Bloke72 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:54:11 GMT

What are some of the notable festivals around your (and others) parts ?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 10 replies

newspaper headlines

aunt bea says argh!! — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:34:32 GMT

we've all seen the 'dewey beats truman' headlines in the u.s. here are some more iconic headlines that are true!
http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/news/15-of-the-most-iconic-newspaper-headlines-ever-printed/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 7 replies

Walnuts Were Once an Important Crop in Santa Barbara

Bloke72 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:52:49 GMT

Walnuts Were Once an Important Crop in Santa Barbara
By 1910, Walnuts Were Bringing in Almost $300,000
By Michael Redmon

Sunday, August 9, 2009

For a number of years surrounding the turn of the 20th century, southern Santa Barbara County was one of the most important walnut-producing regions in the United States. By 1910, the walnut crop was bringing in almost $300,000 into local coffers.

Although the Spanish introduced the walnut into Alta California, it did not become a crop of much importance until the 1840s, when larger orchards were put in production in the San Diego, then the Los Angeles areas. Russel Heath, on his Carpinteria Valley ranch, was the first to plant a commercial walnut orchard in Santa Barbara County, in the early 1860s.

Heath came to California during the Gold Rush, eventually making his way to Santa Barbara. With a background in the law, he was appointed Santa Barbara County District Attorney in 1853, then became county sheriff. He was elected to the state Legislature in 1858, the same year he bought his Carpinteria ranch.

After experimenting with almonds, Heath turned to raising soft-shelled walnuts, and by the early 1880s had one of the largest walnut orchards in the country. An area newspaper reported in the mid 1880s that Heath had some 200 acres planted in walnuts, which yielded around 28 tons bringing in over $6,000 annually.

Walnuts also became a major crop in the Goleta Valley. Joseph Sexton planted them in what is today Pershing Park in 1868, before transferring operations to his Goleta ranch. W.W. Hollister, Ellwood Cooper, and Sherman Stow all became major walnut growers with tens of thousands of trees among them.

In the early years, ranchers sold their crops to brokers, who in turn sold to wholesalers. In 1896, the ranchers formed a cooperative to sell directly to wholesalers and eliminate brokers’ fees. The return to ranchers almost doubled, from 6 cents a pound to 10 cents a pound. Carpinteria and Goleta farmers shipped their crops to F. E. Kellogg’s packing house in Goleta. Here the walnuts were graded according to size, bleached to improve their appearance, dried, and packed in 100-pound sacks for shipment, all at an estimated cost of three-quarters of a cent per pound.

Autumn harvesting was often done by hand. Tree limbs were shaken with long poles to knock the walnuts to the ground for retrieval. Harvesting was done by seasonal labor and often by children, who were given time off from school to work in the fields. Husking the walnuts was made easier by a machine invented by G. F. Maiers of Goleta, which used a system of rollers and water pressure to pull the husk away from the nut. His machine, patented in 1903, was still in use well into the 1950s.

South Coast crop sizes and prices steadily rose in the early 1900s. More than 1,100 tons were harvested in 1905, and by 1910, that figure had well passed 1,400 tons. By 1910, the Carpinteria yield was so large that ranchers in that area began their own walnut cooperative.

Walnuts continued to be an important local crop until after World War II; county farms produced more than 3 million pounds in 1946. Development began to take acreage out of production in both the Carpinteria and Goleta areas, and other crops, such as citrus and avocados, grew in importance. By 1960, only some 700 acres on the South Coast were planted in walnuts. That same year, local processing of the fruit came to a close, and in 1970, the Santa Barbara County Walnut Growers Association shut down.

Today, fewer than 700 acres in the entire county are planted in walnuts, with operations concentrated in North County. It is a far cry from a time, 100 years ago, when the Santa Barbara region was a national leader in the production of walnuts.

Michael Redmon, director of research at the Santa Barbara Historical Society, will answer your questions about Santa Barbara’s history. Write him c/o The Independent, 122 W. Figueroa St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

Source http://www.independent.com/news/2009/aug/09/walnuts-were-once-important-crop-santa-barbara/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

What is the story behind the battle of Santa Barbara?’

Bloke72 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:55:20 GMT

‘What is the story behind the battle of Santa Barbara?’
— Erma Cook
By Michael Redmon

Thursday, March 27, 2008

In November 1829, a military revolt broke out in Alta California. Disgruntled soldiers, many of whom had not been paid in years, mutinied and called for the governor’s ouster. Troops throughout Northern California joined the rebellion and, with a former convict as their leader, began their march toward Santa Barbara, where the beleaguered governor had decided to make his stand.

