Year in history game

[Ecstatic]

Simple: state a year. Next person names a major event that occured that year and states a new year.

For example: What happened in 1066?

Next poster: Norman invasion of Britain. What happened in 1969?

I'll start: What happened in 1776?

[victoriajaye]

Common sense By Thomas Paine was first published in 1776 and on my birthday to be! :)

What happened in 1927?

[Ecstatic]

Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs.

What happened in 1915?

[danh002]

1915 - Einstein wrote the theory of general relativity...

What happened in 1955?

[Ecstatic]

Einstein died.

What happened in 1535?

[seanchai]

Thomas More was executed - hooray!

What happened in 1899?

[flabbybody]

Humphrey "play it again Sam" Bogart was born

what happened in 1977 ?

[Ecstatic]

Stars Wars debuted.

What happened in 1616?

[EdNigma696]

1616: Dirk Hartog landed on the Australian coast.

What happened in 323 CE?

[Ecstatic]

Emperor Constantine declared himself a Christian and established Christianity as the state religion of the Empire (though he was not baptised till his death in 337 CE).

What happened in 570 CE?

[EdNigma696]

Muhammad the prophet (PBUH) was born.

What happened in 1258?

And for extra credit what does (PBUH) mean in my answer above?
Great game by the way!

[Ecstatic]

You must be referring to the Battle of Baghdad, when the Mongols overran Baghdad, burned the city to the ground and killed upwards of 1,000,000 people.

Extra credit: Alai Salam (Peace Be Upon Him, said after saying the name of the Prophet).

What happened in 454 CE?

[EdNigma696]

The end of the Hun empire in Transylvania?

How about 1443 (this one is a little harder!)

[Ecstatic]

Not what I was thinking of, and I really don't know when the Hun empire ended in Transylvania exactly (though it was mid-5th century). Try again! (Hint: you're not too terribly far off.)

1443: tough one. The declaration of the Albanian principality by Skanderberg against the Ottomans? Also the year that King Sejong the Great establishes Hangul as the native alphabet of the Korean language.

[EdNigma696]

Good job. I was looking for the establishment of Hangul as the written language of the Korean people. A fascinating language at that. Took me years to learn to speak Korean, days to learn to read it!

OK, so….. since I guessed wrong on the event you were looking for in 454…. Iran was attacked by the Ephthalites?

Great game, but (perhaps because?), there can be multiple correct answers. ;-)

[Ecstatic]

OK, 454 was quite obscure, and you're right, this isn't "guess my answer" but any correct answer. What I was thinking of was the death of Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexandria, who supported Eutychianism (an extreme form of Monophysitism), excommunicated Pope Leo I the Great for censuring Eutychianism, and deposed Patriarch St. Flavian of Constantinople for opposing Monophysitism. In 450, when the Council of Chalcedon condemned all Monophysite doctrines, the Council deposed and exilted Dioscorus but stopped short of condemning him as a heretic. He is a saint in the Monophysite Churches (Coptic, Syrian and Armenian).

However your answers are very bit as good! I shouldn't have gone quite so obscure.

What happened in 1919?

[flabbybody]

thats an easy one e

Jewish wise guys from Chicago engineer the biggest fix in sports history.
Reds beat "Black Sox" in World Series.

baseball almost dies until a guy named Babe Ruth comes along and saves the day in the mid twenties

what happened in 1870 ?

[Ecstatic]

Good one, FB. I was actually thinking of the Treaty of Versailles, but also thought of the Black Sox scandal and Shoeless Joe Jackson too.

1870: hmm, given your location you might be thinking of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge or the opening of the first pneumatic subway, but I'm going with the passing of the 15th amendment, giving African-Americans the right to vote.

What happened in 1666?

[Jim Beaux]

Good one, FB. I was actually thinking of the Treaty of Versailles, but also thought of the Black Sox scandal and Shoeless Joe Jackson too.

1870: hmm, given your location you might be thinking of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge or the opening of the first pneumatic subway, but I'm going with the passing of the 15th amendment, giving African-Americans the right to vote.

What happened in 1666?

Nothing.

It was a quiet year.

No wars.

No illness.

No disasters.

People got bored 'cos nothing happened.

