Trivia Thread!

[Berzelmayr]

In 1974 Mexican police arrested a group of antique smugglers, one of them made an unusual defence plea. Claiming that he couldn't be a smuggler, since all his work was a forgery, Brigido Lara was about to make history.

His pottery was declared by an expert to be genuine and he went to prison, there he requested clay and made a prehistoric Mesoamerican replica, which was authenticated as genuine by the same expert. He was freed in 1975.

It turned out that Lara had potentially made up to 40,000 pieces of Mayan, Aztec and other prehistoric pottery. Maybe all the known Totonac ceramic artefacts were made by him. Embarrassingly, museums around the world had bought many of his pieces, for huge sums of money.

He was later hired by the Xalapa Anthropology Museum to make replicas, restore broken objects and help detect forgeries.

 

[Vorondil]

What about this piece of freaky trivia:

On September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, United States, had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen chose a five-and-a-half-month-old cockerel named Mike. The ax missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact. Despite Olsen's botched handiwork, Mike was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily; he even attempted to preen and crow, although he could do neither. When the bird did not die, a surprised Mr. Olsen decided to continue to care permanently for Mike, feeding him a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper; he was also fed small grains of corn.

When used to his new and unusual center of mass, Mike could easily get himself to the highest perches without falling. His crowing, though, was less impressive and consisted of a gurgling sound made in his throat. Mike also spent his time attempting to preen and peck for food with his neck.

 

[Áramandë Amaniel]

Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme".

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

During the Emu war in 1932,the Australian army entered a war again Emus and lost,twice

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Antarctica, the southernmost continent, is almost completely covered in a thick layer of ice (except for dry valleys, which make up around 1% of the area). The thickness of the ice sheet varies depending on the location, with the East Antarctic sheet being much thicker than the one in the West. On average, the ice is more than one mile (1.6 km) thick, but in some sections it can get as thick as almost three miles (4.8 km).

 

[Olorgando]

In 1958 Kris Kristofferson graduated from Pomona College in with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in literature, and also won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, graduating there in 1960 with a B.Phil. degree in English literature.

He studied at Merton College.

JRRT was Merton Professor of English Language and Literature from 1945 to 1959 ...

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

‘Arnold Layne’ – Pink Floyd’s first single and a minor hit at the time (it has subsequently achieved classic status) was based on a real life person Roger Waters knew who would steal women’s clothes and knickers from washing lines.

 

[Olorgando]

Here's a tidbit I just stumbled across, looking up the 1981 film "Excalibur". I had unsuccessfully tried to buy a DVD of it years ago, apparently "out of print". Patrick Stewart was in it - as per the article as King Leodegrance, father of Guinevere (also Helen Mirren as Morgana Le Fay and Liam Neeson as Gawain).
Now Strange as it may seem, Stewart's signature role for me is Dr. Xavier in the X-Men films, of which I have the first four in a DVD box. And Stewart's head opponent is none other than "our Gandalf", Ian McKellen as Magneto.

Now McKellen did not play the role of Merlin in the 1981 "Excalibur", even though the actor who did, Nicol Williamson, was less than three years older than McKellen. But there is an interesting trivia item in the section of the Wikipedia article about its development:

"John Boorman had planned a film adaptation of the Merlin legend as early as 1969, but when submitting the three-hour script written with Rospo Pallenberg to United Artists, they rejected it deeming it too costly and offered him J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings instead. Boorman was allowed to shop the script {of LotR!!!} elsewhere, but no studio would commit to it. Returning to his original idea of the Merlin legend, Boorman was eventually able to secure deals that would help him do Excalibur. Much of the imagery and set designs were created with his The Lord of the Rings project in mind."

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Mr. O inspired me to find some DVD trivia

• Originally two different groups of companies were undergoing their own research and development to invent what became today’s DVD, with Sony and Phillips in one group and Toshiba and a number of other companies in another, however these companies joined forces on the recommendation of IBM, to avoid another format war like that of the VHS and Betamax videotapes.
• 4.7 gigabytes is the most common data storage capacity of a DVD disc, having a one side and one layer format; though up to just over 17 gigabytes of data can be stored on a disc if it is formatted with two sides and two layers, as more formatted sides and layers equals more available space.
• DVDs are particularly more appealing than their videotape predecessors, as they store much more data, have a significantly higher quality of sound and picture, and the data is able to be stored longer.
• DVDs were first sold in Japan in late 1996; then in early 1997 in Central and North America; in 1998 – Europe, Africa and the remainder of Asia; and finally Australia in 1999.
• A red laser is used to read and write DVDs, and this allows greater storage capacity than CDs, as red has a shorter wavelength at 650 nanometers, than the CD’s infrared, and therefore the discs are able to be ‘written’ in a smaller format; though Blu-Ray discs, the disc’s successor, which were first available for sale in 2006, can store up to 50 gigabytes of data by using a blue laser which has an even shorter wavelength than that of its predecessor.

 

[Vorondil]

Did you know that a battle was fought in Alaska during World War 2?

