The Ultimate Trivia Thread

[Justin Thyme]

ha ha!

[Luffy]

The organization that the Americans fought in the Vietnam War was the Việt Minh, named after their greatest hero, Hồ Chí Minh. The Americans invented the words "Việt Cộng", "Charlie" and "the Gooks". The CIA believed that "Việt Cộng" sounded more menacing and was associated with communism.

[trichobezoar]

Originally Posted by Luffy

The organization that the Americans fought in the Vietnam War was the Việt Minh, named after their greatest hero, Hồ Chí Minh. The Americans invented the words "Việt Cộng", "Charlie" and "the Gooks". The CIA believed that "Việt Cộng" sounded more menacing and was associated with communism.

That's interesting, Luffy.

According to 10 Words Coined in the Sci-Fi Universe,

"Alien comes to English from the Latin alienus meaning 'belonging to another.' When it first entered English in the 1300s, it referred to an outsider, someone born in another country, or someone who is unfamiliar. It was not until the late 1920s that alien took on its sci-fi meaning of 'an intelligent being from another planet.' Similarly, when earthling first entered English in the late-1500s, it meant someone who lived on earth, not in heaven. Only in the mid-1800s did it take on the sci-fi meaning of a person who is not an alien."

[Luffy]

Right back at ya.

My trivia : The first practical contact lenses were made in 1888 by the German ophthalmologist Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick.

[crich70]

Modern contact lenses got their start in WWII when it was noticed that pilots who got shards of their planes windshield in their eyes (during dogfights) didn't develop infections as a result.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Right back at ya.

My trivia : The first practical contact lenses were made in 1888 by the German ophthalmologist Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick.

Originally Posted by crich70

Modern contact lenses got their start in WWII when it was noticed that pilots who got shards of their planes windshield in their eyes (during dogfights) didn't develop infections as a result.

Per Bob Newhart, Benjamin Franklin invented contact lenses when he got hit by lightning and his eyeglasses fused to his eyeballs.

Per Wikipedia, Peter And Gordon's first three hits in the U. S. (A World Without Love, Nobody I Know, and I Don't Want To See You Again) were written by Paul McCartney and credited to "Lennon-McCartney."

[trichobezoar]

According to 10 Words Coined in the Sci-Fi Universe,

"Nanites, or tiny robots built on the small scale, were a concept first realized in science fiction and later researched by scientists in the hopes of making these minute robots a reality. Sometimes called nanomachines, nanorobots, or nanobots, these robots will one day have many real-life applications, including targeted drug delivery in patients with cancer. Perhaps one of the first science fiction writers to imagine nanotechnology was Nikolai Leskov, whose 1881 story described imperceptible robots, requiring 5,000,000 times magnification to be seen.

[Solitaire1]

Charles Lindburgh was not the first person to fly across the Atlantic (many others had made the journey before him), but he was the first person to make the trip alone.

Source: Amazing...But False by David Diefendorf.

[doubleshuffle]

I think Lindburgh was the guy who crossed the Atlontic.

[trichobezoar]

The Atlontic?

According to 10 Words Coined in the Sci-Fi Universe,

"When clone first entered English in 1903, it was used in the context of botany. It comes from the Greek klon meaning 'a twig' and is related to klados meaning 'offshoot of a plant.' Later, clone took on the sci-fi sense of 'artificially duplicated person' thanks to Alvin Toffler's 1970 book Future Shock. While ethics have deterred the real-life cloning of people, in the 1980s, scientists started seriously discussing cloning animals, and in 1996 the first mammal clone was created in the form of a sheep named Dolly."

[eschwartz]

lindburgh, atlontic, what's the diff?

[Luffy]

In 1988, Warner Communications paid $28,000,000 for the rights to the song "Happy Birthday To You". It was composed in 1924 by two women, but Irving Berlin first included the words to the music in 1933. Officially, if you sing it in a public place, you owe Warner Communications money. It was also the first song to be sung in space, by the Apollo 9 crew. The song was originally a song to be sung in class, referred to as "Good Morning To All".

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

lindburgh, atlontic, what's the diff?

That was kinda my point...

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

That was kinda my point...

Any time.

[crich70]

Lincoln is on both sides of the penny. One side has his profile and the other shows the Lincoln memorial which includes the image of his statue between the two middle columns.