[Ecstatic]

Nope. That was 1667.

[flabbybody]

George Hamilton was born (???)
I knew the guy had some work done on his face. he looks amazing for his age

[EdNigma696]

1666: Great fire in London?

64CE?

[Ecstatic]

FB, you are absolutely....wrong! Hamilton was born in 666 CE, not 1666!! However, he's still not as old as Andy Rooney and hasn't had as much work done as Joan Rivers.....

EdNigma, you got it! And nice play on the famous burning of another city: Rome! With Nero fiddling (or, more likely, playing the lyre...).

How about 1871?

[EdNigma696]

OK, so continuing the theme huh Ecstatic? Chicago's great fire in 1871!

And how about 1864?

[victoriajaye]

Lincoln was re-elected in the USA and Haiti declared independence....

so whut happened in 301?

[Ecstatic]

John McCain graduated high school. No, actually it was the year Armenia became the first nation to declare Christianity the state religion.

What happened in 30 BCE?

[EdNigma696]

Lincoln was re-elected in the USA and Haiti declared independence....

so whut happened in 301?

And Atlanta was burned by Sherman. I was keeping up the "cities that burned" theme, but any correct answer will work. ;-)

30BC: Octavian brings Egypt under the control of Rome, Cleopatra dies.

[Ecstatic]

Yep, in fact I was only thinking of dear old Cleo, but you're right on both counts. And cool for the burning cities theme. So what year do you have for the next question?

[EdNigma696]

Yep, in fact I was only thinking of dear old Cleo, but you're right on both counts. And cool for the burning cities theme. So what year do you have for the next question?

Oops! Forgot to list a year! OK, how about a two parter (since this is easy and in keeping with our "fire" theme). 1421 and 2008. Hint, I was not QUITE yet born for the first event, but I was actually there watching the second one happen. Here is a photo (not mine! press photo).

[Ecstatic]

Hmmm...not so easy...the first Great Fire of Amsterdam occured in 1421 (the second in 1452). But I don't recall an Amsterdam fire last year nor any other great fire in 1421.

[EdNigma696]

I was actually sticking with two Asian cities. The Forbidden City was the first one and Namdaemun, or Great Southern Gate in Seoul was the one last year.

[Ecstatic]

Too tricky! Let's stick to single years. But let's expand the game by naming the year and the category:

1803: exploration

[EdNigma696]

1803 = Lewis and Clark expedition

How about 378 - famous battle (since I have been typing so much about America's military might tonight) ;-)

[Ecstatic]

378: Visigoths crush the Roman army led by Emperor Valens, who is slain in the battle.

48 BCE - library

[EdNigma696]

The library at Alexandria was burned. Man, we are talking about a lot of stuff burning....
Tragic though the loss was of the library at Alexandria, what, to me at least, is just as tragic, is how it was burned. Most references just say it "caught fire" or something like that and let it sound like an accident. How it was burned, why, by whom and what happened to the (female) librarian at the time is the important and often left out story.

NOTE: I had to come back and add something after I actually did some research! Something didn't seem right with what I wrote at first (shame on me for shooting from the hip!). Yes, much of the library was burned this year, but it was accidental this time. The reference I made to the female librarian (Hypatia) didn't come for a few hundred more years.

2001 - UNESCO World Heritage Site. (There is a tie in to the background story to your reference Ecstatic)

[Ecstatic]

Yes, actually the library at Alexandria was burned several times over a period of some 300+ years; the classic reference by Plutarch in 40 BCE was accidentally caused by Julius Ceasar with the fire originally meant for ships in the harbor and reaching and destroying a large part of the library by accident. The incident with Hypatia I think was the final fire, but I could be wrong there.

2001: Well, on my birthday (Dec 13) 2001 UNESCO added 31 sites to the World Heritage list, 25 cultural and 6 natural, though I don't know of the connection you allude to.

1959: Music

[flabbybody]

easy one e
Buddy H, Richie V, and the Big Bopper are killed on the day later called "the day the music died"

1889: birth year of historical figure

[EdNigma696]

2001: Well, on my birthday (Dec 13) 2001 UNESCO added 31 sites to the World Heritage list, 25 cultural and 6 natural, though I don't know of the connection you allude to.



