PYF Historical Fun Fact: (USER LOSETH POSTYNG PRIVILYGES FOR FOUR AND TWENTY HOURS)

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Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

cash crab posted:

OTHER NOTABLE PRESIDENTIAL PETS

Mark & Satan (dogs), owned by John Adams.

Emily Spinach (a snake), owned by Theodore Roosevelt. He also owned a hyena and a small bear (whose name was Johnathan Edwards).

Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau (lion cubs), owned by Calvin Coolidge.

edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention that Coolidge also owned a pair of raccoons.

I think it goes to show just how different religion was viewed by America's founding fathers that one of them could be president and have a dog named Satan and that was apparently cool. Although the idea of Obama getting a dog named Satan is fun just for the sheer frothing insanity it would inspire from the religious right

# ¿ Nov 5, 2015 17:16

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 19:29

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Hedningen posted:

To be fair, this bar fight involved swords.

What kind of D&D rear end bar let's people open carry swords all willy nilly

# ¿ Nov 5, 2015 18:16

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Invisible Clergy posted:

Thanks for this. I'm really enjoying it so far. your description is fair and accurate.

I don't really know how to perform a deft segue into this, so did you know America once had an emperor? I present to you, Emperor Norton I of the United States:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton

he's amazing.

I knew who emperor Norton was already but only read the Sandman comics a few years back for the first time and I was surprised and happy to see him in there as a minor character.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2015 00:45

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Seabhac posted:

Wait what? Are we accepting this as truth somehow? Googling doesn't give any real citation except some guys book and on the face of it it just makes no sense. Wearing no underwear makes it somehow more likely that things would collect in a vagina? What? This sounds like a stupid women's vaginas are oogy myth.

One of the downfalls of any sort of pyf fact thread is you're gonna get a ton of wives tales and outright fake stuff that even cracked and listverse would refuse to publish

# ¿ Nov 6, 2015 07:26

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Who What Now posted:

With the mention of the one doctor allegedly seeing a woman give birth to rabbits, I seem to remember a story of a woman around that period who astounded people by shoving live baby rabbits up her vagina and then "birthing" them by pushing them out or just letting them crawl out on their own. I'm at work and can't properly research this, but if it's true then people back then were loving weird.

I think people have probably been just as weird at any point in history, the difference is at the turn of the century the media reported it as "what an intriguing and mirthful tale!" Whereas now it would just be a bunch of people on the internet going "wow this woman is gross and batshit crazy for attention"

# ¿ Nov 6, 2015 18:17

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Trin Tragula posted:

New Zealand has an official Wizard (no, not Gandalf). He was officially granted the title in 1990 by the Prime Minister.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_of_New_Zealand

This guy apparently thinks "women cause wars with their shopping habits and governments are more stable with monarchies" which sounds less whimsical and more weirdly courtly MRA but I guess magic is different in NZ

# ¿ Nov 7, 2015 02:33

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Communist Zombie posted:

And just to clarify for others, three times as in three different ships.

It being the navy I had assumed quite a different type of torpedoing

# ¿ Nov 8, 2015 07:17

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Atreiden posted:

I know this was some pages back, but it really annoyed me.

Sorry but this is not true at all. The European Lion went extinct in the holocene period and there is no Archeological evidence for it in historic time. You might as well talk about the European Griffon or Dragon, since you see that from Norway to Spain. If you look at antic greek art, it's clear that they don't have first hand knowledge about Lions. They often portrays female Lions with manes. It's also clear that they portray Asiatic lions, since they have to dark spots above the eyes, which both roman and greek artist thought was small horns. Medieval lions in art are even worse, since they are poor copies of what little antique art, they had access to.

The term the Silk Road(s) was first coined in the late 19th century by ar german named Ferdinand von Richthofen. Before that, nobody talked about a silk road to China. In fact most silk in antiquity and medieval times came from India, where they collected silk pupae from non-domesticated silkworms. (unlike the chinese silk, that came and comes from domesticated silkworms). And the main thing traded along the silk road was metals and dyes.
In early imperial rome, the trade with India was such a big thing that Pliny the elder complained about it. In early Imperial rome, roughly 120 ships annually made the trip to India and back using the Monsoon winds. Just 100 years before, it was about 20 ships.

