Interesting Wikipedia articles for killing time and expanding your mind!!
03-30-2010
, 12:34 AM
03-30-2010
, 10:51 AM
03-30-2010
, 01:59 PM
03-30-2010
, 02:46 PM
03-30-2010
, 02:56 PM
03-30-2010
, 03:53 PM
Quote:
Bartley Gorman - "King of the Gypsies"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartley_Gorman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartley_Gorman
Quote:
After a drinking session in Coventry, Bartley was challenged to take on Blond Simey, one of two top fighters in the vast Irish clan of travellers, the Dochertys. He arrived at the old building site where the Irish clan were staying, tore off his shirt and fought off two dogs (one possessing locking jaws) which were set on him.[citation needed] When it became clear his opponent wasn't there, he overturned a car in anger and made off.
Quote:
He was almost killed by a mob near Doncaster Racecourse on St Leger Day in 1976.[citation needed] He had turned up expecting to fight a challenger to his title and gypsy crown, but arrived to find an armed mob of five-year-olds, who he was later told had been paid £25,000 to attack him. It took Bartley more than a year to regain his fitness, and he bore scars for the rest of his life.
03-30-2010
, 09:06 PM
Quote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths
should explain itself.
should explain itself.
Quote:
1981: Jeff Dailey, a 19-year-old gamer, became the first known person to die while playing video games. After achieving a score of 16,660 in the arcade game Berzerk, he succumbed to a massive heart attack. A year later, an 18-year-old gamer died after achieving high scores in the same game
2005: Lee Seung Seop, a 28-year-old South Korean, collapsed of fatigue and died after playing the videogame StarCraft online for almost 50 consecutive hours in an Internet cafe.
2005: Lee Seung Seop, a 28-year-old South Korean, collapsed of fatigue and died after playing the videogame StarCraft online for almost 50 consecutive hours in an Internet cafe.
03-31-2010
, 02:03 AM
More 
for this thread.
I'd heard of this story before, but found the details interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Pe...ottery_scandal
for this thread.I'd heard of this story before, but found the details interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Pe...ottery_scandal
03-31-2010
, 02:15 AM
03-31-2010
, 02:59 AM
Here are the articles on the invasion of Russia by Napoleon and Hitler. The parallels are striking.
French invasion of Russia of 1812
Operation Barbarossa
Part of that campaign, the Siege of Leningrad was incredibly brutal.
The French invasion also produced this brilliant chart which should have a page of its own:
Higher res
Here's what it says:
French invasion of Russia of 1812
Quote:
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 (mainly refered as Patriotic War of 1812) was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, which reduced the French and allied invasion forces (the Grande Armée) to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics, as it dramatically fragilized the previously dominant French position on the continent.
Quote:
Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in human history in both manpower and casualties.[23] Its failure was a turning point in the Third Reich's fortunes. Most important, Operation Barbarossa opened up the Eastern Front, to which more forces were committed than in any other theatre of war in world history. Operation Barbarossa and the areas that fell under it became the site of some of the largest battles, deadliest atrocities, highest casualties, and most horrific conditions for Soviets and Germans alike – all of which influenced the course of both World War II and 20th century history.
Quote:
The 872 days of the siege caused unparalleled famine in the Leningrad region through disruption of utilities, water, energy and food supplies. This resulted in the deaths of up to 1,500,000[45] soldiers and civilians and the evacuation of 1,400,000 more, mainly women and children, many of whom died during evacuation due to starvation and bombardment.[1][2][5] Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery alone in Leningrad holds half a million civilian victims of the siege. Economic destruction and human losses in Leningrad on both sides exceeded those of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Moscow, or the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The siege of Leningrad is the most lethal siege in world history, and some historians speak of the siege operations in terms of genocide, as a "racially motivated starvation policy" that became an integral part of the unprecedented German war of extermination against populations of the Soviet Union generally.
The French invasion also produced this brilliant chart which should have a page of its own:
Higher res
Here's what it says:
Quote:
Figurative Map of the successive losses in men of the French Army in the Russian campaign 1812-1813.
Drawn up by M. Minard, Inspector General of Bridges and Roads in retirement. Paris, November 20, 1869.
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The numbers of men present are represented by the widths of the colored zones at a rate of one millimeter for every ten-thousand men; they are further written across the zones. The red [now brown] designates the men who enter into Russia, the black those who leave it. —— The information which has served to draw up the map has been extracted from the works of M. M. Thiers, of Segur, of Fezensac, of Chambray, and the unpublished diary of Jacob, pharmacist of the army since October 28th. In order to better judge with the eye the diminution of the army, I have assumed that the troops of prince Jerome and of Marshal Davoush who had been detached at Minsk and Moghilev and have rejoined around Orcha and Vitebsk, had always marched with the army.
Drawn up by M. Minard, Inspector General of Bridges and Roads in retirement. Paris, November 20, 1869.
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The numbers of men present are represented by the widths of the colored zones at a rate of one millimeter for every ten-thousand men; they are further written across the zones. The red [now brown] designates the men who enter into Russia, the black those who leave it. —— The information which has served to draw up the map has been extracted from the works of M. M. Thiers, of Segur, of Fezensac, of Chambray, and the unpublished diary of Jacob, pharmacist of the army since October 28th. In order to better judge with the eye the diminution of the army, I have assumed that the troops of prince Jerome and of Marshal Davoush who had been detached at Minsk and Moghilev and have rejoined around Orcha and Vitebsk, had always marched with the army.
03-31-2010
, 07:12 AM
