The thread of learning something new every day
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Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks
According to the story, the Zaporozhian Cossacks (from 'beyond the rapids', Ukrainian: za porohamy), inhabiting the lands around the lower Dnieper River in Ukraine, had defeated Ottoman Empire forces in battle. However, Mehmed demanded that the Cossacks submit to Turkish rule. The Cossacks, led by Ivan Sirko, replied in an uncharacteristic manner: they wrote a letter, replete with insults and profanities.
Sultan Mehmed IV to the Zaporozhian Cossacks: As the Sultan; son of Muhammad; brother of the sun and moon; grandson and viceroy of God; ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia, Babylon, Jerusalem, Upper and Lower Egypt; emperor of emperors; sovereign of sovereigns; extraordinary knight, never defeated; steadfast guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ; trustee chosen by God Himself; the hope and comfort of Muslims; confounder and great defender of Christians - I command you, the Zaporogian Cossacks, to submit to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and to desist from troubling me with your attacks. --Turkish Sultan Mehmed IVThe Cossacks' reply came as a stream of invective and vulgar rhymes, parodying the Sultan's titles:
Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan! O sultan, Turkish devil and damned devil's kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are thou, that canst not slay a hedgehog with your naked arse? The devil shits, and your army eats. Thou shalt not, thou son of a whore, make subjects of Christian sons; we have no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck thy mother. Thou Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, pig of Armenia, Podolian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig's snout, mare's arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw thine own mother! So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. You won't even be herding pigs for the Christians. Now we'll conclude, for we don't know the date and don't own a calendar; the moon's in the sky, the year with the Lord, the day's the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our arse! - Koshovyi otaman Ivan Sirko, with the whole Zaporozhian Host. -
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has announced that it will replace its CHESS post-trade settlement system using technology developed by blockchain startup Digital Asset.
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Is this common knowledge and I have been living under a rock for years?
I complained to wife a couple of days a go about a blocked ear, not being able to hear properly, etc. I started hiccuping a couple of hours later and it continued for 24 hours until I became even more grumpy and irritable than usual. In desperation (possibly fear for her life) she found that anything touching your eardrum will cause hiccups. I cleaned ear out and hiccups gone. While ears were being cleaned and water touched drum, I hiccuped.
Pretty weird in my view, but I learnt something. Lot's of other things can cause them but a hair on your ear?
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During the 1970s, when dieting and fitness became more popular, Carvel began offering a low-fat frozen dessert called Thinny-Thin ("Thinny-Thin, for your fatty-fat friends"), and a frozen yogurt product called Lo-Yo.
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@snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Is this common knowledge and I have been living under a rock for years?
I complained to wife a couple of days a go about a blocked ear, not being able to hear properly, etc. I started hiccuping a couple of hours later and it continued for 24 hours until I became even more grumpy and irritable than usual. In desperation (possibly fear for her life) she found that anything touching your eardrum will cause hiccups. I cleaned ear out and hiccups gone. While ears were being cleaned and water touched drum, I hiccuped.
Pretty weird in my view, but I learnt something. Lot's of other things can cause them but a hair on your ear?
Anything in my ear, I cough.
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I learnt from wise people that the key to happiness is gratitude, and that the meaning of life can be found in the voluntary adoption of responsibility.
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@majorrage said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Anything in my ear, I cough.
It does make sense - the whole ear, nose throat thing. I really didn't know about it though.
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@no-quarter said in The thread of learning something new every day:
I learnt from wise people that the key to happiness is gratitude, and that the meaning of life can be found in the voluntary adoption of responsibility.
Fuck off, hippy!
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I finally understand the real meaning behind "The Third World".
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Communist Bloc. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the First World, while the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and their allies represented the Second World. This terminology provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on political and economic divisions.
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Albhy Galuten won two Grammys as the producer of the Saturday Night Fever and produced and arranged dozens of albums and singles, including 18 number 1s.
But in his day job as a senior VP with Universal then head of Media Technology Strategy at Sony he invents stuff and holds inventor patents for processing derivatives contracts, electronic music distribution, DRM, epidemiology and a veracity scale for journalists (I know, when are they rolling that out!).
He's basically to Sony what Jimmy Iovine is to Apple, except with actual nerding skills.
Geeks can dive in here:
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I’m resurrecting this thread because I’m currently reading a book called The View From Alger’s Window by Tony Hiss. He was the son of Alger Hiss, the notorious Soviet spy.
That’s not the thing I learned though, it’s this. Alger Hiss clerked for Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was a US Supreme Court Justice. Holmes served in the Civil War. He had personally shaken the hand of John Quincy Adams - the sixth president - and Jack Kennedy, the 35th. Adams was alive during the War of Independence and Kennedy during Vietnam. If Kennedy had lived to 76 instead of 46, that link would have spanned from the birth of the US right through to the Gulf War.
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@JC said in The thread of learning something new every day:
That’s not the thing I learned though, it’s this. Alger Hiss clerked for Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was a US Supreme Court Justice. Holmes served in the Civil War. He had personally shaken the hand of John Quincy Adams - the sixth president - and Jack Kennedy, the 35th. Adams was alive during the War of Independence and Kennedy during Vietnam. If Kennedy had lived to 76 instead of 46, that link would have spanned from the birth of the US right through to the Gulf War.
That reminds of this video
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@JC said in The thread of learning something new every day:
I’m resurrecting this thread because I’m currently reading a book called The View From Alger’s Window by Tony Hiss. He was the son of Alger Hiss, the notorious Soviet spy.
That’s not the thing I learned though, it’s this. Alger Hiss clerked for Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was a US Supreme Court Justice. Holmes served in the Civil War. He had personally shaken the hand of John Quincy Adams - the sixth president - and Jack Kennedy, the 35th. Adams was alive during the War of Independence and Kennedy during Vietnam. If Kennedy had lived to 76 instead of 46, that link would have spanned from the birth of the US right through to the Gulf War.
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