Total Trivia

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Goosey, Goosey Gander is a Rhyme with Historical undertones - an attention grabber for a nursery rhyme which uses alliteration in the lyrics designed to intrigue any child. The 'lady's chamber' was a room that once upon a time a high born lady would have her own chamber, (also referred to as a solar). The origins of the nursery rhyme are believed to date back to the 16th century and refer to necessity for Catholic priests to hide in 'Priest Holes' ( very small secret rooms once found in many great houses in England) to avoid persecution from zealous Protestants who were totally against the old Catholic religion. If caught both the priest and members of any family found harbouring them were executed. The moral in Goosey Goosey Gander's lyrics imply that something unpleasant would surely happen to anyone failing to say their prayers correctly - meaning the Protestant Prayers, said in English as opposed to Catholic prayers which were said in Latin!

Goosey Goosey Gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Little Miss Muffet was a small girl whose name was Patience Muffet. Her stepfather, Dr. Muffet (1553-1604) was a famous entomologist who wrote the first scientific catalogue of British Insects. Whilst eating her breakfast of curds and whey Little Miss Muffet was frightened by one of his spiders and ran away! This particular Nursery Rhyme of Little Miss Muffet reputedly dates back to the late 16th century as indicated by the birth date of Dr Muffet.

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The idea for a laptop was first developed in the late '60s – Alan Kay of Xerox then wrote about coming up with a 'personal, portable information manipulator' in a 1972 paper, calling it the 'Dynabook'. The first commercially available portable computer was the IBM 5100. The first flip laptop appeared in 1982 and was the GRiD Compass 1100, which was used by NASA scientists and cost $8,150.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The current world record holder for the largest collection of belly button fluff is Mr Graham Barker of Perth, Australia. He has been collecting his navel lint for over 25 years, since January 1984, in a series of jars. He estimates he collects just over 3 milligrams a day.

 

[fire_breeze]

According to the New York Times, 2002, Japan's toilet wars started in February of that year, when Matsushita engineers here unveiled a toilet seat equipped with electrodes that send a mild electric charge through the user's buttocks, yielding a digital measurement of body-fat ratio.

You can read the complete article here

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

According to the New York Times, 2002, Japan's toilet wars started in February of that year, when Matsushita engineers here unveiled a toilet seat equipped with electrodes that send a mild electric charge through the user's buttocks, yielding a digital measurement of body-fat ratio.

You can read the complete article here

How kinky is that?

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The most published printed product in the world each year is currently thought to be… the IKEA catalogue. 198 million of the tasteful Swedish furniture bibles were printed in the financial year 2008, easily surpassing estimates of the number of actual Bibles printed each year.

 

[fire_breeze]

How kinky is that?

Quite... and pretty odd

I just spent some time with my nephews (10 and 3), where potty humour is still funny, which may explain my posts

It is amazing to know that the world's first flushable toilets were invented in Ancient Rome, which was when the system of flushing down the waste into a disposal system, albeit a hole in the ground was first created. The users could actually sit and go, and then flush happily. However, some people believe that it was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775, and there are others who think that it was Thomas Crapper who was responsible for inventing the world's first flush toilet complete with a valve and siphon arrangement sometime during the early twentieth century. Nevertheless, the initial model of a flushable toilet has been improved upon, and today, the average person spends about three years of their lifetime sitting on the toilet, and then flushing! The world's first toilet paper was invented in England in the 1880's, at which time it was sold in single sheets! The infamous 'World Toilet Day' happens on the 19th of November every year.

 

[fire_breeze]