Sorry for the slow follow up. What I was talking about in 2001 with the World Heritage site, was related to the destruction by religious figures of the library at Alexandria. In 2001 the Taliban blew up the giant Buddhas of Bamyan in Afghanistan. They were incredible and older than the religion the Taliban follows. A real loss.

[Ecstatic]

You got it, FB! Hmm, 1889: several important births that year, from Huddy Ledbetter (Leadbelly) to Charlie Chaplin, but since you say historical figure, it must be either Arnold Toynbee or Adolf Hitler. And since Toynbee is an historian, whereas Hitler is an historical figure, I'll go with Hitler.

1955: death of a major figure of the 20th century

To EdNigma: Ah, yes, the giant Buddhas. That was a great loss. I forgot that happened in 2001.

[flabbybody]

definitely thinking of Hitler in terms of historical significance

Einstein died in 1955

1731: birth.
easy cuz there was only one famous person born that year

[Ecstatic]

1731: I'm split between William Cowper (English poet--there's my English major surfacing) and Erasmus Darwin (English scientist and grandfather of Charles Darwin). Or maybe Martha Washington?

1977: the movies

[flabbybody]

1977 movie: has to be Annie Hall

1967: POW

[Ecstatic]

1977: I was actually thinking Star Wars, but sure, Annie Hall is good!

1967: I can think of two: 1) the (alleged) killing of 250 Egyptian POWs by the Israelis during the Six Day War; 2) John McCain was captured by the North Vietnamese

1901: death

[danh002]

Queen Victoria surely??

1942 pop birth...

[Ecstatic]

Actually I was thinking William McKinley, but yes, Queen Victoria for sure.

1942: so many...Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, Isaac Hayes, Graham Nash, Barbara Streisand, Carol King, Brian Jones, the list goes on and on...but I'll go with Paul McCartney.

1959: modal jazz

[danh002]

Very good! I was thinking Sir Paul Mac or Mick Fleetwood but that's a hell of a list...

- Normally jazz would be my achillies heel with only 2 exceptions - Charlie Parker and Miles Davis... so I'll have a go with Miles Davis releasing Kind of Blue...?

If so, 1848, political book.

[flabbybody]

in 1848 the most obscure and insignificant person to hold that office was elected president of the United States... Zachary Taylor.
The most interesting thing about his presidency concerns his cause of death.
Apparantly a bad cheesburger at at a White House barbeque
Even Richard Nixon has more high schools named after him.


1954, birth. warning will robinson

[flabbybody]

Very good! I was thinking Sir Paul Mac or Mick Fleetwood but that's a hell of a list...

- Normally jazz would be my achillies heel with only 2 exceptions - Charlie Parker and Miles Davis... so I'll have a go with Miles Davis releasing Kind of Blue...?

If so, 1848, political book.

just realized u were looking for Thoreau's CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

[Ecstatic]

- Normally jazz would be my achillies heel with only 2 exceptions - Charlie Parker and Miles Davis... so I'll have a go with Miles Davis releasing Kind of Blue...?


Yep, best selling jazz album of all time, and especially a milestone (no pun intended) in modal jazz.

1954, birth. warning will robinson

With that clue, I was hoping someone else would snap this one up, but that's the year Bill Mumy (of Lost in Space and Babylon 5) was born.

2fer: I'm looking for two major musical figures born in 1940.

[flabbybody]

numerous important musical figures born in 1940

for their historical significance I'll have to go with Ringo and Smokey Robinson.
but it's hard to exclude Tom Jones for personal preferences (caught him in Vegas earlier this year.. still awesome)

1614: a famous wedding took place

[Ecstatic]

Very good! I was thinking John Lennon and Frank Zappa, but Ringo and Smokey'll do!

1614: you must be thinking of Pocahontas and Rolfe!

1535: beheading (not a very utopian event)

[flabbybody]

That would be the year Thomas More no longer had to worry about getting migraine headaches

1946: on average it would cost you $12,500 to buy one of these in the USA.
What am I thinking of ?

