Trivia Thread!

[Server Room Gremlin]

For this, I am glad. 😌

 

[Deimos]

View attachment 43329

For this, I am glad. 😌

They can still fly tho' by spinning a silk "parachute" and catching the breeze, and many do. (I've seen it enough times).
But it works only with the smaller size spiders. Your are not going to see a tarantula or wolf spider (or Huntsman --yikes!) do it.

Speaking of Huntsman spiders (were we?)

 

[Glorfindel Goldtress]

They can still fly tho' by spinning a silk "parachute" and catching the breeze, and many do. (I've seen it enough times).
But it works only with the smaller size spiders. Your are not going to see a tarantula or wolf spider (or Huntsman --yikes!) do it.

Speaking of Huntsman spiders (were we?)

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Mini Mirkwood:

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Deimos]

 

[Klaatu]

Star Trek Fact #1701 .... Vulcan blood is green because it is copper-based.
Myth: Vulcans are related to Octopi (they are not...consequently there are no Vulcans named Gerald.)

Ah, fair point. There may indeed be no Vulcans named Gerald… but I do know a Bloqink named Gerald.

Very polite, gelatinous, and slightly multidimensional. Excellent manners. Terrible at cards. Once tried to join a Vulcan book club but got stuck between two pages and caused a small rift in the philosophy section.

Still insists jazz is a weather pattern. I support him completely.

 

[Berzelmayr]

Uderzo was born on the morning of 25 April 1927 around 07:00. At this point, he was an Italian citizen rather than a French one. Uderzo was born with six fingers on each hand. The additional fingers were surgically removed early in childhood as a precaution, as the infant Uderzo would sometimes violently pull on them when enraged or annoyed.

Albert Uderzo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Deimos]

Harpists only use eight out of ten fingers to play; they do not use the little finger ("pinky").
Related factoid: A Harpist is one who plays harp for the harp music, whereas a Harper is one who plays in order to accompany another instrument, usually one's own voice.
Tolkien uses "harper".

And then there are .... these 😬

 

[Vorondil]

Speaking of Huntsman spiders (were we?)

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I always knew I had a bit of arachnophobia, but after seeing those baby huntsman spiders, I think I now have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Spider Disorder).

 

[Deimos]

I always knew I had a bit of arachnophobia, but after seeing those baby huntsman spiders, I think I now have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Spider Disorder).

Yep...look at the size of those things , and they merely infants!!!!
Aieeeeee!!! Run away! Run away!

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Judy Cohen was one of the first female aerospace engineers, with her career beginning in the 50’s.

She worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and the tracking and data relay satellite on the Minuteman Missle.

She was pregnant and working for the Apollo Space Program when she went into labor.

Before heading to the hospital, she picked up some documents for the problem she was working on.

The problem was with the Abort-Guidance System, a crucial component for mission safety which ultimately played a major role in successfully returning the crew of Apollo 13.

She worked on it while in labor at the hospital, solved the problem, and promptly gave birth…to Jack Black.

 

[Klaatu]

The inventor of the frisbee was turned into a frisbee. No, truly—Ed Headrick, who helped perfect and popularize the modern frisbee, had his ashes molded into commemorative discs after he passed. His final wish? That his loved ones could “play with him” even after death.

Anyway, that reminds me—on Blarkoon 9½, we once lost an entire parliament of glowfish to a rogue balloon filled with existential dread and lime pudding. Ever since then, the Treaty of Floom has strictly forbidden juggling near reflective surfaces on Tuesdays. I don’t make the rules. I just knit them into scarves and feed them to my emotional support jellybean.

 

[Starbrow]

I wonder what flavor is your emotional support jellybean. I think I need 1 or 2.

 

[Klaatu]

I wonder what flavor is your emotional support jellybean. I think I need 1 or 2.

Ah, an excellent inquiry! My emotional support jellybean is flavor-variable—currently shifting between “nostalgic thunderstorm” and “leftover comet tail with hints of root beer.” (Just to sneak in a perfectly factual tidbit: the first jellybeans were reportedly sold to Union soldiers during the American Civil War—a wartime confection of emotional fortitude, if ever there was one.)

You’re welcome to borrow one or two, but be warned: one whispers compliments in Morse code, the other occasionally reenacts scenes from a Martian soap opera titled As the Moons Revolve. Choose wisely, and under no circumstances feed them after midnight—unless you’re prepared for unsolicited advice from a telepathic ladle named Kevin.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Eljorahir]

Harpo Marx played the harp quite well.

Arthur "Harpo" Marx, 1926:

 

[Deimos]

Harpo Marx played the harp quite well.

Arthur "Harpo" Marx, 1926:
View attachment 43765

Since they were of the Vaudeville era I believe all the Marx brothers were passingly talented at playing some instrument.
(I suppose I could ask AI but it would undoubtedly give me some partially true and totally doofus answer)
Anyway I remember reading or hearing something [decades past] about all the brothers' musical abilities, and one of them, I do know, could play the piano.

Then there's Groucho singing about "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady"

"....She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet;
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet
For he went and married Lydia." 😆😆😆

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

one of them, I do know, could play the piano.

That was Chico, usually -- though Harpo could also play:

I recall either Chico or Groucho saying their mother insisted that they should each develop an ability unrelated to the comedy stuff, in case that fell through.

 

[Deimos]

That was Chico, usually -- though Harpo could also play:

I recall either Chico or Groucho saying their mother insisted that they should each develop an ability unrelated to the comedy stuff, in case that fell through.

I did recall something along that line, but I didn't take the time to look it up.