World history quiz thread

Started by milkanannan, Sat 07/10/2017 05:13:52

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Jack

Nice trophy case. :D

I will just have to guess, the Great Laugh Riot?

CaptainD

I'm wondering if that's when it rained fish?
 

Sinitrena

Quote from: Jack on Mon 01/07/2019 21:44:39
Nice trophy case. :D

Thanks.   ;-D

Quote from: Jack on Mon 01/07/2019 21:44:39
I will just have to guess, the Great Laugh Riot?

Is that an actual thing? No, sorry.

Quote from: CaptainD on Mon 01/07/2019 21:50:33
I'm wondering if that's when it rained fish?

To the best of my knowledge, no fish were involved.

Mandle

Quote from: Sinitrena on Mon 01/07/2019 19:17:50
Huh, interesting, I've never heard of this before.


Anyways:

The event we are looking for might sound funny or joyous at first. But in 1518, in Strasbourg, more than 400 people were affected and several died.

(I hope that's not too confusing, but it's difficult to describe without giving it away.)

It was that mass hysteria Dancing Sickness I think?

Sinitrena

You are correct.

The Dancing Plague of 1518 is one of several similar mass hysterics that somehow ended with people dancing for days and weeks until they died of exhaustion. It is not entirely clear why they happened. The one in Strasbourg is noteable as one of the biggest outbreaks.

Other names for this phenomenon include Dancing Mania, Dancing Plague, Choreomania, St John's Dance and St Vitus's Dance.

Your turn, Mandle.

Monsieur OUXX

Quote from: Sinitrena on Tue 02/07/2019 16:35:58
St John's Dance and St Vitus's Dance.[/url]
Funny, in French we called it St. Guy's dance.
 

milkanannan

Wow, never heard of this before. That is indeed interesting! Like those LMFAO party rocker zombies.  (laugh)

Jack

#447
Interesting indeed.

I recently learned that the major symptoms of rabies are very similar in humans and dogs, including disorientation, anger, and hydrophobia.

But this case is probably most similar to the fungus cordyceps, which somehow makes insects climb to a good place for the fungus to mature, after which the insect clamps down hard and dies, allowing the fungus to spread.

Or maybe it's more similar to an ant death spiral, which happens when they get locked on a circular pheromone trail.

Mandle

#448
Bop 'til ya drop!

Wow, I win these so rarely that I want to do a double-header if nobody minds.

(Waits for objections)

No objections? Okay, here we go:

The first is factual. The second is faux history but is such a good story that it should be true:

(1) What was the given reason, as reported by the astronaut Gene Cernan, why they didn't just go against orders and land the LEM on the moon during the Apollo 10 mission despite coming within 8 nautical miles of the lunar surface? (His reason turned out to possibly be an exaggeration for the sake of a cool sound-bite but was technically true)

(2) What was the back-story behind Neil Armstrong saying "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky" from the surface of the moon in the urban myth of the same name? (He never really said it unless NASA deleted it from the recordings... Hmmmmm...)

No Googling please!

Jack

#449
(1) Was it the lights dancing outside the cockpit?

(2) Years before, his neighbour Mrs Gorski told her husband he would get lucky when the kid next door walks on the moon.

Mandle

Quote from: Jack on Wed 03/07/2019 00:17:24
(1) Was it the lights dancing outside the cockpit?

(2) Years before, his neighbour Mrs Gorski told her husband he would get lucky when the kid next door walks on the moon.

(1) Nope

(2) Correct. That is how the story goes.

milkanannan


Mandle

Quote from: man n fist on Mon 08/07/2019 07:03:19
Can we get another hint?

As the story goes, NASA told them that, just in case they got it into their heads to just land the damn thing and become the first men on the moon and face the chewing out later, there was a reason put in place to stop them from trying.

This also seems to be an exaggeration of the real story but is at least partly true.

milkanannan

No idea. Can anyone else figure it out?

Mandle

Quote from: man n fist on Wed 17/07/2019 13:56:13
No idea. Can anyone else figure it out?

Okay, enough time has passed.

NASA told them that there was not enough fuel in the LEM to allow them to take off again if they landed it.

This appears to be an exaggerated story as the LEM that they were piloting was an outdated and heavy model. The lack of fuel was to compensate for the heavy LEM. The new, lighter LEM would be available for Apollo 11.

Still a great soundbite though from a guy who went within 8 nautical miles of the surface of the moon.

Happy 50th moon landing anniversary everyone!

josiah1221

I watched Apollo 11 last night. Definitely worth a watch.  (nod)

milkanannan

Name the Indian politician that was assassinated while sitting as Prime Minister. Her son, who became Prime Minister in the wake of her death, was also assassinated after his tenure.

Laura Hunt

#457
Quote from: man n fist on Thu 25/07/2019 12:11:49
Name the Indian politician that was assassinated while sitting as Prime Minister. Her son, who became Prime Minister in the wake of her death, was also assassinated after his tenure.

Benazhir Butto? (apologies in advance if the spelling is wrong... hard to get it right without googling, especially considering the last time I heard about her was like 30 years ago  :-D)

Edit: Ah crap, somehow missed the part about being an Indian polititian. Can't be her then, because she was Pakistani.

Mandle

Indira Gandhi... She was killed by her bodyguard(s) if I remember correctly.

milkanannan

My man Mandle's got it.  8-)

Fair guess, Notarobot. Kudos to not deleting your guess after realising it was off!

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