Fun facts!

  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
The American narrator for Mythbusters was actually an Australian guy faking an American accent. He occasionally slipped up and referred to 'earthing' something instead of 'grounding' something, or saying 'Jamie plugs it into the mains' instead of 'Jamie plugs it into the wall'.
 
Gold used to be used to make red stained glass because gold nano-particles are red.
 
When guns were first becoming a mainstay in military battles, it was common for soldiers to have a melee weapon alongside their guns, since the long reload times left the soldiers at a disadvantage if enemy troops were to rush towards them while they were reloading. Most countries had a tendency to lean towards sabres or other types of swords. Not good ol' Russia though, they instead opted to have their boys armed with both a flintlock rifle and a heavy two-handed axe slung over their shoulders.
 
Last edited:
dannyfrickenp said:
In 1962 researchers injected an elephant with 297 mg (equivalent to 2,970 doses) of LSD. The elephant died.
Click to expand...

That was Louis Jolyon West, who was an expert in North Korean brainwashing. Also, he did the psychiatric evaluation for Jack Ruby, the guy who shot Lee Harvey Oswald.
 
In the original rough draft of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there was a sixth golden ticket winner called Miranda Piker. Her shtick was that she was a nerd who hated fun, and wound up falling down a pit trying to smash a machine that made candies that caused people to break out in spots so they could stay home from school.

Also, the Oompa Loompas were originally black pygmies with bones through their noses.
 
Francis E. Dec Esc. said:
In the original rough draft of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there was a sixth golden ticket winner called Miranda Piker. Her shtick was that she was a nerd who hated fun, and wound up falling down a pit trying to smash a machine that made candies that caused people to break out in spots so they could stay home from school.

Also, the Oompa Loompas were originally black pygmies with bones through their noses.
Click to expand...
Didn't she also start cussing like a sailor when her breakdown came around?
 
The Cujo movie was infamously difficult to film. Due to the fact that the titular Cujo was a Saint Bernard, one of the biggest and friendliest breeds in the world, it was ridiculously hard to get the dogs they brought in for the role to do anything that even looked remotely aggressive. It was so hard that they had to go out of their way to put the dogs in positions where they kinda sorta looked like they were attacking and then dub sounds of angry dog barks and growls over it. The scene where Cujo is trying to force his way into the car using the partially rolled down window? They chucked the dogs favorite toy under the seat of the car, and the lovable little brute was actually whining and wagging his tail off to get to the toy. The scenes where Cujo is lingering around with bloody foam around his mouth? They couldn't take too long filming them because the foam was made from whipped cream and strawberry jam, and the dog could only sit still for so long before giving into temptation and licking it all off. The scenes in the beginning where Cujo attacked all of his former friends and family is a rabies-induced frenzy? The actors basically kept calling out to the dogs and the puppers ran to them and knocked them down so they could cuddle them and play. And the best part is, the scene where Cujo tackled the car to try to get in and maul the lady and the kid? Wasn't even a fucking dog. None of the Saint Bernards could be convinced to run into the car, at most they'd just calmly walk up to it and put their paw on the door to be let in or lean on it because the car was warm. They actually had to get one of the bigger guys on set to dress up in a dog costume and charge at the car on all fours. All the dogs on set were good boys who did their best.

Also how the book itself was written is kinda funny. When King was being pressured to write a new book, he had no idea what to do. So to cope he went on a weekend-long Drug bender. And when he finally came to he panicked for the longest time because he believed he didn't get anything done. It wasn't until he got notified that his book was being published that he realized that for the entire duration of the bender he was actually manically writing a novel, and he never actually read it until a few months before the movies release. He was pretty proud of his drugged-out past self.
 
The song 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins was the last song written for the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was written and performed 24 hours before they were supposed to be done recording, and their producer for the album, Flood, thought it was a terrible idea to record at the last minute. When he heard the final product, he loved the song.

The couple in the music video for Tonight, Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins is Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, at the time famous for being on Mr. Show with Bob and David, now better known as the voices of Spongebob and Karen the Computer wife, respectively.
 
Let me introduce you to the fine sport of Fox Tossing that was popular around the 17th and 18th century.

Das_Fuchsprellen%2C_Hoflustbarkeit_aus_dem_vorigen_Jhd.jpg


The rules are simple: Within a closed arena 2 participants form a team that hold opposite sides of a 6 to 7m (20ish feet) long and 30cm (1 foot) wide piece of cloth, while wild foxes (or certain other animals) are released into the arena. The goal of the game is to pull tight the tossing cloth while a fox is running over it, thus catapulting it into the air. It was possible to throw them to a height of more than 7m.
The game ends when the animals die or are too injured to run and have to be clubbed to death.

This was seen as an ideal pasttime to allow young couples to spend some quality time.

