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Interesting Wikipedia articles for killing time and expanding your mind!! Interesting Wikipedia articles for killing time and expanding your mind!!

02-26-2010 , 02:24 PM
List of con men

The first known usage of the term "confidence man" in English was in 1849; it was used by American press during the United States trial of William Thompson. Thompson chatted with strangers until he asked if they had the confidence to lend him their watches, whereupon he would walk off with the watch; he was captured when a victim recognized him on the street.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trick
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02-26-2010 , 02:30 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Somewhat Damaged
I believe you're thinking of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
It's like Crimson Tide, only in real life!
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02-26-2010 , 02:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheNoodleMan
Monitoring for incoming nukes sounds like a pretty sweet gig. You could spend an entire career doing absolutely nothing.
Yea and not being around to explain yourself when you fail at your job...
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02-26-2010 , 02:39 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael...n_(basketball)

Owns record for highest slam dunk, on a hoop at the height of 12 feet.

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

This one is weird. A British citizen, who was a pirate radio broadcaster, overtook a fort in international waters that had previously been used by the UK during WWII for defense of shipping lanes against the Germans. So this guy claims it as Sealand, and that it is a sovereign nation (which it is not recognized by any other nation to be) and he even had a constitution, flag, currency and passports. Real interesting read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestia_(micronation)

A micronation that laid claim to all of space on the behalf of all humanity.
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02-26-2010 , 02:52 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Somewhat Damaged
I believe you're thinking of this:

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

Thank you sir.
Interesting Wikipedia articles for killing time and expanding your mind!! Quote
02-26-2010 , 03:33 PM
Been a great thread so far.


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

The high-resolution spectra and images provided by the HST have been especially well-suited to establishing the prevalence of black holes in the nuclei of nearby galaxies. While it had been hypothesized in the early 1960s that black holes would be found at the centers of some galaxies, and work in the 1980s identified a number of good black hole candidates, it fell to work conducted with Hubble to show that black holes are probably common to the centers of all galaxies.[78][79] The Hubble programs further established that the masses of the nuclear black holes and properties of the galaxies are closely related. The legacy of the Hubble programs on black holes in galaxies is thus to demonstrate a deep connection between galaxies and their central black holes.



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

The Wack Pack is the name given to a wide assortment of personalities heard throughout the history of The Howard Stern Show. As a parody of the Rat Pack or Brat Pack, they are a considerable part of what the radio show became notable for. Members of the pack, known as "Wack Packers", tend to be unusual in some way such as being blatantly racist, mentally disabled, perverted or having a comical voice, appearance or ability. Not every regular guest on the show is considered a member, nor are any of the show's staff members.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...tal_punishment
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02-26-2010 , 03:53 PM
Oak Island Money Pit

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

Quote:
Oak Island is noted as the location of the so-called Money Pit, a site of numerous excavations to recover treasure believed by many to be buried there.
Franklin Roosevelt, Pirates, booby traps, cipher stones, Knights Templar and the Holy Grail
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02-26-2010 , 03:53 PM
Did one of you guys do this:

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

Quote:
The goal of the expedition was to reach an extremely homosexual sweat lodge on the peak of the mountain.
-Al
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02-26-2010 , 03:58 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by sightless
The goal of the expedition was to reach an extremely homosexual sweat lodge on the peak of the mountain.

lool
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02-26-2010 , 04:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by C-Viggity
Been a great thread so far.


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

The high-resolution spectra and images provided by the HST have been especially well-suited to establishing the prevalence of black holes in the nuclei of nearby galaxies. While it had been hypothesized in the early 1960s that black holes would be found at the centers of some galaxies, and work in the 1980s identified a number of good black hole candidates, it fell to work conducted with Hubble to show that black holes are probably common to the centers of all galaxies.[78][79] The Hubble programs further established that the masses of the nuclear black holes and properties of the galaxies are closely related. The legacy of the Hubble programs on black holes in galaxies is thus to demonstrate a deep connection between galaxies and their central black holes.
The Hubble telescope had quite a turnaround. The first few years it was always screwed up and considered a multi-billion dollar failure, but they stuck with it and got some amazing results.
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02-26-2010 , 04:11 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by skunkworks
The goal of the expedition was to reach an extremely homosexual sweat lodge on the peak of the mountain.

lool
WTF do you have me on ignore now or something?

