Interesting Wikipedia articles?

Interesting Wikipedia articles?

Author
Discussion

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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glazbagun said:
Something I read every so often- HMS Dreadought, a ship which made all others obsolete overnight and started an arms race.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dreadnought_(190...
Also the only battleship ever to sink a submarine (outside of the Steven Segal masterpiece 'Under Siege' hehe )

glazbagun said:
Amazingly, she only served for sixteen years.
Quite an incredible period for arms expenditure- with each subsequent class getting bigger, heavier and more costly, with some of the later Dreadnoughts in service for as little as 7-8 years before being decommissioned and scrapped after the Washington Naval Conference in the early 1920s. Dreadnought herself was arguably obsolete within a few years of being launched, such was the pace of development at the time.

They were the ultimate super-weapons of the period though, every nation wanted/needed them, but the risk of losing them was such that they were barely used for their intended purpose. As Churchill famously described Admiral Jellicoe (while in charge of the British Grand Fleet during WW1); 'He was the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon'.

robmarshh

15 posts

120 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

The events at Jonestown constituted the greatest single losses of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the incidents of September 11, 2001.[147]

Seek

1,169 posts

199 months

Saturday 6th February 2016
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanis...

Complex clockwork mechanism dated to 200-100BC

Mr E

21,581 posts

258 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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glazbagun said:
Robert Smalls, born a slave in Confederate America and hired out by his master, stole a ship and piloted it to the Union. He helped persuade Lincoln to let blacks fight for the union, was given a share of the price for the ship he comandeered and, after serving as a captain in the Union navy, bought his former masters house post-war. Then he ran for congress and won a seat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smalls
I am surprised there was room on the boat for his massive, massive balls.

Returning to buy your old masters house, and then allowing his widow to live in it has a certain amount of class as well.

mrtwisty

3,057 posts

164 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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Mao's many months of mango madness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong#.22Mango_...

The article on the Cultural Revolution is very interesting - very hard to believe it all happened in 'modern' times.

Hooli

32,278 posts

199 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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robmarshh said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

The events at Jonestown constituted the greatest single losses of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the incidents of September 11, 2001.[147]
I'd never heard of that.

glazbagun

14,257 posts

196 months

Saturday 20th February 2016
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen%27s_rule

Populations raised in hot climates have longer limbs than those from cold climates.


Brother D

3,698 posts

175 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Nicole_Smith

A pretty bonkers (and tragic) life story....

Veeayt

3,139 posts

204 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Pujol_Garcia

Juan Pujol Garcia was a double agent who was awarded both the German Iron Cross and the Member of the British Empire award

uncinqsix

3,239 posts

209 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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Veeayt said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Pujol_Garcia

Juan Pujol Garcia was a double agent who was awarded both the German Iron Cross and the Member of the British Empire award
There's a very good novel based on what he got up to: The Eldorado Network by Derek Robinson. By all accounts the true story was no less crazy than the fiction...

dub16v

1,115 posts

140 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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uncinqsix said:
There's a very good novel based on what he got up to: The Eldorado Network by Derek Robinson. By all accounts the true story was no less crazy than the fiction...
Double Cross by Ben Macintyre is well worth a read too, as are his two other books in this series (Agent ZigZag and Operation Mincemeat).

I found out (through reading the above) that one of WW2's finest spies (Eddie Chapman - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Chapman) landed his parachute only a few miles from our house in Littleport, Cambridgeshire. I drive past the spot most days!

KaraK

13,177 posts

208 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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Hooli said:
robmarshh said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

The events at Jonestown constituted the greatest single losses of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the incidents of September 11, 2001.[147]
I'd never heard of that.
One of those events that you find hard to believe really happened, especially in such relatively recent history! I read quite a bit about it a few years ago and even listened to the morbidly named "Death tape" - can't say I'd recommend doing the last part as it's rather disturbing!

MrCarPark

528 posts

140 months

TTwiggy

11,499 posts

203 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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glazbagun said:
Something I read every so often- HMS Dreadought, a ship which made all others obsolete overnight and started an arms race.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dreadnought_(190...

Amazingly, she only served for sixteen years. The first 50 years of the 20th century must really have been a terrible time to live in Europe.
The driving force behind Dreadnought was Admiral Fisher who had started his naval career on board HMS Victory - as in Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar.

WreckedGecko

1,191 posts

200 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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dub16v said:
Double Cross by Ben Macintyre is well worth a read too, as are his two other books in this series (Agent ZigZag and Operation Mincemeat).

I found out (through reading the above) that one of WW2's finest spies (Eddie Chapman - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Chapman ) landed his parachute only a few miles from our house in Littleport, Cambridgeshire. I drive past the spot most days!
Fixed that link for you. Interesting article.

PanzerCommander

5,026 posts

217 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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LiquidGnome said:
Not sure if this has been done already...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_inciden...

The Dyatlov Pass incident was an event that took the lives of nine hikers in mysterious circumstances on the night of February 2, 1959 in the northern Ural Mountains. The name Dyatlov Pass refers to the name of the group's leader, Igor Dyatlov.
It has, I think that one was covered in the first couple of pages.

Veeayt

3,139 posts

204 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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uncinqsix said:
There's a very good novel based on what he got up to: The Eldorado Network by Derek Robinson. By all accounts the true story was no less crazy than the fiction...
Thanks for that. I'll have a look

WreckedGecko

1,191 posts

200 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_E-4

US Airborne Command Center, makes Air Force One look a bit simple...

Europa1

10,923 posts

187 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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As he has just sadly passed away: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_(pilot)

Proper, old school British hero and all round top chap. RIP.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 22nd February 2016
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WreckedGecko said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_E-4

US Airborne Command Center, makes Air Force One look a bit simple...
My reading is that all of these planes are Air Force One, except they only have that name when the Prez is on board.