THE LAST PERSON TO POST IN THIS THREAD WILL GET
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Thread Topic: THE LAST PERSON TO POST IN THIS THREAD WILL GET
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Random facts:
Mountion Dew is actually yellow
Canada Day is a holiday,it's July 1st
Mario,Luigi,Wario,Waluigi,Baby Mario,and Baby Luigi are voiced by the same person
They aren't making Bratz dolls anymore -
weirdo a go go
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f--- this im going to music d00d,this is just kinda annoying
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1. Lieutenant Uhura’s name means “freedom†in Swahili.g
2. Martin Luther King Jr. talked Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura) out of leaving Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS).l
3. The popular line “Beam me up, Scotty,†was never said exactly in this way in the Star Trek series or film.d
4. An alternate juror for the 1996 Whitewater trial wore a Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) uniform with a phaser and tricorder during the trial. She was later dismissed for talking to a journalist.f
5. Star Trek: TNG character Geordi La Forge was named after George La Forge, a devoted fan of the original Star Trek series. George La Forge had muscular dystrophy and died in 1975.j
Despite Lucille Ball’s attempt to save the series, Star Trek was cancelled after three seasons
6. Lucille Ball, from I Love Lucy and head of Star Trek’s parent company Desilu Productions, single handedly kept Star Trek: TOS from cancellation during the first season. The series was finally canceled in its third season, after 79 episodes. It then gained immense popularity in syndication.l
7. The original Star Trek series was originally marketed as “Wagon Train to the Stars,†after the popular 1957 western, Wagon Train.l
8. Star Trek: TOS aired from September 8, 1966, to September 2, 1969. The show was a way for its creator Eugene Wesley “Gene†Roddenbery (1921-1991) to comment on contemporary issues through the guise of science fiction.d
9. Scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory wore “Spock ears†while monitoring the Mariner V on its October 1967 fly-by of Venus.d
10. Star Trek: TNG had the highest ratings of any Star Trek series.d
11. The popular 2009 Star Trek (“Rebootâ€) movie is the eleventh film in the Star Trek franchise. The film has earned high critical praise and has grossed more revenue than all previous Star Trek films.i
12. The Star Trek franchise includes six series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, totaling 726 episodes.d
13. Gene Roddenberry initially cast girlfriend (and later wife) Majel Barrett as Captain Pike’s “Number One†(first officer) in the series first pilot. NBC executives, however, demanded the character be cut because they said audience members could not relate to such a powerful woman character.k
NBC executives initially wanted to remove Spock from Star Trek due to his “satanic†appearance
14. Initially, NBC asked Gene Roddenberry to get rid of the “guy with the pointy ears†partly because they were worried about his “satanic†appearance. Luckily, Roddenberry refused to cut Spock.o
15. Most male Vulcan names begin with “S†and most females’ names with a “T†followed by an apostrophe.d
16. Several famous actors and actresses have made guest appearances in Star Trek films and episodes, including Kim Cattrall, Kirstie Alley, Tom Bergeron, Jason Alexander, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Plummer, The Rock, Iman, Lee Meriwether, Joan Collins, Mick Fleetwood, Stephen Hawking, Ashley Judd, Famke Janssen, and Mae Jemison.b
17. The BBC banned a TNG first-season episode titled “Conspiracy†because of the graphic phaser death of Star Fleet Inspector Dexter Remmick, who was a host to a disgusting “mother creature.†The BBC also did not air a 1990 TNG episode titled “High Ground†due to Data’s passing remark that Ireland would be reunified as a result of successful terrorist activities in 2024. BBC Two finally aired the episode in 2007.c
18. During the first season of TNG, Patrick Stewart had a sign over his door that read: “Beware of Unknown Shakespearean Actor.â€j
19. DeForest Kelly (1920-1999) was the first of the three original members to appear on TNG. He was also the first original cast member of TOS to pass away.j
20. The Borg were initially conceptualized as being insects but took on their ultimate form due to budget restraints. The hive motif, however, remained.h
21. In the Star Trek universe, Zefram Cochrane developed faster-than-light warp drive around 2061 and conducted his test flight to Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride.d
22. On impulse drive, it would take 400,000 years for the Enterprise to cross the galaxy.d
23. Warp engines work by allowing particles of matter and antimatter to commingle in a reaction chamber regulated by a dilithium crystal. When the particles interact, they destroy each other, giving off enough energy to allow the ship to warp into space.g
24. The Enterprise usually can operate safety from warp drive 1 to 9.2. Traveling at warp 10, as seen in Star Trek: Voyager, mutates humans into big salamander creatures. However, in the final episode of the preceding series TNG, “All Good Things,†Federation starships traveled at warp 13.g
Uniform colors indicate different departments or divisions
