I bet you didnt know that

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VandC wrote: »

I heard that the grapes used to make prosecco grew on a specific hill in Italy but due to the recent increase in demand they had to expand the area that the grapes could come from so that they could keep up. What they didn't say was if it was adjoining areas or just random other bits of land.

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

I knew it tasted different.

VandC wrote: »

Aye. The different position of the sun to the vines growing in the new fields has totally changed the flavour

It also depends on what kind of Prosecco you get (some can be undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle, most undergoes a secondary fermentation in tanks), and it can be still, semi-sparkling or sparkling. Also, as already mentioned, the area is very important - imagine a target: the closer you are to the bullseye, the more superior the wine.

Up to only a few years ago, the name Prosecco indicated the grape used, not the area. However, to stop every Tom, Dick and Harry from producing Prosecco even in places like Brazil and sell it as such, Prosecco was given a "controlled destination of origin" (some even got a "guaranteed controlled destination of origin", which means undergoing specific checks, and being given official seals).

However, the Courts established that these labels only referred to a location, and not to a specific grape, so the grapes were renamed "Glera" - bit of a marketing problem, that. :rolleyes: Someone quick on the ball realised that there's a village called Prosecco a good few hundred kilometres to the East of the original production area of Prosecco wine, but funnily enough they produced a wine that had nothing to do with its namesake. So, the Prosecco producers (and local politicians, including the then Minister for Agriculture who was from the area) managed to convince the village of Prosecco to sign an agreement that roughly said, "You'll allow us to use the name of Prosecco for our wine, in exchange we'll pay to clear out a stretch of your coast for you so you can also grow Glera grapes there, and we'll both cash in on the success of Prosecco wine". This only happened in part, to date only a ridiculously small area has been actually cleared out, then there was a change at the top and the village of Prosecco is still waiting.

What's been happening since then is that they've been trying to build a "Prosecco belt" (for lack of a better expression) that connects the original area of production to the village of Prosecco, so the growing of Prosecco grapevines (which, up to that point, had been very restricted) was pretty much liberalised, and huge vineyards of Prosecco sprang up all over the place (from the original ONE Province, it's now reached NINE Provinces over two Regions). It's the Italian wine most exported abroad, and in 2014 it surpassed Champagne in the number of bottles sold worldwide.

The very serious health issues to the population of those areas caused by the inordinate amount of pesticides sprayed on the plants and the grapes is another (long) story.

More here (even though that's not the whole story).

Incidentally, when sold in restaurants/pubs/etc, to stop the selling of "counterfeit" products, real Prosecco should (by law) be sold in bottles, and never on tap. Similar rules were brought in for olive oil for exactly the same reason.

New Home

In the episode of the Simpsons in which the yellow family visit Ireland, on the wall of the pub they accidentally buy there are plaques with the logos of both Barry's Tea and Lyons.

filbert the fox

Anders Shy Aircraft wrote: »

The word galaxy comes from the Greek for milk.

Surely not - as all of us Chocolate lovers know.......

pl4ichjgy17zwd

The first automobile fatality in the world happened in County Offaly in 1869.

Mary Ward was thrown from a steam-powered car (alongside a church), fell under its wheel and broke her neck. The car was built and driven by her cousins (Willam Parsons' sons, whose father also built the largest telescope in the world at the time.)

She was a scientist and published books on microscopy (including her own illustrations), all self-taught through interacting with other scientists (as she couldn't go to university as a woman). She was also one of the first women who was on the mailing list for the Royal Astronomical Society.

Her great-granddaughter, Lalla Ward, played the companion Romana in Doctor Who, and is the ex-wife of both Tom Baker and Richard Dawkins.

DEFTLEFTHAND

The telescope referenced in the above post is still situated on the grounds of Birr Castle today.

Jaywalking was actually an unbelievably bad insult when it was first conceived. Back then, calling someone a Jay was the equivalent of calling someone a c*nt by today's standards. The term means someone who was an idiot, dull, rube, unsophisticated, poor, or simpleton.

It was popularized by automobile manufacturers.

the purple tin

Deleted User wrote: »

Jaywalking was actually an unbelievably bad insult when it was first conceived. Back then, calling someone a Jay was the equivalent of calling someone a c*nt by today's standards. The term means someone who was an idiot, dull, rube, unsophisticated, poor, or simpleton.

It was popularized by automobile manufacturers.

Wow I always thought it meant you were walking like a jay bird.

Professor Moriarty

The largest venue for public events in ancient Rome was not the Colesseum which held approximately 50,000 spectators of gladiatorial contests. The most popular public entertainment was not gladiatorial contests.

