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When the February Revolution overthrew the Tsar of All the Russias in 1917, Leon Trotsky was living in New York City, allegedly making his living by performing as an extra in D.W. Griffiths shorts.
Now, will you please pick my nits?
When the February Revolution overthrew the Tsar of All the Russias in 1917, Leon Trotsky was living in New York City, allegedly making his living by performing as an extra in D.W. Griffiths shorts.
Now, will you please pick my nits?
Fine.
*picks your nits*
-Lake Baikal, in southern Russia, is the world's oldest and deepest lake, with over 25 million years of age and reaching depths of over 1.600m (about 5,300 feet).
-The Northern Hemisphere's surface is 60% water and 40% dry land; the Southern Hemisphere's is 80% water and 20% dry land.
-The name "Antarctica" comes from the greek "Anti Artikos", meaning "Opposite to the Arctic", while Arctic means "Near the Bear" in the same language. That means there must be Anti-Bears in the southern pole, waiting and plotting against their northern foes.
-There are only 2 ATMs in Antarctica. One is in McMurdo Station belonging to the US, and the other in President Eduardo Frei Montalva Base belonging to Chile, which also hosts the largest permanent and civilian settlement in the White Continent, with a whooping 80 people, and issues the only antarctic postal stamps.
When the February Revolution overthrew the Tsar of All the Russias in 1917, Leon Trotsky was living in New York City, allegedly making his living by performing as an extra in D.W. Griffiths shorts.
Now, will you please pick my nits?
Fine.
*picks your nits*
Thank you.
On topic, here are some of my favorite "facts" that are not, in fact, true.
-Men have an erection every 6 seconds (Orly? I'd be fascinated to learn the details of the "study" that proved this)
I have never heard that men have erections every 6 seconds (although goblins certainly do)--rather, men are supposed to think about sex every 6 seconds. Although I read that this is probably not true, either.
Picking the nits, picking the nits....
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On topic, here are some of my favorite "facts" that are not, in fact, true.
-Men have an erection every 6 seconds (Orly? I'd be fascinated to learn the details of the "study" that proved this)
I have never heard that men have erections every 6 seconds (although goblins certainly do)--rather, men are supposed to think about sex every 6 seconds. Although I read that this is probably not true, either.
Picking the nits, picking the nits....
It's certainly not true that men think about sex e-
Sorry, what were were talking about?
(although goblins certainly do)
Where I come from Goblins who have this problem also tend to only have one huevo as the head goblin female bites one off.
AND on that:
The only anatomical structure of an octopus is the beak around the mouth, which is similar to your fingernails. Everything else is soft on them.
[
Where I come from Goblins who have this problem also tend to only have one huevo as the head goblin female bites one off.
[Rubs scar]
Yeah, that's the usual rite of passage in Anklebiter land.
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[
Where I come from Goblins who have this problem also tend to only have one huevo as the head goblin female bites one off.
[Rubs scar]
Yeah, that's the usual rite of passage in Anklebiter land.
Don't you rub that in public!
*jabs with knitting needle*
Filthy!
OOH a puppet show!
An average person will spend 25 years asleep.
When do I start?!?!
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Ancient Roman pottery and some statuettes have been found buried in Brazil. No reasonable explanation has been found as to why.I saw this in a National Geographic mag once.
I'd like a citation to look up. The internet is lousy with crap like this, most of it comically bad, but if they're alleging physical artifacts that's something that can be reasonably checked.
So the obvious questions:
1) Who found the artifacts?
2) When?
3) Where? ("Brazil" is uselessly huge.)
4) Where are the artifacts now?
Also completely unrelated, here's a myth I believed until quite recently: the female praying mantis will decapitate and devour her mate after sex. Turns out not true! Or rather, a very rare occurence.
Just like the Black Widows; only when they're hungry, right?
Woah. All my mannerisms are stolen...