25. In TOS, uniform colors indicated the wearer’s role on the Enterprise. Gold uniforms indicated the wearer was on a command track. Blue meant the sciences, including medicine. Red indicated support services, such as communications, engineering, or security.g
26. “Red-shirting†became a Star Trek slang word for an extra who was killed to demonstrate the danger the main characters were in. The extra almost always wore a red uniform.b In tribute to the original series' “red-shirting,†red-shirted Chief Engineer Olsen in Star Trek (2009) meets his death during an orbital sky dive onto a drilling platform while Kirk and Sulu survive.m
27. The star dates Kirk mentions in his captain’s log each week in TOS are not based on our current Gregorian calendar dates. TOS star dates were largely arbitrary and were created just to let the audiences know the show took place in the future. Later Star Treks attempted to be more consistent with star dates.g
28. The episode titled “Spock’s Brain†ranks as one of the worst TOS episodes due to clichés and an implausible plot. The phrase “Spock’s Brain†has become a cultural term that refers to an unintentionally humorous television episode.d
29. The Enterprise in TOS is 953.7 feet long, which is more than the length of three football fields. The Enterprise-D in TNG is more than twice the length of Kirk’s ship at 2,103 feet. That’s as big as the Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood.d
30. The only official intoxicant served in TNG's Ten-Forward is Synthenol, an artificial booze that loses its inebriating effects the moment a crew member leaves the bar.j
31. Data’s cat Spot was initially a long-haired male but became a short-haired female later in the series. Data didn’t seem to notice.j
32. Although Roddenberry was actively involved in the Star Trek animated series' conception and production, he did not consider them to be “canon†or part of the established history for the characters he created.l
33. Vulcans were once an extremely violent and emotional people until Surak developed a new philosophy of logic, which spawned the Vulcan Time of Awakening. Those opposed to Vulcan logic left the planet and founded colonies elsewhere, most notably the Romulan Star Empire.h
34. Vulcans were one of the first to develop warp drive, and they helped humans navigate the perils of warp travel. The official contact between Vulcans and humans occurred on April 5, 2063, when a Vulcan survey ship detected the warp flight of Captain Zefram Cochrane’s Phoenix.h
35. Vulcan’s have teeth that humans don’t have, such as anterior tricuspids. Their heart is where a human’s liver would normally be and beats several hundred times a minute. They have no appendix.o
36. Vulcans have inner eyelids that protect their eyes from the intensity of the Vulcan sun. They can also survive several days without water, perhaps because they evolved on a hot, dry planet.o
37. The Vulcan brain has -
who gives a s---?
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. Emerging 60 million years ago, the first horse was called Eohippus (The Dawn Horse) and was tiny, weighing only 12 pounds and standing just 14 inches high. In contrast to the modern one-toed horse, the Eohippus had four toes on its front feet and three on its hind feet.b
2. The term “horse†is derived from the Old English hors, which is related to the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) kurs, which is the source of the Latin currere, “to run.†This replaced the original PIE root ekwo from which the Greek hippos and Latin equus derived, both meaning “horse.†This dual etymology is perhaps due to the reluctance of ancient cultures to utter the actual root or name of an animal held sacred for the Indo-European religion.a
3. Horses that seem wild today (such as Mustangs) are actually feral horses, usually descendants of horses that were imported to America from Spain in the sixteenth century. The only true wild horse is the Asian Wild Horse.b
4. No horses existed in Australia until settlers brought them during the eighteenth century, and no early horse fossils have ever been found in Australia.c
5. Before being domesticated in the Middle and Far East around 4000 B.C., horses were hunted for their skin and meat, usually by being clubbed or driven over a cliff.b
6. After horses became domesticated around 4000 B.C., many Indo-European cultures regarded horses as a supreme sacrifice to their gods and often ritually entombed horses. People in the Caucasus practiced horse sacrifice as late as the 1800s.a
7. Famous owner/horse partnerships that helped change world history include Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus (“ox headâ€), El Cid and Babieca (“stupidâ€), and Napoleon and Marengo (named after a battle) who after its death, had its skeleton displayed in London.b
8. A horse’s teeth are a good indicator ofits age.d Hence, St. Jerome (A.D. 400), who never accepted payment for his writings, penned the famous adage “Never inspect the teeth of a gift horse,â€b which became the more familiar “Never look a gift horse in the mouth.â€
9. Though most horses live for 25-30 years, the oldest horse on record is “Old Billy,†who was a barge horse born in England and lived to the age of 62. The first year of a horse’s life is roughly comparable to 12 human years, the second year is comparable to 7 human years, the next 3 years are comparable to 4 human years a piece, and subsequent years are comparable 2.5 human years.d That means Old Billy was roughly 173.5 horse years.
