Total Trivia

[fire_breeze]

All of the officers in the Confederate army were given copies of Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, to carry with them at all times. Robert E. Lee, among others, believed that the book symbolized their cause.


Both revolts were defeated.

 

[fire_breeze]

Boys who have unusual first names are more likely to have mental problems than boys with conventional names. Girls don't seem to have this problem.

This is very good to know!

 

[fire_breeze]

In the 1960’s, the CIA concocted a plan to poison Fidel Castro of Cuba. Their planned mode of operation?

Poisoning his cigars!

 

[_Misty_]

Located in the little Austrian village of Halstatt, The Painted Skulls Ossuary is one of the most bizarre tourist attractions in the world. Halstatt is known as the oldest continuous human settlement, with archeological finds dating back to 5000 BC. It’s one of the most beautiful lakeside mountain resorts on the face of the Earth, but tourists go there, not primarily for the breathtaking scenery, but for something many people might find rather disturbing, a crypt filled with human skulls. The Halstatt Painted Skulls Ossuary was built back in the 12th century when the village was flourishing, the population exceeded 3000 souls and there was no more room in the cemetery, so the authorities had to come up with some kind of solution. They decided to “rent” graves, if you will, bodies would be buried for only 10-15 years before being dug up, and the skulls removed, in order to make room for other corpses. The skull would then be cleaned and exposed to sun and moon light for weeks, until they became bleach-white, before being placed in their final resting place, the ossuary. The tradition of skull painting began in 1790, when members of the deceased’s family started painting flowers and crowns of flowers. Some of the skulls also have the name of the deceased painted on them, the dates of birth and death and some kind of symbol depicting the cause of death.

 

[desideratum]

wow!

Just whilst on the topic of bones

The human head is a quarter of our total length at birth, but only an eighth of our total length by adulthood.

Nearly a quarter of all human bones can be found in the feet.

The human wrist contains more bones than the ankle.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Bone marrow...

Soft tissue filling the spongy interiors of animal bones.
Red marrow is the principal organ that forms blood cells in mammals, including humans. In children, the bones contain only red marrow. As the skeleton matures, fat-storing yellow marrow displaces red marrow in the shafts of the long bones of the limbs. In adults red marrow remains chiefly in the ribs, the vertebrae, the pelvic bones, and the skull.
Erythrocytes (red blood cells), platelets, and all but one kind of leukocyte (white blood cell) are manufactured in human red marrow.

The marrow releases about 10 million to 15 million new erythrocytes every second, while an equivalent number are destroyed by the spleen.

Now THAT is one hell of a turnover!

 

[luv2lick001]

James Cagney never actually said "you dirty rat", (or at least not 'on-screen').

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Sorry, I'm on a roll...

The Spleen.

The spleen is a soft, purple, highly vascular organ located in the upper left region of your abdomen. It lies just behind and partly lateral to the stomach and just under the diaphragm. It is shaped like a very small smooth rounded catcher's mitt with notches at its upper anterior edge.

* Your spleen is the largest single mass of lymphoid tissue in the body.
* You have 4 times more lymph fluid than blood

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Lymphatic system

The fluid and white cells that leak from the capillaries pass through the extra-cellular spaces between cells. These spaces drain into more organized channels called lymphatic vessels.
The fluid inside these vessels is referred to as lymph and contains white cells, fats, proteins, and other material derived from cell waist or digestion.
The lymph travels through the lymphatic vessels, loosely driven by the diminished pressure of the capillaries. These lymphatic vessels eventually drain into the veins.

The lymph system's main functions are providing nutrients to cells, removing waste from cells, and providing transportation and reservoirs for white blood cells, which wage war against infection.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Lymph nodes

Small clusters of lymphatic tissue, most numerous in the armpits, neck and groin.
White cells congregate in these nodes, devouring intruders that come along. During an infection, the white cells rapidly multiply within the nodes causing them to swell, and then travel through the lymphatic system to the blood and the rest of the body to wage war on the infection.
Swollen nodes can be noticed along the sides of the neck or in the breasts. If you see swellings from the side of your neck, it could indicate mono or some other infection. Swellings in the breast could indicate an infection or breast cancer, so check your breasts monthly.

 

[_Misty_]

Curse of LaBonte

The "Curse of LaBonte" is quite possibly one of the most famous curses in curling history. The "curse" was caused by an incident at the finals of the 1972 Air Canada Silver Broom - the 1972 World Men's Curling Championship in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

The Canadian team, skipped by Orest Meleschuk was playing the American team skipped by Bob LaBonte in the finals. Canada had been undefeated up until this point, but was down by two points in the last end. They needed two points to tie the game. Meleschuk had the hammer, and thus the final shot of the end. When it was time for him to shoot, the Americans had shot rock on the button while Canada was sitting second shot right next to it. The U.S. was sitting third rock too with a rock biting the 8-foot. To tie the game, Meleschuk had to hit the American rock and not roll further than this third rock.

Meleschuk's rock made the hit, and it preceded to roll to the 8-foot. When it landed, it was close to being second, but the Americans thought otherwise, and U.S. third Frank Aasand jumped in the air to celebrate. In the meantime, Canada's third Dave Romano was still investigating on which rock was second rock, and this whether or not Canada had scored two to tie, or just one for the loss. While Romano was looking, LaBonte jumped in the air to celebrate as well, but slipped and accidentally kicked the Canadian stone. Romano had still not agreed on who was shot, and since LaBonte had kicked the rock closer than the American rock, Canada would end up scoring two in the end. Canada would then steal another point in the extra end to win the championship.

