October 2011
62 posts
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“There is nothing more noble or admirable than when two people who see eye to eye...”
– Homer
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British Royals With Nazi Connections
This is a surprisingly long list.
Prince Christoph of Hesse, a royal brother-in-law, was a member of the SS and flew fighters attacking British troops in Italy.
George VI wanted to avoid war, and sent a birthday letter to Hitler weeks before Germany invaded Poland.
King Edward VIII (who abdicated) was sympathetic to the Nazis, and in 1970 told one interviewer “I never thought Hitler was...
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As a writer, W.T. Stead may have been too prescient.
In 1886 he published an article about the sinking of an ocean liner and the consequent loss of life, warning, “This is exactly what might take place and will take place if liners are sent to sea short of boats.”
Six years later he wrote a novel, From the Old World to the New, in which a ship collides with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and...
“I should never have switched from scotch to martinis.”
– Humphrey Bogart’s last words
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Brass Monkey Balls: A History
During Nelson’s time, a brass monkey was a triangle of brass attached to the ship’s deck. Cannonballs were stacked in a pyramid on the brass monkey to stop them from rolling loose. Brass, like all metals, contracts as it gets colder. When the temperature was sufficiently cold for the brass to contract enough, the cannonballs would escape from their confinement.
From this we get...
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As a teenager, Andrew Johnson was sold as a servant to a tailor with his brother. He ran away 2 years later.
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Posthumous Revenge: Nice, But You're Still Dead
Sigurt Eysteinsson was the second Viking Earl of Orkney. He was a vicious and relentless Viking leader with many enemies. Late in his rule, he challenged one of his enemies — Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed — to a 40 man-per-side battle. Sigurt was not exactly sportsmanlike, and brought 80 men to the battle; they cut down Mael and his troops effortlessly. After the battle, Sigurt decided...
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As a child, Jimmy Carter shot his sister in the rear end with a BB gun after she threw a wrench at him.
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Fun Fatal Facts
In the 1800′s anyone in England who unsuccessfully attempted suicide faced the death penalty.
In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.
Bubonic plague killed millions of people throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. In 1996, five cases of plague were reported in the U.S.
Anonymous asked: "The Bold Warrior" circa 1957, in Belleview, Nebrska; Air Force Capt. J.C. Brockway
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The Mystery of Skeleton Lake
One of the greatest mysteries of the Himalayas is a small glacial lake named Roopkund. The lake is located in the Uttarakhand state of India, at an altitude of about 5,029 meters (16,499 feet). The area surrounding the lake is completely uninhabited and the water is a five day treacherous hike from civilization. In 1942, Roopkund gained the name Skeleton Lake when over five hundred human skulls,...
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“At a fixed time of year they assemble at a holy place in the territory of the...”
– Julius Caesar, on the Druids
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History of the Soviet Union, to the Tetris... →
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“Radio has no future”
– Lord Kelvin, British mathematician, chemist, and physicist
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“In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great...”
– Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
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Nuclear Explosions Since 1945 →
This is a map of the world, showing all the nuclear explosions from 1945 onwards. It is color-coded, to scale, and differentiates between atmospheric and underground/underwater detonations. Honestly, I don’t know how the world still exists, but hey, I’m glad it is.
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This is Not For the Faint of Heart
Alexander Sawney Bean was born in a small East Lothian village not far from Edinburgh and began his working life as his father’s apprentice as a hedger and ditcher, however trouble was never far from the young Sawney and after another fight he fled with his love (according to reports, she was just as doolally as he was) to Galloway in the South-West of Scotland.
Having no money or no means...
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This is a book no one can read. It is called the Voynich manuscript. It is written by an unknown author, in an unknown script, using an unknown alphabet. The pages are filled with rows of text, flowing around drawings of plants, astronomical figures, and people bathing in what is possibly the fountain of youth. The manuscript was discovered by one Wilfred Voynich in 1912, while looking through...
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Disneyland: The Most Feral Place on Earth
Every night, Disneyland becomes the playground for hundreds and hundreds of hungry, feral cats.
Park officials love the felines because they help control the mouse population. (After all, a park full of cartoon mice is more enticing than a park full of real ones.) These cats first showed up at Disneyland shortly after it opened in 1955, and rather than chasing them away, park officials...
