Total Trivia

[rbijon]

Debatable!

Some more Grade 8 history:

A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae (the "great apes"), including the extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. This classification has been revised several times in the last few decades. These various revisions have led to a varied use of the word "hominid": the original meaning of Hominidae referred only to the modern meaning of Hominina, i.e. only humans and their closest relatives. The meaning of the taxon changed gradually, leading to the modern meaning of "hominid," which includes all great apes.

Trivia.....Charlton Heston still has the best line ever uttered by an actor, "Get your hands off me, you Damn, dirty Ape......"

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Here ya go

LOL!

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The word "Corduroy" literally means Cord du Roi - cord of the king.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In the UK during WWII women were not allowed to wear trousers, boys were forced to wear shorts and men were not permitted to have turn-ups on their trouser legs in order to preserve material.

 

[smotherman]

Acupuncture was first used as a medical treatment in 2700 BC by Chinese emperor Shen-Nung.

 

[smotherman]

Chicago's Lincoln Park was created in 1864. The original 120 acre cemetery had most of its graves removed and was expanded to more than 1000 acres for recreational use.

 

[smotherman]

In 1947, Toys for Tots started making the holidays a little happier for children by organizing its first Christmas toy drive for needy youngsters

 

[smotherman]

Seven of the eight US Presidents who have died in office - either through illness or assassination - were elected at precisely 20-year intervals.

 

[sexy_hottie_2003]

Stonehenge was a place of burial from its beginning to its zenith in the mid third millennium B.C. The cremation burial dating to Stonehenge's sarsen stones phase is likely just one of many from this later period of the monument's use and demonstrates that it was still very much a domain of the dead.





It's My Birthday So Show Me Some Love

 

[daus42]

Because heat expands the metal, the Eiffel Tower always leans away from the Sun

 

[daus42]

Tokyo has had 24 recorded instances of people either killed or receiving serious skull fractures while bowing to each other with the traditional Japanese greeting

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In early 1955 Variety Magazine predicted that Rock and Roll would be gone by the end of June.

 

[sexy_hottie_2003]

When you visit here, be sure to rent a car. You will be driving - a lot. Many of Dallas' freeways bear two names - Highway 183 is also known as Airport Freeway, Highway 114 as John Carpenter Freeway, Highway 75 as Central Expressway, I35 as Stemmons, Northwest Highway as Loop 12, I30 as R.L. Thornton, I45 as Julius Schepps and Highway 635 as LBJ Freeway. One or more of these will get you to the numerous entertainment and business districts that make up this energetic city.

 

[sexy_hottie_2003]

For over 114 years, Fair Park has been home to the nation's largest annual fair, State Fair of Texas, held each October. This collection of 1930s art deco buildings represents the only intact pre-1950 world's fair site remaining in the United States. Festivals and events are held here year-round. Fair Park also boasts numerous museums that operate daily'the Science Place and IMAX theater, the Dallas Museum of Natural History, the Dallas Aquarium, the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, the African American Museum, the Hall of State and the Dallas Horticulture Center.

Fair Park is a great place to relax, have fun and expand your mind. The wide and smooth sidewalks are favorites of rollerbladers and skateboarders, so be alert. The grounds are well-manicured, and the fountains are beautiful. Make it a point to visit.

 

[sexy_hottie_2003]

The Titanic

The 20th century alone put the town on the map, when the magnificent but ill-fated Titanic sailed from its docks on 10th April 1912. Glamourised on both television and celluloid, and most famously in James Cameron's lavish Hollywood blockbuster, the doomed maiden voyage and its victims have long been honoured with the city's own monument. Located in East Park, the Titanic Engineer Officers Memorial is a true testament to those who died, and particularly to the local people - in one school alone, 140 children lost a father, brother, cousin or uncle.

 

[pedicur8her]

National Nothing Day, January 16th.

Created in 1973 by newspaperman Harold Pullman Coffin.

Quite simply, a day for nothing.

This day is an "un-event". The expectation is that no one creates or otherwise promotes this day. In other words: do nothing. You celebrate National Nothing Day by doing nothing.

And to say anything more would contradict the purpose of the day ...

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

National Nothing Day, January 16th.

Created in 1973 by newspaperman Harold Pullman Coffin.

Quite simply, a day for nothing.

This day is an "un-event". The expectation is that no one creates or otherwise promotes this day. In other words: do nothing. You celebrate National Nothing Day by doing nothing.

And to say anything more would contradict the purpose of the day ...

LOL! Can it be extended?

 

[pedicur8her]

LOL! Can it be extended?

There are no real rules, so one can certainly hope so ...

