Quirky History facts!

[Michaelangelica]

The eventual name, however, turned out to be Uranus, the granddaddy of the gods. And that's a lucky thing if you're nine years old - it's rather difficult to make fun of 'George'.

Some time ago there was an argument in Parliament in Oz

The minister was stumped, looked to the cealing and an interjeccor from the opposition askesd if he saw inspiration

He replied "No but I see your anus"

[alexander]

You mean that evil, constipated protestant?

I mean a theologian and a church reformer, one of a few in his day... I take it that you are Catholic or a regular Christian...? I am only up to argue his historical figure if you want to, i don't argue religion with religious folk anymore... I mean not to pick no you, nobody, even my best friend tried discussing some theological stuff with me and i basically told her the same thing, so...

 

Alexander the great died of malaria ( I think)

So what you are saying? I'm not a living being anymore, just a crazy ghost or something?

 

Here is another quirky history fact:

 

Peter the Great had some huge parties over at his summer palace in Petergoff, he would entertain hundreds of guests, some of which would get too drunk and stay over at the palace. In the morning the czar would give them hard-boiled eggs and cognac instead of tea in the tea cups, and then tell them to go outside and watch them ride horses, well attempt to anyways, bare-back as a form of entertainment for himself and his wife...

 

 

Quote:

In World War II, the German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

Did the attacker throw it at them?

hey, hey, in 1939, when Poland was overrun in 7 days, German soldiers recorded Polish cavalry going against their tanks with spears and swords...:hyper:

 

as to malfunctioning toilet... someone didn't flush did they?

[Monomer]

The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and the United Kingdom on 27 August 1896. It lasted for 45 minutes.

[Fatstep]

The revolutionists were mainly conservatives.

[Michaelangelica]

The first person to archive moterised (steam power?) air-flight was most probably a New Zealander named Richard Pearse, not the Wright Brothers

 

First To Fly?

[skuzie]

hey, hey, in 1939, when Poland was overrun in 7 days, German soldiers recorded Polish cavalry going against their tanks with spears and swords...:doh:

 

Hey i would read up on your history first before spreading nazi propaganda :evil:

 

Invasion of Poland (1939) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

It took over a month unlike some of the other coutries most notibly France .. pathetic that was. To add injury Russia invaded mid way from the east.

 

Sure there were instances where Polish officers would tell their troops that the tanks were made out of carboard to boost their morale (?) .. thats why they charged at them with horses like that :)

 

"Poland acknowledged the benefits of mobility but was unwilling to invest heavily in many of the expensive and unproven new inventions since then and make these additions to its armed forces. In spite of this, Polish Cavalry brigades were used as a mobile mounted infantry and had some successes against both German infantry and German cavalry"

 

On the topic of Polish cavalry, they repelled the turks who were spreading west at the famous victory of battle of vienna in 1683.

 

Battle of Vienna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Dont forget the failed attempt for the red army westward spread into europe at the Miracle on the Vistula in 1920 which is considered as one of the top 20 decisive battles of all time:

 

Battle of Warsaw (1920 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

Polish Pride :) .. ok ill stop now :)

[Boerseun]

The Late Douglas Adams, of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame, was very good personal friends with David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. And Adams came up with the name for the classic Floyd album, "The Division Bell" (one of my favourites, by the way). Now you know!

 

Roald Dahl, famous for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and "The Giant Peach", wrote two accepted screenplays for James Bond movies in the late '60s, thereby winning a bet with his friend Ian Flemming, that he could write Bond better than Fleming himself! Both Fleming and Dahl's screenplays were submitted anonymously to the Brocolli family, who bought the screen rights to Fleming's creation, and they selected the Dahl versions as being more in line with "what the author intended with the character". And now you know that, too!

[Michaelangelica]

, thereby winning a bet with his friend Ian Flemming, that he could write Bond better than Fleming himself! Both Fleming and Dahl's screenplays were submitted anonymously to the Brocolli family, who bought the screen rights to Fleming's creation, and they selected the Dahl versions as being more in line with "what the author intended with the character".

excellent. . .

