Fun trivia in the history of man... or something.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:17 pm

Uhm... I'm looking for... I don't know what I'm looking for, but here's an example:

June 11:th, 1948. The monkey Albert is launched in to space.
November 2:d, 1991. Freddie Mercury dies.
March, 30:th. Scarlett the cat.

Just random, and fun or sweet or sad, facts and trivias.

Any cool ideas?

Aaron Hong · Post by **Aaron Hong** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:22 am

How about the invention of little things like the paperclip, or the spark plug?

I heard from someplace that Flintstones was the first cartoon to be shown in the primetime belt, and the first TV show to show a married couple in bed (just sitting there of course...)

Post by **Best First** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:46 am

if you go to wiki and just type in a year you tend to get good stuff.

sadly it does not work for the future - rubbish.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:48 am

Best First wrote:if you go to wiki and just type in a year you tend to get good stuff.

sadly it does not work for the future - rubbish.

Super awesome!

Thanks - now I have something to do at work.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:03 am

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:06 pm

Best First wrote:if you go to wiki and just type in a year you tend to get good stuff.

sadly it does not work for the future - rubbish.

In 2015 the McFly children will be framed by Griff for armed robbery.

In 2099, shockin' Alchemax will rule the planet.

In 3000 (or thereabouts) Magnus Robot Fighter will start to question whether or not he should really be killing these robots.

Thought you knew that.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:09 pm

Best First wrote:if you go to wiki and just type in a year you tend to get good stuff.

sadly it does not work for the future - rubbish.

unlike Uncyclopedia, whose "on this day" panel often takes into future events.
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Eline · Post by **Eline** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:29 pm

Legion wrote:unlike Uncyclopedia, whose "on this day" panel often takes into future events.
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Great!

Blacksword · Post by **Blacksword** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 7:14 pm

If you want colourful bits of history my prodigious memory for useless but inane historical facts is at your disposal.

272 BC - King Pyrrhus of Epirus, bane of Rome and the kings of Macedonia, is killed when hit in the head with a roof tile hurled at him by an old woman.

14 AD - A particularly brutal Roman centurion Lucilius was murdered by his troops during a mutiny by the German legions. They nicknamed him cedo alteram "bring another" because when he broke his vine stick (a centurion's badge of office) on a soldiers' back while beating him he would loudly call for another.

59 AD - The emperor Nero attempts to have his mother Agrippina killed by placing her on a ship designed to collapse once out to sea. She discerned that the disintigration of the ship was no accident when her maid was bludgeoned with oars after crying for help from within the wrecked inner cabin. (We should not feel too sorry for Agrippina as she had poisoned her husband (and uncle, eeww!), the emperor Claudius.)

Leatherneck · Post by **Leatherneck** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:44 pm

11/21/1985 AD: I am born.

Remember that.

Seriously.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:57 pm

Blacksword wrote:If you want colourful bits of history my prodigious memory for useless but inane historical facts is at your disposal.

272 BC - King Pyrrhus of Epirus, bane of Rome and the kings of Macedonia, is killed when hit in the head with a roof tile hurled at him by an old woman.

I read lot about Ancient history and myths as a kid... Pyrrhus was quite a military commander, and we call a battle where you win but suffer such great casualties that you are hardly better off then the enemy 'Pyrrhan victory' after him.

59 AD - The emperor Nero attempts to have his mother Agrippina killed by placing her on a ship designed to collapse once out to sea. She discerned that the disintigration of the ship was no accident when her maid was bludgeoned with oars after crying for help from within the wrecked inner cabin. (We should not feel too sorry for Agrippina as she had poisoned her husband (and uncle, eeww!), the emperor Claudius.)

Nero really liked his mom, didn't he? After he learned mommy dearest did survive, he panicked and started asking around his centurions, who will save him from her wrath... so someone volunteered, went to her home and killed her with a sword.

If you're interested in reaDING about the Ancient Rome during the time of the Emperors, I can recommend Robert Graves' romans, 'I, Claudius' and 'Claudius the god'. Claudius was the uncle of Caligula, the famous mad tyrant before Nero, and only survived his rule (Caligula executed pretty much all his relatives and close associates) by pretending to be senile and crazy (in fact, some historians say he really was). When Caligula was killed, the praetorians elected the unwilling Claudius as Emperor, but he was pretty much unfit to rule, mostly his friends and family governed instead of him. His third wife, Agrippina poisoned him to help Nero get the throne (and you can see how he rewarded her...)

Blacksword · Post by **Blacksword** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:45 pm

Well most historians would agree that Claudius had some sort of birth defect, as his family largely kept him secluded from the public while his brother Germanicus became the golden boy of the Imperial family. He only really appears in the historical record during the brief reign of his nephew Gaius (aka Caligula, who came to power only because his older borthers met their end in the chaotic last years of Tiberius' rule when he let his Praetorian Prefect Sejanus gain too much power) when he's made consul, and frequently ridiculed. He's usually recorded as having a limp, and the few speeches we have on record are a tad esoteric in their style (they tend to meander on and on and one has Claudius adressing himself part way through). It seems fairly clear that he was primarily an absent minded academic, who would never have been emperor if everyone else of age in the imperial family weren't killed under Caligula. But despite his oddities Claudius was an able administrator and appears to have been highly attentive to his duties, even if he often had no idea what was going on in terms of the court and the Senate.

Oh and its a Pyrrhic victory.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:27 pm

I Claudius is being repeated at the moment, I caught an episode the other night, but the mrs thought it was boring and we had to watch some utter **** instead.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 6:45 pm

Blacksword wrote:Well most historians would agree that Claudius had some sort of birth defect, as his family largely kept him secluded from the public while his brother Germanicus became the golden boy of the Imperial family. He only really appears in the historical record during the brief reign of his nephew Gaius (aka Caligula, who came to power only because his older borthers met their end in the chaotic last years of Tiberius' rule when he let his Praetorian Prefect Sejanus gain too much power) when he's made consul, and frequently ridiculed. He's usually recorded as having a limp, and the few speeches we have on record are a tad esoteric in their style (they tend to meander on and on and one has Claudius adressing himself part way through). It seems fairly clear that he was primarily an absent minded academic, who would never have been emperor if everyone else of age in the imperial family weren't killed under Caligula. But despite his oddities Claudius was an able administrator and appears to have been highly attentive to his duties, even if he often had no idea what was going on in terms of the court and the Senate.

Oh and its a Pyrrhic victory.

Yes, Graves certainly makes Claudius appear more stable and a fit ruler then he probably was. I also just learned that BBC did a series from 'I, Claudius' in 1976... is it any good?

Thanks for the correction... it's not a word I learned in english class...

Metal Vendetta wrote:I Claudius is being repeated at the moment, I caught an episode the other night, but the mrs thought it was boring and we had to watch some utter **** instead.

I just did some research at wiki, apparently the series had some good awards at the time. I found the whole series on bittorrent too, but it's 5 gigas - not something I want to download before I have seen one episode.