Thursday, July 20, 2006

Mother Of All Websites













I have become obsessed with Wikipedia, the incredible online encylopedia. The whole history of civilization is literally at your fingertips! One search leads to another, which leads to another, and each entry has links within it. These are just some of the topics I have researched in recent days:
Easter Island
Stonehenge
Pol Pot
Pirates
Hitler
Llamas
Stalin Purges
SamuelBeckett
Ancient Greece
ConcentrationCamps
Mussolini
Shining Path
Swastikas
SpanishInquisition
Crucifixion


Random Wikipedia Facts:
Adolph Hitler was a strict vegeterian;

Some have theorized that Stonehenge, seen from above, represents the female sexual organ;

The word faggot to describe homosexuals comes from the twigs used to burn them at the stake in Medieval times;

Pirates wore heavy gold earrings because they thought pressure on the ear eased seasickness, and because the gold could be used to pay for funeral expenses;

The more irritated a llama is, the further back into each of its three stomach compartments it will reach to draw materials for its spit;

The word excruciating comes from crucifixion;

The swastika symbol dates to the 5th Millenium BC and is found in Hindu and Buddhist temples; is on the flag of the Kuna people of Panama; was used by American Indians, ancient Greeks as well as Celtic peoples; was seen on Arizona state highway markers until the late 1920s; and was worn as a unit symbol by the 45th Infantry of the U.S. Army until the 1930s;

In Ancient Greece, street prosititutes not only were registered and paid taxes, but some wore sandals with marked soles that left an imprint stating "Follow Me" on the ground;

According to oral tradition, a common insult on Easter Island was, "The flesh of your mother sticks between my teeth."

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