|
Someone getting on your case, maybe even going a little nuts, because of some small noise you're making? Try to be accommodating: You're probably triggering their misophonia.
|
|
Oompa-Loompas are small humans who would end up being preyed upon or attacked by the various predators that also reside in Loompaland before Wonka invited them to work at his factory and are paid in their favorite food, cocoa beans, which were extremely rare on their island. The Oompa-Loompas are also mischievous, loving practical jokes and singing songs which, according to Wonka, they are very good at improvising. They sing at the end of each child's demise.
In early editions of the novel, the Oompa-Loompas (originally called "Whipple-Scrumpets" before publication) are shown as African pygmies before Dahl rewrote them to be white-skinned and golden haired. In both editions, despite working in the factory, Oompa-Loompas insist on maintaining their native clothing: men wear skins, women wear leaves, and children wear nothing.
In the 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, they were written to be played by actors with dwarfism and are portrayed as orange-skinned, green-haired men in striped shirts and baggy lederhosen-like pants. Prominent portrayers: Angelo Muscat, Rusty Goffe, George Claydon, Rudy Borgstaller, Jo Kilkenny, Andy Wilday, Malcolm Dixon, Ismed Hassan, Norman Mcglen, Pepe Poupee, Marcus Powell, and Albert Wilkinson.
In the 2005 film, the Oompa-Loompas are all played by Kenyan actor Deep Roy and are virtually identical. They wear their tribal clothing during their time in Loompaland, and typical factory worker uniforms in Wonka's Factory. Some of the female Oompa-Loompas like Doris work in the administration offices.
|
|
Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game franchise created and produced by Sega. The franchise centers on a series of speed-based platform games. The protagonist of the series is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog named Sonic, whose peaceful life is often interrupted by the series' main antagonist, Doctor Eggman. Typically, Sonic—usually along with some of his friends, such as Tails, Amy, and Knuckles—must stop Eggman and foil any plans of world domination. The first game in the series, released in 1991, was conceived by Sega's Sonic Team division after Sega requested a mascot character. The title was a success, it spawned many sequels, and it transformed Sega into a leading video game company during the 16-bit era in the early to mid 1990s.
While the first games in the series were side-scrolling platform games, later games expanded the series into various other genre and sub-series, such as Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and the Sonic Boom series. By 2016, the series had sold over 80 million physical copies of games, and over 350 million units when combining packaged game software with mobile phone downloads. Outside of video games, the franchise has also been spun out into other media, including cartoons, anime, and a long-running comic book series, recognized as the longest running based on a video game by Guinness World Records.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
German author, philosopher, scientist, and soldier Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) became the youngest-ever recipient of the military order of the Pour le Mérite (the famed "Blue Max") in 1918 at the age of 23. At the time of his death in 1998 at the age of 102, Jünger was also the last remaining bearer of the military order.
The first mention of the word 'curry' in the English language was in a cook-book dated to the 1390s called 'The Forme of Cury' (at that time, 'cury' meant any kind of hot food)
The first Indian restaurant was opened in 1810 in London, by Dean (Din? Deen?) Mohammed, and was called the Hindoostanee Eating House.
Originally, J. Michael Straczynski intended to cast Everett McGill in the role of Major Ryan in the Babylon 5 (1994) episode "Severed Dreams". However, Straczynski didn't know his full name, so when he asked to have McGill contacted to set up a meeting about casting him, his assistant asked if he meant Bruce, and Straczynski said yes. Bruce McGill was invited to meet with Straczynski, and it was only after the two met that Straczynski realized his mistake. Straczynski decided to use Bruce for the role of Major Ryan, despite this.The Babylon 5 episode Severed Dreams features the single most bad-ass line in Sci-Fi television history. I won't quote it, because David might not be there yet, and those who've seen it probably know which one I'm talking about.
OK, I've seen it. What's the line?
"It has changed everything about who I thought I was."Growing up, I was always taught that a maternal ancestor of mine was James Wilson of Fife, Scotland, lawyer and Declaration of Independence signatory, son of William Wilson, grandson of Thomas Wilson. This had been accepted as fact for many years, including by my own great-grandparents.
After some independent research, however, I learned that the line of descent traced back not to James Wilson of Fife, Scotland, lawyer and Declaration of Independence signatory, son of William Wilson, grandson of Thomas Wilson, but instead to James Wilson of Armoy, Northern Ireland, penniless dirt farmer, son of William Wilson, grandson of Thomas Wilson.