The largest venue was the Circus Maximus which could accommodate 250,000 and held the most popular public entertainment which was chariot racing.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Deleted User wrote: »

Jaywalking was actually an unbelievably bad insult when it was first conceived. Back then, calling someone a Jay was the equivalent of calling someone a c*nt by today's standards. The term means someone who was an idiot, dull, rube, unsophisticated, poor, or simpleton.

It was popularized by automobile manufacturers.

The term originated with jay-drivers who were people who drove horse-drawn carriages and automobiles on the wrong side of the road. The etymology is from the then common use of jay to mean inexperienced.
The Chanute Daily Tribune of Kansas, in 1909, wrote that “The jay walker needs attention as well as the jay driver, and is about as big a nuisance."

secondrowgal

I LOVE this thread!

(I bet you didn't know that :pac::D)

Badly Drunk Boy

Wibbs wrote: »

One of the biggest acts at the height of the Moulin Rouge(Red Windmill) nightclub in Paris was a flatulist. He would do national anthems and impressions and animal noises and the like and was feted by the great and the good of the time. I think Toulouse Lautrec did a portrait of him(going of memory there mind you).

I presume you mean Le Pétomane? He has been spoken about on QI at least once (or did I just watch the repeats? :pac: )

the purple tin

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

The largest venue for public events in ancient Rome was not the Colesseum which held approximately 50,000 spectators of gladiatorial contests. The most popular public entertainment was not gladiatorial contests.

The largest venue was the Circus Maximus which could accommodate 250,000 and held the most popular public entertainment which was chariot racing.

UFC vs Nascar:pac:

Professor Moriarty

the purple tin wrote: »

UFC vs Nascar:pac:

Excellent!

Capt'n Midnight

Deleted User wrote: »

Most of my facts come from the QI Elves/Researcher's podcast - "No Such Thing As A Fish". If you haven't listened to it before and love facts, I cannot recommend it enough.

I love that if you consider cladistics we are all fish*

Genetically we are closer to salmon than they are to sharks.


*Sarcopterygii aka lobe-finned fish to be more specific.

Professor Moriarty

In ancient Rome the penalty for parracide, the murder of (usually) your parent, was an execution called Poena Cullei.

Typically, the person was beaten with rods and then had their head encased in a wolfskin. They were then put into a large sack with a dog, a monkey, a cockerel and a viper. The sack was tied and they were then taken a river where the sack was thrown in.

LirW

When we're just in Ancient Rome, Graffiti was a thing there. While some are love poems and riddles or children practicing the alphabet, there were some childish one like stating who banged a prostitute in the corner or simply "I, X, peed here".

Professor Moriarty

LirW wrote: »

When we're just in Ancient Rome, Graffiti was a thing there. While some are love poems and riddles or children practicing the alphabet, there were some childish one like stating who banged a prostitute in the corner or simply "I, X, peed here".

Some of the poetry was also graphic. This is the first line from a poem - Carmen 16 - by Catullus:

Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo

Google translate won't do it justice.

Squall Leonhart

LirW wrote:

When we're just in Ancient Rome, Graffiti was a thing there. While some are love poems and riddles or children practicing the alphabet, there were some childish one like stating who banged a prostitute in the corner or simply "I, X, peed here".

This is long, but...


[Brian is writing graffiti on the palace wall. The Centurion catches him in the act] Centurion: What's this, then? "Romanes eunt domus"?

People called Romanes, they go, the house?

Brian: It says, "Romans go home.

"Centurion: No it doesn't ! What's the latin for "Roman"? Come on, come on !

Brian: Er, "Romanus" !

Centurion: Vocative plural of "Romanus" is?

Brian: Er, er, "Romani" !

Centurion: [Writes "Romani" over Brian's graffiti] "Eunt"? What is "eunt"? Conjugate the verb, "to go" !

Brian: Er, "Ire". Er, "eo", "is", "it", "imus", "itis", "eunt".

Centurion: So, "eunt" is...?

Brian: Third person plural present indicative, "they go".

Centurion: But, "Romans, go home" is an order. So you must use...?[He twists Brian's ear]

Brian: Aaagh ! The imperative !

Centurion: Which is...?

Brian: Aaaagh ! Er, er, "i" !

Centurion: How many Romans?

Brian: Aaaaagh ! Plural, plural, er, "ite" !

Centurion: [Writes "ite"] "Domus"? Nominative? "Go home" is motion towards, isn't it?

