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Scarab Sages

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Hoyt Axton served in the US Navy aboard the USS Princeton (LPH-5), before pursuing a music career. After his discharge, he began singing folk songs in San Francisco nightclubs.


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On this day in 1655, Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan, the largest natural satellite of the planet Saturn, and the only object other than Earth where clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found.


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The highest situated capital in Europe is Andorra la Valle in (well, duh) Andorra

Scarab Sages

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A founding member of the folk group The Tarriers, Alan Arkin co-wrote the song "The Banana Boat Song" (also known as "Day-o"), which later became a mega-hit for Harry Belafonte.


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Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology, but rather in accounts of natural history, for Greek writers of natural history were convinced of the reality of the unicorn, which they located in India, a distant and fabulous realm for them. The earliest description is from Ctesias who, in his book Indika ("On India"), described them as wild asses, fleet of foot, having a horn a cubit and a half (27 inches) in length, and colored white, red and black.


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Peter Cullen is most well known as the voice of Optimus Prime. He has voiced many other characters, including KARR from Knight Rider and Venger from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. He also holds the credit for being the first voice of Mario, when he potrayed him in the Donkey Kong segments from Saturday Supercade. He was also the original voice of Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.

Pythagoras, the famous Greek mathematician, developed a religious philosophy called Pythagorianism which observed several odd beliefs. Never touch a white rooster, never stand on your fingernail clippings, and never touch beans. The last proved to be his undoing. On the run from assassins, his only avenue of escape was through a field of beans. Unwilling to compromise his beliefs, the assassins caught up with him and killed him.

If a cockroach is touched by a human, it will run off to clean itself.

The little plastic coatings on the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their motives are sinister.

Vomitoriums were not where opulent Romans went to puke up their meals so they could eat more. They were the archways among the stadium seats that people entered the stadium from. They are so named because people 'vomited fourth' from them. (Vomit simply meaning to spew out)

Scarab Sages

At age three, Michael York broke his nose when he jumped off the roof of a coal house while trying to fly.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Aberzombie wrote:

According to the James Bond film tailors in London, at 6' 2" Timothy Dalton is the tallest of all the Bond actors. The tailors who have fitted and measured each of the 5 Bonds over the years claim the following heights for each of the other Bond actors: Sean Connery 6' 1 1/2" without shoes, George Lazenby 6' 1 1/2" without shoes, Roger Moore 6' 1" without shoes and Pierce Brosnan 6' 1" without shoes.

*note - to forestall the inevitable pointing out of the above leaving out Daniel Craig, I double checked, and IMDB has him listed at 5'10".

What about David Niven?

Scarab Sages

Brett Ratner once vowed he would not direct movies until he had directed at least 100 music videos.

Scarab Sages

Brendan Gleeson taught Maths at St. Joseph's Secondary school in Fairview, Dublin.


Trigger Loaded wrote:
An average person can tell a weight difference of 30% between two objects. Any less difference, and they are often too similar to tell which weighs more. (I'm uncertain about this one, I could be wrong. I remember hearing it somewhere, but that was a while ago.)

The weight difference between, say, an 40-pound dumbbell and a 50-pound dumbbell is actually pretty apparent, so ... I'd say no.


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Jaelithe wrote:
The weight difference between, say, an 40-pound dumbbell and a 50-pound dumbbell is actually pretty apparent, so ... I'd say no.

Yeah, I admit my idiocy there. I heard there was some sort of function they found. You can tell the difference between 1 pound and 2 pounds, but not so much 31 pounds and 32 pounds.

Did you know: Trigger Loaded occasionally spews half-remembered garbage.

Seriously, though...

The farthest away you can be from anything on the earth, while still being on earth, is about 12,750 km. (A little over 7,922 miles)

Garlic and Onions are members of the lily family.


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Trigger Loaded wrote:
Garlic and Onions are members of the lily family.

But no one stands near them at funerals.


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Jaelithe wrote:
Trigger Loaded wrote:
Garlic and Onions are members of the lily family.
But no one stands near them at funerals.

Eat enough of them and you will never die. You'll just smell like you did. :-)

Dronf!

Scarab Sages

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Eric Clapton is the only artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times: as a member of The Yardbirds (1992); as a member of Cream (1993); and as a solo performer (2000).


I have unilaterally decided that Oden is the Asa-god in charge of computer code. (It makes sense when you think about it.)

Scarab Sages

Shirley Jones won the 1952 Miss Pittsburgh contest (the prize was $500 and a scholarship to drama school) and was first-runner-up in the Miss Pennsylvania pageant.

Scarab Sages

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Unbeknown to many people, who consider Lon Chaney a "horror actor", he was an amazing dancer in his stage years. The only film that contains footage of him dancing is the incomplete The Fascination of the Fleur de Lis (1915). He was also known to be a hilarious comedian. In fact, one report of the day said, "As a comedian, he is irresistible". And according to Michael F. Blake (Chaney's biographer), Lon could even sing. Sadly, no audio recordings exist of Chaney singing, but people who knew him said that he had a rich baritone voice.


