• Announcements

    • Robin

      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!

Pharaoh RutinTutin

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    6,181

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    270

Posts posted by Pharaoh RutinTutin

  2. Posted

    June 20

    451 – Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.  Julius Caesar or Hadrian would not have called a stalemate where the enemy leader escapes a "Victory".  Things just aren't what they used to be in the old legion.

    1837 – Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.  Rumor has it that King William IV hated Victoria's mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, so much that he refused to die until after Alexandra Victoria turned eighteen.  Just so Princes Victoria could not make herself Regent for her daughter even briefly.

    1893 – Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.  Let this be a lesson to future prosecutors,  you need more than a snappy poem to make a jury convict.  Also, Lizzie Borden's defense attorney was the former Governor of Massachusetts who had earlier appointed the judge who presided over the case.

    1895 – The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.  Because who really wants to deal with Norway, Sweden, and Denmark just to go in and out of the Baltic?

    1931 – Birth of Olympia Dukakis, American actress.  In 1988, she would be nominated for an Oscar and her cousin would be nominated for the Presidency of the United States.  Only one would win.

    1944 – The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.  This was followed by...

    1945 – The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.  So much could be said, but Tom Lehrer said it best.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDEsGZLbio

    1975 – The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".  The movie only made so much money because people were afraid to go to the beaches for completely unrelated reasons.

    2003 – The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Among other things, they make it possible for frustrated comedians to look passably clever when posting items to This Date In History threads.

  3. Posted

    So everybody did the wrong thing.
    But they did it with good intentions, or honestly had no idea what to do, so it's all ok.

    That sounds very nice.  Almost a Disney or Sit-Com ending.

    And all things considered, it wouldn't do much good for Ellen to remain resentful or angry at her friends, neighbors, and relatives for being confused and clumsy back then.

    However...

    Next comic - Ellen doesn't just drop the other shoe.  She drops the entire Prada werehouse.

  7. Posted

    June 19

    325 – The original Nicene Creed was presented at the First Council of Nicaea.  This is what Christians believe.  Case closed.  No need to argue the details after this.

    1269 – King Louis IX of France orders all Jews found in public without an identifying yellow badge to be fined ten livres of silver.  Is this supposed to be historical precedent to justify certain actions of a later Austrian Corporal?

    1865 – Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 41 other contiguous states as Juneteenth.  More than two years to deliver a message?  It's almost like the government and newspapers in the seceding states were deliberately avoiding getting Lincoln's message to the public.

    1867 – Maximilian I of the Second Mexican Empire is executed by a firing squad in Querétaro, Querétaro.  Ask any Caesar or Augustus you might meet.  This sort of thing is an occupational hazard for Emperors.

    1903 – Benito Mussolini, then a radical Socialist, arrested by Bern police for advocating a violent general strike.  WHY DID THEY LET HIM GO?

    1978 – Garfield, holder of the Guinness World Record for the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut.  Of course it is on a Monday.

    1979 – W.T. Rabe, at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan, creates World Sauntering Day.  This is in response to the growing insanity/popularity of jogging.

    1991 – The Soviet occupation of Hungary ends.  It is difficult for one country to occupy a second country when the first country itself no longer exists.

  9. Posted

    June 18

    618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China.  The Soviets may have launched  Sputnik.  The Americans may have gone to the Moon.  But this much Tang means China was the real early leader of the Space Race.

    1178 – Five Canterbury monks see what is possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon's distance from the Earth (on the order of meters) are a result of this collision.  Amazing that the monks at Canterbury were able to see something happen on the moon, yet no one at Canterbury was able to tell if the 1170 assassination of Thomas à Becket was actually ordered by King Henry II.

    1778 – American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia.  They got in one little fight and mom got scared.  She said 'You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air'.

    1815 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.  Just an example of the unfairness of politics.  Louis Capet stuck his neck out for France, and he never got a second chance at the throne.

    1858 – Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.  Nice theory, Alfred.  Amazing how it matches a theory I already had on my own but had not yet published.

    1900 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families.  Later politicians in many countries attempt to make the same populist appeal, but their attempts seem half hearted at best.

  10. Posted

    Mr Dunkel obviously has the Dick Clark curse where an adult male must put great effort into his appearance each day to look mature.  Otherwise, he looks like he never outgrew adolescence.

    Many men live with a similar curse where they may physically look their age, but must expend great effort to keep from acting like they never outgrew adolescence.

    ijuin reacted to this

  13. Posted

    June 17

    653 – Pope Martin I is arrested in the Lateran Palace before being taken to Constantinople and tried for high treason.  The man had the audacity to get himself elected as Pope by the Cardinals without also getting permission from the Byzantine Emperor.

    1397 – The Kalmar Union is formed under the rule of Margaret I of Denmark.  I'm sure these Nordic neighbors will get along famously as a single country.

    1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack at Târgovişte), forcing him to retreat from Wallachia.  I don't know why Vlad didn't change into a bat to pursue him before he escaped.

    1579 – Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.  He wouldn't want it if he knew what the locals would do with it.

    1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.  It's nice, but kind of fragile looking when compared to a pyramid.