One of my aunts still refuses to believe me.
I was born in Syracuse, NY, but grew up in Ticonderoga, NY, which is around 20 miles north of Whitehall, NY, a stronghold of the North Country Wilsons. Though I did not know it at the time, one of my high school classmates, one Mr. K. Wilson of Putnam Station, NY, is my fourth cousin.
Second addendum: through genealogical research on my part and on the part of one of my oldest close friends, Mr. J.E. Sammis of Ticonderoga, NY, he recently discovered that the two of us are third cousins via the Mallon branch of my father's family, the American branch of which hails from Queens, NY.
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
OK, I've seen it. What's the line?Originally, J. Michael Straczynski intended to cast Everett McGill in the role of Major Ryan in the Babylon 5 (1994) episode "Severed Dreams". However, Straczynski didn't know his full name, so when he asked to have McGill contacted to set up a meeting about casting him, his assistant asked if he meant Bruce, and Straczynski said yes. Bruce McGill was invited to meet with Straczynski, and it was only after the two met that Straczynski realized his mistake. Straczynski decided to use Bruce for the role of Major Ryan, despite this.The Babylon 5 episode Severed Dreams features the single most bad-ass line in Sci-Fi television history. I won't quote it, because David might not be there yet, and those who've seen it probably know which one I'm talking about.
Probably this exchange....
Delenn: [Delenn's fleet arrives after Earth Alliance attacks B5] This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw or be destroyed!
Earth Force Officer: Negative! We have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ship.
Delenn: Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!
The first confirmed downing of an enemy aircraft via surface-to-air fire occurred during the First World War on 30 September 1915 near Kragujevac, Serbia. After three German planes had dropped their payload of 45 bombs over the city, Serbian soldiers on the ground unsuccessfully tried to down the airplanes with rifle fire and machine gun fire.
On the orders of his commanding officer, Serbian Army private Radoje Ljutovac aimed the modified field howitzer assigned to his gun crew at one of the approaching aircraft. A single shell fired from the cannon took down the plane, which crashed on the outskirts of Kragujevac.
|
|
Mission Tejas State Park is a 660-acre (270 ha) state park located along Texas State Highway 21 in Houston County, Texas, originally constructed in 1935 and transferred to Texas Parks and Wildlife in 1957. The closest major town is Crockett, Texas. The park is open year-round.
Mission Tejas State Park contains several historic resources of East Texas and provides recreation for visitors. The park contains a commemorative replica of the first Spanish mission in Texas and one of the oldest surviving structures in Houston County. The park also contains a segment of the El Camino Real de los Tejas. The park provides 15 developed campsites and 2 primitive camping sites. A small pond allows visitors to fish. The park also contains approximately 4.5 miles of hiking trails.
The park is located on the northern end of Davy Crockett National Forest within the Piney Woods of East Texas. The dominant tree species within the park is loblolly pine. Following massive clear cutting during the early 20th century, the CCC replanted much of the area, including the trees within the park. There are not many trees within the park more than eighty years old. The park contains abundant wildlife including squirrels, rabbits, foxes, and deer. Several species of bird are also present. Flora includes pine, oak, and other plants typical of the Piney Woods.
The park has several different recreational opportunities. Popular activities include hiking, nature viewing, geocaching, fishing and camping. The park has several different types of campsites, from water only tent sites to full hook up RV campsites. In total there are 15 developed sites, and 2 primitive sites. A variety of trails are available ranging from easily accessible to steep and narrow. Park staff also present educational and interpretive programs each week and also teach outdoor activities and skills. Each April, the park holds a Folk Festival including historical reenactment and demonstrations of pioneer skills and activities.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The vast majority of rape victims are female, and all rapists are male, right? Wrong. VERY WRONG.
The death of the Prince George of England while in the service of the Royal Air Force in a 1942 plane crash marked the first time that a member of any British royal family died on active service since the death of King James IV Stuart of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, and the first time that an English royal had died in active service since the death of King Richard III of York at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.
Though Prince George was on active service at the time of his death, he was not, however, killed in battle; rather, he was on a non-operational mission to Iceland during the Second World War when the aircraft on which he was traveling crashed, likely due to pilot error.
|
|
Party City is an American publicly traded retail chain of party supply stores founded in 1986 by Steve Mandell in East Hanover, New Jersey. Based in Elmsford, New York, the company is the largest retailer of party goods in the United States and Canada, operating over 900 company-owned and franchise outlets under the Party City, Halloween City, and Factory Card & Party Outlet brands.