Kajehase wrote:
I have unilaterally decided that Oden is the Asa-god in charge of computer code. (It makes sense when you think about it.)

I support that decision whole-heartedly. Specifically, hanging yourself on The World Tree until dead to learn how to code. Or tossing your eye in the well to learn how to code more.

Scarab Sages

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Linda Hunt was the first actor to have won an Academy Award portraying a member of the opposite sex. She won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar for her role as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Note this was not Linda Hunt playing a woman pretending to be a man, like Barbra Streisand did in Yentl (1983) or, in reverse, as Dustin Hoffman did in Tootsie (1982), but Hunt playing a man in a serious drama.

Scarab Sages

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Just as a follow-up: I have long been convinced that Linda Hunt is one of the most bad-ass human beings on the planet, and probably has to struggle daily with the urge to use her mad skillz to end us all in a hurricane of violence.


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The Hodag (Bestiary 3) is a folkloric animal of the American state of Wisconsin. Its history is focused mainly around the city of Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin, where it was said to have been discovered. It is also mentioned in several Paul Bunyan stories.


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Trigger Loaded wrote:
Peter Cullen is most well known as the voice of Optimus Prime. He has voiced many other characters, including KARR from Knight Rider and Venger from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. He also holds the credit for being the first voice of Mario, when he potrayed him in the Donkey Kong segments from Saturday Supercade. He was also the original voice of Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.

Peter Cullen did not portray Eeyore until the late 1980s. The original voice of Eeyore, starting back in the 60's, was an actor named Ralph Wright, who was mainly a writer for the Disney Studios.


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Kajehase wrote:
The highest situated capital in Europe is Andorra la Valle in (well, duh) Andorra

As an addendum, Andorra is one of only three countries in the world that are ruled by a diarchy ("with two rulers", the other two being San Marino and Swaziland), and the only one that's ruled by foreign dignitaries. Specifically, the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell (in Spain).

For approximately 800 years, lasting until 1993, Andorra would pay tribute to each ruler on a every-other-year basis; the French President got money, while the Bishop got 6 hams, 6 cheese wheels, 6 live chickens, and 12 USD (as equivalent in 1993).


On this date in 1888, the first of eleven unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs. So called, "Jack the Ripper" is never apprehended or truly identified as the killer.


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My first post on these messageboards was made on 26/11-2007, and was a question about the possibility of a Pathfinder Comic being made.

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Randarak wrote:
The Hodag (Bestiary 3) is a folkloric animal of the American state of Wisconsin. Its history is focused mainly around the city of Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin, where it was said to have been discovered. It is also mentioned in several Paul Bunyan stories.

The Scooby gang encountered a Hodag in the second season of Scooby-Doo: Mystery, Incorporated.


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Misroi wrote:
Randarak wrote:
The Hodag (Bestiary 3) is a folkloric animal of the American state of Wisconsin. Its history is focused mainly around the city of Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin, where it was said to have been discovered. It is also mentioned in several Paul Bunyan stories.
The Scooby gang encountered a Hodag in the second season of Scooby-Doo: Mystery, Incorporated.

I keep hearing this is a fun series. I need to watch it.

Scarab Sages

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Jennie Garth is referenced in the classic BBS door game "Legend of the Red Dragon" by Seth A. Robinson. "Legend of the Red Dragon" was an on-line RPG featured on many dial-up Bullentin Boards around the country in the early 1990s. While adventuring in the forest, the player was sometimes asked cryptically "What's the deal with Jennie Garth?". The player's character was rewarded or punished based on various responses.


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Canadian rock band Nickelback's multi-platinum album "Silver Side Up" was released on September 11th, 2001. Cue rampant conspiracy theories...

Scarab Sages

Roger Corman, as a director and/or producer, is credited with starting and/or mentoring the careers of many now-famous film directors, such as Jonathan Demme, Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, John Sayles, James Cameron, Joe Dante, and Martin Scorsese, and writers such as Robert Towne and John Sayles. He also discovered/gave early roles to then-unknown actors and actresses such as Jack Nicholson, Charles Bronson, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Diane Ladd and Sandra Bullock.


700 of the inhabitants in the Spanish town of Coria del Río has the family name Japón, marking them as descendants of the members of a 17th century delegation from the Sendai Daimyo Date Masamune to Europe.


During the filming of Richard III, Sir Laurence Olivier (who directed and starred) was hit in the left leg by an arrow while doing one of the Bosworth Field scenes.


A Wendigo [Bestiary 2] (also known as windigo, weendigo, windago, windiga, witiko, wihtikow, and numerous other variants including manaha) is a demonic half-beast creature appearing in the legends of the Algonquian peoples along the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of both the United States and Canada. The creature or spirit could either possess characteristics of a human or a monster that had physically transformed from a person. It is particularly associated with cannibalism. The Algonquian believed those who indulged in eating human flesh were at particular risk; the legend appears to have reinforced the taboo of the practice of cannibalism. It is often described in Algonquian mythology as a balance of nature.


