Post links to awesome Wikipedia articles of stuff that's interesting and not well heard of.

-------------

My first link is for an American bomber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Be_Good_(aircraft)), that crash-landed in the Libyan desert, whose crew journeyed north thinking they were near the Mediterranean Sea. All of them died within a few days of dehydration and were not found for fifteen years.

I don't know how well known this condition is:


The Jerusalem syndrome is a group of mental phenomena involving the presence of either religiously themed obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychosis-like experiences that are triggered by a visit to the city of Jerusalem. It is not endemic to one single religion or denomination but has affected Jews, Christians and Muslims of many different backgrounds.

The best known, although not the most prevalent, manifestation of the Jerusalem syndrome is the phenomenon whereby a person who seems previously balanced and devoid of any signs of psychopathology becomes psychotic after arriving in Jerusalem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_syndrome

Scary, scary stuff!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Evangelier_reims_texte_sacre_big.jpg

Reims Gospel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims_Gospel), on which French monarchs (among them Louis XIV the Sun King) took their oath at the coronations, was considered to be written in some ancient forgotten language. When Tsar Peter I was visiting Paris in 1717 during his Great Embassy, he, to the amazement of the French court, was able to read it perfectly fine. Turned out it was an old Cyrilic/Glagolitic manuscript, written in Slavic language :D It was speculated that it was brought to France in XIth century by Anna of Kiev, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_of_Kiev) which married Henry I of France. Said Anna also introduced the name Philip to the Western monarchs. This name belonged to the Eastern rite and wasn't used in Western world prior to her appearance. It became very popular (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip) later.

The fact that this is an entire category on wikipedia scares me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airline_flights_that_required_gliding

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CivFanatics

How about a Roman colony of Anglo-Saxons in Russia ... the original "New England" ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_%28medieval%29

How about a Roman colony of Anglo-Saxons in Russia ... the original "New England" ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_%28medieval%29

EDIT: nvm. Turned out less sensational than it initially sounded. Still interesting.

Since we are just starting the solar weather season I thought you might like to read about the big one. The Carrington Event of 1859 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banach%E2%80%93Tarski_paradox

2 into one in reverse, does go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CivFanatics

This page is too short! We must add a ranking of users with the most posts and the Poland joke!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

Sometimes that has intrigued me for a long time and still does.

I don't know how well known this condition is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_syndrome
Space aliens. It's gotta be space aliens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

Sometimes that has intrigued me for a long time and still does.
Again. Space aliens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

Sometimes that has intrigued me for a long time and still does.
Wow, that's really intriguing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

It is what it says, a list of things named after famous mathematician Carl Gauss. The list is looooooooong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

It is what it says, a list of things named after famous mathematician Carl Gauss. The list is looooooooong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Leonhard_Euler

+1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Leonhard_Euler

+1

lol, good one.

And yet people still talk about how they used "Euler's formula" or "Euler's equation" to solve a problem, how funny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can_Has_Cheezburger%3F

I found this one day when looking up something on a punctuation mark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Interrobang.svg/75px-Interrobang.svg.png

Theres also this pointy finger thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_%28typography%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor

Great thread :goodjob:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor

Great thread :goodjob:
I remember reading about that. Pretty nifty indeed. :)

Scary, scary stuff!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

Wow, pretty freaky! An interesting read too. :goodjob:

wow so scary! :D

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_UX

The fact that this is an entire category on wikipedia scares me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airline_flights_that_required_gliding

"This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it." ;)

The Emu War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_war):

The Emu War, also known as the Great Emu War, was a nuisance wildlife management operation undertaken in Australia over the latter part of 1932 to address public concern over the number of emus said to be running amok in the Campion district of Western Australia. The attempts to curb the population of emus, a large flightless bird indigenous to Australia, employed soldiers armed with machine guns — leading the media to adopt the name "Emu War" when referring to the incident.

Fascinus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascinum):
In ancient Roman religion and magic, the fascinus or fascinum was the embodiment of the divine phallus. The word can refer to the deity himself (Fascinus), to phallus effigies and amulets, and to the spells used to invoke his divine protection. Pliny calls it a medicus invidiae, a "doctor" or remedy for envy (invidia, a "looking upon") or the evil eye.
...
A graphic representation of the power of the fascinus to ward off the evil eye is found on a Roman mosaic that depicts a phallus ejaculating into a disembodied eye. The motif is also known from multiple relief sculptures from Leptis Magna in present-day Libya. A 1st-century BC terracotta figurine shows "two little phallus-men sawing an eyeball in half."
...
The English word "fascinate" ultimately derives from Latin fascinum and the related verb fascinare, "to use the power of the fascinus," that is, "to practice magic" and hence "to enchant, bewitch."

The "Wow!" Signal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal)

The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal detected by Dr. Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, while working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope of The Ohio State University then located at Ohio Wesleyan University's Perkins Observatory, Delaware, Ohio. The signal bore expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-solar system origin. It lasted for the full 72-second duration that Big Ear observed it, but has not been detected again. The signal has been the subject of significant media attention.

Amazed at how closely the signal matched the expected signature of an interstellar signal in the antenna used, Ehman circled the signal on the computer printout and wrote the comment "Wow!" on its side. This comment became the name of the signal.

Cool stuff. :) Can't believe I forgot about it till now.

There's one about a town in Austria I'd like to link to, but sadly, it contains an autocensorword in the title. :mischief:

Edit: stupid phone, that's obviously not an interesting link.