[Ecstatic]

You must be thinking of the average price of a house in the USA, though I've seen other figures. I did a little digging, and found the $12,500 as the average price of a house on http://www.tvhistory.tv/1946%20QF.htm, but The People History cites $5,600 as the average price (http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1946.html). Location, location, location.

1956: invention first marketed, revolutionized the office (hint: the inventor was the mother of a famous rock star)

[flabbybody]

IBM rolls out the first computer with a disk drive, but I can't find who's given credit for the invention.

1911: an institution featured on a Seinfeld episode was created

[ConradG]

Carnegie Corporation of New York

1865 -music

ps is there a prize if a question cannot be answered?

[Ecstatic]

Must be either the premiere of Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde or the debut of Franz Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, following the composer's death.

Sure: You get to kiss the tgirl of your choice (but only if she agrees!)

You got me there, FB: I was thinking of Liquid Paper, invented by Bette Nesmith Graham in 1951 but first marketed in 1956 under the name Mistake Out; she was Mike Nesmith's mother (hence the music connection).

In keeping with the music theme, 1824....

[flabbybody]

Carnegie Corporation of New York

1865 -music

ps is there a prize if a question cannot be answered?

Carneigie Corporation is not the correct answer because it was not the theme of a Seinfeld episode.

e, you're thinking of the year Beethoven finished composing his 9th. It was performed in Vienna for the first time that same year.

OK, lets go back to 1911
remember, Jerry's whole show centered around this

[Ecstatic]

IBM? (technically founded in 1896 as the Tabulating Machine Company and incorporated as Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) on June 16, 1911; it changed its name to International Business Machines in 1924. Or maybe Vandelay Industries? (But I thought that was fictious). Fishing here; I think you got us, FB, so score one for you!

PS: You're right about Beethoven's 9th.

[flabbybody]

I've stumped you e !!
you can buy me a martini when u come to NYC

Mr Bookman pursues Jerry for not returning a copy of Tropic of Cancer. He claims Jerry borrowed the book from The New York City Public Library in 1971. Much of the episode makes fun of the institution that was officially established in 1911. Even the Dewey Decimal system wasn't spared


from wikipedia
On May 23 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_23), 1911 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1911), the main branch of the New York Public Library was officially opened in a ceremony presided over by President William Howard Taft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft). The following day, the public was invited. Tens of thousands thronged to the Library's "jewel in the crown." The opening day collection consisted of more than 1,000,000 volumes. The New York Public Library instantly became one of the nation's largest libraries and a vital part of the intellectual life of America. Library records for that day show that one of the very first items called for was N. I. Grot's Nravstvennye idealy nashego vremeni ("Ethical Ideas of Our Time") a study of Friedrich Nietzsche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche) and Leo Tolstoy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy). The reader filed his slip at 9:08 a.m. and received his book just six minutes later.[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library#cite_note-plhist-5)

[Ecstatic]

OK, you got me, though on a technicality: it was the main branch of the NYPL that opened in 1911; the larger institution (formed of the Astor and Lenox libraries) dates to 1901. In any event, I'm surprized it was so late; I guess I'm spoiled by Boston, which claims the first public library in the US (and third largest, after the Library of Congress and Harvard Libraries), which was established in 1852.

So anyway, what's the next stumper?

And yes, the martini's on me!

[Ecstatic]

Well, since the gauntlet wasn't picked up, here's a random year for you: 1847. Wha' happened?

[flabbybody]

nothing happened in 1847.
OK, a bunch of docs got together to form the AMA. The only other thing remotely important was the birth of Thomas Edison

1902. A person was born who created something that everyone sees every day.. driving, walking, or on TV
hint: His first job was selling milkshake machines

[Ecstatic]

1847 was also the year that Charlotte Bronte published Jane Eyre, but gud enuff, FB!

1902: Ray Kroc, who built McDonald's into what it is today, was born (but if I know you, I'm wrong).

1936: birth of an actor associated with Korea and an imaginary town in Maine based on a real rural fishing cove. Who is he?

[flabbybody]

of course you're correct e. Raymond Albert Kroc. The man who feeds much of the earth's population to this day. (maybe thats why we're in bad shape)
Also known for owning the San Diego Padres and giving much of his wealth away to charitable causes

you're looking for Shin Goo

1145: easy one. this person was born and had a beverage named after her

[orion]

Emperor Constantine declared himself a Christian and established Christianity as the state religion of the Empire (though he was not baptised till his death in 337 CE).

costantine did not convert untill his death bed but he did infulence the forming of mainstream christian state.