Trouble had been brewing for a while. In June 1829, authorities in Monterey learned of a plot by soldiers to raise the flag of mutiny and to depose the governor of Alta California, José María Echeandía. The soldiers’ pay was seriously in arrears, resulting in severe hardship. Rations were often in short supply, causing hunger among the troops and their families.

The leader of the nascent mutiny was Joaquin Solís. He had fought for Mexico in its war of independence from Spain but had then turned to a life of crime. At the time the plot was uncovered, he was working on a convict ranch near the Monterey presidio. Criminals were often sent from Mexico to work in labor-starved Alta California.

The crisis was averted, but incredibly, the authorities took no punitive action against the ringleaders, partly because no officer could be found to act as prosecutor. The affair was soon forgotten, but the underlying causes went uncorrected.

During the night of November 12-13, the soldiers at the Monterey presidio rose in revolt and arrested their officers, who put up no resistance. The mutineers cast about for a leader and again turned to Solís, who on November 14 was proclaimed comandante of the renegade troops. A proclamation not only called for a redress of grievances but also became a cry for revolution. Echeandía was to resign, to be replaced by a soldiers’ committee, which would appoint a person to serve in his place until a new governor arrived from Mexico. Salaries and supply inventories would be brought up to date as soon as possible. The soldiers also obtained the support of Monterey’s alcalde (mayor), who transferred municipal funds into the rebels’ coffers.

In late November, Solís moved north, gaining support in the Bay Area. He was met with an artillery salute in San Francisco, and the entire presidio garrison there went over to him. By the end of December he was back in Monterey, and — with a force of some 100 men — he decided to descend upon Santa Barbara. The garrison there had revolted earlier in the month, briefly imprisoning the acting presidio comandante, Romualdo Pacheco. Pacheco eventually convinced the troops of the error of their ways and, by the time Governor Echeandía arrived, Pacheco had a force of about 90 loyalists under his command.

Echeandía had been in San Diego when the revolt broke out. Rallying support, he moved northward and, when he reached Santa Barbara and heard Solís was marching south, decided to make his stand in Santa Barbara.

Echeandía sent an emissary to Solís with an order to surrender and a promise of amnesty to anyone who would forswear the folly of revolt; Solís refused all entreaties. By mid January, Solís was moving through the Goleta Valley. Comandante Pacheco sallied forth to meet him but, upon sight of the rebels, beat a hasty retreat back to the presidio. Solís approached the presidio and opened fire with his artillery; the garrison returned fire. The distance was so great, however, each side was out of range of their opponents’ guns. After two days of desultory combat, in which no one was hurt, Solís realized that both the mission and the presidio were impregnable to him and that the Santa Barbara garrison was not going to rally to him. In fact, some of the rebel forces deserted back to the governor.

Solís was beaten. On January 15, he ordered his cannon spiked and the retreat northward began, the army disintegrating along the way. The governor quickly restored order. Solís was hunted down and captured in early February and sent to Mexico in irons. He was eventually released without serious punishment. The rebellion of Joaquin Solís was over, defeated at the “battle” of Santa Barbara.

Source http://www.independent.com/news/2008/mar/27/what-story-behind-battle-santa-barbara/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 0 replies

Trivia on Rainbows

Bloke72 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:42:51 GMT

Mmm..how about this

"Historically, a rainbow flag was used in the German Peasants' War in the 16th century as a sign of a new era, of hope and of social change. Rainbow flags have also been used as a symbol of the Cooperative movement; as a symbol of peace, especially in Italy; to represent the Tawantin Suyu, or Inca territory, mainly in Peru and Bolivia; by some Druze communities in the Middle east; and by the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

A "rainbow flag" has been in use as a symbol of "gay pride" and LGBT social movements since the 1970s. The colours reflect the diversity of the LGBT community. It was originally designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978."

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow#Flags

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 6 replies

duck or...?

aunt bea says argh!! — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:58:47 GMT

DUCK!!!!!!
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10097658

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 6 replies

more weird creatures...

aunt bea says argh!! — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:59:31 GMT

http://www.webphemera.com/2009/05/we-hatch-we-fly-bizarre-maleo.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 59 replies

crazy? you dec ide

aunt bea says argh!! — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:29:03 GMT

http://www.spike.com/blog/top-10-crazy/87425?page=1&numPerPage=1

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

Binding Types

Bloke72 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:30:09 GMT

No.. not a bondage thread.. move along .. move along..

