Random trivia

[!--quoteo(post=131368:date=Mar 9 2006, 04:49 PM:name=Conor)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Conor @ Mar 9 2006, 04:49 PM) [snapback]131368[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Is it the guy who is currently 4th in your last.fm list? I think he looks familiar as a portrait of a classical composer anyway ::
[/quote]

Nope. You're about 50-years off and in any case, you've got the wrong profession in mind.
 
[!--quoteo(post=131371:date=Mar 9 2006, 05:05 PM:name=macunaima)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(macunaima @ Mar 9 2006, 05:05 PM) [snapback]131371[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Nope. You're about 50-years off and in any case, you've got the wrong profession in mind.
[/quote]


Looks like I've killed this thread. Or maybe it just got drowned in the pack.

Let me bump this thread by giving a hint.


He was a German speaker who lived in what was then Eastern Prussia, but what is now a part of Russia. Nowadays, his hometown goes by the name of Kaliningrad.
 
In that case, could it be the German philosopher Immanuel Kant?

As for a significant accomplishment, I'm not too sure - philosophy is not a strong point - but I know he was influential during the Age of Enlightenment.


Or perhaps it's that he was a real pissant. [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":P\" border=\"0\" alt=\"tongue.gif\" /]
 
[!--quoteo(post=131531:date=Mar 11 2006, 02:25 PM:name=macunaima)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(macunaima @ Mar 11 2006, 02:25 PM) [snapback]131531[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Looks like I've killed this thread. Or maybe it just got drowned in the pack.

Let me bump this thread by giving a hint.
He was a German speaker who lived in what was then Eastern Prussia, but what is now a part of Russia. Nowadays, his hometown goes by the name of Kaliningrad.
[/quote]

The man your after is Immanuel Kant a German Philosopher.
 
Kant, the only possibility.

*checks portrait in book*

Yes, Kant. As for what he is famous for, I will just cite the Categoric Imperative:

"Act, as if the maxim of your will could at any time as well be the principle of general law-giving" (own translation).

In a philosophy test I once took I scored high on Socrates and Rousseau and got almost no points for Kant [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/wink.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\";)\" border=\"0\" alt=\"wink.gif\" /]
 
[!--quoteo(post=131537:date=Mar 11 2006, 10:17 AM:name=Perun)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Perun @ Mar 11 2006, 10:17 AM) [snapback]131537[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Kant, the only possibility.

As for what he is famous for, I will just cite the Categoric Imperative:

"Act, as if the maxim of your will could at any time as well be the principle of general law-giving" (own translation).

In a philosophy test I once took I scored high on Socrates and Rousseau and got almost no points for Kant [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/wink.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\";)\" border=\"0\" alt=\"wink.gif\" /]
[/quote]

Hmm, I guess my hint made it all too easy. You are all right that it was Kant, but Perun was the only one who could cite one of his accomplishments. Though english-speaking philosophers usually refer to it as the Categorical Imperative.

Also, I don't know enough German to argue with your translation, but my English translation of the text (translated by Mary Gregor) has the following formulation:

"Act only on those maxims which you can, at the same time, will to be a universal law."

The part in bold is important, I take it, because Kant was trying to capture the intuitive idea that you shouldn't make an exception of yourself. When you act, you should act only on principles that you can will to apply to everyone.

In any case...it is now Perun's turn.



[!--quoteo(post=131532:date=Mar 11 2006, 09:33 AM:name=national acrobat)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(national acrobat @ Mar 11 2006, 09:33 AM) [snapback]131532[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Or perhaps it's that he was a real pissant. [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":P\" border=\"0\" alt=\"tongue.gif\" /]
[/quote]

He was not. ::


However, rumor has it he was extremely anal retentive. And, unrelatedly, he died a virgin. [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":P\" border=\"0\" alt=\"tongue.gif\" /]
 
[!--quoteo(post=131558:date=Mar 11 2006, 07:23 PM:name=macunaima)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(macunaima @ Mar 11 2006, 07:23 PM) [snapback]131558[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
"Act only on those maxims which you can, at the same time, will to be a universal law."

The part in bold is important, I take it, because Kant was trying to capture the intuitive idea that you shouldn't make an exception of yourself. When you act, you should act only on principles that you can will to apply to everyone.[/quote]

In the original, Kant wrote "jederzeit", which is correctly translated as "at any time".

[!--quoteo--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]In any case...it is now Perun's turn.
[/quote]

national acrobat came up with Kant, so I'll pass this one to him.
 
Whatever... New question, here goes:

What was the largest deliberate man-made oil plague in history? Where did it take place? Who is responsible for it? Why was it started?


A little hint: If you get one of the answers right, the other ones should be really easy to figure out.
 