Dahl was diabolical

 

Many of Fleming's stories are loosely based on real events while he was working for the secret service in Britain during WW2. Goldfinger for example had to do with British stores of gold in the Jamaica /Bahamas(?). Every letter going to USA was routed though here opened examined and read. A massive operation. Many micro-dots were found used by German intelligence.

 

007 is said to be based on William Stephenson “Intrepid” who probably single handily was responsible for the allies winning the war (I am not exaggerating)

The history of the man is still shrouded. The book Intrepid leaves out so much detail.

The real story is probably more fantastic than JB could ever be. Some history here

special operations executive, soe, special operations executive in the far east, mission scapula by maurice a christie, NGfL, BECTA, Winston Churchill, to set Europe ablaze, Enigma, Aston House, Churchill’s toy box, Claymore, Katyn Massacre, U-boats,

another website says JB was based on

a real spy - Dušan Popov, a Serb double agent for both the British and Germans, who was also known as a bit of a "playboy".

James Bond: Information from Answers.com

In WW2 Ian Fleming rose to the rank of commander he became assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence. "His commanding officer was Admiral John H Godfrey and was certainly the inspiration behind Bond's often exasperated controller".

Wiki

has this history footnote

Story inspirations

 

Ian Fleming claimed that Casino Royale was inspired by certain incidents that took place during his career at the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. The first, and the basis for the novel, was a trip to Lisbon that Fleming and the Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Godfrey, took during World War II en route to the United States.

While there, they went to the Estoril Casino in Estoril, which (due to the neutral status of Portugal) had a number of spies of warring regimes present. Fleming claimed that while there he was cleaned out by a "chief German agent" at a table playing Chemin de Fer.

Admiral Godfrey tells a different story: Fleming only played Portuguese businessmen and that afterwards Fleming had fantasized about their being German agents and the excitement of cleaning them out.

His references to 'Red Indians' (Four times, twice on last page) comes from Fleming's own 30 Assault Unit, which he nicknamed his own 'Red Indians'.

 

The failed assassination attempt on Bond while at Royale-les-Eaux is also claimed by Fleming to be inspired by a real event.

The inspiration comes from a failed assassination on Franz von Papen who was a Vice-Chancellor and Ambassador under Adolf Hitler.

Both Papen and Bond survive their assassination attempts, carried out by Bulgarians, due to a tree that protects them both from a bomb blast.[3]

 

How he based some characters on his friends:-

http://www.hmss.com/books/fleming/

[Boerseun]

If Hillary Clinton is successful in her Presidential bid, we'll see the list of US presidents as

 

Reagan

Bush

Clinton

Bush

Clinton

 

...where none of the duplicate names are coincidental, they actually are/were family. Nothing funny now, but imagine seeing this in the Presidential list of 100 - 200 years ago?

 

Think that's funny?

 

You ain't seen nuttin' yet!

 

Current serving Polish President Lech Kaczynski, and current serving Polish Prime Minister Jaroslav Kaczynski, are IDENTICAL TWINS!!!

 

Keep in mind, Poland is a liberal democracy today, and there was no foul play! How quirky is that? :D

 

I wonder if they sometimes fill in for each other when their meetings clash? :)

[Michaelangelica]

In 1913

With synthetic production almost non-existent, the world was entirely dependent on the Chilean (guano) resource for fertilizers and high explosives. This was a fact which military leaders did not overlook.

They realized that if war broke out, the countries which lacked (or were denied) access to the Chilean supply (like Germany) would quickly run out of munitions.

 

In 1913 if you were an up and coming nation, intent on feeding your people, or conquering your enemies through conquest, you needed as much Chilean saltpeter as possible.

In short, the fate of the world depended upon who could get their hands on the most bird ****.

It is therefor no coincidence that the first major naval battle of World War I occured off the coast of Chile.

