Trivia Thread!

Erestor Arcamen · Dec 11, 2023

The Tyrannosaurus Rex lived closer in time to the founding of Waffle House than it did to Stegosaurus.

Erestor Arcamen · Dec 26, 2023

When the Aztec empire was founded, Oxford University in England was already 300 years old.

Squint-eyed Southerner · Dec 27, 2023

And the day the Pilgims landed at Plymouth Rock, 300 poets were competing for a prize in Mexico City.

Aldarion · Dec 27, 2023

Medieval peasants often knew how to read and write.

Eljorahir · Dec 27, 2023

Did somebody mention pheasants? A pheasant's call or cry can be recognized due to the fact it sounds like a rusty sink or valve being turned.

bombadilsboots · Dec 27, 2023

My favorite piece of trivia is that Shakespeare invented the words, "bump" and "assassin."

Vorondil · Dec 27, 2023

bombadilsboots said:
My favorite piece of trivia is that Shakespeare invented the words, "bump" and "assassin."

I thought the word assassin came from the Hashashin:

early 16th century: from French, from Italian assassino, from Arabic ḥašīšī ‘member of Nizari branch of Ismaili Muslims’, literally ‘hashish-eater’, probably originally a derogatory nickname, with reference to the supposedly erratic behaviour of the members of the sect, as if they were intoxicated by hashish.

bombadilsboots · Dec 27, 2023

Aethelwulf said:
I thought the word assassin came from the Hashashin:

It was the word Assassination he invented! Nice correction

Ent · Dec 27, 2023

Speaking of crickets, which I note nobody was.....

The cricket is a distant relation to the Grasshopper. Over 900 different species of cricket have been identified by scientists to date.
Though some of the species can be slightly harmful to gardens, they are less destructive than other types of bugs, and really only present a problem if there is a population outbreak.
They are not harmful to pets, unless they occur in swarms to the point where they consume all the pet's food, or simply cause them 'stress' due to their numbers.
Yes, it even seems in some cultures crickets are seen as a sign of good luck.

Jiminy Cricket is, of course, the most famous cricket of all.

Server Room Gremlin · Dec 27, 2023

Aldarion said:
Medieval peasants often knew how to read and write.

Pretty sure I heard somewhere that in medieval Europe, 'literacy' was being able to read Latin. Most ordinary people didn't, and so were 'illiterate', but they still learned their letters and could write things down (with variable spelling). This would be important for making written agreements in everyday business. Being unable to write and read your own language would end up with others taking advantage of you, I should think.
Also, 'medieval Europe' is very vague. Things would most definitely vary over different times and in different places.

Olorgando · Dec 27, 2023

Ent said:
Speaking of crickets, which I note nobody was.....

Didn't notice the plural s at the end of the word at first, and was going to protest that I had definitely posted about cricket the sport in this very thread ...
... but instead of a lightening of the almost impenetrable fog surrounding this insular pastime, it turns out to be a treatise on noisy insects.
I know that some of them can be very noisy since our first vacation on the island of Crete back in 2001. Those are also very well camouflaged, as I was staring at the spot that my ears told me the noise must be coming from for several seconds before I actually saw the noisy insect ... 😵‍💫

Deimos · Dec 27, 2023

Aldarion said:
Medieval peasants often knew how to read and write.

Especially self taught stone masons...😄

Ent · Dec 28, 2023

Olorgando said:
and was going to protest that I had definitely posted about cricket the sport in this very thread

AUGHHHH....
Ent feels like he's in the real world here, where every move made and word spoken is greeted with suspicion, misinterpretation, and misunderstanding.

first accused of potential duplicity, encroaching on @Eljorahir's territory by @Deimos because Ent defined a word used, and now potential plagiarism by @Olorgando for encroaching on his own works through use of a word similar but entirely different from his own.

This coupled with assaults by @Elthir and @Tyelkormo the Fair for Ent's dislike of (over)use of the useless 'that'* in writing.

Is there no end to the accusations and assaults? Such almost brings Ent to the point of real angst**.
I shall return to Observing TTF in silent mode. (Yeah, right..!!)

*-re: 'that': - do continue to review Ent's writing and point out where he may use a 'that' of any kind other than when discussing the annoying word itself... particularly an 'unnecessary 'that''. It really is possible to speak and write without ever employing the dreaded cur. That said, there IS a time and place for a well-positioned one... but Ent still avoids it.

**-angst: "a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general:

Deimos · Dec 29, 2023

For those in the US who still recall the days of only snail mail (or still use it, such as moi 😉)....
Remember the USPS motto?

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
I never knew this, but
1) it is not the "Official motto" ...USPS has no "official motto', and
2) The source of the quote surprised me no end 😮...