Brian: Dative ![the Centurion holds a sword to his throat]

Brian: Aaagh ! Not the dative, not the dative ! Er, er, accusative, "Ad Domum" !

Centurion: But "Domus" takes the locative, which is...?

Brian: Er, "Domum" !

Centurion: [Writes "Domum"] Understand? Now, write it out a hundred times.

Brian: Yes sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.

Centurion: Hail Caesar ! And if it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off

LirW

I love ancient Rome things.

Another one is that it is proven that Nero never started the Great Fire of Rome because he wasn't in Rome at the time.


Even though History is a quite useless degree job-wise, it teaches you all the funny background stories about... literally everything.

BBDBB

I visited Rome, wonderful city

it was like having a racetrack inside a museum
utterly bizarre, fantastic, awe inspiring majesty behind unobtrusive looking doors
you step outside and four lanes of traffic roar at you

Oldtree

Romans used a wet sponge on a stick as toilet paper. Was the sponge communal, I guess we'll never know....

Evade

Oldtree wrote: »

Romans used a wet sponge on a stick as toilet paper. Was the sponge communal, I guess we'll never know....

Unless everyone carried their own when they were out and about they probably were.

LirW

Oldtree wrote: »

Romans used a wet sponge on a stick as toilet paper. Was the sponge communal, I guess we'll never know....

Apparently they didn't. Their toilets had a pretty decent system where all the toilets were aligned in a rectangular room on the walls. In front of the seats there was a small trench with water running through it where you could rinse the sponge clean.
The toilets even had an integrated sponge holder right in front of their genitals that it's all ready to go.

Lots of romans had toilet times, so you'd just reserve small parts of the day for the sh1tter. It was also found out since the toilets were communal that people were chatting there. Kind of like a Cafe but with pooping.

80% of eyewear brands, several major optometry chains, and the second-largest vision care insurer in the US are owned by one company - Luxottica.

There are numerous claims that this isn't true, but the general consensus is that they own a substantial amount of them.

eisenberg1

LirW wrote: »

I love ancient Rome things.

Another one is that it is proven that Nero never started the Great Fire of Rome because he wasn't in Rome at the time.


Even though History is a quite useless degree job-wise, it teaches you all the funny background stories about... literally everything.

Wasn't there also something about "nero played the violin while Rome burned"
And the violin hadn't been invented at that time?

LirW

Exactly. There are a lot of Nero - stories that are totally fabricated. I mean, Nero was batsh1t crazy and some of the myths are true, but some are simply made up, partly in Hollywood back when they had this fascination with historic movies in the 50s.

New Home

Even if he had been there, he'd have played the lyre.

This is a bit more of movie trivia, but I've always loved it.

During the filming of the red dress monologue scene from Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky, the director, noticed the camera slip slightly out of centre. Aronofsky called cut and, quite annoyed, went over to the director of photography, Matthew Libatique, to question him about his.

The director realised that Libatique had started to cry during filming, causing the lens to fog, and he didn't notice the camera slipping slightly.

This take, with the slight frame slip, was used in the final version of the movie.

Edit: Adding a second one:

There are two versions of the ending to The Mist - the Frank Darabont adaptation of the Stephen King book. Not going to spoil it, but one, the original cut, ends on a hopeful tone, which kept close to the original source novel, and the other downright bleak.

Obviously I'm not going to say what happened, but if you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about.

King saw the Darabont created bleak ending and fell in love with it. He even wished he had ended it in that exact same way.

server down

LirW wrote: »

Lots of romans had toilet times, so you'd just reserve small parts of the day for the sh1tter. It was also found out since the toilets were communal that people were chatting there. Kind of like a Cafe but with pooping.

How did they find that out? Very little literature mentions toilet habits.

It’s true that the Romans had communal ****ters but to assume they hung around and had conversations is a stretch just because they weren’t separated. It is like if future generations get rid of communal male urinals and they postulated that we all used urinals as a social space precisely because they weren’t separated. We don’t.

LirW

It is assumed by the way these were excavated. Of course we don't exactly know because of the little literature that's available on that. But there are several indications for that. The everyday life of Romans is pretty well documented, the literature available is enormous and allowed together with excavations to reconstruct a very good image of the everyday life of the different social classes.

My point was more that there is the assumption that toilet times were "set" for people so they held parts of their day free for the toilet business. Also these toilets were mainly used for the brown stuff because people urinated pretty much in every corner. It also seems like that Romans, especially men were very sociable and made a social event out of everything, it was simply their thing. So this assumptions comes based on what else is known about the society.