The character Michael Garabaldi, portrayed by actor Jerry Doyle on the TV series Babylon 5, was named after 19th century Italian leader Giuseppe Garibaldi by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski. The name was based on the fact that Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteer soldiers were known as the Red Shirts, a name also commonly applied to "disposable" background security personnel in science fiction (based on the red uniforms worn by Starfleet operations staff on the original Star Trek TV series), and Michael Garabaldi was to be the security chief of the Babylon 5 space station.
|
|
Victoria Caroline Beckham, OBEis an English businesswoman, fashion designer, model, and singer. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls, and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British music magazine Top of the Pops. After the Spice Girls split, she was signed to Virgin Records and Telstar Records and had four UK Top 10 singles. Her first release, "Out of Your Mind", reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart.
Beckham has participated in five official documentaries and reality shows about her, including Victoria's Secrets, Being Victoria Beckham, The Real Beckhams, Victoria Beckham - A Mile In Their Shoes and Victoria Beckham: Coming to America. She has since made a cameo appearance in an episode of Ugly Betty, and been a guest judge on Project Runway, Germany's Next Topmodel, and American Idol.
In the past decade, Beckham has become an internationally recognised style icon and fashion designer. Following high-profile collaborations with other brands, she launched an eponymous label in 2008, and a lower-priced (diffusion) label in 2011. The Victoria Beckham label was named designer brand of the year in the UK in 2011; in 2012 the brand was assessed as the star performer in the Beckham family's business interests. Writing in the Daily Telegraph in 2011, Belinda White noted that the transition from WAG to fashion designer had been more successful than most had predicted, saying: "She has gathered a significant celebrity following and won over the scathing fashion pack who now clamour for a ticket to her bi-annual show at New York Fashion Week." She is married to David Beckham, and they have four children. As of September 2015, the couple's joint wealth is estimated at £508 million.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Of the Allied nations of the First World War*, only two (the Union of South Africa and the Commonwealth of Australia, both part of the British Empire) never resorted to any kind of forced conscription during the war.
|
|
Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate based in Japan with a very wide range of products and services, predominantly musical instruments, electronics and power sports equipment. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest piano manufacturing company. The former motorcycle division became independent from the main company in 1955, forming Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, although Yamaha Corporation is still the largest shareholder.
The upcoming 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is set to star actor Rami Malek as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, alongside, among others, actor Joseph Mazzello as bassist John Deacon. Malek and Mazzello previously starred in the 2010 World War II miniseries The Pacific, portraying the real life US Marines Merriell "SNAFU" Shelton and Eugene B. "Sledgehammer" Sledge, respectively.
Will Wheaton voiced a mouse in the secret of nimh (martin Brisby, the son that's not the sick one)
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Doritos is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced since 1964 by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo.
The original product was made at the Casa de Fritos (now Rancho Del Zocalo) at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, during the early 1960s. Using surplus tortillas and taking the original idea from the traditional Mexican snack known as totopo, the company-owned restaurant cut them up and fried them and added basic seasoning, resembling the Mexican chilaquiles, but in this case being dry. Arch West was the vice president of marketing of Frito-Lay at the time, and noticed their popularity. He made a deal in 1964 with Alex Foods, the provider of many items for Casa de Fritos at Disneyland, and produced the chips for a short time regionally, before it was overwhelmed by the volume, and Frito-Lay moved the production in-house to its Tulsa plant.
"Doritos" were released nationwide in 1966, the first tortilla chip to be launched nationally in the United States.
The Jar'Edo Wens hoax was a deliberately fictitious Wikipedia article, which existed for almost a decade before being spotted and deleted in March 2015. At the time, it was the longest-lasting hoax article discovered in the history of Wikipedia.
The unsourced article claimed to be about an Australian Aborigine god ("of earthly knowledge and physical might, created by Altjira to ensure that people did not get too arrogant or self-conceited. He is associated with victory and intelligence."), and was likely simply the name "Jared Owens," with different punctuation and capitalization.
The author, an unregistered user at an Australian IP address, was active over an eleven-minute period in May 2005. His or her only other contribution was to also add "Yohrmum" (obviously being a re-spelling of "Your Mum") to a list of Australian deities. This was more quickly spotted and removed.