10. Horses have five highly developed senses: taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight. They also have an enigmatic sixth sense, heightened perception, which is very rare in humans.f
Horse's Eye
A horse's eyes are larger than most animals' eyes
11. The eyes of a horse are larger than most other animals', and they can move independently, giving the horse a shallow panoramic vision. Because its lenses are inflexible, a horse will focus on an image by moving its head to direct light rays to the central part of the retina. Horses can also see in color.f
12. A horse has an acute sense of smell that allows it to detect nervousness in a handler, and old-time horsemen would smear aromatic fluid on their hands when dealing with a difficult horse. Horses also become nervous around the smell of blood.f
13. There are nearly 160 distinctive breeds and types of horses around the world, but the Arabian horse is unique in that it is the purest of all of the breeds.b
14. Persians were excellent horsemen and their dominance in the east was largely due to the Nisean horse, the “superhorse†of antiquity. The horse was a status symbol in the Persian Empire, and only aristocrats could own them. Horses were also used to play early forms of polo.f
15. Islam is said to have been “founded on the hoof prints of the Arabian horse,â€b and horse care was even incorporated into the sacred Hadith. The Prophet Mohammed is reportedly to have ascended to heaven in a halo of fire on a horse-like creature.d
16. The goddess Demeter (the goddess of fertility, grain, and the pure) had as her image a black mare’s head, and her priestesses were considered her “foals.â€b
17. White horses were sometimes drowned in honor of Poseidon, the god of the sea and creator of horses.b
18. The Hindus associate the horse with the cosmos, and a white horse was considered the last incarnation of Vishnu.e
19. In literature, art, and dream theory, the horse is often a symbol imbued with various meanings, ranging from power to beauty and even sexual prowess. The coloring of a horse is also often symbolic (black: mystery, danger; white: messenger of birth), and the Bible specifically lists the colors of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (White, Red, Black, and Pale).e
20. Some horses are able to figure out how to undo the doors of other horses and let them out.f
21. Horses can differentiate between emotions in the human voice.f
22. Horses experience two kinds of sleep, SWS (short wave sleep) and REM (rapid eye movement), and they most likely dream. They need about four hours of sleep out of every 24 and can sleep standing up by a special arrangement of locking joints.f
Horse's Hoofs
A horse hoof acts as a circulatory pump
23. Horses like music but are selective in their taste. They prefer calming or cheerful instrumental music, but are agitated by loud music such as rock.f
24. A horse’s hoof is extremely complex and sensitive. When a horse puts pressure on its hoof, the blood is squeezed up the leg into the veins, thus acting as a type of pump.b
25. While the mare primarily cares for her newborn, occasionally a sibling, the sire, or other mares will shelter and protect youngsters.f
26. In a herd, one gender is not always dominant of another; for example, a female may rank higher than a male in some cases, and a male may rank higher than a female in other cases.f
27. Any marking on a horse's head is called a star, even if it is not shaped like a star.f
28. Horses have a strong band of muscles around their esophagus. This band is so strong that a horse’s stomach would typically burst before it would vomit.f
29. The Pony Express (1860-1861) didn’t just use ponies; it also used many horses. The differences between ponies and horses are often blurred, but generally, ponies are smaller than horses and can be smarter and more stubborn.b
30. Though the word “hippopotamus†means “river horse,†a hippo is actually more closely related to the pig than the horse.b
31. There are many crazy horse laws, including one in Bluff, Utah, where an unmarried woman could be jailed for riding a horse on Sunday. And in several cities throughout the United States, newly married men were not allowed to ride alone, unless he had been married longer than 12 months.d
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bunniesrule
Joined: Mar 18, '10
Status: Novice 2010-05-30 20:20:10
1. The origins of the word "monkey" are unclear. It could come from Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in a medieval animal story. It appears also to be related to manikin, from the Dutch manneken ("little man").b