History of ChEn: Nitrogen

[eric l]

In 1913, the Germans had the Alsace-Loraine region which they had annexed in 1870 (after the Franco-Prussian war) and they had the Haber-Bosch process (pattented in 1908 (see quote from Wikipedia)

History

The process was first patented by Fritz Haber in 1908. In 1910 Carl Bosch, while working for chemical company BASF, successfully commercialized the process and secured further patents. It was first used on an industrial scale by the Germans during World War I: Germany had previously imported 'Chilean saltpeter' from Chile, but the demand for munitions and the uncertainty of this supply in the war prompted the adoption of the process. Without this process, Germany would almost certainly have run out of munitions by 1916, thereby ending the war. The ammonia produced was oxidized for the production of nitric acid in the Ostwald process, and the nitric acid for the production of various explosive nitro compounds used in munitions.

I've always been confused by the fact that Fritz Haber received the Nobelprize in 1918 for an invention that at least made WWI las so much longer.

[Michaelangelica]

In 1913, the Germans had the Alsace-Loraine region which they had annexed in 1870 (after the Franco-Prussian war) and they had the Haber-Bosch process (pattented in 1908 (see quote from Wikipedia)

Strange that it took 6-7 years and a war to get the process up and running? Perhaps it was too expensive at first to compete with the Chilean saltpeter??

Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, two patriotic Germans developed a method for producing synthetic ammonia. The first plants using this "Haber-Bosch Process" were constructed shortly after the outbreak of the war. They had discovered that ammonia could be made by placing nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas in a high pressure chamber. With the addition of a suitable catalyst, and a little heat to speed things up, vast quantities of fixed nitrogen could be produced. Without the Haber-Bosch Process, Germany would have run out of munitions in 1916 thereby ending the war

(From same web site as above)

 

I've always been confused by the fact that Fritz Haber received the Nobelprize in 1918 for an invention that at least made WWI las so much longer.

Another terrible irony about that prize.

I guess they didn't get the "peace" prize?

 

I liked the "bird-****" story better spoil-sport:D

[Boerseun]

Dig this:

 

When Julius Ceasar came to power in Rome, his name was just... a name. Like any other name. But he was so popular amongst the lower and middle classes for building his army and government on merit alone, that his name became synonymous with the office he bore. Afterwards, his name was bestowed on all subsequent leaders of the Roman Empire.

 

But that's not the quirky bit. The name became a symbol of great power far beyond the bounds of the Empire, so much so that the original 'Ceasar' became the German 'Kaiser', as well as the Slavic Tsar/Csar. The last Tsar in nominal power was Simon II of Bulgaria in 1946, meaning that for TWO THOUSAND YEARS after ole' Julius' assasination on the steps of the Senate in Rome, there was always at least some head of state somewhere in the world bearing his name. Now that's a sure sign of popularity! Imagine - Julius Ceasar had an effect on the World till after the Second World War! (ignoring his name on the month of July, of course - that's still in effect.)

[Boerseun]

Back in antiquity, the Greeks have believed in the Amazons, a race of female warriors who lived somewhere in Asia Minor. As their knowledge of the world increased, the location of these mythical warrior women was obviously moved backwards and backwards, but still nobody knew where these female warriors had their towns, cities or strongholds.

 

So what's this got to do with anything?

 

Nothing really. And, it has even less to do with the Amazon rainforest!

 

So why were they called 'Amazons', then?

 

Well, here's the quirky bit:

 

The Greeks believed these killer females to have amputated their right breasts in order to better operate a bow in battle. And, female breasts in ancient Greek, of course, are 'mazos'. So an amazon is literally "one without breasts". So, the amazons warriors were females without breasts, in order to be better at shooting arrows!

 

Quirky, indeed!

 

(I don't know why the Amazon is called the Amazon, however... - anybody?)

[Qfwfq]

What I remember is that the first European explorers, confronted with tribes of long-haired warriors that they mistook for women, called them Amazons.

 

P. S. my Brazilian colleague here doesn't know much better but answered that it's because of the legend of the Amazons.

[Boerseun]

Amazing!

 

Imagine, the world's biggest rainforest, named in honour of crazy killer chicks who indulge in self-mutilation.

 

This planet is weird beyond measure. It sounds like something happening on a planet Douglas Adams would write about! :)

[Buffy]

This planet is weird beyond measure. It sounds like something happening on a planet Douglas Adams would write about!

You mean its not? :eek:

 

What do you mean, why has it got to be built? It's a bypass. You've got to build bypasses, :)

Amazon Buffy