Since 2005, due to the Seigenthaler incident (in which an anonymous Wikipedia editor falsely stated that Seigenthaler had been a suspect in the assassinations of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy), article creation has been restricted to registered users, making fake articles more difficult to establish.
Saint George is, among other things, Patron Saint of the Boy Scouts of America.
In this capacity, he is referred to in church texts as St. Boy George.
|
|
The Beagle is a breed of small hound that is similar in appearance to the much larger foxhound. The beagle is a scent hound, developed primarily for hunting hare. With a great sense of smell and superior tracking instinct, the beagle is employed as detection dog for prohibited agricultural imports and foodstuffs in quarantine around the world. The beagle is intelligent but single-minded. It is a popular pet due to its size, good temper, and lack of inherited health problems.
Although beagle-type dogs have existed for 2,500 years, the modern breed was developed in Great Britain around the 1830s from several breeds, including the Talbot Hound, the North Country Beagle, the Southern Hound, and possibly the Harrier.
Beagles have been depicted in popular culture since Elizabethan times in literature and paintings, and more recently in film, television, and comic books. Snoopy of the comic strip Peanuts has been called "the world's most famous beagle".
Although beagle-type dogs have existed for 2,500 years, the modern breed was developed in Great Britain around the 1830s from several breeds, including the Talbot Hound, the North Country Beagle, the Southern Hound, and possibly the Harrier.
At least one of Spider Robinson's Crosstime Saloon books includes a were-beagle.
American actress Estelle Getty (1923-2008), who portrayed the character Sophia Petrillo on the television series The Golden Girls (1985-1992), was a year younger than Bea Arthur (1922-2009), the actress who played her daughter on the show.
During the Second World War, Bea Arthur served in the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve from 1943 to 1945, working as a truck driver.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
In 2009, the city of Madison, Wisconsin (USA) Common Council designated the pink plastic flamingo as the city's official bird.
Garden gnomes are lawn ornament figurines of small humanoid creatures known as gnomes that are typically males wearing red pointy hats. First created in 19th-century Germany, garden gnomes spread to other countries in Europe in the 1840s and became particularly popular in France and Britain. The term "garden gnome" may originate from the term "Gnomen-Figuren" (miniature figurines), used in the original German catalogs.
In ancient Rome, small stone statues depicting the Greco-Roman fertility god Priapus, also a protector of plants and gardens, were frequently placed in Roman gardens. Garden gnomes were first described during the Renaissance period by Swiss alchemist Paracelsus as "diminutive figures two spans in height who did not like to mix with humans." During this period, stone "grotesques", which were typically garishly painted, meter-tall figurines, were commonly placed in the gardens of the wealthy. Among the figures depicted were gobbi (Italian for dwarfs or hunchbacks). In particular, Jacques Callot produced 21 versions of gobbi, which he engraved and printed in 1616. By the late 1700s, gnome-like statues made of wood or porcelain called "house dwarfs" became popular household decorations. The area surrounding town of Brienz in Switzerland was known for their production of wooden house dwarfs.
In Germany, these garden figurines became conflated with their traditional stories and superstitions about the "little folk" or dwarfs that they believed helped around the mines and on the farm. The Dresden company Baehr and Maresch had small ceramic statues of dwarfs or "little folk" in stock as early as 1841, and although the claim has been contested, some credit Baehr and Maresch with the first garden dwarfs.
Within less than ten years, statues of dwarfs had spread from the provinces of Saxony and Thuringia across Germany to France and, in 1847, Sir Charles Isham brought 21 terracotta gnomes manufactured in Germany by Philip Griebel back to Britain where they were called "gnomes" in English and placed in the gardens of Isham's home, Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire. Nicknamed "Lampy", the only gnome of the original batch to survive is on display at Lamport Hall and insured for £1 million.
The manufacturing of gnomes spread across Germany, with numerous other large and small manufacturers coming in and out of the business, each having its own particular style of design. From around 1860 onwards, many statues were made in Gräfenroda, a town in Thuringia known for its ceramics.
The reputation of German gnomes declined after World War I, but they became popular again in the 1930s following Disney's animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, when more working-class people were able to purchase them. Tom Major-Ball (father of former British prime minister John Major) was the most notable producer at that time with his company Major's Garden Ornaments. World War II and the years following were also hard on the industry, and most producers gave it up then.
Garden gnomes saw a resurgence in popularity again in the 1970s with the creation of more humorous types of gnomes. Philip Griebel's descendants are still producing garden gnomes in Germany, and as of 2008, there were an estimated 25 million garden gnomes in the country.