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When Swedish King Karl XI promoted one of the officers in his bodyguard (one Arvid Horn, possibly for saving the Queen's life, possibly for bringing some jewellery back from Namur), he did so by having a beggar approach the officer and ask to have his passport signed. When Horn opened it, it was his promotion papers.


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Randarak wrote:
A Wendigo [bestiary 2] (also known as windigo, weendigo, windago, windiga, witiko, wihtikow, and numerous other variants including manaha) is a demonic half-beast creature appearing in the legends of the Algonquian peoples along the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of both the United States and Canada. The creature or spirit could either possess characteristics of a human or a monster that had physically transformed from a person. It is particularly associated with cannibalism. The Algonquian believed those who indulged in eating human flesh were at particular risk; the legend appears to have reinforced the taboo of the practice of cannibalism. It is often described in Algonquian mythology as a balance of nature.

Wendigo also appears in the Werewolf The Apocalypse game as both a tribe and the totem of that same tribe. He remains somewhat cannibalistic, however, his tribe states that he only eats the heart of his victims, as the main positive animistic force, which Great Wendigo(the spirit itself) is subservient to in the setting, has a ban on cannibalism.


Twinkies were invented in Schiller Park, Illinois on April 6, 1930, by James Alexander Dewar, a baker for the Continental Baking Company. Realizing that several machines used to make cream-filled strawberry shortcake sat idle when strawberries were out of season, Dewar conceived a snack cake filled with banana cream, which he dubbed the Twinkie. Ritchy Koph said he came up with the name when he saw a billboard in St. Louis for "Twinkle Toe Shoes". During World War II, bananas were rationed and the company was forced to switch to vanilla cream. This change proved popular, and banana-cream Twinkies were not widely re-introduced. The original flavor was occasionally found in limited-time promotions, but the company used vanilla cream for most Twinkies


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James Earl Jones and Carrie Fisher had never actually met in person before both appearing in the Big Bang Theory episode The Convention Conundrum from season 7.


Recognized nationwide among beer enthusiasts,National Beer Day is an unofficial holiday in the United States celebrated every year on April 7, celebrating the ending of prohibition when people could buy, sell and drink beer for the first time in 12 years.

The Cullen–Harrison Act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 22, 1933. That law went into effect on April 7 of that year, allowing people to buy, sell and drink beer again as long as it was < 3.2% (4% ABV). People across the country responded by gathering outside breweries, some beginning the night before. On that first day, 1.5 million barrels of beer were consumed, inspiring the future holiday. While today, April 7, is recognized as National Beer Day, April 6 is known as New Beer's Eve.

Scarab Sages

James Garner was a Korean War veteran and began his career as a contract player in 1956 for Warner Brothers.

Scarab Sages

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John Schneider is co-founder, with Marie Osmond, of the Children's Miracle Network charity organization in 1983. The organization helps children by raising funds for children's hospitals around the United States.


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The Fachen [Bestiary 4] (also known as Fachan or Fachin or Peg Leg Jack) is a creature with only half a body in Scottish and Scots-Irish folklore. Supposedly its appearance, which includes a mane of black feathers tufted at the top and a very wide mouth, is so frightening that it induces heart attacks. It can destroy an orchard with a chain in its strong, singular, withered arm, in a single night. A story in John Francis Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands features a Fachen named Nesnas Mhiccallain being defeated in a race by the story's hero, Murachadh Mac Brian, who became king of Ireland.


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During the period in Swedish history known as The Age of Liberty, control of the government was contested by the two parties known as "The Hats," and "The Caps."

Scarab Sages

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Hugh Hefner served in the U.S. Army in WWII after graduating from Steinmetz H.S. in Chicago, IL (1944).


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The first sign of getting a blood transfusion with the wrong blood type in it is "a feeling of impending doom."


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A dryad (Bestiary 1) is a tree nymph, or female tree spirit, in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies "oak." Thus, dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general. The dryads of ash trees were called the Meliai, while nymphs associated with apple trees were the Epimeliad, and those associated with walnut-trees were the Caryatids. Dryads were supernaturally long-lived and tied to their homes, but some were a step beyond most nymphs. These were the hamadryads who were an integral part of their trees, such that if the tree died, the hamadryad associated with it died as well. For these reasons, dryads and the Greek gods punished any mortals who harmed trees without first propitiating the tree-nymphs.


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Kajehase wrote:
The first sign of getting a blood transfusion with the wrong blood type in it is "a feeling of impending doom."

Then I want to know who keeps giving me their blood.

Scarab Sages

Max Von Sydow's second Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)) came at age 82, which was the same age as front-runner Christopher Plummer who was competing with him in the category (also in a second nomination). Plummer won the Oscar for Beginners (2010), in a role previously turned down by von Sydow.


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DungeonmasterCal wrote:
Kajehase wrote:
The first sign of getting a blood transfusion with the wrong blood type in it is "a feeling of impending doom."
Then I want to know who keeps giving me their blood.

If it's a nurse, tell her about the feeling, she's been taught that it might happen.


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In no Star Trek film or TV-episode is the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty," ever uttered.

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