2. Monkeys make up two of the three groups of simian primates, Old World monkeys and New World monkeys. The other group is the apes.c
3. A monkey is any primate that is not a human, prosimian, or ape.g
Long-tailed Macaques
Monkeys have tails, but apes do not
4. Monkeys are most easily distinguished from apes by their tails. Apes have no tails.e
5. Apes and spider monkeys swing arm-to-arm in trees, but most monkeys don’t. Instead, they run across branches.a
6. Monkeys use vocalizations, facial expressions, and body movements to communicate.e
7. Grinning or pulling the lip is a sign of aggression in monkeys, along with yawning, head bobbing, and jerking the head and shoulders forward.f
8. Monkeys express affection and make peace with others by grooming each other.e
9. A group of monkeys is called a "troo -
kool im a novice
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Birdo facts(Birdo is from Mario):
Birdo is voiced by a male
In the Super Mario 2 manual,they consider Birdo a boy
Birdo doesn't really have a gender,in the fact above Birdo's consider a boy,in the newer game manual Birdo is consider a she
Birdo may be a girl but Birdo may be a boy but it's unknown -
1. The term “gold†is the from the Proto-Indo-European base *ghel / *ghol meaning “yellow,†“green,†or possibly “bright.â€b
2. Gold is so rare that the world pours more steel in an hour than it has poured gold since the beginning of recorded history.b
3. Gold has been discovered on every continent on earth.b
4. Gold melts at 1064.43° Centigrade. It can conduct both heat and electricity and it never rusts.d
5. Due to its high value, most gold discovered throughout history is still in circulation. However, it is thought that 80% of the world’s gold is still in the ground.b
6. Seventy-five percent of all gold in circulation has been extracted since 1910.b
7. A medical study in France during the early twentieth century suggests that gold is an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.b
8. Gold is so pliable that it can be made into sewing thread. An ounce of gold can be stretched over 50 miles.b
eating gold
Gold is edible
9. Gold is edible. Some Asian countries put gold in fruit, jelly snacks, coffee, and tea. Since at least the 1500s, Europeans have been putting gold leaf in bottles of liquor, such as Danziger Goldwasser and Goldschlager. Some Native American tribes believed consuming gold could allow humans to levitate.b
10. The largest gold nugget ever found is the “Welcome Stranger†discovered by John Deason and Richard Oates in Australia on February 5, 1869. The nugget is 10 by 25 inches and yielded 2,248 ounces of pure gold. It was found just two inches below the ground surface.c
11. Amid recession fears in March 2008, the price of gold topped $1,000 an ounce for the first time in history.f
12. Traditionally, investors try to preserve their assets during hard economic times by investing in precious metals, such as gold and silver. The World Gold Council released a report in February 2009 that indicated the demand for gold rose sharply in the last half of 2008.f
13. The Dow/Gold ratio, which shows how much gold it would take to buy one share of the Dow, is a good indicator of how bad a recession is. In early 2009, the Dow/Gold ratio appeared to be heading toward the same low ratios that occurred during the 1930s and 1980s.f
14. Gold is chemically inert, which also explains why it never rusts and does not cause skin irritation. If gold jewelry irritates the skin, it is likely that the gold was mixed with some other metal.b
15. One cubic foot of gold weighs half a ton. The world’s largest gold bar weighs 200 kg (440 lb).b
16. In 2005, Rick Munarriz queried whether Google or gold was a better investment when both seemed to have equal value on the stock market.h By the end of 2008, Google closed at $307.65 a share, while gold closed the year at $866 an ounce.g
olympic medals
The last time Olympic gold medals were entirely of gold was in 1912
17. The Olympic gold medals awarded in 1912 were made entirely from gold. Currently, the gold medals just must be covered in six grams of gold.b
18. The Incas thought gold represented the glory of their sun god and referred to the precious metal as “tears of the Sun.†Because gold was not yet used for money, the Inca’s love of gold was purely aesthetic and religious.a