Trying to correct facts in this thread is a fools errand. I was gritting my teeth reading through that one dudes post about ancient Egypt being a progressive wonderland for women

# ¿ Nov 10, 2015 09:57

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

rock rock posted:

Not saying your wrong because what do I know, but wikipedia says Aristotle said there were lions in Greece in 300 BC.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lions_in_Europe
Also apparently they were in the Caucasus until the tenth century.

Also lovely drawings of lions just indicates to me that artists don't see many lions.

Aristotle also wrote about what were basically krakens and large flying lizards so I'm not sure everything was on the up and up with his zoology musings

# ¿ Nov 10, 2015 17:38

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Invisible Clergy posted:

That poo poo about Farouk was amazing. His relationship with food reminds me of an Egyptian Diamond Jim.

you know what we need to bring back?

the dude battle.

what the gently caress is a dude battle?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evander_Berry_Wall

let Evander Berry Wall, King of the Dudes, tell you all about it.

This is me getting my mail

# ¿ Nov 11, 2015 06:49

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Medieval Medic posted:

Gille de Rais, a notable companion of Joan of Arc, was a child murdering serial killer.

Isn't the contemporary idea about this that basically everything brought up against him was completely false because the guy who prosecuted him stood to gain all titles to his land?

# ¿ Nov 12, 2015 06:33

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Solice Kirsk posted:

This would be like if Rocky and Drago died at the end of the fight.

Yeah but only if drago had to fight and kill 14 other boxers in a row first

# ¿ Dec 8, 2015 00:13

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

steinrokkan posted:

The "WWI commanders were dumb" meme kills another thread. Please read any Douglas Haig biography not written by an anti-culture author as a case study in how innovative, highly spirited military thinkers contributed to the dynamics of the war.

This thread is like at least 50% mythology or popularly exaggerated historically based stories so I doubt that will "kill" it

# ¿ Dec 20, 2015 14:55

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Samovar posted:

I would say it was because Stalin was one of the worst mass-murderers in modern times, and almost all major autocrats at that time, Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, Mao... when they are described usually you can see a lot of social isolation in them. They were never really noted as being sweet or nice in private with anyone other than who they knew intimately.

I remember reading a book that had a lot of quotes and stories from Stalins children and family members and they all said he was a terrifying, cruel, and distant man in private who grew more and more convinced his own family was plotting against him as he approached his death. I wouldn't really consider him different from the other people you mentioned. Hell, Hitler was at least noted as being capable of tenderness with people close to him.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2015 14:56

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Aesop Poprock posted:

I remember reading a book that had a lot of quotes and stories from Stalins children and family members and they all said he was a terrifying, cruel, and distant man in private who grew more and more convinced his own family was plotting against him as he approached his death. I wouldn't really consider him different from the other people you mentioned. Hell, Hitler was at least noted as being capable of tenderness with people close to him.

To expand on this:

"Stalin married his first wife Ekaterina Svanidze in 1906, with whom he had a son, Yakov. Yakov shot himself because of Stalin's harshness toward him, but survived. After this, Stalin said, "He can't even shoot straight."[342] Yakov served in the Red Army during World War II and was captured by the Germans. They offered to exchange him for Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, who had surrendered after Stalingrad, but Stalin turned the offer down, stating, "You have in your hands not only my son Yakov, but millions of my sons. Either you free them all or my son will share their fate."[343] Afterwards, Yakov is said to have committed suicide, running into an electric fence in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was being held.[344]

With his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva Stalin had a son, Vasiliy, and a daughter, Svetlana. Nadezhda died in 1932, officially of illness. She may have committed suicide by shooting herself after a quarrel with Stalin, leaving a suicide note which according to their daughter was "partly personal, partly political."[347] According to A&E Biography, there is also a belief among some Russians that Stalin himself murdered his wife after the quarrel, which apparently took place at a dinner in which Stalin tauntingly flicked cigarettes across the table at her."