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I want to say that it was in a Nat Geo from late 95 or early 96. I want to say that they were found just north of the Amazon. But it's been a good long while since I read it so I'm not sure. It was a very short article and they were talking about further investigation.There's a NY Times article from Oct 1982 about it.
Searching with my Complete National Geographic (Yes, I'm that guy.) starting in January of 1995 and ending at December of 1996 with the search term Roman (and excluding ads) gives nine results, but they all appear to be about historical Italy and Roman Catholicism.
Brazil returns 12 for the same time frame. Many of these hits seem to be for a feature on the Amazon in February 1996. Skimming the feature doesn't bring up any images or mentions of Roman statues that I see. (It's a travelogue piece.)
Romans in Brazil returns zero hits.
Searching the NYT archives for October 1982 for Amazon +Roman yields 200+ hits, most obviously not relevant, but two potential hits. Both, unfortunately, are paywalled. The first is listed under Editorial and has this preview:
For several years, local fishermen in search of lobster have been bringing up 2,000-year-old amphorae from the bottom of a bay near Rio de Janeiro. An archeologist now believes they came from a Roman ship that was blown off course and toward the coast of Brazil.
An archaeologist and an editorial that is unsigned in the version I can get without spending money on it.
The second is in the World section and has a more realistic headline: "Rio Artifacts May Indicate Roman Visit" by Walter Sullivan of the Foreign Desk. October 10, 1982.
Artifacts found in a bay near Rio de Janeiro may mark the wreck of a Roman ship that could have reached Brazil 17 centuries before Portuguese adventurers discovered the region, according to a leading underwater archeologist. A large accumulation of amphoras, or tall jars, of the type carried by Roman ships in the second century B.C., has been found in Guanabara Bay, 15 miles from Rio de Janiero, according to the archeologist, Robert Marx, who is a well-known hunter of sunken treasure. The Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral is generally credited as having been the first European to reach Brazil, in the year 1500. Mr. Marx said yesterday that the Portuguese authorities were trying to block Brazil from issuing him a permit to excavate the wreck he thinks is buried there. Like the 5-Gallon Jerry Can Amphoras are tall jars tapering to the bottom and usually fitted with twin handles. As described by Mr. Marx, they were to the ancient Greeks, Romans and Phoenicians what the five-gallon jerry can was to mobile units in World War II. They were used to carry wine, oil, water or grain on long voyages.
It's not the right place and amphorae are not statues, but something to work with. But I'm worried about the bolded bits already. He's telling us there's a wreck there, but how good is his word? Is the Times being metaphorical, or is Marx one of these treasure hunting gloryhounds more interested in moving books than scholarship? I don't know, since I've never heard of him before.
I found this People Magazine (blech) piece on him that raises some additional alarms:
The situation is tantalizing but full of uncertainties. Why didn't the Brazilians themselves investigate when a local diver brought up two of the jars in 1976? Marx has speculated that Brazil, which has strong cultural ties with Portugal, didn't want the traditional history challenged. What proof is there that the jars are Roman? "All the experts agree that the jars are Roman—they are second century B.C.," says Marx. Yet the American sources he cites, while encouraging, actually don't go quite that far. "They look Roman to me," says Elizabeth Will, associate professor of classics at the University of Massachussetts, who, like other U.S. experts, has seen only photos. "But without seeing actual examples and fragments of the clay, it is hard to be certain."
Those are crank flags going up.
But forget People, this is really a terrible sign:
The Brazilian Navy has denied that it covered up the site and has in turn charged Mr. Marx with ''contraband'' of objects recovered from other wrecks in this country. Because of this, Navy officials said, the Government had issued an order ''to prohibit him from entering Brazil.''
To substantiate these charges, the Brazilian officials showed a catalogue of an auction held in Amsterdam in 1983 in which, they said, gold coins, instruments and artifacts removed from shipwrecks in Brazil were offered for sale on behalf of Mr. Marx and his associates. The officials said many of these objects had not been reported on the divers' inventory, contrary to an agreement with Mr. Marx.