7 .12 .2009 hbo 1

[flabbybody]

LOL orion
wdf, u got any idea what this thread's about ?

[Ecstatic]

Shin Goo? Never even heard of him. I see he was born in 1936, so that loosely qualifies, but I have no idea what would connect him to a fishing cove in Maine. The person I was looking for is Alan Alda, a/k/a Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H, from Crabapple Cove, ME (actually derived from a small village in my hometown as it turns out).

1145: all I come up with is Marie de Champagne, Countess of Champagne, but I don't know if she actually had anything to do with the drink.

[orion]

flab no i have no idea lol.
i was trying to earn my tenth post that all.
i think ecstatic has me beat on history as he is a time lord and all and my history class was in galic so i kinda the dunce here.

[flabbybody]

I doubt Marie de Champagne ever heard of drinking champaign. I was getting desperate so I made it up. I wish I could make her come back to life so I could apologize and get drunk with her

and I totally missed Alan Alda.

u win e
u too orion

[Ecstatic]

Well, FB, we've stumped each other then! I did hear once that champagne glasses (the fluted rather narrow ones) were modeled after Marie Antoinette's tits. Hmmm....

OK, here we go: 1947, a guy named Chuck broke something significant. What was it?

[flabbybody]

Yeager broke sound barrier

1922: in keeping with flight theme, the guy credited with shooting down the most enemy aircraft in aviation history was born.
who was he ?

[Ecstatic]

Erich Hartmann, "the Black Devil," shot down a reputed 352 aircraft (95% of which were Soviet) in WWII. He was born in April, 1922.

732: military, identify the great battle which halted Islamic expansion into northern Europe

[flabbybody]

Battle of Tours, big victory for Christianity

1916: keeping in the religious realm, this man of the cloth was said to have God-like healing powers. He's forever known in history by a single name.... like Cher, Bonjovi, etc.
This was the year he was murdered

who was he?

[Ecstatic]

Russian mystic Rasputin (Grigori Rasputin).

1876 death: this woman was the last full-blooded Tasmanian (genetic significance: Tasmanian aborigines were totally isolated from all other human contact for 35,000 years, making theirs the most isolated pure bloodline of any ethnic group). Who was she?

[flabbybody]

Trugernanner aka Trganini

1836 birth: Because of his last name he's given credit for something he didn't actually invent. History will forever link him with an item he helped refine and distribute to millions.
who?

[Ecstatic]

Thomas Crapper! (I had to google his first name.) He did not invent the flushing toilet, which was invented nearly 250 years earlier, nor is the word crap derived from his name but rather from the Dutch word krappe (it had been in circulation for centuries before his birth). However, he was a plumber and did invent the ballcock which modernized the toilet (it's still in common use). Good one!

1819: birth of a man often but mistakenly credited with inventing a popular game who actually held the patent on the cable car railway that still runs in San Francisco.

(Is anyone else playing or is this just a ping-pong match between me and flabbybody? Com'on, guys and gals!)

[flabbybody]

I got the answer e, but I'll let someone else take a stab at it

btw, Crapper had the last laugh when he picked a name for his invention.
When your toilet doesn't flush the plumber will say you've got a problem with your ballcock

[Ecstatic]

I remember the first time I went to a hardware store and asked for a new ballcock. "Can't help you, son. Ain't you satisfied with what you got?" Of course those were the days before viagra.

So com'on, who's gonna bite?

[AnthonyL]

Aber Doubleday

1970: What major tv broadcast premiered on ABC?

[flabbybody]

I still remember the Jets losing to Cleveland on that first ABC NFL game. It would forever change the way Americans spend their Monday evenings from Fall till December

1804: happened in Jersey because it was illegal in the state of New York.
What famous event?

[Ecstatic]

Hmm, no one else has tackled this one, so here goes: on July 11, 1804, the most famous duel in American history took place between Aaron Burr (then US VP) and Alexander Hamilton, in Weehauken, NJ. This was the site of nearly four dozen duels between the late 1700s and mid 1800s when dueling was outlawed in New York state (and elsewhere), but still legal in New Jersey. Burr killed Hamilton in the duel.