# ¿ Dec 27, 2015 15:06

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

ToxicSlurpee posted:

Romans actually drove a lot of things into extinction. Silphium was one of the most interesting, actually; it probably went extinct before 100 B.C. and is really a prime example of "loving humans never learn, do they?" Apparently it had a ton of uses. It was a spice as well as just plain edible by itself. It was used to treat all sorts of stuff from coughs, sore throats, and stomach maladies. It was also apparently useful as a contraceptive. A reliable contraceptive.

How much of it was true and how much of it was bullshit? All told we don't have a freaking clue beyond "it was used as medicine" and "Romans ate it." No traces of it have been found and nobody is entirely sure exactly what it was. The theory is that it was a large fennel related to some other plants that have traits similar to what was ascribed to it. There's a scientific suggestion based on studies that silphium existed and was at least close to what was recorded in usefulness but really it's impossible to be 100% sure because it just plain doesn't exist anymore.

There is a vague idea of what it looks like because it was so important to the economy in and around Cyrene they put that poo poo all over nearly every coin they minted at the time.

Over harvesting and over consumption are obviously at play but one of the big theories is that it declined suddenly because of livestock. Apparently feeding it to animals gave them some desirable trait or another which led to people grazing animals on the land which...hosed it up completely. Humans, being humans, wanted to keep consuming the stuff so it was eventually driven into nonexistence.

It may have also been the origin of our heart symbol for love in the shape of its seeds!

quote:

There has been some speculation about the connection between silphium and the traditional heart shape (♥).[17] Silver coins from Cyrene of the 6–5th century BCE bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant and understood to represent its seed or seed pod.[18]

Contemporary writings help tie silphium to sexuality and love. Silphium appears in Pausanias' Description of Greece in a story of the Dioscuri staying at a house belonging to Phormion, a Spartan, "For it so happened that his maiden daughter was living in it. By the next day this maiden and all her girlish apparel had disappeared, and in the room were found images of the Dioscuri, a table, and silphium upon it."[19] Silphium as Laserpicium makes an appearance in a poem (Catullus 7) of Catullus to his lover Lesbia (though others have suggested that the reference here is instead to silphium's use as a treatment for mental illness, tying it to the 'madness' of love[20]).

# ¿ Jan 15, 2016 14:23

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Humboldt Squid posted:

There was also a futile attempt to preserve the aurochs before they went extinct.
Part of the problem was that extinction, as a concept, wasn't understood and even sometimes considered heretical. For example Thomas Jefferson expected there to be mastodons still roaming the American west when he commissioned the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Didn't Thomas Jefferson have his own version of the bible that was influenced by deism, where he removed all the parts about miracles and direct godly intervention? He doesn't seem like one of the people who would think God would keep the earth replenished with animals

# ¿ Jan 15, 2016 23:53

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

bean_shadow posted:

I too am curious as to why or in what way Jared Diamond is an rear end in a top hat.

I'm curious too. My favorite part of guns germs and steel was the animal and plant domestication stuff and that all seemed to be factually sound, at least

# ¿ Jan 24, 2016 01:06

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Yeah its been like a decade since I read it but I remember a big part of it being that Europe got a pretty massive stroke of luck in terms of resources and domesticated animals/plants that allowed them to eventually become colonizers on a wide scale. I don't remember there being anything that sounded apologetic towards them or their actions. He contrasts it with other societies doing similar things on smaller scales because uh, yeah, all of humanity has been warlike and tribal.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2016 11:34

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Say Nothing posted:

Fun fact: Thrax was supposedly 8'6" tall.