The Battle of Attu (codenamed Operation Landcrab), which took place on 11–30 May 1943, was a battle fought between forces of the United States, aided by Canadian reconnaissance and fighter-bomber support, and Japan on Attu Island off the coast of the Territory of Alaska as part of the Aleutian Islands Campaign during the American Theater and the Pacific Theater. Attu is the only land battle in which Japanese and American forces fought in snowy conditions, in contrast with the tropical climate in the rest of the Pacific. The more than two-week battle ended when most of the Japanese defenders were killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat after a final banzai charge broke through American lines.

 

[Olorgando]

Did you know that a battle was fought in Alaska during World War 2?

The Battle of Attu (codenamed Operation Landcrab), which took place on 11–30 May 1943, was a battle fought between forces of the United States, aided by Canadian reconnaissance and fighter-bomber support, and Japan on Attu Island off the coast of the Territory of Alaska as part of the Aleutian Islands Campaign during the American Theater and the Pacific Theater. Attu is the only land battle in which Japanese and American forces fought in snowy conditions, in contrast with the tropical climate in the rest of the Pacific. The more than two-week battle ended when most of the Japanese defenders were killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat after a final banzai charge broke through American lines.

Yep. read something decades ago (pre-1975) about Attu and Kiska islands, the latter being occupied by the Japanese one day before Attu, and evacuated months after Attu had been recaptured by US forces.

 

[Vorondil]

Yep. read something decades ago (pre-1975) about Attu and Kiska islands, the latter being occupied by the Japanese one day before Attu, and evacuated months after Attu had been recaptured by US forces.

Did you know that the Germans landed 8 spies in the USA, during WW2? 2 of them defected to the FBI and betrayed the other 6, causing them to be caught and executed.

 

[Olorgando]

Did you know that the Germans landed 8 spies in the USA, during WW2? 2 of them defected to the FBI and betrayed the other 6, causing them to be caught and executed.

Nope.

 

[Vorondil]

Historical accounts of incendiary pigs or flaming pigs were recorded by the Greek military writer Polyaenus and by Aelian. Both writers reported that Antigonus II Gonatas' siege of Megara in 266 BC was broken when the Megarians doused some pigs with combustible pitch, crude oil or resin, set them alight, and drove them towards the enemy's massed war elephants. The elephants bolted in terror from the flaming, squealing pigs, often killing great numbers of their own soldiers by trampling them to death. According to an account, Gonatas later made his mahouts keep a swine among elephants to accustom the animals to pigs and this practice was immortalized by a Roman bronze coin dating back to his time, which showed an elephant on one side and a pig on the other.

As an added bonus, they had dinner already cooked!

 

[grendel]

The name of the British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood derives from the headlines of the day (1950s) when Frank Sinatra, already a very successful singer, decided he wanted to be an actor as well, and went to Hollywood to make movies. Um, yeah, he did pretty well at that career too.

 

[Ent]

Huronish Huffings:

Dumbledor has a 'bit part' in Tolkien's works.

"DUMBLEDORS A probably imaginary race of insects in Bilbo’s poem Errantry. (TB 27.)" (Foster, Robert. The Complete Guide to Middle-earth)

I wonder if Dumbledor minds being compared to a probably imaginary race of insects.

(you probably already a;; know this, but as I just tripped over it I thought I'd push it out there.)

 

[Vorondil]

Huronish Huffings:

Dumbledor has a 'bit part' in Tolkien's works.

"DUMBLEDORS A probably imaginary race of insects in Bilbo’s poem Errantry. (TB 27.)" (Foster, Robert. The Complete Guide to Middle-earth)

I wonder if Dumbledor minds being compared to a probably imaginary race of insects.

(you probably already a;; know this, but as I just tripped over it I thought I'd push it out there.)

Actually a dumbledor is another name for a bumblebee.

 

[Ent]

Actually a dumbledor is another name for a bumblebee.

Cool.

At least now I have an answer to the question whether Rowling was influenced in any way by Tolkien's work(s). (Whether true or untrue.) Someone can now write a whole book on when she encountered the word, how it impacted her, transitioned into her mindset and work, and came out as a master Wizard.

And here I've never been all that appreciative of insects before..! How shameful of me.

 

[Vorondil]

Cool.

At least now I have an answer to the question whether Rowling was influenced in any way by Tolkien's work(s). (Whether true or untrue.) Someone can now write a whole book on when she encountered the word, how it impacted her, transitioned into her mindset and work, and came out as a master Wizard.

And here I've never been all that appreciative of insects before..! How shameful of me.

Apparently its an Old-English word, so it makes sense that Tolkien knew about it.

 

[Ent]

M-W: "variants or less commonly bumble bee"
: any of numerous large robust hairy social bees (genus Bombus)

Later, apparently, it became applicable mostly to the bumble bee itself rather than Bombus in general.

Who knew..! (Excpet maybe sir Aethelwulf of course. Or everybody else and I'm just slow.)