1857: George Pullman invented something which revolutionized travel. What was it?

[flabbybody]

Sleeper coach car. railroad luxury travel for the Donald Trumps of that era.
did they serve chilled martinis ?

1909 birth: quintessential Horatio Alger. He started out delivering the product in his car.
sold so much of them that he made us a nation of fatties... went on to create the company that today bears his name and is the leading producer of snack products in the USA.

[Jim Beaux]

Aber Doubleday

1970: What major tv broadcast premiered on ABC?

Flabby, E

Sorry to piss on your game BUT...

Have you noticed AnthonyL is alive 'n' participatin' ??????

PS He's before my time. :D

[Ecstatic]

Sleeper coach car. railroad luxury travel for the Donald Trumps of that era.
did they serve chilled martinis ?

1909 birth: quintessential Horatio Alger. He started out delivering the product in his car.
sold so much of them that he made us a nation of fatties... went on to create the company that today bears his name and is the leading producer of snack products in the USA.

Don't know about the martinis, though since Martini & Rossi created Martini Rosso dry vermouth in 1863, it seems unlikely until a couple of decades later.

I was hoping someone else would grab this, but the answer is Herman Lay, founder of Lay's Potato Chips which he sold out of his Model A car before building a business empire which eventually became Frito-Lay.

Another birth from 1909: this fellow received no formal degrees but as one of America's greatest inventors held 535 patents, including several for an incredibly popular line of products which are now almost obsolete.

Flabby, E

Sorry to piss on your game BUT...

Have you noticed AnthonyL is alive 'n' participatin' ??????

PS He's before my time. :D

Hey Jim, yeah, I noticed. Haven't seem much of AnthonyL lately, good to see him posting.

[Ecstatic]

No takers on 1909? C'mon, this is an EZ one!

[Charleston]

1909... the Manhattan Bridge opens on December 31.

1930

[flabbybody]

nice try charleston but given e's clue I think he was looking for Edwin Land, inventor of the now defunct instant camera that dominated the market following WW II.
He founded the Polaroid Corporation and during the 1960's became one of the first major CEO's to champion the principal of affirminative action for minorities in the American workplace

c, can you give us a clue as to what major event you're looking for in 1930?
I'm glad it's not just me and e playing

[Ecstatic]

Yep, FB got the answer I was looking for, but kudos to Charleston for another good answer, even if not addressing the clues I gave. I could hazard a guess as to 1930, but as FB says, how about a clue as to what you're thinking of?

And yes, good to see another player!

[flabbybody]

OK, no one except me and e are playin.
I'll say the most important thing in 1930 was the birth of the greatest actor of all time, Gene Hackman

[Ecstatic]

Just us two, huh? And we're not even sharing drinks as the evening wears on.

A great actor, indeed, but the greatest of all time? Not even close, imho. But I'd say he's in the running for the greatest supporting actor of all time. So what happened when, fb? It's your spin.

[flabbybody]

1906
you're comfortable on a hot night because of his patent
could u imagine life without his fabulous invention ?

[Ecstatic]

Hmmm, I was thinking the invention of air conditioning, which in the sense of electric/chemical air conditioning was invented by Willis Haviland Carrier (hence Carrier air conditioners) in 1902 (though the use of circulating water to condition the air temperature dates back to ancient Rome). But the date's wrong.

So I dug a little deeper and found that in 1906, Stuart W. Cramer of Charlotte, NC invented a form of air conditioning through the evaporation of water. He coined the term "air conditioning," which was then borrowed by Carrier for the name of his company. Cramer's method is now known as evaporative cooling, and while it's far less common than freon-based and later, less greenhouse gas creating systems, it is an important air conditioning method, and in fact, it kept me cool on hot nights (and days) when I was living in Tucson, where the low humidity makes evaporative cooling a very effective alternative.

1588: one of the most decisive maritime victories in history

[flabbybody]

love this e
1588: Spanish Navy gets its ass kicked by smaller underdog British fleet. Spain's days of world conquest are gone for good

1896: It's mentioned every weekday on the news.
It's the national scoreboard of how the economy is doing.
This is the year of it's birth. What is it?

