Quirky History facts!

[Michaelangelica]

I knew about Churchill ; not the rest
Quirky!

[Turtle]

Not being yet aware of such a thing as a whipping machine, and thinking such a thing slipped by in leau of Old Sparky, I intended to pronounce it a quirky history fact. No less quirky is the rest of the story.

... Violence Transformed

It must be apparent from our analysis of acute and chronic pains and the variety of punishments that produce these effects that some punishments are neat mixtures of both the abstract and concrete elements of punishment. Acute corporal punishments are clearly in this category since they inflict an element of violence, yet they are highly abstract in that they can be turned into numbers both in terms of duration and intensity.

It is also apparent that acute corporal punishments may be arranged according to whether they are more or less violent. For example, the use of the lash requires a great deal of physical exertion and may clearly be said to be a violent process. In contrast, the administration of electric shock requires no more physical exertion than the pressing of a button. Even though the effects of the electric shock may be just as violent as those of the lash, the process itself is less violent and therefore preferable. This is not to say that we could not invent a way of administering the lash that was less violent. In fact, Jeremy Bentham designed a whipping machine that would have made the process essentially similar to the administration of electric shock.

Chapter 4: The Limits of Pain

[Michaelangelica]

Just read a new History of the OSS during WW2.
One operative got a guided tour of all nazi germany's synthetic oil plants on some ingenious pretext; later they were bombed.
But it got me thinking
How did the Germans make synthetic oil in WW2 and how come we can't do the same now?

[Boerseun]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

But it got me thinking
How did the Germans make synthetic oil in WW2 and how come we can't do the same now?

We are! The Germans made oil out of coal, using the Fischer-Tropsch process in hydrating coal dust with high-pressure steam. The resulting 'sludge' gets cracked in a pretty much run-of-the-mill petrol cracking tower into all the products normally associated with crude oil.

It's a very expensive process, though, and the only company able to make it profitable is SASOL of South Africa! [/patriot moment] They've been doing it since the '50s, and South Africa is basically running on petrol from coal. We've got about 300 years of coal left, though - so you suckers will be getting your fuel from us after Peak Oil!

Mwhuahahahahaaa...

[jab2]

Boerseun, it's just a pity we have to pay for that fuel at Brent Crude prices. I would love to see the real cost of producing of SASOL's production and how our tax money fits into the equation.

BTW, read last week (cannot remember source) that some people believe that the Fuel Peak has past already.

[DougF]

Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more
than 500 employees and has the following statistics:



* 29 have been accused of spousal abuse

* 7 have been arrested for fraud

* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks

* 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses

* 3 have done time for assault

* 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit

* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges

* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting

* 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits

* 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year...







Can you guess which organization this is?





Give up yet?




It's the 535 members of the United States Congress.


The same group that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to
keep the rest of us in line.

[Michaelangelica]

This is quirky,
but I am not sure why yet.
WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier

[Michaelangelica]

How old is Grandad???
(Personally I would go with 69 or 79)



Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.
The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandfather replied, 'Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:

• ' television
  
• ' penicillin
  
• ' polio shots
  
• ' frozen foods
  
• ' Xerox
  
• ' contact lenses
  
• ' Frisbees and
  
• ' the pill

There were no:

'

• credit cards
  
• ' laser beams or
  
• ' ball-point pens

Man had not invented:

• ' pantyhose
  
• ' air conditioners
  
• ' dishwashers
  
• ' clothes dryers
  
• ' and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and
  
• ' man hadn't yet walked on the moon

Your Grandmother and I got married first, and then lived together.

Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, 'Sir'.

And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, 'Sir.'

We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, day-care centres, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yoghurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the Prime Minister's speeches on our radios.

And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, and a Pepsi or Coke were all 2 Cents *(A Copper coin).

And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your Threepence on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one?
Too bad, because petrol was 11cents a gallon (That’s now 4.5 litres).

In my day:

• 'grass' was mowed,
  
• 'coke' was a cold drink,
  
• 'pot' was something your mother cooked in and
  
• 'rock music' was your grandmother's lullaby.
  
• 'Aids' were helpers in the Principal's office,
  
• ' chip' meant a piece of wood,
  
• 'hardware' was found in a hardware store and
  
• 'software' wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us 'old and confused' and say there is a generation gap... and how old do you think I am?

I bet you have this old man in mind...you are in for a shock!

Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.





Are you ready?










This man would be only 59 years old

[Turtle]

In 1908, the Phoenix Gazette reported the finds of Egyptian artifacts in the Grand Canyon by one G.E. Kinkaid of the Smithsonian Institute.
Phoenix Gazette Grand Canyon article text, April 5, 1909

Originally Posted by Phoenix Gazette

According to the story related to the Gazette by Mr. Kinkaid, the archeologists of the Smithsonian Institute [1], which is financing the expeditions, have made discoveries which almost conclusively prove that the race which inhabited this mysterious cavern, hewn in solid rock by human hands, was of oriental origin, possibly from Egypt, tracing back to Ramses. If their theories are borne out by the translation of the tablets engraved with hieroglyphics, the mystery of the prehistoric peoples of North America, their ancient arts, who they were and whence they came, will be solved. Egypt and the Nile, and Arizona and the Colorado will be linked by a historical chain running back to ages which staggers the wildest fancy of the fictionist. ...

[Racoon]

The reason that Friday the 13th is such a bad luck day is,...

Becuz on Friday the 13th of October, 1307, the arrests of The Knights Templars.

The day of Friday the Thirteenth, 1307, which began so uneventfully, was the beginning of one of the world's most enduring mysteries, and one of its greatest tragedies. On that morning, Philippe le Bel, the King of France, in collusion with the Pope, gave orders for the arrest of over one hundred knights of the Order of the Temple, on charges of heresy.

Fortunately, most Knights of the Templar escaped, but it they never regained their previous position on global politics and economics.

Some say they went to Switzerland. Where they then set up shop...???