His entire wikipedia page is basically an attempt at calling bullshit on the legends attributed to him, which fits well with your posts and the reaction there of

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximinus_Thrax

# ¿ Jan 26, 2016 12:29

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

System Metternich posted:

Castrati were extremely popular in European music throughout the Early Modern Era, especially when it came to Italian opera. Historians estimate that at its peak in the 1720s and 30s more than 4000 boys were castrated - per year. This practice only declined in popularity from the late 18th century on. The last role explicitly written for a castrato was in a 1824 opera. In 1861, the newly unified Kingdom of Italy forbade castration. The practice lingered on in the Vatican, but even there no new castrati could be hired by papal decree from 1878 on. Alessandro Moreschi, he last papal castrato (and probably the very last altogether) continued to sing in Rome until 1914. He's also the only one who was recorded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6U8VZ6riNk

Don't be too surprised when he sounds rather bad in your ears: he was already past his prime when the recordings were made in 1904, and while some say that he just wasn't very good, other scholars point to contemporary listening habits and expectations being substantially different from back then.

I've always wondered about this kind of stuff. I bet there are still kids who are medically or accidentally castrated, how unethical would it be to try to raise one into a castrati singer? And if I was the manager a bunch of them do you think they'd let us play on Conan?

# ¿ Jan 30, 2016 20:25

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

goose fleet posted:

Ever wondered what Calvin Coolidge sounded like? This is the first recording (with video) of an American president: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5puwTrLRhmw

Also literally everyone and everything involved with this video is long dead

Not exactly an unstoppable force of charisma was he

# ¿ Jan 30, 2016 21:15

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Haha I seriously would've loved to have seen how the "dead aunt" reacted when he was like "I don't have one". I'm hoping it just awkwardly stood there for the rest of the session.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2016 00:18

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

canyoneer posted:

Lincoln was probably not gay. None of his contemporaries thought so, and the only biographer who thinks so is a gay author who wants to sell books

Yeah masculinity was not the same in the 18 and even early 1900s as it is today. Men sharing a bed for lengthy periods of time, being physically affectionate and writing each other what we would now mistake for love letters wasn't uncommon at all. The actual acts of "buggery and sodomy" were much more stigmatized but open male intimacy was much less so. And there's no mention of Lincoln banging or wanting to bang a dude so there's no real strong basis behind the gay rumors.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2016 07:29

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

There's also a ton of photos that would look gay as all hell today but we're totally fine at the time. Like so:

The stag boy dance!

# ¿ Feb 1, 2016 07:41

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Alhazred posted:

New archaeological evidence has shown that while the Aztec had no trouble eating captured conquistadors and their horses, pigs were just killed and thrown away.

What is it about pigs cultures unfamiliar with them instantly distrust? The Sentinelesse did the same thing with pigs that were placed on their island

# ¿ Feb 1, 2016 20:55

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

John Big Booty posted:

Serious? We just told you that a moment ago.

I believe he was, in fact, not being serious

# ¿ Feb 3, 2016 22:08

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Geniasis posted:

Psst. Both posters are quoting the same movie.

Well guess what Mr smart guy, so was I!

actually I don't get the reference even remotely

# ¿ Feb 3, 2016 22:55

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

RagnarokAngel posted:

Zoolander is a goddamn treasure and you should watch it if you haven't.

I've seen it a million times apparently I'm just going senile

# ¿ Feb 3, 2016 23:05

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Tiggum posted:

No we don't? "Decimal" obviously comes from the same root ("decem" meaning ten) but "decimate" has nothing to do with decimal points.

I've said it before, as much as I like this thread, the majority of it is historical myth as opposed to actual fact. Generally if there's a story of "this word originated from this" or "this thing was named after this" it's going to be a tall tale or guess

# ¿ Feb 5, 2016 20:31

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Snapchat A Titty posted:

Rich or powerful people everywhere have tended to intermarry since time began. It's the easiest way to keep power and property from being spread too thin. I read a piece a while back on cousin-marriages in rich American families, it was basically the same.

Supposedly, British royalty descend from the prophet Mohammad.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_from_antiquity and in particular the Confucius line is supposed to be valid.

Isn't there a huge debate as to whether Confucius even existed as a singular/actual person, let alone had a traceable ancestory?

# ¿ Feb 27, 2016 07:36

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Aphrodite posted:

Wait is soup on mashed potatoes really a thing?