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” the saying goes. The saying could as easily be: “There’s more than one way to bind a book.” From the hard cover books at the local library, to the spiral notebooks you used at school, to the comb-bound Junior League cookbook in the kitchen cupboard, all become books by different paths. Here are few of the major binding types and how they work.

Hardcover
The Hardcover book features a hard external cover (called a “case” by the binding industry). These are usually covered with cloth, leather, or textured paper. On some books, the spine has a different covering material than the front and back panels. This is called quarter-binding and is very popular in the publishing industry.

Hardcover binding is a good choice for publishing, photobooks, yearbooks, dissertations, theses, high-end presentations, and proposals.
The Fastback Hardcover System and Photobook Production Cell are two hard cover binding solutions that Powis offers. The Fastback Hardcover System lets anyone make hard cover books quickly without expensive bindery equipment. The Photobook Production Cell is designed specifically for people who need to bind glossy paper.

Tape Binding
Tape binding uses a thermoplastic adhesive on a strip to bind books. In technique, it is similar to perfect binding, where the individual pages are glued to the book spine. Tape binding is a good choice for office documents, review books, or other presentations. Powis makes a number of tape binding strips, from the sturdy Super Strip to the attractive Comp Strip to the Lx-Strip, which is used with the Fastback 9 binding machine. We also make the PhotoPro strip which is designed for use with the Photobook Production Workcell.

Perfect Binding
Perfect binding is a punchless binding method that works by fastening the book block to the cover spine. It is often used for softcover books and is most familiar to people in the form of paperback books. It is also called adhesive binding, or unsewn binding. The Powis Perfectback Strips make perfect binding on an on-demand basis as easy to do as any office document binding job.

Sewn Binding
Sewn binding is usually used in conjunction with hard cover binding. The book block, or sections of the book block are sewn together prior to the addition of the cover. This makes for a very sturdy book. The biggest disadvantage to sewn binding is that it requires specialized, expensive equipment, and, when done on a custom basis, is a slow process. As an alternative to sewn binding, Powis has developed StitchFree™ technology, which is capable of producing books that rival sewn and wire-stitched books in binding strength.

Wire Stitching
Wire stitching is a form of binding that uses wire staples to bind sheets together. Wire stitching can either be used as side stitching, or saddle stitching. Side stitching is used for thin books that are usually then either covered with a hard cover, or a tape strip. Saddle stitching binds the sheets together through the fold in the center of several pages. It is the form of binding commonly used on comic books and magazines.

Plastic Comb Binding
Also called GBC binding, plastic comb binding is a punch-and-bind system that is used for many office documents. Its main advantage is that it is inexpensive and easily edited. Its disadvantage is its appearance and the security of the final book. Also, like other punch-and-bind systems, it requires more labor than tape binding.

Wire-O Binding
Wire-O is a punch-and-bind system that is similar in technique to the plastic comb binding, but resembles wire spiral binding in appearance.

Velobinding
Velobind is a punch-and-bind system that uses a two-part binding element. First the paper is punched with a series of tiny holes. One half of the binding element consists of a plastic strip with evenly spaced plastic spikes on one side. The other half of the binding element is a plastic strip with evenly spaced holes that match the punches. The spikes are pushed through one side of the paper and then fed through the plastic strip with holes. The ends of the spikes are melted off, creating the bind. A Velobound cannot be edited without rebinding.

Spiral Binding
Spiral binding—as its name suggests—is a punch-and-bind system that uses a plastic or metal spiral wire that is wound through punched holes on the binding edge. It is the type of binding most often used for school notebooks and steno pads.

