Interesting Wikipedia articles for killing time and expanding your mind!! - Other Topics Forum - Discuss Pop Culture, Arts and Entertainment

Help me start my first non-poker thread.

Post interesting random Wikipedia entries about something people have never heard of or thought about much that is interesting.

Post some kind of teaser explaining why each of these articles is interesting

If this is ******ed oh well. If its been done, kill it. If not, help me waste time.

I'll start:

Giacomo Casanova

"Casanova had dug up a freshly buried corpse in order to play a practical joke on an enemy and exact revenge—but the victim went into a paralysis, never to recover."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casanova

Dona Paz

"was a Philippine-registered passenger ferry that sank after colliding with the MT Vector on December 20, 1987. With a death toll of at least 4,375 people"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Do%C3%B1a_Paz

Coconut Crab

"is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, and is probably at the upper limit of how big terrestrial animals with exoskeletons can become in today's atmosphere"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab

Last edited by salsathekid; 02-25-2010 at 04:42 PM.

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02-25-2010 , 04:39 PM

aarono2690

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 3,870

Crab looks evil.

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02-25-2010 , 04:40 PM

Ending Weakness

grinder

Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 428

At least post some kind of teaser explaining why each of these articles is interesting...

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02-25-2010 , 04:40 PM

hawaiiloans

adept

Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,137

I don't have much to contribute now but I swear I can go on wikipedia to look up something real quick, and end up reading about WWII few hours later, and to finish up looking up Nickelodeon shows. FML

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02-25-2010 , 04:42 PM

salsathekid

old hand

Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 1,683

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ending Weakness

At least post some kind of teaser explaining why each of these articles is interesting...

Good call, I added this.

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02-25-2010 , 04:44 PM

brrrrr

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,371

I spent some hours at work learning as much as I could about Game Thoery, Nash equilibria, prisoner games and the like.

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02-25-2010 , 04:49 PM

DerrtySlime

veteran

Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 2,190

Miracle On Ice

"The Soviet players were classed as amateurs, but soft jobs provided by the Brezhnev government (some were active-duty military)[4] allowed them to essentially play professionally in a well-developed league with world class training facilities."

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02-25-2010 , 04:52 PM

sightless

banned

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 15,988

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

Quote:

The Dyatlov Pass incident refers to an event that resulted in the deaths of nine ski hikers in the northern Ural mountains on the night of February 2, 1959.

Quote:

The lack of eyewitnesses and subsequent investigations into the hikers' deaths have inspired much speculation. Investigators at the time determined that the hikers tore open their tent from within, departing barefoot in heavy snow. Though the corpses showed no signs of struggle, two victims had fractured skulls, two had broken ribs, and one was missing her tongue.[1] According to sources four of the victims' clothing contained high-levels of radiation

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one doctor indicated that the fatal injuries of the three bodies could not have been caused by another human being, "because the force of the blows had been too strong and no soft tissue had been damaged".[1]

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02-25-2010 , 04:57 PM

fear

grinder

Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 581

Rasputin's Murder

Quote:

...came back down to shoot Rasputin through the back with a revolver. Rasputin fell, and the company left the palace for a while. Yusupov, who had left without a coat, decided to return to get one, and, while at the palace, he went to check up on the body. Suddenly, Rasputin opened his eyes and lunged at Prince Yusupov. When he grabbed Prince Yusupov he ominously whispered in Yusupov's ear "you bad boy" and attempted to strangle him. At that moment, however, the other conspirators arrived and fired at him. After being hit three times in the back, Rasputin fell once more. As they neared his body, the party found that, remarkably, he was still alive, struggling to get up. They clubbed him into submission and castrated him. After binding his body and wrapping him in a carpet, they threw him into the icy Neva River. He broke out of his bonds and the carpet wrapping him, but drowned in the river.

Three days later, the body of Rasputin, poisoned, shot four times, badly beaten, and drowned, was recovered from the Neva River. An autopsy established that the cause of death was drowning. His arms were found in an upright position, as if he had tried to claw his way out from under the ice. It was found that he had indeed been poisoned, and that the poison alone should have been enough to kill him. There is a report that after his body was recovered, water was found in the lungs, supporting the idea that he was still alive before submersion into the partially frozen river.

