Trivia Thread!

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

To add to the trivia, this is my favorite Groucho song:

That's Zeppo, crooning a bit, playing his son.

 

[Deimos]

To add to the trivia, this is my favorite Groucho song:

That's Zeppo, crooning a bit, playing his son.

I didn't watch most of their movies, so I never saw Horsefeathers.
However I think I've seen snippets of that part where he is "against it" .
And I never would have recognized Zeppo as the son.

 

[Klaatu]

In 1859, a solar storm was so strong it made telegraph machines work without batteries.

During the Carrington Event, telegraph operators reported sparks flying, paper catching fire, and in some cases the machines continued sending messages even when disconnected from their power source—just from the geomagnetic energy flooding the wires.

The day Earth briefly remembered it was plugged directly into the cosmos. Imagine: Earth sneezes, and suddenly your machines scribble ghost messages like enthusiastic hobbits at second breakfast. A reminder, perhaps, that sometimes the universe provides the power—whether you’re ready or not. ⚡📜

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

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." 😆😆😆

 

[Deimos]

How this post began.... I'd been watching YT snippets of Ender's Game.
I had read the book and was curious as to how they effected the practice battle sessions in the movie.
(I thought they were well done)
Anyway after watching Asa Butterfield I wondered how old he was ( I had seen him in Hugo also), so I wiki'd him.

Asa Butterfield (English Actor,...) Full name: Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield. "Farr" is his Mother's maiden name.
So I'm reading his name and thinking: where the heck did the "Bopp" come from? It's not a part of his Father's name.

The only thing that occurred to me is that there is a comet named Hale-Bopp.
It has a period of 2,500 to 2,533 years, meaning it only shows up about every 2500 years.
It's most recent showing was 1 April 1997 .
Prior to that it showed up around 550 BC during the formation of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great, and the growth of Greek city-states (which led to the rise of Athenian democracy and Spartan military dominance).

OK back to Asa Butterfileld. He was born on ....yep, 1 April 1997 😄.
His parents must have a very quirky sense of humor.... which I wholeheartedly applaud.

Tangential observation .... @Klaatu should have a field day with this one. 😁

 

[Klaatu]

How this post began.... I'd been watching YT snippets of Ender's Game.
I had read the book and was curious as to how they effected the practice battle sessions in the movie.
(I thought they were well done)
Anyway after watching Asa Butterfield I wondered how old he was ( I had seen him in Hugo also), so I wiki'd him.

Asa Butterfield (English Actor,...) Full name: Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield. "Farr" is his Mother's maiden name.
So I'm reading his name and thinking: where the heck did the "Bopp" come from? It's not a part of his Father's name.

The only thing that occurred to me is that there is a comet named Hale-Bopp.
It has a period of 2,500 to 2,533 years, meaning it only shows up about every 2500 years.
It's most recent showing was 1 April 1997 .
Prior to that it showed up around 550 BC during the formation of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great, and the growth of Greek city-states (which led to the rise of Athenian democracy and Spartan military dominance).

OK back to Asa Butterfileld. He was born on ....yep, 1 April 1997 😄.
His parents must have a very quirky sense of humor.... which I wholeheartedly applaud.

Tangential observation .... @Klaatu should have a field day with this one. 😁

Ah, Deimos, you’ve stumbled upon one of those cosmic alignments that makes the universe raise a mischievous eyebrow. Hale-Bopp blazing in the heavens, Asa Bopp arriving on Earth the very same day—it’s less a coincidence and more of a celestial nudge saying, “Pay attention, mortals, even your casting directors are written into the stars.”

Tolkien himself might have smiled at such weaving: a comet’s passage tied to the rise of empires, the fall of kingdoms, and now, to a boy who grows up to march about in zero-gravity battlesuits. A reminder that myth and reality have always been uneasy roommates. Some would call it synchronicity. Others, just good timing. Me? I say it’s proof that even comets enjoy the occasional cameo in Earth’s casting decisions.

And if you whisper “Butterfield” three times while looking at Hale-Bopp through a cracked kaleidoscope, you’ll hear faint laughter in Quenya and possibly an offer of half-price lembas at the nearest celestial market.

—Klaatu, Amateur Cartographer of Nebulae & Full-Time Collector of Misplaced Umbrellas

 

[Deimos]

Ah, Deimos, you’ve stumbled upon one of those cosmic alignments that makes the universe raise a mischievous eyebrow.....

—Klaatu, Amateur Cartographer of Nebulae & Full-Time Collector of Misplaced Umbrellas

I have Bette Davis' Umbrella, complete with the mother-of-pearl and gold plated handle. Fully functional except lacking the fabric.
It is not misplaced; rather, it is currently in Vancouver WA being recovered.
I expect it back in a couple of months (fabric and misc must be ordered from the UK)
I daresay you will be impressed.
Then again, perhaps not.

 

[Klaatu]

I have Bette Davis' Umbrella, complete with the mother-of-pearl and gold plated handle. Fully functional except lacking the fabric.
It is not misplaced; rather, it is currently in Vancouver WA being recovered.
I expect it back in a couple of months (fabric and misc must be ordered from the UK)
I daresay you will be impressed.
Then again, perhaps not.

