# Curiosities



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Thread to share various curiosities. Here are some for the beginning:

curiosity 2743753: at the Battle of Szyaala soldiers wore berets instead austiaccy shoes because they quickly attach to rocks

curiosity 43224242 : in cars of Ruthenian brand, Frompa, shell mesh rear seats are made of imported cane from southern China

curiosity 3487454265: British ship "John Edmund" sank in the English Channel in 1784 because crew poured on the deck boatswain X63, substance containing copper tray spirited, they washed the deck with substance containing chlorophyll of murmurbrook which, in combination with wood, becames corrosive 

curiosity 2353462: in year 258 BC ruler Moraki state fossil and fidgeted until it came and worshiped

curiosity 92387237623124 : the shortest rule in history was by the Spaniard, Carlos Frumacho, soldier who crowned himself as emperor of little tribe called Ziki-Zik in West Africa at the very moment when hostile ******* pierced him with spears


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

curiosity 165532: Aramis has a shot of absynth each time he sits down at pc.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

On music history, they were several couple of brothers that played instruments, one of them became famous and the other almost forgotten:
Fritz and Hugo Kreisler
Pierre and Jean Fournier
Wolfgang and Walther Schneiderhann
Henryk and Joseph Wieniawsky
Can you find more?


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Here's a curious fact: Catfish have the most taste buds of any organism, because they have large numbers of taste buds on their skin. Loricariids (suckermouth catfish) have taste buds on their caudal (tail) fin, so they can test food with their tail to decide whether or not it is safe to eat. You can watch this behaviour with the smaller species, if you keep them in a suitable aquarium.


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Curiosity 433433433: Why isn't this a pole?


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Slugs have the most sensational sex of any animal:


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

This one was a classic, LOL material -



Aramis said:


> ...
> curiosity 92387237623124 : the shortest rule in history was by the Spaniard, Carlos Frumacho, soldier who crowned himself as emperor of little tribe called Ziki-Zik in West Africa at the very moment when hostile ******* pierced him with spears


As for "real" curiosities, these kinds of things used to be in those Readers Digest magazines that you read in doctor's and dentist's surgeries, hairdressers/barbers, etc. It's been a while since I came across one though. In one of them, I remember a list of these things written by the actor Michael Caine. One of them was that you can mix oil & water - just add soap. Another one was that apparently in one of the scenes in the film _Ben Hur_, there is a car somewhere in the distance.

There was also a show about these sorts of things on TV here ages ago, it was aptly called "The Curiosity Show." Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki here also does things like this, mainly about science, on radio, TV, books, etc. He's made a kind of business out of it, but I think his "day job" is as a physicist...


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

The Adder's Tongue ferns (genus _Ophioglossum_) have the highest chromosome numbers of any known organisms. One species has 1262 chromosomes. (By way of comparison, humans have 46).


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## hawk (Oct 1, 2007)

Here's a REAL curiosity:

http://www.talkclassical.com/15942-curiosities.html


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Curiosities...hmmm there was a memeber here named curiosity a couple months back! He got banned though...I'm assuming for being uncompromisingly harsh in his world view that revolved around Beethoven.


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## Chrythes (Oct 13, 2011)

So he was banned for loving Beethoven?
Jeez, i need to be more careful picking my lovers


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Chrythes said:


> So he was banned for loving Beethoven?
> Jeez, i need to be more careful picking my lovers


I dont know why he was banned, but Im GUESSING that he was banned because he was pretty pissy and rude about his love of Beethoven sometimes.


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## Chrythes (Oct 13, 2011)

You think his love would have been as much passionate as these days if he was living during the 18-19th century?


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Chrythes said:


> You think his love would have been as much passionate as these days if he was living during the 18-19th century?


You know...I'm really not sure.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

violadude said:


> I dont know why he was banned, but Im GUESSING that he was banned because he was pretty pissy and rude about his love of Beethoven sometimes.


Racism and hate speech


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Racism and hate speech


OH! I didn't see that thread.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

This one I just heard this real "curiosity" on radio, totally bizarre (click on quote below for newspaper report) -

"A man (30) who tried to turn his own faeces into gold by putting it on an electric heater has been jailed for three months."


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Curiosity 12784645547: when Mozart was 14 years old someone told him about new work of Haydn by which this person was very impressed. Mozart never heard this work, nevertheless, he managed to write it down from memory after hearing it's title alone.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Sid James said:


> This one I just heard this real "curiosity" on radio, totally bizarre (click on quote below for newspaper report) -
> 
> "A man (30) who tried to turn his own faeces into gold by putting it on an electric heater has been jailed for three months."


That reminds me of the Hackney Mole Man:

*http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/aug/08/communities.uknews*

_"Tunnelling is something that should be talked about without panicking."_

I don't know if they jailed him, but if they did, he probably dug his way out.


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