Source and from http://www.powis.com/resources/learn/binding_types.php

Actually.. it looks like wikipedia has a really good article on this topic.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 3 replies

Eskimos and Snow

Bloke72 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:23:19 GMT

by Flemming Funch

It is often said that eskimos have a large numbers of words for types of snow, like 60 or so. And almost as often somebody will claim that it is an unfounded falsehood. Somebody even wrote a book on that basis. But now some folks have actually done the logical thing and investigated it a bit. And maybe it isn't exactly 60, but it is at least 32. These are from the Inupiat Eskimo Dictionary by Webster and Zibell:
•apun: snow
•apingaut: first snowfall
•aput: spread-out snow
•kanik: frost
•kanigruak: frost on a living surface
•ayak: snow on clothes
•kannik: snowflake
•nutagak: powder snow
•aniu: packed snow
•aniuvak: snowbank
•natigvik: snowdrift
•kimaugruk: snowdrift that blocks something
•perksertok: drifting snow
•akelrorak: newly drifting snow
•mavsa: snowdrift overhead and about to fall
•kaiyuglak: rippled surface of snow
•pukak: sugar snow
•pokaktok: salt-like snow
•miulik: sleet
•massak: snow mixed with water
•auksalak: melting snow
•aniuk: snow for melting into water
•akillukkak: soft snow
•milik: very soft snow
•mitailak: soft snow covering an opening in an ice floe
•sillik: hard, crusty snow
•kiksrukak: glazed snow in a thaw
•mauya: snow that can be broken through
•katiksunik: light snow
•katiksugnik: light snow deep enough for walking
•apuuak: snow patch
•sisuuk: avalanche
There you go, 32. And, now that's what was found in a particular Inupiat to English dictionary. I can only guess that the guy who found it was an English-speaking person who searched a text file on "snow" and a few other things he could think of, like "sleet" and "frost". So I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were words and variations that weren't in the dictionary and words that weren't found because the English translation didn't mention "snow". Anyway, that was just one Eskimo dialect. Others get different, but similar sets of results. Around 30 root "lexemes" in another dialect. And those languages also seem to have a large number of possible inflections and conjugations and combinations based on the roots that could add up to hundreds of snow related words.

Source.. http://ming.tv/flemming2.php/__show_article/_a000010-001436.htm

Ahh.. but we can do better !

But they are not just Inuit... and dont really add much to the discussion.. but hey.. it is *trivia*... and if you are trying to come up with a name for a pet.. it might help :)
Agloolik: good spirit that lived under the ice
Akitla: snow falling on water
Akkilokipok: soft snow
Akuvijarjuak: thin ice in the sea
Allatla: baked snow
Aluiqqaniq: snowdrift on a steep hill, overhanging on top
Aneira: really white or really golden snow (Welsh Female)
Anijo: snow on the ground
Aniuk: snow for drinking water
Aniuvak: snow remaining in holes
Anmana: space formed between a snowdrift and an obstruction
Anniu: falling snow unmodified by the wind
Anyu: snow used for a specific purpose
Api: snow on ground
Aput: snow on the ground
Aqilluqqaaq: fresh and soggy snow
Aquutaq: Eskimo ice cream
Ashtla: expected snow that's wagered on (depth, size of flakes)
Auviq: snow brick, to build igloo

B
Berfu: snow queen (Turkish)
Blotla: blowing snow

C
Cikuq: ice (Ahtna Athabascan)
Chilali: snowbird (Native American Female)
Chilam: snowbird (Native American Female)
Crystal: ice (Greek)

D
Dinliltla: little balls of snow that cling to Husky fur
Drífa: snow flurry (Old Norse/Icelandic Female)

E
Edur: snow (Basque Female)
Edurne: snow (Basque Female)
Eira: snow (Welsh Female)
Eiriol: snow drop (Welsh Female)
Eryi: from Snowdon (Welsh Male)

G
Gana: falling snow
Gengaruk: snow bank
Gerda: character in "The Snow Queen" (Scandinavian Female)
Goomama snow (Australian Aboriginal)

H
Haimati: Indian snow queen (Indian female myth)
Haukea: white snow (Hawaiian Female)
Hiko: ice
Hikuliaq: thin ice
Hiroyuki: heavy snowfall (Japanese)
Hiryla: snow in beards

I
Iglopuk: large snow house
Ijaruvak: melted snow, turned in ice crystals
Intla: snow that has drifted indoors
Isiriartaq: falling snow, yellow or red
Istas: snow on the ground (Native American Female)
Ivuneq: high pack ice

