tidbits cross time
Oct. 25th, 2019 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliDogs are found carefully buried in old Mesoamerica sites. This may have to do with the modern belief that dogs help lead into the afterlife.
China did not prepare for the Opium War, declaring that a few days' lack of Chinese rhuburb and tea would end it through British constipation and loss of vision.
Under French law, a king could not disclaim his throne. This means that when Philippe, the second son of Louis XIV's eldest son, became Felipe V, King of Spain, his disclaiming his rights meant nothing. This led to a post-Revolution dispute among the Legitimists as to who was the actual Legitimate heir.
Cary Grant, back before he changed his name, was hired as a barker on Coney Island to advertise the sideshow attraction of premature babies in their incubators.
The Mahd-i Ulyā -- literally, highest-ranked cradle -- was the mother of a king, emperor, or crown prince in Iran.
"Native" trees in Great Britain are those that grew there before it was cut off by sea to become an island. There was furious debate over whether the beech made it. (Now agreed to be so.)
Hutterite men must shave until they marry, at which point they must grow a beard.
Phosphorus burns so readily that when Henning Brand first purified phosphorus in 1669, he announced he had isolated elemental fire.
A Hindi groom gives his bride a necklace of a golden pendant with black beads or a black string. This is not only the equivalent of a wedding ring, but is thought to work protective magic for the husband.
The Chinese Emperor Xiaozhuang, of Northern Wei, prayed before his death not to be reborn as a king.
Old Mesoamerica burials were often at the site of the home, though cemeteries were not unknown.
A British royal duchy becomes non-royal when the grandson of the first duke succeeds to the title. This has not happened since the War of the Roses. All men who received royal duchies either had no son, or no grandson, to succeed, or ended up taking the throne.
Mongolian does not have a native term for "soldier," "war," or "peace."
In Spain, the heir to a noble title had to petition the throne to get it. After two years, other relatives could petition; after forty without any such petition, the title lapsed.
There is a legend that all werewolves are descendants of a Spanish princess.
Reading Aztec inscriptions can be fun in dating because what appears to be a date may actually be a calendar name and indicate a person.
China did not prepare for the Opium War, declaring that a few days' lack of Chinese rhuburb and tea would end it through British constipation and loss of vision.
Under French law, a king could not disclaim his throne. This means that when Philippe, the second son of Louis XIV's eldest son, became Felipe V, King of Spain, his disclaiming his rights meant nothing. This led to a post-Revolution dispute among the Legitimists as to who was the actual Legitimate heir.
Cary Grant, back before he changed his name, was hired as a barker on Coney Island to advertise the sideshow attraction of premature babies in their incubators.
The Mahd-i Ulyā -- literally, highest-ranked cradle -- was the mother of a king, emperor, or crown prince in Iran.
"Native" trees in Great Britain are those that grew there before it was cut off by sea to become an island. There was furious debate over whether the beech made it. (Now agreed to be so.)
Hutterite men must shave until they marry, at which point they must grow a beard.
Phosphorus burns so readily that when Henning Brand first purified phosphorus in 1669, he announced he had isolated elemental fire.
A Hindi groom gives his bride a necklace of a golden pendant with black beads or a black string. This is not only the equivalent of a wedding ring, but is thought to work protective magic for the husband.
The Chinese Emperor Xiaozhuang, of Northern Wei, prayed before his death not to be reborn as a king.
Old Mesoamerica burials were often at the site of the home, though cemeteries were not unknown.
A British royal duchy becomes non-royal when the grandson of the first duke succeeds to the title. This has not happened since the War of the Roses. All men who received royal duchies either had no son, or no grandson, to succeed, or ended up taking the throne.
Mongolian does not have a native term for "soldier," "war," or "peace."
In Spain, the heir to a noble title had to petition the throne to get it. After two years, other relatives could petition; after forty without any such petition, the title lapsed.
There is a legend that all werewolves are descendants of a Spanish princess.
Reading Aztec inscriptions can be fun in dating because what appears to be a date may actually be a calendar name and indicate a person.
Elemental Chemistry
Date: 2019-10-26 10:17 pm (UTC)As a student of organic chemistry, young I Asimov worked with a chemical difficult to handle in the lab, because in its pure form it dissolved in water in literal microseconds. Simple humidity would destroy it. Being who he was, he imagined taking those microseconds onward…
Chronosynclastic Properties of Resublimated Theotimoline was the result, a careful hoax about a chemical that dissolves 0.014 seconds before contact with water. (Its chemical structure includes a “hook” extending up the fourth dimension, y’ see.) This caused him some embarrassment later, when he went before the review board to get his degree, and was asked with a straight face to elucidate his remarkable findings on the chronosynclastic properties of resublimated theotimoline…
Re: Elemental Chemistry
Date: 2019-10-27 12:14 am (UTC)Re: Elemental Chemistry
Date: 2019-10-27 09:16 am (UTC)Wow, “Stop me if you’ve heard this one -”
I should have figured you’d already know about it! Well-read, you.