It was later said that LaBonte put a "curse" on Canada, because Canada would not win another World Championship until 1980. Canadian journalist Larry Tucker is generally considered to have been given credit for inventing the hex in 1980 to describe Canada's victory that year.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Curses -

James Dean and "Little Bastard"

On September 30, 1955, James Dean was killed when the silver Porsche 550 Spyder he called "Little Bastard" was struck by an oncoming vehicle. Within a year or so of Dean's crash, the car was involved in two more fatal accidents and caused injury to at least six other people. After the accident, the car was purchased by hot-rod designer George Barris.

While getting a tune up, Little Bastard fell on the mechanic's legs and crushed them. Barris later sold the engine and transmission to two doctors who raced cars. While racing against each other, one driver was killed, the other seriously injured. Someone else had purchased the tires, which blew simultaneously, sending the driver to the hospital.

Little Bastard was set to appear in a car show, but a fire broke out in the building the night before the show, destroying every car except Little Bastard, which survived without so much as a smudge. The car was then loaded onto a truck to go back to Salinas, California. The driver lost control en route, was thrown from the cab, and was crushed by the car when it fell off the trailer. In 1960, after being exhibited by the California Highway Patrol, Little Bastard disappeared and hasn't been seen since.

 

[_Misty_]

The Curse of 27

The Curse of 27 is the belief that 27 is an unlucky number due to the number of famous musicians and entertainers who have died at the age. Robert Johnson, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Janis Joplin, Jonathan Brandis and Kurt Cobain are all believed to have been affected by the curse of 27. This is also known as the 27 Club.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Curse of Tutankhamen's Tomb

In 1922, English explorer Howard Carter, leading an expedition funded by George Herbert, Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, discovered the ancient Egyptian king's tomb and the riches inside. After opening the tomb, however, strange and unpleasant events began to take place in the lives of those involved in the expedition.

Lord Carnarvon's story is the most bizarre. The adventurer apparently died from pneumonia and blood poisoning following complications from a mosquito bite. Allegedly, at the exact moment Carnarvon passed away in Cairo, all the lights in the
city mysteriously went out. Carnarvon's dog dropped dead that morning, too. Some point to the foreboding inscription, "Death comes on wings to he who enters the tomb of a pharaoh" as proof that King Tut put a curse on anyone who disturbed his final resting place.

 

[BoomerP]

FACT

How many Gaia's does it take to change a lightbolb?

Only one cause she's very clever!

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Well I never knew that!
My youngest son informed me earlier that Royal Leamington Spa, our siamese town to which we are attached and where both my sons were born, is the historical home of lawn tennis.
I did a Google and lo and behold there it was, 1874 to be precise.
We are never too old to learn

 

[fire_breeze]

Babinda's Boulders, Babinda township, near Cairns, Queensland on Australia's mid-north coast, is a place known for the Devil's Pool, a group of waterholes known to be dangerous to young male travellers, but never claiming the lives of locals or females.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The oldest Inn in Britain dating from the time of Robin Hood is carved into the rock and connected with the labyrinth of sandstone caves at the foot of Nottingham Castle. As its sign says, it truly is “Well known throughout the World”, but the very first question every visitor asks inevitably relates to how it came to have such an unusual name.

The answer to this lies in the date painted on the exterior walls of the Inn, that of 1189AD. This was the year of ascension to the throne of King Richard the First, known as Richard the Lionheart, and one of his first acts as King was to crusade against the Saracens who at that time occupied the Holy Land of Christian Religion. Nottingham Castle was a stronghold favoured by the King and legend has it that the brave Knights and men at arms who rallied to his call to fight in this Third Crusade, gathered at the Castle to rest before journeying to Jerusalem.

Legend also has it that these Crusaders stopped off at the Inn at the foot of the Castle for welcome refreshments - or perhaps more accurately, for ‘one for the road’. Given that in the Middle Ages, a ‘Trip’ was not a journey as such but rather a resting place where such a journey could be broken, it is understandable how the Inn came to be called ‘Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem’.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

A snail does not cut itself over broken glass, its slime protects it.

Disgusting creatures

 

[_Misty_]

Here's some slug trivia for you. Slugs have been around since the dinosaurs. The wet Olympic coast is home to 23 species of slugs. They have two tentacles, one for seeing and the other for feeling. Because their tentacles move independently, they can see in two directions at once. Slugs have 27,000 teeth and eat their weight everyday. It would take more than 9 hours for a slug to finish a 100-yard dash.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The banana slug is the mascot for the University of California at Santa Cruz.

 

[_Misty_]

The banana slug is also native to Washington, home of the slug festival. It is green and yellow and can be the length of a banana.

 

[_Misty_]

June 22, 1633 - The Holy Office in Rome forces Galileo Galilei to recant his scientific view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

June 22, 1633 - The Holy Office in Rome forces Galileo Galilei to recant his scientific view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe.

In 1614, Galileo was accused of heresy for his support of the Copernican theory that the sun was at the centre of the solar system. This was revolutionary at a time when most people believed the Earth was in this central position. In 1616, he was forbidden by the church from teaching or advocating these theories.

In 1632, he was again condemned for heresy after his book 'Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems' was published. This set out the arguments for and against the Copernican theory in the form of a discussion between two men. Galileo was summoned to appear before the Inquisition in Rome. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, later reduced to permanent house arrest at his villa in Arcetri, south of Florence. He was also forced to publicly withdraw his support for Copernican theory.

 

[_Misty_]

June 23, 1917 - In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.