J
Jatla: snow between your fingers or toes, or in groin-folds

K
Kaba: snow (Tibetan)
Kaioglaq: large sculptures resulting from erosion of Kalutoganiq
Kalutoganiq: arrowhead-shaped snowdrift on top of upsik
Kanangniut: snowdrift made by north-east wind
Kaneq: frost
Kanevvluk: fine snow/rain particles
Kang snow (Tibetan)
Kanut: fresh snow without any ice
Karli: covered with snow (Turkish female)
Kassuq: drifting lump of ice
Katakartanaq: crusty snow, broken by steps
Katiyana: night snow
Kavisilaq: snow hardened by rain or frost
Kayi: drifting snow
Khuno: the god of snowstorms (Aymara mythology)
Kimoaqruk: finger drift downwind from an obstruction
Kinirtaq: wet and compact snow
Klin: remembered snow
Konik: hoar frost
Krikaya: snow mixed with breath
Kripya: snow that has melted and refrozen
Kriplyana: snow that looks blue in the early morning
Kriyantli: snow bricks
Kuhugaq: icicle

M
Manelaq: pack ice
Maneraq: smooth ice
Mangokpok: watery snow
Manirak: smooth stretch of ice
Mapsuk: anvil-shaped drift
Masak: wet snow, saturated
Matsaaq: snow in water
Maujaq: deep and soft snow, where it's difficult to walk
Mentlana: pink snow
Mingullaut: thin powder snow, enters by cracks and covers objects
Mituk: small snow layer on the water of a fishing hole
Munnguqtuq: compressed snow which began to soften in spring
Muruaneq: soft deep snow

N
Naklin: forgotten snow
Natiruviaqtuq: snow blasts on the ground
Natquik: drifting snow
Neige: snow (French)
Neus: snows (Catalan female)
Neva: snowy (Spanish Female)
Nevada: snow-clad; snow-capped; snowy land (Spanish female)
Neve: snow (Italian)
Nevluk: clinging debris (lint, snow, dirt)
Nieves: snow; our Lady of the Snow (Spanish female)
Niggiut: snowdrift with south-east wind
Nilak: freshwater ice
Niummak: hard waving snow staying on ice fields
Nutaryuk: fresh snow

O
Ontla: snow on objects

P
Pactla: snow that has been packed down
Peqalujaq: rather old ice
Pingangnuit: snowdrift made by south-west wind
Piqsiq: snow lift by wind; blizzard
Piqsirpoq: drifting snow
Pirta: blizzard; snow storm
Pirtuk: blizzard; snow storm
Pugtaq: drift ice
Pukak: dry snow crystals, like sugar powder
Puntla: a mouthful of snow because you fibbed
Pyry: snow storm (Finnish Female)

Q
Qali: snow collected on trees
Qamaniq: bowl-shaped depression at the base of a conifer
Qanik: falling snow
Qanir: to snow
Qanisqineq: snow floating on water
Qannialaaq: light falling snow
Qannik: snowflake
Qanniq: falling snow
Qanuk: snowflake
Qetrar: for snow to crust
Qiqiqralijarnatuq: snow when walked on
Quiasuqaq: re-frozen snow surface, making crust
Qimuqsuq: snowdrift
Quinaya: snow mixed with Husky poo
Quinyaya: snow mixed with the poo of a lead dog

S
Schnee: snow (German)
Schneemann: snowman (German)
Schneeflocke: snowflake (German)
Semtla: partially melted snow
Seppen: snowflake (Japanese)
Sesi: snow (Ahtna Athabascan)
Shiya: snow at dawn
Shlim: slush
Siku: ice (Inupiaq)
Siquoq: drifting snow
Slimtla: snow that is crusted on top but soft underneath
Sneeuwpop: snowman (Dutch)
Snigurka snow maiden (Russian F)
Snjezana: snow woman (Female Slavic)
Snövit snow white (Swedish)
Snowdon: from the snowy hill (English Male)
Sulitlana: green snow

T
Talini: snow angels
Tidtla: snow used for cleaning
Tingenek: bare ice
Tlacringit: snow that is crusted on the surface
Tlamo: snow that falls in large wet flakes
Tlapa: powder snow
Tlapat: still snow
Tlapi: summer snow
Tlapinti: snow that falls quickly
Tlaslo: snow that falls slowly
Tlatim: snow that falls in small flakes
Tlayinq: snow mixed with mud
Tliyel: snow that has been marked by wolves
Tliyelin: snow that has been marked by Eskimos
Tsikut: large broken-up masses of ice blocks
Tugartaq: firm, winter ice
Tumarinyiq: ripple marks on snow
Tuyet: snow white (Vietnamese F)

U
Uangniut: snowdrift made by north-west wind
Uglu: seal hole in the ice
Uluarnaq: round snowdrift
Uqaluraq: taper snowdrift
Upsik: wind-hardened snow cover
Utvak: snow carved in block

V
Vyduv: an area blown bare of snow

X
Xue: snow (Chinese Female)
Xue Fang: snow fragrant (Chinese Female)

Y
Yas: snow (Navajo Male)
Yepa: snow woman (Native American)
Yuki: snow; lucky (Japanese Male)
Yukiko: snow child (Japanese Female)

Source http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/snow.htm

Mmm.. better get back to the question at hand.. Wikipedia says..