    1944 – Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic.  Can you really declare yourself "Independent" when the American Army is occupying your country while the Nazi German Army is occupying the country from which you are declaring your independence?

    1960 – The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty.  Another 57 cents/acre 97 years later is certainly sufficient compensation.

    1972 – Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.  As an old coach once said "If you think you need to cheat to win, you think you can't win".

  14. Posted

    This is scary

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-goal-fans-celebrate-earthquake-seismic-activity-fifa-world-cup-2018/

    Apparently, fans in Mexico City celebrated the win over Germany so intensely that it was detectable as a seismic event.

    What will happen if Mexico actually wins the tournament?
    Could they generate an earthquake that would trigger a tsunami in the Gulf of Mexico?
    My neighbors and I in Florida have some concerns.

  15. Posted

    I wonder if the world Magus is from, which uses "magic", may not have developed physics beyond the era of Newton?

    Newtonian physics very useful for your day to day issues involving matter and energy a human scale.  But if this is a society that embraces "magic", would they make the leaps into relativity and quantum mechanics?  Much of our electronics is dependent upon Quantum principles.

    And no.  I do not insist that the home world for Magus must be some sort of gas lit, smoggy, soot covered, Victorian steampunk movie set where everyone on the street has some sort of magic item and speaks with a Cockney accent even if they aren't in London.

    I don't insist on it.

    But c'mon... what else could it be?

  17. Posted

    The first time Elliot, as a female, touched the diamond, Ellen emerged wearing an exact duplicate of what Elliot was wearing.

    When Magus, in Elliot's body, touched the diamond several different things happened.
    Elliot's body was duplicated, with a different hair colour.
    Elliot's clothes were duplicated, in different colours.

    Would Elliot's wallet have been duplicated?
    If so, would the duplicated versions of Elliot's driver license and ATM card have been sufficiently accurate for ordinary commerce (like providing passable ID for an eighteen year old kid who wants to check into a nice hotel paying cash)?

  18. Posted

    The best laid plans and all that...

    Magus doesn't plan to be in this reality for a moment longer than absolutely necessary.  And chances are good that cash and credit cards from the EGS side of reality won't be negotiable instruments in Magus's home universe.

    So regardless of how much he took from Sirleck's estate, Magus may be spending freely, making it look like he has more money because he has no reason to save anything.

    And if he were to try to take it with him?
    First, what could he buy in the main EGS world that would be equally or more valuable in his home world?
    Next, how much can he carry while making the transfer?

    Does he actually know how to get back to his home world?
    If not, does he know someone who can help him get back to his home world?
    And is there still something for him to do in the main EGS world that he considers "necessary" before returning home?

    I know the last set of questions has been asked several times before.  But they are worth repeating in relation to the other questions.

  20. Posted

    June 16

    1586 – Mary, Queen of Scots, recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir and successor.  To bad for Phill that no one else with any political power in Britain recognized that plan.  Rumor has it that he wound up as the overnight attendant at a gas station in the American Midwest.

    1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: New England colonial troops under the command of William Pepperrell capture the Fortress of Louisbourg in Louisbourg, New France (Old Style date).  Really just interesting to note how Britain was incredibly late to adopt the Gregorian Calendar that the rest of Europe was using.  And if Britain had switched after the American Revolution, we would probably still be using the Julian Calendar in the United States.

    1871 – The University Tests Act allows students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests (except for those intending to study theology).  The far stricter tests for social class and financial aptitude remain.

    1884 – The first purpose-built roller coaster, LaMarcus Adna Thompson's "Switchback Railway", opens in New York's Coney Island amusement park.  Note the designation "Purpose-Built". There had been plenty of wild downhill train rides in the past, but none of those were intended to be thrilling.

    1911 – IBM founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.  It barely looked like the tool for world domination at that point.

    1940 – Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Chief of State of Vichy France (Chef de l'État Français), and in the process goes from being one of the great heroes of a nation to being one of the most hated men in history.  Sometimes you should decline that offer for a promotion or a new job.

    1961 – Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union as part of an elaborate plan to one day dance Swine Lake and sing Baby It's Cold Outside with Miss Piggy on the Muppet Show.

    1963 – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space on the Vostok 6 Mission.  No more women would travel to space until Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982 and Sally Ride in 1983.  Perhaps someone with a more thorough aeronautical background can explain why women were not suitable for space flight?

    2007 – West Sussex County Council officially recognizes St Richard's Day as Sussex Day.  What will happen now that there is a Duke of Sussex for the first time in 175 years and a Duchess of Sussex for the first time in ever?

  21. Posted

    22 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

    that makes sense and could be interesting plot point ...

    The idea that there are large amounts of money being held by banks and similar institutions for deceased depositors, with no way for potential heirs to claim those accounts, is a real concern that is so frequently overused in fiction that it makes legitimate claimants look like characters from made-for-TV movies.

  25. Posted

    Any hotel that features an interior corridor and has room service almost always requires some sort of identification and major credit card to check in.

    There is more than cash in the estate of Sirleck.  Will the appropriate agencies be looking in the right direction when Magus swipes that card?