The Challenge Take It If You Dare
Music (under construction)
Last Updated: 12 Oct 96
Below is a linked index. Just click on the category of interest. Or, you can page down. Although I have a near infinite supply of amusing tidbits, all input is welcome.
Warning! Material on this page may not be suitable for normal people.
The Challenge Take It If You Dare
Music (under construction)
Thousands of you (okay the same two who keep bugging me) have asked to have your mental faculties stimulated in a more direct fashion. Therefore, I present to you The Challenge. Nothing too difficult. Just a variation on the trivia theme that should make you think for a moment or two as you munch on your doughnut. The first person to email me the correct answers will have their name enshrined in the ROU2I Hall Of The Inane forever (or at least until my server makes me clean out the domain). Answers will appear when I feel like it. New challenges will appear periodically. Here goes.
What is the meaning of each of the following phrases and what do they have in common:
| My very educated mother just served us nine pickles. |
| Leo says ger. |
| Every good boy does fine. |
Good luck and no looking at your neighbors test.
How do you kill that fly that keeps buzzing around your head, while you're trying to read this page? Wait for it to land on a relatively flat surface, preferably horizontal. Bring your hands slowly up on each side of the fly, 8 - 12 inches above it. When they are about six inches apart, clap them together sharply over the fly. Slow motion videos have shown that flies jump roughly straight up when they take off, so the fly should jump directly between your hands, resulting in one ex fly. It is not as gross as it sounds. With a little practice the cushion of air compressed between your hands will do most of the damage, not your hands themselves. Besides, fly puree is a good source of protein.
Where can you find a good, relatively cheap cigar? Call 1-800-JRCIGAR. Ask for a box of Arturo Fuente Privada #1 in either EMS (English Market Selection) or, if you're adventurous, Maduro. They cost about 40 dollars, delivered, for a box of 25 and you won't be disappointed.
Writing about 450 B.C. the Greek historian Herodotus described a Babylonian religious ritual of the time. Once in their life all Babylonian wives had to go to the temple of Mylitta (Aphrodite) and have sexual relations with a stranger. They would seat themselves on the ground in the temple courtyard and wait. Any man could throw a coin in their lap, take the woman, and have relations with her. The coins and her acquiescence were given as offerings to the goddess. No man could be refused based on looks or quantity of money given. As one can imagine, those women considered beautiful satisfied their obligation quickly while others were less fortunate. According to Herodotus, some women waited three or four years before finally making their offering to Mylitta.
A Hittite Law Tablet from about 1400 B.C. contains the following punishments for bestiality:
If a man does evil with a head of cattle, it is a capital crime and he shall be killed.
If a man does evil with a sheep, it is a capital crime and he shall be killed.
If anyone does evil with a pig, he shall die.
If a man does evil with a horse or mule, there shall be no punishment.
If an ox leaps at (attempts to mount) a man, the ox shall die, but the man shall not die. Instead a sheep shall be sacrificed in his place.
If a pig leaps at a man, there shall be no punishment.
Clearly, it was better to be a horse, mule or pig, rather than a sheep in the Hittite culture.
The flush toilet was in use as far back as 2800 B.C. On the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland in a Late Stone Age village called Skara Brae have been discovered houses, which contained separate toilet rooms with stone seats (burrrr!), stone conduits leading to the ocean, and a place next to the seat for the bucket used for flushing.
Not to be outdone, around 2700 B.C. cities in the Indus valley region of India and Pakistan had water pipes and plumbing systems consisting of flanged earthenware pipes made watertight with asphalt. These provided fresh water and removed sewage for city populations in excess of 100,000 people.
Johann Gutenberg (1397 - 1468) is generally credited with inventing the movable type and, thus, the modern printing press (and in honor of who's birthday this page address was selected ). He published his famous Latin Bible in 1455. However, he did not, in fact, invent the process first. The Chinese had movable type by about 700 A.D., printing with wood block type on silk and paper. Whether Gutenberg reinvented it or learned of it from the Chinese is debatable. Never-the-less, his development of the printing press enabled the mass production of books in the western world and, as a result, the education of the common masses (us). As a footnote, a clay disk found in Phaistos, Crete, contains signs and symbols that are identical in form, meaning that they were stamped into the clay using wood or metal forms. This disk dates from 1700 B.C. and is currently the world's earliest example of movable type. However, it is in an unfamiliar script not found anywhere else, and remains untranslated almost a century after its discovery.
The seven day week goes back to the Babylonians, who linked it to the major planetary gods by about 700 B.C. (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were not discovered until modern times.) It was picked up by the Romans, who substituted their gods for those of the Babylonians, and their version eventually became the western standard. As Romance languages, French and Italian still closely follow the original Latin names. The English words that we use today for the days of the week are a result of the Anglo-Saxon influence after the fall of Rome. The result is as follows:
| Day | Planet | Saxon God | Roman God |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Sun | Sun | Sol |
| Monday | Moon | Moon | Luna |
| Tuesday | Mars | Tiw | Mars |
| Wednesday | Mercury | Woden | Mercurius |
| Thursday | Jupiter | Thor | Jove |
| Friday | Venus | Frigg | Venus |
| Saturday | Saturn | Saturn | Saturnus |
Careful attention to the above referenced Saxon goddess of love reveals the origin of a term commonly used today.
Thousands of you (alright, two) have asked the big question, "Where does he find this stuff?" In the interest of furthering the advancement of humanity (and creating another trivia category in the process), I have provided a partial list of my source material. Hey, if I gave you ALL my sources, then you'd have no reason to read my page, right? All of these books are great reading material. Memorize them and you, too, can annoy family and friends by spouting endless streams of information that are of interest to no one but yourself.
So, in no particular order:
A History Of The Ancient World, Chester Starr, Oxford University Press, NY, 1991 ISBN: 0-19-506628-6
Eyewitness To History, John Carey, Harvard University Press, MA, 1987 ISBN: 0-674-28750-9
In Love With Norma Loquendi, William Safire, Random House, NY, 1994 ISBN: 0-679-42386-9
Myth Information, J. Allen Varasos, Ballentine Books, NY 1989 ISBN: 0-345-35985-2
When Do Fish Sleep?, David Feldman, Harper & Row, NY, 1989
History Laid Bare, Lust Sex & Perversity From The Ancient Etruscans to Warren G. Harding, Harper Perennial, NY, 1994
Ancient Inventions, Peter James & Nick Thorpe, Ballentine Books, NY, 1994 ISBN: 0-345-36476-7
Go to the Domain Of The Insane Home Page
Go To About The Author (Don't say I didn't warn you).
Go to the Lyrics
Go to the Athens GeoPage