Fun Facts

Damn! She was only a few years older than my mother is now. I thought she died a long time ago, too, and/or that she would have been much older.

Not exactly a "Fun" fact...

Shirley Temple died last night at age 85.

I'll be perfectly honest - I thought she died long ago. I had no idea she was still alive.

where's Peghey19 when a **snort** is in order?!?

Fun Fact: There are over 100 fake Obamacare websites trying to get your personal information.

You can tell which is the genuine one- it's the one that doesn't work.

It's taught in Middle school, seventh and eighth grade, world history.

The history of China (pre-Mao/Chiang) is barely taught at all in school as far as I'm aware. Chinese history is long and fascinating, with a LOT of terrible tragedies.

I read The Last Emperor when I was a teenager and loved it, wanting to learn more especially about Cixi and about how she was possibly the most corrupt leader in history. Some feel history has been unfair to her and she was basically trying to steer a China which was stubbornly refusing to advance beyond the 16th century, but I think her positives were vastly outweighed by her negatives.

I have a coin on my desk dating from the reign of Kao-Tsung.

@ VA - I never heard about it until maybe a few months ago which is surprising because you figure a pretty big war like that would/should have been taught in at least high school since it happened somewhat recently. I guess that whole period of history explains why the Chinese gov. aren't too fond of religion these days.

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for that, NJ.

For anyone looking it up on Wikipedia, it's listed as the Taiping Rebellion, and dood's name is transliterated as Hong Xiuquan in the article.

Fun fact: A Chinese dude named Hong Xiujang in the 1800's failed the written test to become a public official, had a nervous breakdown and had a sudden vision that he was the brother of Jesus Christ. He felt it was his duty to spread Christianity thruout China, got enough followers and waged a war called the Taipan Rebellion against the government which resulted in 20-25 million casualties (about 3% of the worlds population at the time) which is about twenty times the amount of soldiers killed in the Civil War.

Same @ Cpl. My first section chief had a baby with some random girl he met on off base and tried to hide it from his wife for a few months. He wasn't giving her enough money so she went to the battalion commander and spilled the beans on him. He didn't face jail time but he got demoted back to E4, and when you get demoted for something like that it's very hard to make it back up the ranks again.

Sadly, a decent amount of people I served with always had domestic issues with their spouses causing them to end up in jail and demoted. The worst was our E-7 who we called "Smoke". He drank ALOT and ended up beating his wife so bad he was charged with attempted murder (he got charges reduced though thru a plea deal).

Rodney Dangerfield's tombstone reads:

Rodney Dangerfield: There Goes the Neighborhood.

At least 1/3 swingers here are military, ex-military, or military contractors. This is a huge concern for them all and they ARE prosecuted, although usually only if the shit hits the fan somehow.

Adultery is also a crime in the military, and is regularly enforced as well. It's an administrative offense (NJP), so there's no court martial (unless one is requested by the accused) or jail time, but you can still be reduced in rank, restricted to the barracks, given extra duty, and forfeit 1 mo pay. I'd say I saw about a dozen or so people get charged with it and ultimately it ended their careers.

T

No crime, no foul. As I'm sure you've figured out, I tend to ramble.

Oh duhhhh

I can be a little slow in the early morn'...

VA, I wasn't justifying. I was pointing out that the fact you can go to jail for adultery isn't a fun one.

You don't need to justify the Fun Facts to me, BT.

Of all people, I first heard the story you mentioned about beer from Arnold Schwarzenegger, explaining beer to someone in the movie "Twins". I didn't know if it was some shit made up for the movie or if it was real, and I didn't know those details.

mmm...on the rare occasion I drink a beer, black and tans are nice...but silly me: I like Little Kings, too

I love Doood beers: porters and stouts; the darker the better. I always cracks me up how guys raise their eyebrows when I order one of these dark, dreamy brews.

I vaguely remember an article in my archaology magazine about which came first bread or beer. Same basic ingredients.

I don't know if that qualifies as a "fun" fact VA.

For the beer lovers among us, credit the Egyptians with "discovering" the precursor to what we know as beer. Some lowly farmer or slave left grain in an open clay vessel outside. It rained. The grain fermented, and the resulting scum-covered liquid was consumed. I'm sure after the first few sips it tasted just like a Bud.
This liquid was called Hek.

Many states have adultery laws. What I found remarkable is that you can face a life sentence for it.

In Michigan the definition of adultery is :

750.29 Adultery; definition.
Sec. 29. Definition—Adultery is the sexual intercourse of 2 persons, either of whom is married to a third person.

1931, Act 328, Eff. Sept. 18, 1931, CL 1948, 750.29

what if you have sex with someone but you are married to someone else?

It's a misdemeanor in VA to have sex if you're not married.

Apparently they just tried to repeal that one, so it's still the law of the land.

@Peg - Clearly, I attended the wrong school.