"Those words are engraved on the front of the James A. Farley Post Office in NYC, set in stone by the architectural firm that built it. The phrase is taken from an ancient book by the Greek historian Herodotus and refers to messengers in the Persian Empire.
The phrase comes from book 8, paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by Herodotus, a Greek historian. During the wars between the Greeks and Persians (500-449 B.C.), the Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who served with great fidelity.
The popular belief that Herodotus’s description of the Persian postal service is about the U.S. Postal Service is a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have delivered the mail reliably and dependably, through all conditions, for centuries."

----https://facts.usps.com/no-official-motto/

Erestor Arcamen · Jan 2, 2024

Former US astronaut Mark Kelly confirmed that in space it is common to have gas from the small/large intestines float up through your digestive system and then proceed to be belched out of the mouth.

Eljorahir · Jan 5, 2024

A combo, notable quote and trivia; I suppose the last sentence counts as trivia:

“…in the ancient Near East, in a time some humans called the third century B.C., in the greatest metropolis of the age, the Egyptian city of Alexandria…there lived a man named Eratosthenes…He was an astronomer, historian, geographer, philosopher, poet, theater critic and mathematician…also the director of the great library of Alexandria, where one day he read in a papyrus book that in the southern frontier outpost of Syene…at noon on June 21 vertical sticks cast no shadows…Eratosthenes had the presence of mind to do an experiment, actually to observe whether in Alexandria vertical sticks cast shadows near noon on June 21. And, he discovered, sticks do. Eratosthenes asked himself how, at the same moment, a stick in Syene could cast no shadow and a stick in Alexandria, far to the north, could cast a pronounced shadow…The only possible answer, he saw, was that the surface of the Earth is curved…For the observed difference in the shadow lengths, the distance between Alexandria and Syene had to be about seven degrees along the surface of the Earth…Seven degrees is something like one-fiftieth of three hundred and sixty degrees…Eratosthenes knew that the distance between Alexandria and Syene was approximately 800 kilometers, because he hired a man to pace it out. Eight hundred kilometers times 50 is 40,000 kilometers: so that must be the circumference of the Earth.

This is the right answer. Eratosthenes’ only tools were sticks, eyes, feet and brains, plus a taste for experiment. With them he deduced the circumference of the Earth with an error of only a few percent, a remarkable achievement for 2,200 years ago. He was the first person accurately to measure the size of a planet.”

Cosmos
Chapter 1: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean
By Carl Sagan

No shadow on June 21st. Hmmm...oh ya...Syene (present day Aswan) just happens to be located at a latitude almost equal to the tilt of the planet on its axis. Syene is at 24.1 degrees north latitude. Earth's axial tilt is 23.4 degrees. Fortuitous for Mr. Eratosthenes.

Erestor Arcamen · Jan 5, 2024

Rear Window (1954):

According to Georgine Darcy, the man and woman on the fire escape struggling to get out of the rain was based on a prank by Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Each actor and actress in the apartment complex facing Jeff's rear window wore an earpiece through which they could receive Hitchcock's directions. Hitchcock told the man to pull the mattress in one direction and told the woman to pull in the opposite direction. Unaware that they had received conflicting directions, the couple began to fight and struggle to get the mattress inside once the crew began filming. The resulting mayhem, in which one of the couple is tossed inside the window with the mattress, provided humor and a sense of authenticity, which Hitchcock liked. He was so pleased with the result that he did not order another take.

Ellessor · Jan 5, 2024

Cassowaries have the deepest voice of any bird, coming in as low as 24hz. Below 20hz is infrasonic (inaudible) for humans. They are also the most dangerous birds.

I chose this photo because it cracked me up 🤣

Olorgando · Jan 5, 2024

Ellessor said:
[Cassowaries] are also the most dangerous birds.

Among the flightless birds, yes. They're big, the largest (females) easily reaching 6 feet and 150 pounds.
They are three-toed, with claws on each toe. The claw on the middle to is basically a 5-inch dagger you don't want to be kicked with, something the cassowaries are likely to do in confrontations.

Among flight-capable birds, that title goes to the harpy eagle of Central and South America. Not quite the heaviest or biggest eagle, it is considered the most powerful. It's the feet again, like with the cassowaries, the harpy eagle having the largest and most powerful talons of any living eagle. I read somewhere that when they are kept in zoos, they are the only birds to have a double cage - to protect the zoo staff caring for them.

Ellessor · Jan 6, 2024

Olorgando said:
they are the only birds to have a double cage - to protect the zoo staff

*Shiver*

And remind me... how was Jurassic Park supposed to be a good idea?! 🤣

Birds of prey in general are pretty scary. I remember the first time I saw a photo of just a hawk with talons extended, I was blown away by how powerful it looked.

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