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In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102 which outlawed U.S. citizens from hoarding gold. Owning gold (except for jewelers, dentists, electricians, and other industry workers) was punishable by fine up to $10,000 and/or ten years in prison.
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Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nikolas of Myra, who lived during the fourth century. Born in Patara (in modern-day Turkey), he is the world’s most popular non-Biblical saint, and artists have portrayed him more often than any other saint except Mary. He is the patron saint of banking, pawnbroking, pirating, butchery, sailing, thievery, orphans, royalty, and New York City.
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In the 1930s and 40s, Italian fascist Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) tried to eliminate foreign words from Italian. In soccer, “goal” became “meta” and Donald Duck became “Paperino.” Mickey Mouse became “Topolino” and Goofy became “Pippo.”
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Carrots and Politics
Allegedly, carrots are orange for entirely political reasons: in the 17th century, Dutch growers are thought to have cultivated orange carrots as a tribute to William of Orange – who led the the struggle for Dutch independence – and the color stuck. A thousand years of yellow, white and purple carrot history was wiped out in a generation.
Although some scholars doubt if orange carrots even...
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Wacky Wedding Facts
Wedding rings are often placed on the third finger of the left hand because ancient Egyptians believed the vein in that hand (which the Romans called the “vein of love”) ran directly to the heart
Puritans banned wedding rings because they thought they were “frivolous” jewelry or relics of Popery
The bride’s veil traditionally symbolized her youth and virginity. Veils also hid the bride from...
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Chinese Sleep Torture
A nineteenth-century Chinese merchant was sentenced to death for murdering his wife. Sleep deprivation was deliberately chosen as the method of execution on the grounds that it would cause the maximum amount of suffering and would serve as the greatest deterrent to other potential murderers. He eventually died on the nineteenth day, having suffered terribly.
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“Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!”
– last words of Karl Marx, 1883
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Dr. Cotton, Not So Fluffy
Dr Henry Cotton ran the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton (previously called New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum, now known as Trenton Psychiatric Hospital), and thought that you could cure insanity by removing parts of your patients. Yes, you read that correctly. He’d start with removing all the teeth, move on to the tonsils and sinuses, and then, in no particular order, the testicles, ovaries,...
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The word “dream” is most likely related to the West Germanic draugmus, (meaning deception, illusion, or phantom) or from the Old Norse draugr (ghost, apparition) or the Sanskrit druh (seek to harm or injure)
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“History is like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace, and revolution...”
– Mariemaia Kushrenada
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Sayings We Owe Shakespeare
Love is blind: ”But love is blind, and lovers cannot see/The petty follies that themselves commit.” — Jessica, The Merchant of Venice (this phrase appears in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Henry V)
Knock knock! Who’s there?: ”Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub? Here’s a farmer that hanged himself on the expectation of...
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Jews Survive WWII By Living In Cave
The Stermer family and several others spent 344 consecutive days living in what is known as Priest’s Grotto, a “massive underground sanctuary,” in the Ukraine during WWII, Brian Handwerk reported for National Geographic News in 2004. No serious illnesses or deaths occurred during that time, despite the cave dwellers’ having “no special experience or equipment,”...
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Weirdly Organized Mass Viking Grave Found →
This article is about a mass grave found in England when constructing a road. All are young, well-muscled men, suggesting this is a raiding party that ran afoul of the locals.
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The King Who Wasn't
Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was the elder son of King James I and Anne of Denmark. He was born in 1594. As a child, Prince Henry was widely viewed as a bright and promising heir to his father’s throne. As he grew older Henry’s popularity rose so high that it threatened his father. The relationship between King James I and Prince Henry was tense and often reported in the public.
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William II was the Norman king who ruled England from 1087 to 1100. His nickname was “Rufus” because of his red hair.
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"Without Pants" = Long Pants?
The reason most of us (even females!) wear pants today is because of the French Revolution. Although there was a lot of infighting and swings in popularity, the sans-culottes were pretty much constant. These poorest of the poor were called “without trousers” because they did not wear the normal knee-trousers of the day, but instead long pants that went down to their ankles. The...
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Richard Nixon proposed to his wife Pat the first night he met her. She refused, but agreed after 2 years.
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