And it wont let me link. Anyways, the battle of Karensebes.

A small town in Florida (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon,_Florida) was responsible for 2/3rds of the insurance claims for limb loss, but not a single one was convicted of insurance fraud.

A small town in Florida (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon,_Florida) was responsible for 2/3rds of the insurance claims for limb loss, but not a single one was convicted of insurance fraud.

That is interesting, but I was wondering how many "2/3 of the insurance claims" actually were to see if this was perhaps a misleading stat (such as if there had only been 6 claims nationally and 4 happened in this town it could be just a coincidence or fluke).

But since this town had 50 claims ("from the late 60's to the early 70's"), so say over 10 years in a town of 7-800 people, that doesn't seem like a coincidence anymore.

My theory is one guy has a real accident, others hear about how he gets a million dollars or whatever from his insurance and that gives all these other people ideas. But I think there had to have been an individual or group encouraging this ("It won't hurt a bit if we get you drunk enough first, and just think of all the money you will have later")

That is interesting, but I was wondering how many "2/3 of the insurance claims" actually were to see if this was perhaps a misleading stat (such as if there had only been 6 claims nationally and 4 happened in this town it could be just a coincidence or fluke).

But since this town had 50 claims ("from the late 60's to the early 70's"), so say over 10 years in a town of 7-800 people, that doesn't seem like a coincidence anymore.

My theory is one guy has a real accident, others hear about how he gets a million dollars or whatever from his insurance and that gives all these other people ideas. But I think there had to have been an individual or group encouraging this ("It won't hurt a bit if we get you drunk enough first, and just think of all the money you will have later")

There were people who were paying more in insurance policies than they actually earned.

There were people who were paying more in insurance policies than they actually earned.

I can see that happening, but what one thinks he will earn and what he actually gets are two different things. Unless there was a major employer in a dangerous industry in this town I don't see how there could have been that many. I grew up in a town of 758 and nobody (or perhaps one I don't know about) lost a limb in the 15 years I lived there, how could this town have had 50 in less time?

Edit: Oh, you say they paid more than their income, I thought you meant they paid more than they got back in their settlement.

For any of your friends who go to Dartmouth... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keggy_the_Keg)

War Plan Red

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Plan_Red

Bath School disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster)

The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, four other adults and the bomber himself; at least 58 people were injured. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age [1]) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history.

The bomber was school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe, 55, who was ostensibly enraged about a property tax levied to fund the construction of the school building.

I... Just can't... Fathom...

Bath School disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster)



I... Just can't... Fathom...

And it wasn't just that he woke up one morning and flipped out. Some of the explosives he had been planting for months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_Druids_of_North_America

It is interesting to me how things begin and then get lost to the present.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_Ratjen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper_orientation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_photography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrap_rage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_Ratjen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Boursicot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_photography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon

Unrelated:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_%28soldier_bear%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

Sometimes that has intrigued me for a long time and still does.

Same here, I read this book (http://www.amazon.com/The-Voynich-Manuscript-Mysterious-Interpretation/dp/1594771294/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332798946&sr=1-1) on it and it was pretty good at covering the different code-breaking attempts as well as the history in greater detail.

I've been searching for some good historical mysteries, and the wiki has a good collection. Here's one:

The Baghdad Battery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery)
The Baghdad Battery, sometimes referred to as the Parthian Battery, is the common name for a number of artifacts created in Mesopotamia, during the dynasties of Parthian or Sassanid period (the early centuries AD), and probably discovered in 1936 in the village of Khuyut Rabbou'a, near Baghdad, Iraq. These artifacts came to wider attention in 1938 when Wilhelm König, the German director of the National Museum of Iraq, found the objects in the museum's collections. In 1940, König published a paper speculating that they may have been galvanic cells, perhaps used for electroplating gold onto silver objects.[2] This interpretation continues to be considered[who?] as at least a hypothetical possibility. If correct, the artifacts would predate Alessandro Volta's 1800 invention of the electrochemical cell by more than a millennium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

ancient advanced technology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupon_collector%27s_problem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_or_Girl_paradox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love-shy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love-shy
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Gee, I wonder why? :lol:

Gee, I wonder why? :lol:

Fascinating stuff though. The article describes me pretty well and I would consider myself to be love-shy.

Fascinating stuff though. The article describes me pretty well and I would consider myself to be love-shy.
As do I. :blush:

:bump:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(filibuster)

A guy who tried to overthrow Nicaragua almost single-handedly, and did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexuality_in_Iran

Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the issue of transsexuality in Iran had never been officially addressed by the government. Beginning in the mid-1980s, however, transsexual individuals were officially recognized by the government and allowed to undergo sex reassignment surgery. As of 2008, Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand. The government provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance, and a sex change is recognised on the birth certificate.

Not exactly something I expected going into that article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCulloch_(congressman)

He's some Whig congressman.

List of generic forms in place names in the United Kingdom and Ireland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_forms_in_place_names_in_the_United _Kingdom_and_Ireland)

I thought this was cool.

The guy whom William the Conquerer deposed had quite an adventurous life afterwards. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_the_%C3%86theling)

From doing some research fpr a recent thread:

The fruit machine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_machine_(homosexuality_test))

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutonic_takeover_of_Danzig
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_exiles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_of_Pomerania (try to follow along :lol: )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casanova (Didn't know about this guy before)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasil_%28mythical_island%29