"It is a popular urban legend that the Inuit or Eskimo have an unusually large number of words for snow.

In reality, the number of words depends on the definitions of Eskimo (there are a number of Eskimo-Aleut languages) and snow, and on the method of counting numbers of words in languages that have quite different grammatical structures from English"

Source and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow

Then I thought I would have a look on snopes... I found something (interesting) on the discussion boards at http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=28;t=000935;p=0

And also

"Loved this one. Okay, I'm an ex-linguistics major with a chip on my shoulder: Everyone thinks the Eskimos have 100-plus words for snow. Everyone is wrong. They don't. Nor, friends, do we use only ten percent of our brains, nor can you stop an acid trip by drinking a glass of milk; however, since I'm not a psychologist nor a medical doctor, I don't have to field these ludicrous statements.

In this book, Pinker writes:
No discussion of language and thought would be complete without the Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax......... "
Source and the rest.. http://reviewsbyd.blogspot.com/2004_11_01_reviewsbyd_archive.html#110098530319500034

Mmmm.. so "Eskimos" load of words for snow is actually soundlng like a load of crap, yes ?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 5 replies

Who said?

Bewith — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:57:01 GMT

Revenge is better than Christmas.

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 4 replies

Caught in a Blizzard

Bewith — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:08:19 GMT

What do cattle do? What do bison do?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 10 replies

Cheap Fags!

Bewith — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:06:08 GMT

The WWII GI paid how much for a pack of fags?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 13 replies

Blatant activism

Zoinks! — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:11:15 GMT

... hidden in the form of personal trivia.... I'm big on health care reform... been so for 10 yrs or so. End of trivia!

Now something really important:

Everybody write please. :)

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/hccallthemout

http://www.citizensforapublicoption.com/

http://www.petitiononline.com/PubOp676/petition.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 4 replies

Gandhi's Birthday Today!!!

Ms. Picklefeathers — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:51:04 GMT

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&source=hp&q=gandhi+biography&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=NgXGSuaID8KzlAfG7bGSAw&sa=X&oi=news_group&ct=title&resnum=1

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 4 replies

Oldest living things in the world

rivernic — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:37:21 GMT

Those gray hairs don't look so bad now:

http://blog.longnow.org/2009/09/29/oldest-living-things-in-the-world/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 5 replies

Oldest human skeleton found

Thystle — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:54:46 GMT

Sorry Lucy....

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091001-oldest-human-skeleton-ardi-missing-link-chimps-ardipithecus-ramidus.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 4 replies

Classic Anti-War Slogan

Bewith — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:43:31 GMT

Suppose They Gave a War and No One Came appeared in the lyrics of what song by which Artist?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 1 reply

What is the shortest sentence in American language?

Bewith — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:52:55 GMT

It is not pi!

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 0 replies

Cool frog stuff for Bloke

Astrid_Seftali — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:03:01 GMT

Everything you always wanted to know about sex and never even thought of asking!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYR4mL6b7s0
frog porn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTEMajUxhPU&NR=1
the size of the male...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwyaQPpkNow&feature=related
do they do it underwater? Watch this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1JPn40xEv4&feature=related
do frogs celebrate orgies?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW6-QDzdZOg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_4E4ksVHew&feature=fvw
how to research them...

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 6 replies

Angel's trumpets

Astrid_Seftali — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:36:17 GMT

Angels Trumpet (deadly flower )
excerpt from a newspaper...
Flower power can be deadly

Derrik Chidley heard good and bad stories about getting high from an angels' trumpet flower.
But he decided to test the effects on his own.

The 18-year-old was alone on a Friday night at his uncle's home. He said he became curious.

"I went to my neighbor's yard and picked four flowers that I knew were angels' trumpets," Chidley said. "I put on a movie, put the flowers in a pot and boiled them so I could make tea from it."