Bette Davis’ umbrella—now that is an artifact worthy of song! Mother-of-pearl and gold, traveling incognito through Vancouver, quietly gathering stories while waiting for its fabric rebirth. I have long suspected umbrellas are not mere weather-tools but portals: some open only to drizzle, others to entire alternate Tuesdays.

Be assured, Deimos—whether its canopy returns in silk or starlight, it will not simply shield from rain, but whisper the forgotten gossip of clouds. Perhaps when unfurled, it shall reveal not drops, but constellations waiting to be named.

Until then, we wait, which is itself a kind of magic.

—Klaatu, Amateur Keeper of Celestial Sock Puppets & Reluctant Archivist of Half-Remembered Tuesdays

 

[Deimos]

Bette Davis’ umbrella—now that is an artifact worthy of song! Mother-of-pearl and gold, traveling incognito through Vancouver, quietly gathering stories while waiting for its fabric rebirth. I have long suspected umbrellas are not mere weather-tools but portals: some open only to drizzle, others to entire alternate Tuesdays.

Be assured, Deimos—whether its canopy returns in silk or starlight, it will not simply shield from rain, but whisper the forgotten gossip of clouds. Perhaps when unfurled, it shall reveal not drops, but constellations waiting to be named.

Until then, we wait, which is itself a kind of magic.

—Klaatu, Amateur Keeper of Celestial Sock Puppets & Reluctant Archivist of Half-Remembered Tuesdays

@Klaatu ....Teaser time.....

Pics I sent to "Matt, the Umbrella Smith" **

And finally PROOF that it belonged to the the incomparable, (and often fiery) Bette Davis.
That is what the Thrift Store owner told me, so it must be true 😄.
And if anyone doubts the veracity of that assertion "the burden of proof is on the accuser." 🤨
(Well, it was a nice touch if not a sure-fire selling point. 😁 Make of it what you will. 😉)

** Matt is about 60, has been repairing brollies for 40 years and sports a mohawk. (The mohawk is a nice touch too. 😁)

Now here is an interesting thing.... I bought this in 1984, just as you see it.
That was ~40 years ago. The knob is untarnished. It can't be brass; it has to be gold, maybe gold plated or gold filled.
That leads me to believe that the Mother-of-pearl is real and not imitation.
(And it only took me 40 years to find someone to recover it who didn't live in the UK 🙄 )

 

[Klaatu]

@Klaatu ....Teaser time.....

Pics I sent to "Matt, the Umbrella Smith" **

View attachment 43909 View attachment 43910 View attachment 43911

And finally PROOF that it belonged to the the incomparable, (and often fiery) Bette Davis.
That is what the Thrift Store owner told me, so it must be true 😄.
And if anyone doubts the veracity of that assertion "the burden of proof is on the accuser." 🤨
(Well, it was a nice touch if not a sure-fire selling point. 😁 Make of it what you will. 😉)

** Matt is about 60, has been repairing brollies for 40 years and sports a mohawk. (The mohawk is a nice touch too. 😁)

View attachment 43912

Now here is an interesting thing.... I bought this in 1984, just as you see it.
That was ~40 years ago. The knob is untarnished. It can't be brass; it has to be gold, maybe gold plated or gold filled.
That leads me to believe that the Mother-of-pearl is real and not imitation.
(And it only took me 40 years to find someone to recover it who didn't live in the UK 🙄 )

Forty years and not a blemish! That is not just longevity, that is swagger. Gold gleaming, pearl shimmering, and now soon to be dressed again in fabric worthy of its handle. I suspect when it opens, the rain itself will hesitate out of respect before falling.

And I must say—an Umbrella-Smith with a mohawk feels precisely right. Every great relic demands a steward with just enough rebellion in the hair to remind the skies who’s boss. I await the grand unveiling, and should the heavens oblige, may the first raindrop applaud politely before sliding off the edge.

—Klaatu, Semi-Retired Curator of Chronically Damp Garments

 

[Deimos]

 

[Ent]

Ah, Diemos - at this particular juncture in my studies, your map makes me sad on so many levels I dare not speak to it..!!
However, I must say it's timely for a number of reasons nonetheless.
Do you happen to know the date of this particular depiction of approximate population distribution?

 

[Eljorahir]

 

[Deimos]

Ah, Diemos - at this particular juncture in my studies, your map makes me sad on so many levels I dare not speak to it..!!
However, I must say it's timely for a number of reasons nonetheless.
Do you happen to know the date of this particular depiction of approximate population distribution?

Someone posted it on another forum.
TBH I didn't check to see if it was accurate, so there's that caveat.
But I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was pretty close to true.
Oh, and no date for it was given.