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of garden ornaments usually associated with the class of buildings to which it belongs.
The Irish Potato Famine of 1845-49 led to the building of several follies in order to provide relief to the poor without robbing them of their dignity by issuing unconditional handouts. However, to hire the needy for work on useful projects would deprive existing workers of their jobs. Thus, construction projects termed "famine follies" came to be built. These included roads in the middle of nowhere, between two seemingly random points, screen and estate walls, piers in the middle of bogs, etc.
Garden hermits or ornamental hermits were hermits encouraged to live in purpose-built hermitages, follies, grottoes, or rockeries on the estates of wealthy land-owners, primarily during the 18th century. Such hermits would be encouraged to dress like druids and remain permanently on-site, where they could be fed, cared-for and consulted for advice or viewed for entertainment.
Even in the 18th and 19th centuries, garden hermits were novelties and eccentricities. Grottos had become more popular during the 18th century as places to withdraw for meditation, relaxation and reflection. With an increased focus on industrialism and production, contemplative garden meditation was viewed by some as an extravagance. With the lack of personal free time in combination with an increase in disposable income, the popularity of "natural" garden landscaping and the rise of neoclassical culture established an environment in which the idea of garden hermits as novelty guests became popular.
In some early instances, hermits were simply represented or hinted-at, rather than personified; outside a folly or grotto, a small table and chair, reading glasses and a classical text might be placed suggesting that it was where a hermit lived. Later, suggestions of hermits were replaced with actual hermits – men hired for the sole purpose of inhabiting a small structure and functioning as any other garden ornament. Hermits would sometimes be asked to make themselves available to guests, answering questions and providing counsel. In some cases, the hermits would not communicate with visitors, functioning instead like a perpetual stage-play or live diorama.
In return for their services-in-residence, hermits would generally receive a stipend in addition to room and board. The trend continued through to the 1830s, when the idea became less popular as estate landscaping concepts evolved.
Of the 195 recognized countries in the world today, only 22 have never been invaded by the British (including British state-sponsored privateers, explorers, and mercenaries):
Andorra
Belarus
Bolivia
Burundi
Central African Republic
Chad
Guatemala
Ivory Coast
Kyrgyzstan
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Mali
Marshall Islands
Monaco
Mongolia
Paraguay
Republic of the Congo
São Tomé and Príncipe
Sweden
Tajikistan
Uzbekistan
Vatican City
If you add "invaded" and not just "declared war on", you will have a hard time counting a good many more countries. Finland and Norway, for example.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
DOG: "Earth's magnetic field is great...FOR ME TO POOP ON!"Your tax dollars at work. :D
electromagnetic dogshit research > bank bailouts, agribusiness subsidies, prison construction, and the Military-Industrial-Complex
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The American FCC received nearly 540,000 complaints in reaction to Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Superbowl.
The Superbowl is also broadcast in Canada, where the FCC's counterpart, the CBSC (Canadian Broadcast Standards Council) received...about 50 complaints.
American filmmaker Jackson Barrett "Barry" Mahon (1921-1999) is best known for his lengthy 50-year career making low-budget B-list and "grindhouse" films, most notably Cuban Rebel Girls (1959, the last on-screen appearance of actor Errol Flynn), Rocket Attack U.S.A. (1961), Sex Killer (1967), Santa's Christmas Elf (Named Calvin) (1970), and the "Thumbelina" segment of R. Winer's legendary Santa And The Ice Cream Bunny (1972).
However, during the Second World War, Mahon volunteered for No.121 Squadron, Royal Air Force (the second of the American-British "Eagle Squadrons"), and flew in 98 combat missions. Mahon saw action at Saint-Omer, Berck-Sur-Mer, and the raid at Dieppe, scoring a total of five confirmed kills (qualifying him as a flying ace). During the raid at Dieppe, Mahon was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and landed in the sea, whereupon he was captured by German forces and imprisoned at Stalag Luft III until the end of the war.
In 1985, for his five confirmed kills, two probable kills, and three damaged aircraft over the course of nearly a hundred missions, Mahon was awarded the Royal Air Force's Distinguished Flying Cross.
{straps to gob noggin}
Spiders' blood is also copper-based.
A spider species is named after Stephen Colbert (Aptostichus stephencolberti).
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Do a Google search for "Count Dracula"...and this is the image they lead the character's profile with.