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02-25-2010 , 05:05 PM

#10

sightless

banned

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 15,988

also this list is pretty good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers
I once spend a lot of time browsing it

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02-25-2010 , 05:10 PM

#11

art__vandelay

veteran

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,080

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_stargate

Quote:

The Stargate Project[1] was the umbrella code name of one of several sub-projects established by the U.S. Federal Government to investigate the reality, and potential military and domestic applications, of psychic phenomena, particularly "remote viewing": the purported ability to psychically "see" events, sites, or information from a great distance.[2] These projects were active from the 1970s through 1995, and followed up early psychic research done at The Stanford Research Institute (SRI), The American Society for Psychical Research, and other psychical research labs.

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02-25-2010 , 05:13 PM

#12

jmakin

banned

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 30,120

fractals

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02-25-2010 , 05:15 PM

#13

salsathekid

old hand

Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 1,683

Quote:

Originally Posted by sightless

also this list is pretty good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers
I once spend a lot of time browsing it

Slightly morbid but interesting.

I assert that there are more identified serial killers in more developed countries because law enforcement is more coordinated and better at putting together the pieces need to identify the pattern.

I mean, do you think there have been that few serial killers in China and India?

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02-25-2010 , 05:21 PM

#14

art__vandelay

veteran

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,080

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Bell

Quote:

The Bell is said to be an experiment carried out by Third Reich scientists working for the SS in a German facility known as Der Riese ("The Giant")[3] near the Wenceslaus mine. The mine is located 50 kilometers away from Breslau a little north of the village of Ludwikowice Kłodzkie (formerly known as Ludwigsdorf) close to the Czech border. Cook and Witkowski visited the site for the UK Channel 4 documentary UFOs: the Hidden Evidence (aka An Alien History of Planet Earth).

The device is described as metallic, approximately 9 feet wide and 12 to 15 feet high with a shape similar to a bell. It contained two counter-rotating cylinders filled with a substance similar to Mercury that glowed violet when activated, known only as Xerum 525[4] it has been speculated to be Red mercury.[5] When active, The Bell would emit strong radiation, which led to the death of several scientists[6] and various plant and animal test subjects.[4]

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02-25-2010 , 05:24 PM

#15

art__vandelay

veteran

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,080

wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_island

Quote:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a gyre of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean located roughly between 135° to 155°W and 35° to 42°N and estimated to be twice the size of Texas.[1]

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02-25-2010 , 05:24 PM

#16

JMa

veteran

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,328

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_hollywood_shootout

Shootout heavily influenced by the movie Heat.

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02-25-2010 , 05:25 PM

#17

art__vandelay

veteran

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,080

alright last one, but this is THE most interesting wiki article, I promise you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

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02-25-2010 , 05:46 PM

#18

kitaristi0

l'étranger

Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 16,139

Quote:

Originally Posted by sightless

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

Weird.

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02-25-2010 , 05:47 PM

#19

amoeba

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 20,431

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_hollywood_shootout

Shootout heavily influenced by the movie Heat.

other way around

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02-25-2010 , 05:47 PM

#20

HIV

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 4,547

only thing worth reading before me in this thread is nikola tesla

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammatus_cloud

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raining_animals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning

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02-25-2010 , 05:49 PM

#21

JMa

veteran

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,328

Quote:

Originally Posted by amoeba

other way around

heat was released in 95, robbery was in 97

The investigation of the shootout found that the perpetrators were heavily influenced[citation needed] by the Michael Mann film Heat which was released a few years earlier in 1995.

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02-25-2010 , 05:49 PM

#22

amoeba

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 20,431

hmm ok, nevermind. my bad.

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02-25-2010 , 06:45 PM

#23

BartJ385

veteran

Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 2,667

Quote:

Originally Posted by HIV

only thing worth reading before me in this thread is nikola tesla

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammatus_cloud

It is always about boobs with you guys.

(All four links were worse than any other post in this thread.)

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02-25-2010 , 06:59 PM

#24

SILLYGOOSER

journeyman

Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 377

I hate Wikipedia. It has the stupidest ****. Theres something to be said about the real thing. Paper. Dont really get the point of it and I cant stand other always talking about it like Twitter.