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Titanic

The 20th century alone put the town on the map, when the magnificent but ill-fated Titanic sailed from its docks on 10th April 1912. Glamourised on both television and celluloid, and most famously in James Cameron's lavish Hollywood blockbuster, the doomed maiden voyage and its victims have long been honoured with the city's own monument. Located in East Park, the Titanic Engineer Officers Memorial is a true testament to those who died, and particularly to the local people - in one school alone, 140 children lost a father, brother, cousin or uncle.

Capt. Edward John Smith was born in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent (UK) on the 27th of January 1850 and died at the helm of the 'Titanic', having been last seen in the bridge area having given the final order to abandon ship.
He was widely blamed for the sinking of the ship and was in effect 'disowned' by his home town when his statue was refused pride of place and instead put on display in Beacon Park, Lichfield, 50 miles to the south.
When he was finally dissolved of all blame Hanley asked for the return of his statue as a local renowned figure. It was too late, Lichfield refused, and it can still be seen to this day in Beacon Park.

 

[fathom7]

Philosophy

The Sperm Whale -- the largest carnivore on the planet -- has a throat with a diameter of about 4 inches.

*careful here comes the philosophy*

Do you know why?

'Cause that's the way it is and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

So when someone asks me WHY? in response to some tragedy or situation that cannot be explained:

My response is typically "Sperm Whale".

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Sperm Whale -- the largest carnivore on the planet -- has a throat with a diameter of about 4 inches.

*careful here comes the philosophy*

Do you know why?

'Cause that's the way it is and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

So when someone asks me WHY? in response to some tragedy or situation that cannot be explained:

My response is typically "Sperm Whale".

A bit like the question "Why does a dog lick its balls?" Because it can

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

There are more merlot grapes planted in the world than any other red or white grapes.

 

[fire_breeze]

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or the Knights Templar, was an order of warrior-monks which was founded to protect the Christian pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem from bandits (Christian and Muslim).

Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favoured charity throughout Christendom, and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant monks managed huge estates and controlled an enormous wealth.

When the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem fell, support for the Order faded. Rumors about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created mistrust, and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order's members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312. The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have kept the "Templar" name alive into the modern day.

In 2001, a document known as the "Chinon Parchment" was found in the Vatican Secret Archives, apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the Order in 1312.

It is currently the Roman Catholic Church position that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust; that there was nothing inherently wrong with the Order or its Rule; and that Pope Clement was pressured into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and the dominating influence of King Philip IV .

Bad bad King.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or the Knights Templar, was an order of warrior-monks which was founded to protect the Christian pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem from bandits (Christian and Muslim).

Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favoured charity throughout Christendom, and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant monks managed huge estates and controlled an enormous wealth.

When the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem fell, support for the Order faded. Rumors about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created mistrust, and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order's members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312. The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have kept the "Templar" name alive into the modern day.

In 2001, a document known as the "Chinon Parchment" was found in the Vatican Secret Archives, apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the Order in 1312.

It is currently the Roman Catholic Church position that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust; that there was nothing inherently wrong with the Order or its Rule; and that Pope Clement was pressured into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and the dominating influence of King Philip IV .

Bad bad King.

Off the top of my head without verification...
Philip IV needed treasury funding to fight the wars against England. He sought this in the reputed wealth of the Knights Templars and deliberately set about to procure it.
Pope Clemet was a very weak Pontiff and ultimately agreed and, as you say, they were broken under torture. The confession was extracted by stringing them up and continually waxing the feet with pig fat, beneath which was placed a lit candle. Over a long period of time the the skin, the flesh and the muscle burn away until eventually the bone literally drops out of the leg.
These guys sure knew how to torture

 

[fire_breeze]

Off the top of my head without verification...
Philip IV needed treasury funding to fight the wars against England. He sought this in the reputed wealth of the Knights Templars and deliberately set about to procure it.
Pope Clemet was a very weak Pontiff and ultimately agreed and, as you say, they were broken under torture. The confession was extracted by stringing them up and continually waxing the feet with pig fat, beneath which was placed a lit candle. Over a long period of time the the skin, the flesh and the muscle burn away until eventually the bone literally drops out of the leg.
These guys sure knew how to torture

Yup, pretty much. Succinctly put!

Although torture was a commonly held modus operandi within the Middle Ages (as well as almost everywhere), the Church was not allowed to let any of their prisoners die under torture, and would often go to great lengths to avoid killing them outright. As heresy was a secular (where it was considered to be a form of treason) as well as a religious crime, those accused of heresy (which was punishable by death) was handed over to secular authorities.