[...]
Mr. Marx's expeditions received wide press coverage in Brazil, with some reports asserting that he was perpetrating a hoax and was defaming the name of the Portuguese discoverers of Brazil. Adding to the stir, a wealthy businessman, Americo Santarelli, claimed the amphoras as his property. He said he once had taken such a liking to some ancient Sicilian amphoras that he ordered a potter in Portugal to make exact replicas. To ''age'' the jars, he said, he dropped 16 of them in Guanabara Bay in 1961, but collected only four.
Marx's Wikipedia bio shows no signs of archaeological education, which is not encouraging. It does associate him with the White Gods crankery, which calls his credibility seriously into question. Especially since he couldn't be bothered to supply an actual amphora for study.
I can't say with perfect certainty that Robert Marx is a crank trying to perpetuate a fraud in his own commercial interests and/or to promote his loopy White God ideas, but the balance of the evidence tilts against him being an honest discoverer.
Last minute addition: I found what appears to be the original Sullivan piece in the Times elsewhere.
Just like the Black Widows; only when they're hungry, right?Yup. From everything you ever wanted to know about praying mantis sex: "Cannibalism in the mantis was not causally associated with sexual behaviour, but occurred in association with sexual behaviour when females were hungry. Decapitation of the male by the female preceded intromission in only one of 69 experiments."
I can honestly say, if there were only a 1 in 69 chance I'd be murdered/eaten following sex, I'd take that chance.
If I had to explain it to the masses in the goblin kennels, I'd say this: Nice odds, very survivable.
Did you know that the play-by-post The Avalon Chronicles has a total of 19,711 posts as of this moment(5,219 more than the next highest post count), and is always open to new players?
No, I didn't.
How do you feel about goblin paladins?
Just about anything goes. Post in the recruitment thread(read the campaign info first) and just about everyone who cares to will help out.
Also, we're a gestalt and rules-light game. No, you don't have to read the entire game thread. :)
Well, I must say, your lack of anti-goblin bigotry is refreshing.
I'm pretty sure the goblin NPC the GM has is an accountant, so...
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Ancient Roman pottery and some statuettes have been found buried in Brazil. No reasonable explanation has been found as to why.I saw this in a National Geographic mag once.I'd like a citation to look up. The internet is lousy with crap like this, most of it comically bad, but if they're alleging physical artifacts that's something that can be reasonably checked.
So the obvious questions:
1) Who found the artifacts?
2) When?
3) Where? ("Brazil" is uselessly huge.)
4) Where are the artifacts now?
Well I would have but by the time I got online and saw this you did all the research yourself. :) Quite good I must say too. I would have checked mt complete national geographic's myself, yes I am that guy too, yet it seems I do not have to. I honestly did not recall where I saw it from, but I am thinking the newspaper article you posted seems pretty damn close.
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Which bank? And what are the ATM fees like?-Lake Baikal, in southern Russia, is the world's oldest and deepest lake, with over 25 million years of age and reaching depths of over 1.600m (about 5,300 feet).
-The Northern Hemisphere's surface is 60% water and 40% dry land; the Southern Hemisphere's is 80% water and 20% dry land.
-The name "Antarctica" comes from the greek "Anti Artikos", meaning "Opposite to the Arctic", while Arctic means "Near the Bear" in the same language. That means there must be Anti-Bears in the southern pole, waiting and plotting against their northern foes.
-There are only 2 ATMs in Antarctica. One is in McMurdo Station belonging to the US,
I think I would use the ATM, just to get a printed receipt.
Lots of stuff.It's been almost 20 years since I read it, so...
Thanks for the research.
No problem. Had fun doing it.
It takes two to tango.
And it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.
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Cows don't have upper front teeth.
That's why they make such good kissers.
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Cows don't have upper front teeth.That's why they make such good kissers.
And... Other things...