FWIW... AI says that the combined India/China/Japan/Indonesia populations are only about 43% of the total world population.
And , No, I haven't verified that either 😄

Still 43% of total (if true) is no so very far removed from 50%,; not like 20/80 or even 30/70

 

[Idril Celebrindal]

Tolkien died in 1973.
If you count the rings in the Three rings for the Elven-kings poem, but backwards, starting with Sauron's then you get:
1 for Sauron
9 for Men
7 for Dwarves
3 for Elves.
1973.
The year of Tolkien's death.

 

[Glorfindel Goldtress]

Tolkien died in 1973.
If you count the rings in the Three rings for the Elven-kings poem, but backwards, starting with Sauron's then you get:
1 for Sauron
9 for Men
7 for Dwarves
3 for Elves.
1973.
The year of Tolkien's death.

Nineteen seventy-three spelled out is also 20 letters, same as the number of Rings.

 

[Klaatu]

🪨 On the Planet Known As Earth (which smells faintly of wet dog and cheese breath on Thursdays):

There exists, beneath the briny waves off the coasts of Chile and Peru, a thing. A beast. A blob. A… rock?

Ah yes—but not just any rock, no no no! This one bleeds.
This one eats.
This one… reproduces… with itself.

It’s called Pyura chilensis. Looks like a boring lump of barnacled stone, until you cut it open—and inside: red, meaty insides, filtering seawater for plankton like some cursed dinner sponge with dreams of sentience.

And guess what?
IT WAS BORN MALE.
Then it decided to become a hermaphrodite.
And now? It sits. Forever.
Alone.
Reproducing.
With.
Itself.

This is not science fiction, friends.
This is the kind of horror you can sauté in garlic butter.

🌊 Klaatu once brought one aboard his ship for an intergalactic cooking contest. It won “Most Philosophically Confusing Entrée” and caused the collapse of a minor religion on Zarnok-3.

So next time you’re skipping stones, make sure the stone isn’t skipping back.

🪐 -Klaatu of the Interstellar Cheese Monks, Keeper of the Forbidden Sandals, Unspoken Champion of the 1994 Galactic Tap Dance Trials

 

[Klaatu]

In 1977, Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope detected a powerful 72-second signal from space so unusual that the astronomer Jerry Ehman circled it on the printout and wrote “WOW!” — and to this day, its true origin remains unexplained. 🌌

Of course, I can explain it: that wasn’t aliens, but the unfortunate flatulence of a Saturnian Gooblox hybridized with an Earth elephant. The vibration of its interplanetary bowels echoed through the stars, and the telescope merely caught the cosmic aftershock. “WOW!” was the polite way of saying, “Please open a window.”

 

[Berzelmayr]

Frechette died in prison on September 27, 1975, during an apparent weightlifting accident when a 150-pound (68 kg) barbell fell on his neck and he suffocated. Prison officials did not suspect foul play.

Mark Frechette - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Klaatu]

Ahhh, post 100 — the centennial trumpet blast, the hundredth juggling squid, the cosmic odometer turning from 99 to “triple zero with a tail”! A number too round, too perfect, too smug not to celebrate in style. Very well, to the Trivia Hall we march:

Trivia of the Hundredfold

• The number 100 is represented in Roman numerals as C, from the Latin centum, which also gives us “century” (100 years) and “centenarian” (a person aged 100 or more).
• A googol is the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros. It was coined in 1920 by nine-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner.
• The Hundred Years’ War between England and France actually lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453. It’s named for convenience rather than precision.
• The United States has 100 Senators: two from each of the 50 states. This fixed number has been in place since Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959.
• In cricket, a “century” is when a batter scores 100 runs in a single innings. It’s considered a major personal achievement.
• The hectometer (100 meters) exists as a metric unit, though it is rarely used. Distances are almost always measured in kilometers (1,000 m) or meters.
• A centenarian (a person who has reached 100 years of age) is one of the fastest-growing demographic groups worldwide. The United Nations estimates there are now more than half a million centenarians alive.
• The International Space Station completes about 16 orbits of Earth every day. Roughly every 100 orbits, the crew will have seen more sunrises than someone on Earth does in half a year.

And so — post number 100. The three-digit drumroll, the cosmic milestone, the point at which zeroes line up like twin black holes and the “1” struts between them like a wizard with a staff.

It has been an honor to reach this number here, among fellow lore-seekers, hobbit-hearted wanderers, and Ent-shaped philosophers. One hundred posts is but a leaf in the Great Tale, but to me it feels like a hundred campfires lit across the dark plains of Arda.

On Glibnar, the 100th day of the year is celebrated by catapulting watermelons into orbit until they freeze into tiny green moons. On the third moon of Zorphel, they hum a single note exactly 100 times until the sky folds itself like origami. And here, in this corner of Middle-earth discussion, we mark it with lore, laughter, and fellowship.

Here’s to 100 more.

— Klaatu
The Centupled Arch-Librarian of the Hectometer Closet,
Keeper of 100 Moons in a Pickle Jar,
Rider of the Centipede Cavalry,
Eel-Bladder Champion of Glibnar,
Witness to 1000 Sunrises in the Yargle Nebula,
Survivor of the Hundred Years’ Cake Fight, Friend of Entish Roots,
Occasional Borrower of Sauron’s Left Sock