[Ecstatic]

Ooo, that's too easy! Let's see if someone else will give it a try....

You're quite right about the defeat of the Spanish Armada!

[flombago]

1896: birth of Dow Jones Industrial Average ?

If I'm wrong, continue without me. If I'm right, here's a question:

What started in 1618 and devastated Europe for 3 decades ?

[Ecstatic]

I'm positive flabbybody will confirm your answer as that's what I was thinking as well. Good to have you playing, flombago!

OK, 1618: Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion.... OK, OK, I know that's not what you're thinking, but rather the Second Defenestration of Prague, which act precipitated the Thirty Year War.

Now, going back a bit, to 31 BC: he was the first of this famous line, which is usually dated to an important battle that took place in 31 BC. Who and what was he, and, for bonus points (heh, like there are any), what was the battle?

[flombago]

You're right about 1618.

And in 31 BC Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius Thurinus) consolodatd his power as first Roman Emperor in the Battle of Actium where he beat his rivals Marc Antony and Cleopatra.

What great achievement happened in 1455 ? It was maybe not the very first but is often called the first.

[flombago]

The problem with this game is there is no clear winner or loser, it just continues on and on, a never-ending stream of historical trivia. On the other hand, the participants do learn something, and evidently someone does care, as there are over 1000 views, making it probably in the top 10% of TGT threads, and in the top 2% of non-sexual threads; of course it can't compete with the famous "Post Your Ass" thread. :)

[Ecstatic]

Or with "What Makes a Gorgeous Cock" but it is impressive how many views it gets...and how few players. There must be a record there, most views with fewest players or something.

We could keep score...1 point for each right answer and 1 point for each time you stump the forum if no one answers correctly within 24 or 48 hours or something. Should we? Of course, we'd start fresh, else flabbybody and I would have rather unfair advantages!

[Ecstatic]

Correcto mundo on Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, though technically he never actually claimed the title of emperor nor the more inflammatory dictator perpetuo or dictator in perpetuity, which was the title claimed by Julius Caesar.

1455: well, it was the first, insofar as it was the first movable type printing system a) in Europe and b) to use an alphabet. 1455 is the year generally given to the first printing of the Bible by Gutenberg. While the Chinese invented movable type printing using ceramic plates 400 years earlier, and Koreans invented the first movable type using metal plates 200 years earlier, neither system caught on simply due to the incredible complexity of a system dependent on Chinese pictographic characters which required thousands of intricate plates. One could argue that just as significant as the invention of movable type was the fact that Gutenberg's system used the Latin alphabet, which reduced the number of characters needed to 26. This is an accident of language, not invention by Gutenberg, but it is equally fundamental to the rapid spread of knowledge through printed books following his invention.

1757: birth of the eldest of the English Romantic poets who was also one of England's greatest artists. Who was he?

[flombago]

William Blake. Also known as rap-master Billy B.

What infamous US Supreme Court case in 1857 got things totally wrong and proves the fallibility of legal precedence ? They needed a wise latina on that court !

I wouldn't bother with keeping score. The game's charm is it's meaninglessness.

[victoriajaye]

i'm goin with the dred scott case here... seein as the 14th amendment overturned part of the ruling....

cant believe this is up to 100 pages already. thats awesome.

what event in 2000 happened that hadn't for hundreds of years??? (hint- wasnt y2k...)


William Blake. Also known as rap-master Billy B.

What infamous US Supreme Court case in 1857 got things totally wrong and proves the fallibility of legal precedence ? They needed a wise latina on that court !

I wouldn't bother with keeping score. The game's charm is it's meaninglessness.

[flombago]

Your answer is correct, and I'm going to let someone else answer your question.

[Ecstatic]

I know, but I want someone else to chime in, too!

[Ecstatic]

OK, I'll take a crack at it: one possible answer is the great planetary alignment of 2000; however, this occurs more frequently than most think, depending upon the degree of alignment (the planetary alignment of 1962 was actually a tad tighter than that of May 5, 2000).

But maybe you're thinking of something else, Victoria?