19. Around 1200 B.C., the Egyptians used unshorn sheepskin to mine for gold dust from the sands of the Black Sea. This practice is most likely the inspiration for the “Golden Fleece.â€b
20. In ancient Egypt, gold was considered the skin or flesh of the gods, particularly the Egyptian sun god Ra. Consequently, gold was unavailable to anyone but the pharaohs, and only later to priests and other members of the royal court. The chambers that held the king’s sarcophagus was known as the “house of gold.â€a
21. The Turin Papyrus shows the first map of a gold mine in Nubia, a major gold producer in antiquity. Indeed, the Egyptian word for gold was “nub,†from gold-rich Nubia. While Egyptian slaves often suffered terribly in gold mines, Egyptian artisans who made gold jewelry for the nobles enjoyed a high, almost priestly status.h
22. Though the ancient Jews apparently had enough gold to create and dance around a golden calf while Moses was talking to God on Mt. Sinai, scholars speculate that it never occurred to the Jews to bribe themselves out of captivity because gold was not yet associated with money.b
holy bible
There are more than 400 references to gold in the Bible
23. There are more than 400 references to gold in the Bible, including specific instructions from God to cover furniture in the tabernacle with “pure gold.†Gold is also mentioned as one of the gifts of the Magi.b
24. The Greeks thought that gold was a dense combination of water and sunlight.e
25. In 560 B.C., the Lydians introduced the first gold coin, which was actually a naturally occurring amalgam of gold and silver called electrum. Herodotus criticizes the materialism of the Lydians, who also were the first to open permanent retail shops. When the Lydians were captured by the Persians in 546 B.C., the use of gold coins began to spread.h
26. Before gold coins were used as money, various types of livestock, particularly cattle, and plant products were used as currency. Additionally, large government construction projects were completed by slave labor due to the limited range of money uses.e
27. The chemical symbol for gold is AU, from the Latin word aurum meaning “shining dawn†and from Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn. In 50 B.C., Romans began issuing gold coins called the Aureus and the smaller solidus.b
28. When honking geese alerted the Romans that the Gauls were about to attack the temple where the Romans stored their treasure, the grateful Roman citizens built a shrine to Moneta, the goddess of warning. The link between rescued treasure and Moneta led many centuries later to the English words “money†and “mint.â€b
29. Between A.D. 307 and 324, the worth of one pound of gold in Rome rose from 100,000 denarii (a Roman coin) to 300,000 denarii. By the middle of the fourth century, a pound of gold was worth 2,120,000,000 denarii—an early example of runaway inflation, which was partly responsible for the collapse of the Roman Empire.a
30. The Trial of the Pyx (a public test of the quality of gold) began in England in 1282 and continues to this day. The term “pyx†refers to a Greek boxwood chest in which coins are placed to be presented to a jury for testing. Coins are currently tested for diameter, chemical composition, and weight.d
31. During the fourteenth century, drinking molten gold and crushed emeralds was used as a treatment for the bubonic plaque.b
32. In 1511, King Ferdinand of Spain coined the immortal phrase: “Get gold, humanely if possible—but at all hazards, get gold.â€b
33. Both Greeks and Jews begin to practice alchemy in 300 B.C. The search to turn base metals into gold would reach its pinnacle in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.a
34. In 1599, a Spanish governor in Ecuador taxed the Jivaro tribe so excessively that they executed him by pouring molten gold down his throat. This form of execution was also practiced by the Romans and the Spanish Inquisition.a
35. Venice introduced the gold ducat in 1284 and it became the most popular gold coin in the world for the next 500 years. Ducat is Latin for “duke.†It is the currency used in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and is referenced in The Merchant of Venice. In his song “I Ain’t the One,†rapper Ice Cube sings that “he’s getting juiced for his ducats.†The ducat is also used in the “Babylon 5†sci-fi series as the name of the Centauri race’s money.b
36. Originally the U.S. mint made $2.50, $10, and $15 coins of solid gold. Minting of gold stopped in 1933, during the Great Depression.d
37. The San Francisco 49ers are named after the 1849 -
and we are posting random s---?