The angels' trumpet flower is often found in home gardens and is known for its distinct fragrance.

Experts said all parts of the plant are poisonous.

"I remember feeling hot so I took off my jacket and then it felt like I was floating and then I started gagging," Chidley said. "I couldn't breathe, like when you get the wind knocked out of you."

Chidley said he tried repeatedly to stand up but was unable to maintain his balance and kept falling over.

"I felt like I was going to die, like I was suffocating. I kept freaking out but I thought it was just the high so I tried to make myself relax," he said.

Chidley drank the tea around 11 p.m. His cousin found him passed out in the bathroom a few hours later.

"They thought he was overdosing on LSD because of the way he was reacting," Chidley's mother, said.

Other teens who were admitted for ingesting angels' trumpets. Many of them didn't survive.

Dr. Martin Stoner, a professor of botany at Cal Poly Pomona, said that people should think twice before experimenting with plants and flowers.

"The trouble is most people are ignorant about plants and their chemistry. Experimentation is risky business," said Stoner, who specializes in poisonous plants. "The hallucinations caused from angels' trumpet are there, but they come at a very painful experience."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Angels Trumpet (deadly flower )

Posted by hopefulauthor z5IL (My Page) on Sun, Nov 20, 05 at 20:49

Plantas, yes, I've read horror stories about this plant. 3 years ago many teens were experimenting w/this plant..some are now crippled, others have died.
All parts of this plant are poisonous, including leaves, stems, branches. I've one but keep in a small gh because I've got birds and dont' want to risk them landing on this plant and taking a bite.
There's a frog in Fl where if one licks the spit off their tongue, they will hallucinate. I remember reading many teens were violently ill, but can't recall if any were fatal. Why and how do ppl think to lick spit off a frogs tongue or boil flowers of a plant? I don't understand..Toni

more:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fragrant/msg112040522506.html

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 14 replies

Dictionary

Sky Angel — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:55:04 GMT

I read somewhere that the word "gullible" is NOT in the written dictionary.

This is what I found:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_gullible_in_the_dictionary

or am I just being gullible and have to go to my dictionary to look and see?

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 17 replies

Blokes Big Sausage..

Bloke72 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:25:18 GMT

Mmm.. I love a good sausage... snags we call them here....

Did you know.,,

" Germany, for instance, which boasts more than 1200 types of sausage, distinguishes raw, cooked and pre-cooked sausages."

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausage#Classification_of_sausages

• The word sausage is derived from the Latin word salsus which means something salted.

• Sausages are mentioned in The Odyssey which was written by Homer more than 2,700 years ago:

"These goat sausages sizzling here in the fire -
we packed them with fat and blood to have for supper.
Now, whoever wins this bout and proves the stronger,
Let that man step up and take his pick of the lot!"

(oh look Lisa - goats!)

* Queen Victoria was fond of sausages but insisted that the meat be hand chopped rather than minced.

• Sausages are the single most important food served at barbecues, being eaten at 71%.

• Around 18% of sausages are eaten for breakfast and 44% for the evening meal.

• Grilling is the most popular cooking method used for 44% of all sausages followed by frying at 23% and baking at 20%.

Source and more http://www.sausagelinks.co.uk/facts_trivia.asp

Hit me with your sausage (trivia) !

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 18 replies

rock and rollers love beer!

aunt bea says argh!! — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:33:12 GMT

http://atinycity.com/2009/04/11/a-lost-classic-beer-n-ramones/

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 11 replies

Water on the Moon; water on Mars

crarko — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:48:35 GMT

I'm just watching the briefings for these on the NASA channel, but here are releases provided by Space.com.

Moon water:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090924-moon-water-reaction.html

Mars water:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090924-mars-crater-ice.html

These findings could make setting up bases a bit more palatable (or potable, as the case may be).

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 8 replies

Sad Songs..

Bloke72 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:34:14 GMT

This one always gets me.. 'Green Fields of France "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN-NIHbfJ1k&feature=rec-HM-r2

posted in ! Trivia Tribe ! - 49 replies

The Muppet Personality Test

Bloke72 — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:14:38 GMT

Okay... tell me who you are
http://www.blogthings.com/themuppetpersonalitytest/

Bloke got;
"You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgable, you are the perfect sidekick.
You're always willing to lend a helping hand.
In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going.
"15 seconds to showtime!"

You know - there might be something in this..