-Al
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02-26-2010 , 04:24 PM
Mountain Meadows massacre

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

Quote:
The Mountain Meadows massacre was a mass slaughter of the Fancher-Baker emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows, Utah Territory, by a local Mormon militia and members of the Paiute Native American tribe on September 11, 1857. It began as an attack, quickly turned into a siege, and eventually culminated in the murder of the unarmed emigrants after their surrender.
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02-26-2010 , 04:59 PM
Lyre Bird

"Lyrebirds render with great fidelity the individual songs of other birds and the chatter of flocks of birds, and also mimic other animals, human noises, machinery of all kinds, explosions, and musical instruments. The lyrebird is capable of imitating almost any sound — from a mill whistle to a cross-cut saw, and, not uncommonly, sounds as diverse as chainsaws [2], car engines and car alarms, fire alarms, rifle-shots, camera shutters, dogs barking, crying babies, and even the human voice."

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFy8...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y&feature=fvw
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02-26-2010 , 05:14 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by kitnaTHEgreat
Lyre Bird

"Lyrebirds render with great fidelity the individual songs of other birds and the chatter of flocks of birds, and also mimic other animals, human noises, machinery of all kinds, explosions, and musical instruments. The lyrebird is capable of imitating almost any sound — from a mill whistle to a cross-cut saw, and, not uncommonly, sounds as diverse as chainsaws [2], car engines and car alarms, fire alarms, rifle-shots, camera shutters, dogs barking, crying babies, and even the human voice."

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFy8...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y&feature=fvw
awesome, especially the videos. Beatboxing lyrebird would be the nuts

edit: so apparently everything after the camera noises is fake? God damnit...

Last edited by LeapFrog; 02-26-2010 at 05:23 PM.
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02-26-2010 , 05:17 PM
Battle of Los Angeles

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

Quote:
The Battle of Los Angeles is the name given by contemporary news agencies to a sighting of one or more unidentified flying objects which took place from late February 24 to early February 25, 1942 in which eyewitness reports of an unknown object or objects over Los Angeles, California, triggered a massive anti-aircraft artillery barrage.
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02-26-2010 , 05:50 PM
Extinct tree brought back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm
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02-26-2010 , 06:03 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeapFrog
awesome, especially the videos. Beatboxing lyrebird would be the nuts

edit: so apparently everything after the camera noises is fake? God damnit...
Is it? That sucks.
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02-26-2010 , 06:10 PM
DMT the spirit molecule

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

Quote:
Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a naturally-occurring tryptamine and psychedelic drug, found not only in many plants, but also in trace amounts in the human body. It plays a role in mediating the visual effects of natural dreaming, and also near-death experiences, religious visions and other mystical states
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02-26-2010 , 06:10 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by kitnaTHEgreat
Is it? That sucks.
ok, managed to **** this up pretty good, tired. The 2nd video seems legit, 1st seems to be stretching it a bit. Some comments saying it was fake.
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02-26-2010 , 06:12 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123

Quote:
It remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.
Quote:
Its president, Yasumoto Takagi, resigned, while a maintenance manager working for the company at Haneda committed suicide to "apologize" for the accident.[4]
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02-26-2010 , 06:13 PM
dyatlov incident pretty much wins imo.
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02-26-2010 , 08:30 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by skunkworks
The goal of the expedition was to reach an extremely homosexual sweat lodge on the peak of the mountain.

lool
Wiki strikes back !!!

Quote:
Please stop your disruptive editing. If you continue to vandalize Wikipedia, as you did at Mountain Meadows massacre, you will be blocked from editing. Dave (talk) 00:05, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

If this is a shared IP address, and you didn't make the edit, consider creating an account for yourself so you can avoid further irrelevant notices.
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02-26-2010 , 09:29 PM
Can't believe this one hasn't been posted yet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
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02-26-2010 , 09:38 PM
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
Wow did you see the Ukranian teenagers on that last? They killed >20 people and video taped it all. One of the videos got leaked to the web- it's definitely the sickest thing i've ever seen. I don't even want to link it.
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02-26-2010 , 09:42 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ab160
Wow did you see the Ukranian teenagers on that last? They killed >20 people and video taped it all. One of the videos got leaked to the web- it's definitely the sickest thing i've ever seen. I don't even want to link it.
Heard that was pretty sick. Didn't want to watch it, thought I would be like the thousands of people that said 'hey, I can handle it!' then watched the video and said, 'wtf why did I watch that **** wtf why'
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