760px-Fox_tossing_1719.jpg


One notable example was the King of Poland, Augustus II, who held such an event in Dresden. At the event, 647 foxes, 533 hares, 34 badgers and 21 wildcats were killed in this way. Wildcats seemd to not have been very popular though, as someone once remarked that wildcats "do not give a pleasing kind of sport, for if they cannot bury their claws and teeth in the faces or legs of the tossers, they cling to the tossing-slings for dear life, and it is next to impossible to give one of these animals a skilful toss".

Some organizers like to surprise the fox tossers by sending (presumably young) boars into the arena, too.
Apparently, it lead to great "mirth" to watch the women trying to deal with boars rummaging around in their hoop-skirts.

Fox tossing eventually was replaced by badminton. Fortunately.
 
Last edited:
Francis E. Dec Esc. said:
New Edgar Allan Poe never called himself by that name, 'Allan' was the surname of his adoptive father, whom he despised.
Click to expand...
He also wasn't a degenerate or drug addict. Those were lies spread by someone who was jealous of his success as a writer.

HBO once didn't have the rights to several movies during a contract dispute, so they were forced to air a polka contest to fill the hours.
 
disky said:
i'm now of idea that if people want to look at my cut writs, they can. Like what fag is going to say, " you should not cut yourself. " i don't really care, it's not some private thing. if people can look at my face and not be disgusted they can look at my arms. the worst thing that could come from it is some people are slightly more concerned about me.
Click to expand...
If cows and troons taught me anything, just brand them your BATTLE SCARS as proof of your bravery.

Apparently it's twice as harmful to perform 'cough CPR' on yourself if you're feeling a heart attack coming than letting it happen. That is, heave as hard as you can and cough your lungs out. Who would've thought.
 
Unlike most mammals, human men lack a penis bone. Erections are maintained by sheer blood pressure and spongey tissue.
 
RomanesEuntDomus said:
Let me introduce you to the fine sport of Fox Tossing that was popular around the 17th and 18th century.

Das_Fuchsprellen%2C_Hoflustbarkeit_aus_dem_vorigen_Jhd.jpg


The rules are simple: Within a closed arena 2 participants form a team that hold opposite sides of a 6 to 7m (20ish feet) long and 30cm (1 foot) wide piece of cloth, while wild foxes (or certain other animals) are released into the arena. The goal of the game is to pull tight the tossing cloth while a fox is running over it, thus catapulting it into the air. It was possible to throw them to a height of more than 7m.
The game ends when the animals die or are too injured to run and have to be clubbed to death.

This was seen as an ideal pasttime to allow young couples to spend some quality time.

760px-Fox_tossing_1719.jpg


One notable example was the King of Poland, Augustus II, who held such an event in Dresden. At the event, 647 foxes, 533 hares, 34 badgers and 21 wildcats were killed in this way. Wildcats seemd to not have been very popular though, as someone once remarked that wildcats "do not give a pleasing kind of sport, for if they cannot bury their claws and teeth in the faces or legs of the tossers, they cling to the tossing-slings for dear life, and it is next to impossible to give one of these animals a skilful toss".

Some organizers like to surprise the fox tossers by sending (presumably young) boars into the arena, too.
Apparently, it lead to great "mirth" to watch the women trying to deal with boars rummaging around in their hoop-skirts.

Fox tossing eventually was replaced by badminton. Fortunately.
Click to expand...

Another bloodsport popular in 17th century Europe was 'goose pulling'. A live goose was tied up by its legs and hung upside down from a pole, and men rode past it on horseback trying to grab it's head and rip it off:

Remington_-_A_Gander-Pull.jpg


It's still done in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, though with dead geese instead of live ones.

800px-Gänsereiten_2010.jpg
 
DrJonesHat said:
He also wasn't a degenerate or drug addict. Those were lies spread by someone who was jealous of his success as a writer.
Click to expand...

That was Rufus Wilmot Griswold, a man who openly hated Poe. For some perverse reason, Poe appointed him his literary executor (although this may itself be a lie), whereupon Griswold wrote a defamatory pack of lies called a "biography" that has since poisoned Poe's reputation. Despite this contemptible behavior, Griswold himself is nearly forgotten and, if anything, even Griswold's lies merely gave Poe a dark, sexy reputation that people loved, which is why some of these lies stand to this day even though nobody actually dislikes Poe because of them.
 
DrJonesHat said:
He also wasn't a degenerate or drug addict. Those were lies spread by someone who was jealous of his success as a writer.

HBO once didn't have the rights to several movies during a contract dispute, so they were forced to air a polka contest to fill the hours.
Click to expand...
HBO had their feed hijacked for about a few minutes in protest of HBO upping their prices

Hbocaptainmidnight.jpg

dude was caught a few weeks later and had to pay a fine

Also my 666th message
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom