Interesting Wikipedia articles for killing time and expanding your mind!! - Page 52 - Other Topics Forum - Discuss Pop Culture, Arts and Entertainment

with the judgement day approaching I felt like posting this was appropriate:

List of dates of the end of the world

found this one particularly amusing:

Quote:

In Leeds, England in 1806 a hen began laying eggs on which the phrase "Christ is coming" written on the eggs.[1] Eventually it was discovered to be a hoax. The hoaxster had written on the eggs in a corrosive ink so to etch the eggs, and reinserted the eggs back into the hen

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05-19-2011 , 01:45 PM

#1279

Sugar Nut

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Etats360

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Guzmán_Loera - The world's most wanted man, now that Osama's dead

I guess there aren't that many who don't know about this gem of a BBV thread. for those few who don't I highly recommend it:

Brag. I'm Going after Mexico's billionare drug lord, Joaquin Guzman

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05-19-2011 , 01:51 PM

#1280

NHFunkii

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Quote:

Originally Posted by prohornblower

R.I.P. thread. You were interesting once.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Etats360

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokiraJ

List of dates of the end of the world

list of dates incorrectly predicting the end of this thread:
5/19/2011

seriously excellent post etats.

from the korean golf course one - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_Murder_Incident

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05-19-2011 , 02:08 PM

#1281

Dr. Spaceman

worth 1000 words

Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 7,978

Quote:

Originally Posted by Etats360

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_Club - Chris Bosh's forefathers

Cool, I never knew what that lyric in Yankee Doodle meant until now.

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05-19-2011 , 04:20 PM

#1282

TheNoodleMan

Wet Noodle

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 16,566

Quote:

Originally Posted by NHFunkii

from the korean golf course one - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_Murder_Incident

I was going to post that same thing, far more interesting than the golf course.

The idea of a couple of modern armies fighting with axes and crowbars over a tree is pretty insane.

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05-19-2011 , 04:33 PM

#1283

Aceium

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I'm a little late to the party but here are a couple interesting ones.

I started out looking at Mark Zuckerberg's profile, the creator of Facebook.

I eventually got to the "Large Numbers" page, via Google/Googol/Googolplex. A Googolplex is such a large number that you can't even compare it to the number of atoms in the known universe - it's far far greater. Form there I started looking a larger numbers, and I found Graham's Number, an unimaginably large number. Cool stuff to read about if you're a math geek kind of guy. If you can get through the notation and figure out what exactly what each iteration of little g means, it is IMMENSE.

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05-19-2011 , 04:58 PM

#1284

Sugar Nut

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Now this might be "Welcome to the Internet" territory, but I've just stumbled upon this and had never heard of it before.

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

Quote:

... a Canadian blogger who bartered his way from a single red paperclip to a house in a series of online trades over the course of a year.

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05-19-2011 , 07:21 PM

#1285

Maybe

grinder

Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 637

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aceium

I eventually got to the "Large Numbers" page, via Google/Googol/Googolplex. A Googolplex is such a large number that you can't even compare it to the number of atoms in the known universe - it's far far greater. Form there I started looking a larger numbers, and I found Graham's Number, an unimaginably large number. Cool stuff to read about if you're a math geek kind of guy. If you can get through the notation and figure out what exactly what each iteration of little g means, it is IMMENSE.

I'm not a big math guy, but that "Graham's number" page was remarkably cool.

Quote:

Indeed, the observable universe is far too small to contain an ordinary digital representation of Graham's number, assuming that each digit occupies at least one Planck volume.

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05-19-2011 , 07:25 PM

#1286

SnotBoogy

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why can't someone just say graham's number + 1

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05-19-2011 , 07:43 PM

#1287

NHFunkii

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no one said it's the biggest imaginable number, it's just really big

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05-19-2011 , 07:49 PM

#1288

Jim14Qc

veteran

Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 3,145

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnotBoogy

theres a family in LA in the 30's that created a nazi compound that was supposed to be totally self sufficient when chaos broke out in America

http://wikimapia.org/3630380/Murphy-...ts-Colony-Site

article:

http://thenativelatourist.wordpress....s-a-nazi-past/

Wow that was incredible. Thanks for sharing.

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05-19-2011 , 07:55 PM

#1289

SnotBoogy

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim14Qc

Wow that was incredible. Thanks for sharing.

If you liked that, I suggest you try to track down the opening episode of a show that started this week on The Travel Channel called "Off Limits"... the host goes to the place to explore

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05-19-2011 , 08:05 PM

#1290

Jim14Qc

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Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 3,145

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnotBoogy

why can't someone just say graham's number + 1

it's a big number WITH A PURPOSE. Not very interesting though to common folk (like I).

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05-19-2011 , 08:13 PM

#1291

tschubauer

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Graham's number was mind-blowing, I learned how to read the arrow notation for it and holy hell...

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05-19-2011 , 10:45 PM

#1292

bottomset

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Sugar Nut

You, sir, are... I don't have words...

I mean....

WHATTTTTT??????

The sickest single event in the history of mankind???????

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_1945

So it Goes.

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05-19-2011 , 10:46 PM

#1293

Alchoholic Wombat

centurion

Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 116

wow

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05-19-2011 , 10:53 PM

#1294

CCuster_911

You Only Live Once

Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 24,435

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnotBoogy

why can't someone just say graham's number + 1

Its just the biggest number used in a mathematical proof, not the biggest number.

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05-20-2011 , 12:23 AM

#1295

SB182

enthusiast

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bottomset

So it Goes.

All this happened, more or less.

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05-20-2011 , 12:48 AM

#1296

Dids

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Next post I have to delete comes with free banning

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05-20-2011 , 03:10 AM

#1297

Oski

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Quote:

Originally Posted by SnotBoogy

all those things listed are under the umbrella of WW2, they cannot be viewed as independent events, the narrative doesn't make sense if you view them that way. its not like America dropped the bombs for no reason , despite what some of you might want to believe

This is a very sensible opinion. Take Hiroshima for example; it is arguable that such measures prevented the killing of hundreds of thousands more, if not millions. And of course, this act must be viewed in the larger context of a war that was not instigated by the party dropping the bomb; and the party receiving the bomb, not only was the aggressor, but it refused to capitulate.

Bombing a school on the other hand, is designed for one purpose with no offsetting possibility of a provided "good."

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05-20-2011 , 03:16 AM

#1298

Oski

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Quote:

Originally Posted by SnotBoogy

I never meant to say that the holocaust is less "worse". I sure wouldn't commit that faux pas. But it isn't a single event. The context is a lot bigger. I'm talking about unique, isolated events.

At least McVeigh targeted a federal building full of (mostly) adults.

Again, I think those arguing are taking your original comment and intent out of context. I agree with you that bombing a school is an ultimate display of evil.

Most of the other events offered in contrast, at least are connected to a larger purpose (whether it is justifiable or not, the aggressors at least were acting with a purpose) such as politics, religion, etc.

However, I don't understand the need to argue about single event as opposed to events. That is a meaningless distinction.

Last edited by Oski; 05-20-2011 at 03:29 AM.

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05-20-2011 , 03:55 AM

#1299

Oski

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Quote:

Originally Posted by 18000rpm

An excellent read. And a good example of how sometimes your enemy is worthy of respect too.

Quote:

Sakai was ordered to lead a kamikaze mission on 5 July, but he failed to find the U.S. task force. He was engaged by Hellcat fighters near the task force's reported position, and all but one of the Nakajima B6N2 "Jill" torpedo bombers in his flight were shot down. Sakai managed to shoot down one Hellcat, then escaped the umbrella of enemy aircraft by flying into a cloud. Rather than follow meaningless orders, in worsening weather and gathering darkness, Sakai led his small formation back to Iwo Jima, preserving the aircraft and pilots for another day.

In August 1944, Sakai was commissioned an ensign (少尉) — a record-breaking 11 years from enlistment to commissioning in the very rank-conscious Japanese navy. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant (中尉) one year later, just before the war ended.

That part is incorrect. Kamikaze missions didn't start until October 1944. His intended mission had to be something else.