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1. The term “gold†is the from the Proto-Indo-European base *ghel / *ghol meaning “yellow,†“green,†or possibly “bright.â€b
2. Gold is so rare that the world pours more steel in an hour than it has poured gold since the beginning of recorded history.b
3. Gold has been discovered on every continent on earth.b
4. Gold melts at 1064.43° Centigrade. It can conduct both heat and electricity and it never rusts.d
5. Due to its high value, most gold discovered throughout history is still in circulation. However, it is thought that 80% of the world’s gold is still in the ground.b
6. Seventy-five percent of all gold in circulation has been extracted since 1910.b
7. A medical study in France during the early twentieth century suggests that gold is an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.b
8. Gold is so pliable that it can be made into sewing thread. An ounce of gold can be stretched over 50 miles.b
eating gold
Gold is edible
9. Gold is edible. Some Asian countries put gold in fruit, jelly snacks, coffee, and tea. Since at least the 1500s, Europeans have been putting gold leaf in bottles of liquor, such as Danziger Goldwasser and Goldschlager. Some Native American tribes believed consuming gold could allow humans to levitate.b
10. The largest gold nugget ever found is the “Welcome Stranger†discovered by John Deason and Richard Oates in Australia on February 5, 1869. The nugget is 10 by 25 inches and yielded 2,248 ounces of pure gold. It was found just two inches below the ground surface.c
11. Amid recession fears in March 2008, the price of gold topped $1,000 an ounce for the first time in history.f
12. Traditionally, investors try to preserve their assets during hard economic times by investing in precious metals, such as gold and silver. The World Gold Council released a report in February 2009 that indicated the demand for gold rose sharply in the last half of 2008.f
13. The Dow/Gold ratio, which shows how much gold it would take to buy one share of the Dow, is a good indicator of how bad a recession is. In early 2009, the Dow/Gold ratio appeared to be heading toward the same low ratios that occurred during the 1930s and 1980s.f
14. Gold is chemically inert, which also explains why it never rusts and does not cause skin irritation. If gold jewelry irritates the skin, it is likely that the gold was mixed with some other metal.b
15. One cubic foot of gold weighs half a ton. The world’s largest gold bar weighs 200 kg (440 lb).b
16. In 2005, Rick Munarriz queried whether Google or gold was a better investment when both seemed to have equal value on the stock market.h By the end of 2008, Google closed at $307.65 a share, while gold closed the year at $866 an ounce.g
olympic medals
The last time Olympic gold medals were entirely of gold was in 1912
17. The Olympic gold medals awarded in 1912 were made entirely from gold. Currently, the gold medals just must be covered in six grams of gold.b
18. The Incas thought gold represented the glory of their sun god and referred to the precious metal as “tears of the Sun.†Because gold was not yet used for money, the Inca’s love of gold was purely aesthetic and religious.a
19. Around 1200 B.C., the Egyptians used unshorn sheepskin to mine for gold dust from the sands of the Black Sea. This practice is most likely the inspiration for the “Golden Fleece.â€b
20. In ancient Egypt, gold was considered the skin or flesh of the gods, particularly the Egyptian sun god Ra. Consequently, gold was unavailable to anyone but the pharaohs, and only later to priests and other members of the royal court. The chambers that held the king’s sarcophagus was known as the “house of gold.â€a
21. The Turin Papyrus shows the first map of a gold mine in Nubia, a major gold producer in antiquity. Indeed, the Egyptian word for gold was “nub,†from gold-rich Nubia. While Egyptian slaves often suffered terribly in gold mines, Egyptian artisans who made gold jewelry for the nobles enjoyed a high, almost priestly status.h
22. Though the ancient Jews apparently had enough gold to create and dance around a golden calf while Moses was talking to God on Mt. Sinai, scholars speculate that it never occurred to the Jews to bribe themselves out of captivity because gold was not yet associated with money.b
holy bible
There are more than 400 references to gold in the Bible
23. There are more than 400 references to gold in the Bible, including specific instructions from God to cover furniture in the tabernacle with “pure gold.†Gold is also mentioned as one of the gifts of the Magi.b
24. The Greeks thought that gold was a dense combination of water and sunlight.e
25. In 560 B.C., the Lydians introduced the first gold coin, which was actually a naturally occurring amalgam of gold and silver called electrum. Herodotus criticizes the materialism of the Lydians, who also were the first to open permanent retail shops. When the Lydians were captured by the Persians in 546 B.C., the use of gold coins began to spread.h
26. Before gold coins were used as money, various types of livestock, particularly cattle, and plant products were used as currency. Additionally, large government construction projects were completed by slave labor due to the limited range of money uses.e
27. The chemical symbol for gold is AU, from the Latin word aurum meaning “shining dawn†and from Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn. In 50 B.C., Romans began issuing gold coins called the Aureus and the smaller solidus.b
28. When honking geese alerted the Romans that the Gauls were about to attack the temple where the Romans stored their treasure, the grateful Roman citizens built a shrine to Moneta, the goddess of warning. The link between rescued treasure and Moneta led many centuries later to the English words “money†and “mint.â€b
29. Between A.D. 307 and 324, the worth of one pound of gold in Rome rose from 100,000 denarii (a Roman coin) to 300,000 denarii. By the middle of the fourth century, a pound of gold was worth 2,120,000,000 denarii—an early example of runaway inflation, which was partly responsible for the collapse of the Roman Empire.a
30. The Trial of the Pyx (a public test of the quality of gold) began in England in 1282 and continues to this day. The term “pyx†refers to a Greek boxwood chest in which coins are placed to be presented to a jury for testing. Coins are currently tested for diameter, chemical composition, and weight.d
31. During the fourteenth century, drinking molten gold and crushed emeralds was used as a treatment for the bubonic plaque.b
32. In 1511, King Ferdinand of Spain coined the immortal phrase: “Get gold, humanely if possible—but at all hazards, get gold.â€b
33. Both Greeks and Jews begin to practice alchemy in 300 B.C. The search to turn base metals into gold would reach its pinnacle in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.a
34. In 1599, a Spanish governor in Ecuador taxed the Jivaro tribe so excessively that they executed him by pouring molten gold down his throat. This form of execution was also practiced by the Romans and the Spanish Inquisition.a
35. Venice introduced the gold ducat in 1284 and it became the most popular gold coin in the world for the next 500 years. Ducat is Latin for “duke.†It is the currency used in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and is referenced in The Merchant of Venice. In his song “I Ain’t the One,†rapper Ice Cube sings that “he’s getting juiced for his ducats.†The ducat is also used in the “Babylon 5†sci-fi series as the name of the Centauri race’s money.b
36. Originally the U.S. mint made $2.50, $10, and $15 coins of solid gold. Minting of gold stopped in 1933, during the Great Depression.d
37. The San Francisco 49ers are named after the 1849
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Hikaru Katsu
Joined: Sep 29, '09
Status: Novice 2010-05-30 20:31:52
1. Several ancient cultures viewed the ap -
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Here Comes the Bride
A History of the American Wedding
Weddings, in some form or another, have existed for millennia, but the weddings of the past were not always like the grand, ceremonious weddings we are accustomed to today. Some wedding traditions, like the wearing of the bridal veil, have been in existence since ancient Judaic times, while other traditions, such as the lighting of the unity candle or the wearing of a white wedding gown, are fairly new. In many ways, the history and development of the American wedding from simple, homespun ceremonies to elaborate, public rituals are directly related to changes in the American mindset throughout the country’s history.
Ancient Weddings
The first primitive weddings of which historians have record could generally be termed weddings by coercion or capture (Yalom 2001). Emotional commitment and communion between a marrying couple were not deemed important, and men would often visit a neighboring village for the sole purpose of carrying off a wife. Wives were desired for sexual release, procreation, and household labor. While the theme of “carry and capture†receded somewhat throughout time, women were bartered off as marriage companions in exchange for cash or livestock for several thousand years. The idea of a woman’s consent to marriage (and also divorce) would be later implemented in the era of Roman civilization, but weddings and marriage proposals were still largely based upon the commercial value of a wife. Pragmatism was a general theme of marriages, and it would not be until the 1800s that personal inclination would begin to hold much sway in marriage decisions (Yalom 2001).
Early weddings in America were generally private affairs, held at the home of the parents of the bride or groom. The new bride was normally publicly recognized at Sunday church services following her nuptials, but most weddings were intimate, family affairs. By the 1820s and 1830s, upper class weddings had begun to evolve a bit more into the recognizably modern American wedding (complete with a lavish cake, dinner reception, and toast to the bride and groom), but the ceremonies remained small and private. However, as the Industrial Revolution took hold and a definite middle class sprang up, weddings in America would gradually become more and more elaborate.