A brief history of the development of the porcelain god

circa 26th century BCE: Flush toilets were first used in the Indus Valley Civilization. The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had a flush toilet in almost every house, attached to a sophisticated sewage system.
circa 18th century BCE: Flush toilet constructed at Knossos on Minoan Crete
circa 15th century BCE: Flush toilets used in the Minoan city of Akrotiri.
9th century BCE: Flush toilets in Bahrain Island.
1st to 5th centuries CE: Flush toilets were used throughout the Roman Empire. Some examples include those at Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall in Britain. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the technology was lost in the West.
1596: Sir John Harington published A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax, describing a forerunner to the modern flush toilet. The design had a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl. He installed one for his godmother Elizabeth I of England at Richmond Palace, although she refused to use it because it made too much noise[citation needed]. The Ajax was not taken up on a wide scale in England, but was adopted in France under the name Angrez.
1738: A valve-type flush toilet was invented by J. F. Brondel.
1775: Alexander Cummings invented the S-trap (British patent no. 814?), still in use today, which uses standing water to seal the outlet of the bowl, preventing the escape of foul air from the sewer. His design had a sliding valve in the bowl outlet above the trap.
1777: Samuel Prosser invented and patented the 'plunger closet'.
1778: Joseph Bramah invented a hinged valve or 'crank valve' that sealed the bottom of the bowl, and a float valve system for the flush tank. His design was used mainly on boats.
1819: Albert Giblin received British patent 4990 for the "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer", a siphon discharge system.
1852: J. G. Jennings invented a wash-out design with a shallow pan emptying into an S-trap.
1857: The first American patent for a toilet, the 'plunger closet', was granted.
1860: The first watercloset installed on the European continent was imported from England. It was installed in the rooms of Queen Victoria in castle Ehrenburg (Coburg, Germany); she was the only one who was allowed to use it.
The first popularized water closets were exhibited at The Crystal Palace and these became the first public toilets. They had attendants dressed in white and customers were charged a penny for use. This is the origin of the phrase "To spend a penny".
1880s: Thomas Crapper's plumbing company built flush toilets of Giblin's design. After the company received a royal warrant, Crapper's name became synonymous with flush toilets. Although he was not the original inventor, Crapper popularized the siphon system for emptying the tank, replacing the earlier floating valve system which was prone to leaks. Some of Crapper's designs were made by Thomas Twyford. The similarity between Crapper's name and the much older word crap is a coincidence.
1885: Thomas Twyford built the first one-piece china toilet using the flush-out siphon design by J. G. Jennings.
1886: An early jet flush toilet was manufactured by the Beaufort Works in Chelsea, England.
1906: William Elvis Sloan invented the Flushometer, which used pressurized water directly from the supply line for faster recycle time between flushes. The original Royal Flushometer is still in use today in public restrooms worldwide.
1907: Thomas MacAvity Stewart of Saint John, New Brunswick patented the vortex-flushing toilet bowl, which creates a self cleansing effect.
1980: Bruce Thompson, working for Caroma in Australia, developed the Duoset cistern with two buttons and two flush volumes as a water-saving measure. Modern versions of the Duoset are now available worldwide, and save the average household 67% of their normal water usage.

Well, there you have it

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

I love the toilet humour innocence of kids
Until they suddenly change and become conscious of their own bodies, it's downhill from then on

The holder of the world record for being the longest serving bartender is 95-year-old Angelo Cammarata, who has been serving the drinks at Cammarata's Café in Pittsburgh for over 76 years - since the moment prohibition ended in 1933. He's now finally retiring, after the bar was sold.

 

[fire_breeze]

I love the toilet humour innocence of kids
Until they suddenly change and become conscious of their own bodies, it's downhill from then on

The holder of the world record for being the longest serving bartender is 95-year-old Angelo Cammarata, who has been serving the drinks at Cammarata's Café in Pittsburgh for over 76 years - since the moment prohibition ended in 1933. He's now finally retiring, after the bar was sold.

So do I... when a squirting mustard that makes a rude noise is funny .


Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Historical and archaeological research shows that beer has been brewed since at least 4,000BC and possibly as far back as 6,000 to 8,000BC. It was known to the Sumerians, Egyptians and its invention is often attributed to the Mesopotamians. It spread across the ancient world eventually reaching Rome where Caeser's invading army brought it to Britain in 55AD. Another of the many things that we can thank the Romans for.

The Roman Aristocracy may have preferred to drink wine but beer was popular with the army and rapidly gained favour with the native Britains, not least as it was often safer to drink than the water, but also as a source of nourishment.
Beer retained its popularity long after the Romans had fled these shores. In fact the Domesday book of 1086 lists more than 40 breweries.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

A brief history of the development of the porcelain god

circa 26th century BCE: Flush toilets were first used in the Indus Valley Civilization. The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had a flush toilet in almost every house, attached to a sophisticated sewage system.
circa 18th century BCE: Flush toilet constructed at Knossos on Minoan Crete
circa 15th century BCE: Flush toilets used in the Minoan city of Akrotiri.
9th century BCE: Flush toilets in Bahrain Island.
1st to 5th centuries CE: Flush toilets were used throughout the Roman Empire. Some examples include those at Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall in Britain. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the technology was lost in the West.
1596: Sir John Harington published A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax, describing a forerunner to the modern flush toilet. The design had a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl. He installed one for his godmother Elizabeth I of England at Richmond Palace, although she refused to use it because it made too much noise[citation needed]. The Ajax was not taken up on a wide scale in England, but was adopted in France under the name Angrez.
1738: A valve-type flush toilet was invented by J. F. Brondel.
1775: Alexander Cummings invented the S-trap (British patent no. 814?), still in use today, which uses standing water to seal the outlet of the bowl, preventing the escape of foul air from the sewer. His design had a sliding valve in the bowl outlet above the trap.
1777: Samuel Prosser invented and patented the 'plunger closet'.
1778: Joseph Bramah invented a hinged valve or 'crank valve' that sealed the bottom of the bowl, and a float valve system for the flush tank. His design was used mainly on boats.
1819: Albert Giblin received British patent 4990 for the "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer", a siphon discharge system.
1852: J. G. Jennings invented a wash-out design with a shallow pan emptying into an S-trap.
1857: The first American patent for a toilet, the 'plunger closet', was granted.
1860: The first watercloset installed on the European continent was imported from England. It was installed in the rooms of Queen Victoria in castle Ehrenburg (Coburg, Germany); she was the only one who was allowed to use it.
The first popularized water closets were exhibited at The Crystal Palace and these became the first public toilets. They had attendants dressed in white and customers were charged a penny for use. This is the origin of the phrase "To spend a penny".
1880s: Thomas Crapper's plumbing company built flush toilets of Giblin's design. After the company received a royal warrant, Crapper's name became synonymous with flush toilets. Although he was not the original inventor, Crapper popularized the siphon system for emptying the tank, replacing the earlier floating valve system which was prone to leaks. Some of Crapper's designs were made by Thomas Twyford. The similarity between Crapper's name and the much older word crap is a coincidence.
1885: Thomas Twyford built the first one-piece china toilet using the flush-out siphon design by J. G. Jennings.
1886: An early jet flush toilet was manufactured by the Beaufort Works in Chelsea, England.
1906: William Elvis Sloan invented the Flushometer, which used pressurized water directly from the supply line for faster recycle time between flushes. The original Royal Flushometer is still in use today in public restrooms worldwide.
1907: Thomas MacAvity Stewart of Saint John, New Brunswick patented the vortex-flushing toilet bowl, which creates a self cleansing effect.
1980: Bruce Thompson, working for Caroma in Australia, developed the Duoset cistern with two buttons and two flush volumes as a water-saving measure. Modern versions of the Duoset are now available worldwide, and save the average household 67% of their normal water usage.