Campbell's chunky soup has an even sadder suggestion

# ¿ Mar 21, 2016 07:04

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

porkswordonboard posted:

My favorite thing about this portrait is when you realize this is the best that dude ever looked. You just know the artist tried his damnedest to make the guy look decent, and that's the best he could do.

Speaking of which, are they any cases on record of royalty being insulted enough by a comissioned artists rendition of them that they had the artist punished for it?

# ¿ Mar 23, 2016 17:51

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

MMM Whatchya Say posted:

The play ends with them dying because they're dumbasses, imo.

It's because they're teenagers, but I guess pretty much the same thing

# ¿ Apr 1, 2016 07:13

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Carbon dioxide posted:

"Most historical quotes have been made up in modern times." - Nikola Tesla

This fits historical facts in general, I'm pretty sure like half the facts in this thread are just myths or exaggerations

And yes I know tesla didn't actually say that dude was too autistic to grasp or care about public notions of things

# ¿ Jun 13, 2016 16:19

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Farmland Park posted:

Geronimo surrendered to the US 6 months after the first motorcar was patented.

More of these "two historical events which are far apart in your mind are actually really close together time wise" please.

Not quite the same thing but my favorite is that President John Tyler, born in 1790, has two grandsons who are still alive.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/29842/president-john-tylers-grandsons-are-still-alive

https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/sideshow/former-president-john-tyler-1790-1862-grandchildren-still-191230189.html

# ¿ Jun 29, 2016 05:31

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Platystemon posted:

Thomas Jefferson told Lewis & Clark to be on the look‐out for mammoths and giant sloths.

Lewis and Clark getting torn apart by a giant sloth sounds like something that would happen if you made a particularly dumb move in a choose-your-own-adenture novel

# ¿ Jun 29, 2016 08:40

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

I'm still working my way through the thread (I got sidetracked with the insanely intriguing bicarmel mind) but I got to the discussion of ancient Chinese and I'm wondering: is there a reason other than cultural dominance that English is the most widely spoken second language in the world other than that? I know Spanish and other latin based languages have abreviations and stuff so it's not like you need to spell the whole word right to get the point across. But do Mandarin and Japanese have similar abreviations or leway for spelling, and is that one of the reasons learning the characters is viewed as more difficult?

# ¿ Dec 6, 2016 08:47

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Red Bones posted:

I saw a neat documentary last night about John Rae, a British/Canadian explorer who mapped the last part of the northwest passage in the mid-1800s. He was pretty distinctive at the time for relying on a lot of skills and knowledge he'd learnt from the native First Nations people to do his exploring, and his reputation was forever tarred when he was asked to go and find out what happened to John Franklin's expedition to find the northwest passage. When his report finally came through and relayed the information that the expedition had all died after resorting to cannibalism to survive, and he told the British Navy that he'd learnt this information from local Inuit, everybody back in England pretty much hated him for it, especially Franklin's widow. This is why in the UK Franklin's failed expedition is kinda bizarrely more well remembered than the successful expedition of cool explorer dude John Rae, who only lost a single man in his three expeditions to map the northern parts of Canada and never ate anybody.

Was it specifically the cannibalism part of his report? Why would they hate a dude just for telling them what happened? Did the public think he was lying? If it was that big of a stain on England's image or w/e couldn't the navy have just censored the more lurid details?

# ¿ Dec 26, 2016 09:50

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 19:29

Aesop Poprock: Oct 21, 2008; Grimey Drawer

[quote="Powaqoatse" post="468578328"
- Apparently there's a pretty persistent rumor among old people that Nelson Mandela died in prison. I've never heard the rumor, but it appears to be a thing for 40+-year olds ?!
[/quote]

What the gently caress?

# ¿ Jan 21, 2017 05:45

The Something Awful Forums > Main > Post Your Favorite: Carefully Curated > PYF Historical Fun Fact: (USER LOSETH POSTYNG PRIVILYGES FOR FOUR AND TWENTY HOURS)

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