White Wedding Dresses and Wedding Vendors
While weddings in the early 1800s were generally simple affairs, this fact was less often due to a particular desire for simplicity than a practical need for minimalism. For example, when weddings were held in homes, only a limited number of guests could be accommodated in the home. This practical need for simplicity also extended to wedding dresses in the early 1800s. Many nineteenth century brides had only one best dress and, as a matter of course, they were generally married in that dress. Thus, it was not uncommon for brides to be married in black or other dark colors, as this best dress could also double as suitable funeral attire.
The nineteenth century bride’s desire for a white wedding dress increased rapidly in 1840, when the newly crowned Queen Victoria of Great Britain wed Prince Albert (Wallace 2004). Unlike the monarch before her, Victoria chose to be married in a splendid, white satin gown. In reaction, young women in England and America, enamored of the newly married queen’s style, immediately began clamoring for white wedding dresses of their own. Whereas the white wedding gown had previously been a luxury of only the richest (it was, after all, a very difficult color to clean and maintain with nineteenth century technologies), more and more middle class brides were beginning to select white as their color of choice in wedding dresses.
The latter half of the century also saw a rise in the use of wedding professionals or wedding vendors (as they are commonly known today). Weddings that would have been held in private homes a few decades earlier were now being moved to churches, where more square footage allowed for a larger number of guests and required a greater show. A bride who may have sewn her own wedding dress or simply used a dress she already owned was now likely to hire a dressmaker or even order a ready-to-wear wedding gown. Cakes and flower arrangements that would have been prepared at home were now being contracted out to confectioners and florists, and the “wedding industry†began to grow. As the turn of the century approached and the American middle class swelled, weddings began to look more and more like the extravagant celebrations of today.
Wedding Industry Booms
By the 1920s and 1930s, brides had largely turned to professionals to organize their weddings for them. However, while this trend had already been evolving for nearly four decades, it was not until the Jazz Age that wedding vendors began to see the true business potential of brides and their weddings. One of the clearest and earliest manifestations of the new conception of the bride as a profit center was the introduction of bridal departments in large stores. Many stores began to offer a whole section of merchandise devoted to the bride and her big day. Around the same time, catered weddings and engraved invitations became less of a luxury for only the very rich and more of a standard that all brides should aspire to. Wedding photographers also became a key part of the wedding proceedings and often scripted the entire progression of the wedding with their photograph cues.
This turning of wedding preparations to the professionals created an interesting side effect of uniformity in American weddings. By the 1950s, when a white wedding was the ultimate dream for an affluent, middle class bride, the American wedding was a cookie-cutter production that could easily be replicated for another bride by the professionals who had created it.
Weddings Diversify and Come Back to Center
As America weathered the social whirlwind of the 1960s, the traditional American wedding lagged somewhat behind. It would not be until the 1970s that the desire for diversity and uniqueness, which had been a hallmark of the 1960s, would enter the American wedding. During the 1970s, brides rejected the cookie-cutter standards of the 1950s wedding and began to opt for more unique ceremonies and wedding attire. More and more weddings began to move out of churches, and the idea of the “destination wedding†was born.
However, this trend of unique weddings would fade somewhat into the background as the fairytale wedding of Princess Diana of Wales to Prince Charles captivated the public in 1981 (Wallace 2004). The lavish beauty of the royal wedding immediately brought traditional, ceremonial weddings back into style. Every bride dreamed of replicating Princess Di on her wedding day, and no expense would be spared for the big moment. Weddings in the 1980s and 1990s continued to build on this idea of the perfect, dreamlike wedding day, and average costs for weddings began to soar. Weddings in the twenty-first century are no different. Today, a couple spends an average of $20,000 on a wedding (give or take a couple thousand), and nearly every detail of the wedding is taken care of by professionals. Indeed, American weddings have come a long way from the simple, homespun ceremonies of the nation’s early years to the elaborate celebrations of the modern era.
-- Posted May 8, 2007
References
Wallace, Carol McD. 2004. All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding. Penguin Books.
Yalom, Marilyn. 2001. A History of the Wife. Harper Collins.
Copyright © 2007-2010 Random History.com | All Histori -
omg this is so boring
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bunniez is a FAGSH1T
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bunniez is a FAGSH1T
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