[!--quoteo(post=131784:date=Mar 13 2006, 02:49 PM:name=Perun)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Perun @ Mar 13 2006, 02:49 PM) [snapback]131784[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
What was the largest deliberate man-made oil plague in history? Where did it take place? Who is responsible for it? Why was it started?[/quote]
Was it caused by Saddam Hussein? After a bit of research I found info on him dispersing 40.5 billion gallons of it into the Persian Gulf. For what reason I don't know!
 
[!--quoteo(post=131787:date=Mar 13 2006, 04:04 PM:name=ARealDead1)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(ARealDead1 @ Mar 13 2006, 04:04 PM) [snapback]131787[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Was it caused by Saddam Hussein? After a bit of research I found info on him dispersing 40.5 billion gallons of it into the Persian Gulf. For what reason I don't know!
[/quote]

Correct, it was Saddam Hussein, and the sea was (obviously) the Persian Gulf. The reason should be rather obvious if you find out when he did it.
 
[!--quoteo(post=131789:date=Mar 13 2006, 10:09 AM:name=Perun)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Perun @ Mar 13 2006, 10:09 AM) [snapback]131789[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Correct, it was Saddam Hussein, and the sea was (obviously) the Persian Gulf. The reason should be rather obvious if you find out when he did it.
[/quote]

I guess the most likely possibility is that he did it when withdrawing from Kuwait in 1991. I know he set fire to most of the Kuwaiti oil fields; I didn't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if he also dumped a shitload of it into the gulf. What's a few hundred thousand dead fish and a destroyed ecosystem when you can give the Americans a little more work?
 
[!--quoteo(post=131792:date=Mar 13 2006, 05:28 PM:name=LooseCannon)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(LooseCannon @ Mar 13 2006, 05:28 PM) [snapback]131792[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
So the States couldn't get it.
[/quote]

To simplify it, yes


[!--quoteo(post=131798:date=Mar 13 2006, 06:04 PM:name=macunaima)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(macunaima @ Mar 13 2006, 06:04 PM) [snapback]131798[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
I guess the most likely possibility is that he did it when withdrawing from Kuwait in 1991. I know he set fire to most of the Kuwaiti oil fields; I didn't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if he also dumped a shitload of it into the gulf. What's a few hundred thousand dead fish and a destroyed ecosystem when you can give the Americans a little more work?
[/quote]

Yes, it was exactly the same as setting fire to the oil fields. Some was burnt, some was dumped, it was a matter of what was easier where. It was the worst disaster that ever happened to the Persian Gulf.

As for the next question, I'd say it's first come first serve.
 
Out of these four movies that Bill Paxton starred in, which one of Bill's characters differs from the rest? And why?

Aliens
Predator 2
Twister
Near Dark

There's a Vlad Tepes demo in the post for you if you can get the answer. [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":P\" border=\"0\" alt=\"tongue.gif\" /]
 
[!--quoteo(post=131808:date=Mar 13 2006, 06:18 PM:name=Black Dragon)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Black Dragon @ Mar 13 2006, 06:18 PM) [snapback]131808[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Out of these four movies that Bill Paxton starred in, which one of Bill's characters differs from the rest? And why?

Aliens
Predator 2
Twister
Near Dark

There's a Vlad Tepes demo in the post for you if you can get the answer. [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":P\" border=\"0\" alt=\"tongue.gif\" /]
[/quote]
Was it something to do with the way (or by what) his character was killed?
An extra terrestrial being killed his character in Predator 2 and Aliens, Near Dark was about Vampires, maybe a vampire was his slayer (not sure, no very little about this film as I have not seen it).

In Twister, he remains intact for the duration of the movie, so was it to do with been killed by creatures that are not of this earth (if you see what I mean)? ::
 
Aliens, Predator 2 and Near Dark all deal with fabled creatures, which cannot be prooven to exist or not, but Twister is about a natural disaster, which happens and people see and know that it exists
 
[!--quoteo(post=131933:date=Mar 14 2006, 09:10 AM:name=Black Ace)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Black Ace @ Mar 14 2006, 09:10 AM) [snapback]131933[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Aliens, Predator 2 and Near Dark all deal with fabled creatures, which cannot be prooven to exist or not, but Twister is about a natural disaster, which happens and people see and know that it exists
[/quote]


That may be true, but it isn't a difference in the Bill Paxton character.

Here's my guess: in Twister he's a fucking nut-case chasing tornados around. In the others, he's just shit-out-of-luck and get's chased by ugly supernatural-alien-types. [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":D\" border=\"0\" alt=\"biggrin.gif\" /]
 
In Twister, he has to deal with a stupid love triangle as well as other threats.
 
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