Well, there you have it

The idea of making people pay to use public toilets was introduced by the Roman emperor Vespasian, who instituted a 'urine tax' on public conveniences as a way of raising funds following a civil war.

 

[DoRaMe]

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Baa, Baa Black Sheep

and

The Alphabet song

are all sung to the same tune

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Baa, Baa Black Sheep

and

The Alphabet song

are all sung to the same tune

The beautiful words of Twinkle twinkle little star have been immortalised in the poem and music has been added thus increasing its popularity. The simile ' like a diamond in the sky' teaches children how words can be used to paint a picture in the imagination. The words create a comparison between the twinkling of the star to a sparkling diamond thus providing a perfect illustration of clever imagery and excellent use of the English language. The joint authors of Twinkle twinkle little star were two sisters called Ann Taylor (1782-1866) and Jane Taylor (1783-1824).
The first publication date was 1806.

Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are?
Up above the world so high , like a diamond in the sky
When the blazing sun is gone, when he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light, twinkle, twinkle all the night.
Then the traveller in the dark, thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go, if you did not twinkle so.
In the dark blue sky you keep, and often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye, 'till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark lights the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are - twinkle, twinkle little star.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

I've no idea if anyone is listening, if you are then give me a grunt of approval every so often or tell me to shut up, one of the two

One, two, three, four, five.
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine ,ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on the right.

The lyrics of the poem "one two three four five (1 2 3 4 5)" are not based on any events in history. "One two three four five (1 2 3 4 5)" is an educational rhyme with the words devised with the specific intention of teaching children to count thus increasing their numeric powers. Strangely enough the title of "one two three four five (1 2 3 4 5)" is often changed to "Once I caught a fish alive". The earliest traceable publication is 1888.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Sandman's coming in his train of cars
With moonbeam windows and with wheels of stars
So hush you little ones and have no fear
The man-in-the-moon he is the engineer

The railroad track tis a moonbeam bright
That leads right up into the starry night

So put on you 'jamas and say your prayers

The 'wheel of stars' referred to in the rhyme might refer to Ezekiel's Wheels which were used to highlight the forgotten method of finding the sun's position at night and thus keeping the time, the missing method was by gearing two great imaginary spinning wheels of stars.

 

[foxseeker]

Snow is ice bonding for cold...

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Pat a cake, Pat a cake, baker's man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
Pat it and prick it and mark it with a 'B',
And put it in the oven for Baby and me.

The origins of the Pat a cake poem are unknown, but the tradition of decorating cakes with the name or initial of a child is still adhered to today! The song Pat a cake is always accompanied by a clapping game - much loved by children everywhere. The actions which accompany Pat a cake probably account for the ritual of passing this particular song from one generation to the next.
Earliest traceable publication 1698.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Like a DJ I'm taking nursery rhyme history requests
Ask away

 

[call_me_Melody]

My random trivia is that in New York state, it is illegal for a woman to be on the street wearing "body hugging clothing."
LOL

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

My random trivia is that in New York state, it is illegal for a woman to be on the street wearing "body hugging clothing."
LOL

Go naked!

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Fast food giant McDonald's finally lost its eight-year trademark battle against a Malaysian curry restaurant, after the country's highest court ruled that the curry house was allowed to use the prefix 'Mc' in its name.
McCurry, which is short for 'Malaysian Chicken Curry', serves Malaysian staples including fish head curry.
Good for them!

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The period between September 3 and September 13 1752 was the least eventful in British history - because those days never actually happened. As the British Empire moved from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, it was necessary to skip 11 days; as a result, Wednesday 2 was followed directly by Thursday 14.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest (which were popular across America when Chaplin first became famous in 1915) in a San Francisco theatre. He lost - not even making it as far as the final round.