Things you never knew......and maybe never wanted to.

[matriarch]

1. In 1438 a pig was hanged for murder in Burgundy.

2. The French judge Henri Boguet described an apple possessed by demons in 1602.

3. A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.

4. A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.

5. Virginia Dare was born in 1587, the first child born in the American colonies, on August 18th, on what is now Roanoke Island, North Carolina.

6. Pilatre de Rozier and Marquis d'Arlandes were the first humans to fly. They were airborne in a hot-air balloon for 20 minutes, in Paris, on Nov. 21 1783.

7. Count de Grisley was the first magician to perform the trick of sawing a woman in half, in 1799.

8. Did you know....placing a bed facing north and south brings misfortune.....or you must get out of bed on the same side that you get in or you will have bad luck......or when making the bed, don't interrupt your work, or you will spend a restless night in it.

9. To prevent an unwelcome guest from returning, sweep out the room they stayed in immediately after they leave.

10. Pictures of an elephant bring luck, but only if they face a door.......


Indeed.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Oh I like the one about the elephant, making beds, and sweeping out a room.....

 

[rgraham666]

Chameleons also have independently movable eyes.

 

[matriarch]

Friday 13th.....history?

Fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day:

There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.

There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.

A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.

In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.

Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.

Not got a lot going for it in the superstition stakes, has it.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

8. Did you know....placing a bed facing north and south brings misfortune.....or you must get out of bed on the same side that you get in or you will have bad luck......or when making the bed, don't interrupt your work, or you will spend a restless night in it.

I have to get in and out of my bed on the same side. It's up against a wall (or rather a row of shelves up against a wall, but close enough, I still can only use one side of it ).

 

[Aurora Black]

1. In 1438 a pig was hanged for murder in Burgundy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107146/

9. To prevent an unwelcome guest from returning, sweep out the room they stayed in immediately after they leave.

Bwahaha!

 

[R. Richard]

1. In 1438 a pig was hanged for murder in Burgundy.

OK, but was it a fascist pig?

 

[FallingToFly]

To hurry the departure of an unwelcome guest, place a broom, bristles up, againt the wall just outside their door and sprinkle salt across their doorstep.

Oh, and salt on the window and doorsills (I use sea salt) is to keep negative energy out of your home. Just make sure you get all of them, including doggie doors.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

To hurry the departure of an unwelcome guest, place a broom, bristles up, againt the wall just outside their door and sprinkle salt across their doorstep.

Oh, and salt on the window and doorsills (I use sea salt) is to keep negative energy out of your home. Just make sure you get all of them, including doggie doors.

Our cat door only leads into the basement, and somehow I don't think that counts.

 

[Guest]

 

[kiten69]

In 1916, an elephant was hanged in Tennessee.

OMG...**sob**...

 

[NoJo]

1. In 1438 a pig was hanged for murder in Burgundy.

He was hanged by the neck until he was cured

 

[Aurora Black]

In 1916, an elephant was hanged in Tennessee.

Why?

*quasi-political blurt*

Isn't it funny that we react so strongly to animals being punished in this matter, but not people?

*end of blurt*

 

[Dr_Strabismus]

7. Count de Grisley was the first magician to perform the trick of sawing a woman in half, in 1799.

Apperently it only took him thirty-three attempts to perfect it.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day:

There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.

There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.

A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.

In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.

Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.

Not got a lot going for it in the superstition stakes, has it.

- fear of Friday 13 is called PARASKEVIDEKATRIAPHOBIA.

-fear of the number 13 is called TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA.

- Triskaidekamania is an excessive enthusiasm for the number 13.

- According to historians, Jesus was crucified on Friday 13.

-13 is unlucky because it represents femininity! In the Middle Ages it was noted there were 13 menstrual cyles in a year - 13 x 28 = 364.

- In the UK in the 18th century, a naval ship, HMS Friday was launched on Friday 13 - it was never heard of again. That is why ships are never launched on a Friday.

Now what about the horsemen of the apocalypse?

 

[Dr_Strabismus]

-13 is unlucky because it represents femininity! In the Middle Ages it was noted there were 13 menstrual cyles in a year - 13 x 28 = 364.

Fucking hell, if I knew there were that many, I never would have married

 

[oggbashan]

Watchman, what of the night?

Until 1958 one of the sentry duties, manned 24/7, was posted on the walls of Dover Castle equipped with a telescope and bell.

He was supposed to ring the bell when he saw the French invasion fleet sent by Napoleon Bonaparte. No one remembered to cancel the orders after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Og

 

[JamesSD]

4. A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the

Oooh, I knew this one!

Thank you midwestern upbringing!

 

[Oblimo]

OK, but was it a fascist pig?

Bedeviled.

He was hanged by the neck until he was cured

Boo! (Glorious, but Boo! I say.)

Actually, since it's pig, can't you say "hung by the neck" instead of "hanged"? I'm not sure. Oh, if only there were some grammarians reading this forum!

 

[matriarch]

To hurry the departure of an unwelcome guest, place a broom, bristles up, againt the wall just outside their door and sprinkle salt across their doorstep.

Oh, and salt on the window and doorsills (I use sea salt) is to keep negative energy out of your home. Just make sure you get all of them, including doggie doors.

I use the salt to keep away slugs. *shudder*............disgusting things, and most definitely unwelcome guests.

http://ippc2.orst.edu/potato/grayslugs.jpg

 

[matriarch]

OMG...**sob**...

Ditto.

 

[matriarch]

In 1783 an Icelandic eruption threw up enough dust to temporarily block out the sun over Europe.

A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile, with six times more water than the river above.

Beaver Lake, in Yellowstone Park, USA, was artificially created by beaver damming.

Off the coast of Florida there is an underwater hotel. Guests have to dive to the entrance.

The Ancient Egyptians worshipped a sky goddess called Nut.

The world's windiest place is Commonwealth Bay, Antartica.

In 1934, a gust of wind reached 371 km/h on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA.

American Roy Sullivan has been struck by lighting a record seven times.

The oldest living tree is a California bristlecone pine name 'Methuselah'. It is about 4600 years old. The largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia growing in California. It is 84 meters tall and measures 29 meters round the trunk. The fastest growing tree is the eucalyptus. It can grow 10 meters a year.

The Antartic notothenia fish has a protein in its blood that acts like antifreeze and stops the fish freezing in icy sea.

The USA uses 29% of the world's petrol and 33% of the world's electricity.

The industrial complex of Cubatao in Brazil is known as the Valley of Death because its pollution has destroyed the trees and rivers nearby.

Tibet is the highest country in the world. Its average height above sea level is 4500 meters.

Some of the oldest mountains in the world are the Highlands in Scotland. They are estimated to be about 400 million years old.

Fresh water from the River Amazon can be found up to 180 km out to sea.

There is no land at all at the North Pole, only ice on top of sea. The Arctic Ocean has about 12 million sq km of floating ice and has the coldest winter temperature of -34 degrees centigrade.

Over 4 million cars in Brazil are now running on gasohol instead of petrol. Gasohol is a fuel made from sugar cane.

 

[Monazwx]

Off the coast of Florida there is an underwater hotel. Guests have to dive to the entrance.

Link?

 

[Guest]