Thursday, April 24, 2014

Good morning crew,

I received some interesting answers to yesterday's trivia question about the third religious order of knights to come out of the crusades. They were not, as many of you guessed, the Knights who say, "Ni!"

Nor were they Cavaliers, Saracens (where did this come from?), Shriners, Boogie Knights, or Knights of Columbus.

So let's get on with the history lesson and find out who these mysterious figures were...

First were the Hospitallers, founded in 1113, who were later called Knights of Malta.

The Templars, founded in 1128, became the wealthiest and most powerful of the orders until they were prosecuted for heresy beginning in 1307. The Pope later dissolved their order and many of them became Hospitallers.

The third military order was, as many of you guessed, the Teutonic Knights, established in 1191. At first this was purely a religious order dedicated to providing aid and comfort for German soldiers and pilgrims in the Holy Land. It wasn't until 1198 that the Teutonic Knights became a military order.


So there you have it. Something to impress your friends with while you're hanging out at the bars this weekend. "Hey Larry, I bet you the next round of beers that you can't name me the three religious military orders established as a result of the crusades..."

Laugh it up,

Joe

joe@gophercentral.com

P.S. Did you miss an issue? You can read every issue from the Gophercentral library of newsletters on our exhaustive archives page. Thousands of issues, all of your favorite publications in chronological order. You can read AND comment. Just click GopherArchives

***
"A new report claims that posing with a dog in your online dating profile makes you more desirable - and posing with a cat means you're going to die alone." -Conan O'Brien

***
"According to a new survey, being a mathematician is the best job in America. So congratulations, nerds." -Craig Ferguson

***
"A new survey found that 81 percent of parents admit to stealing Easter candy from their children. While the other 19 percent of parents don't think it counts as stealing if you bought the candy in the first place." -Jimmy Fallon

***
Realizing that I'd put on a pound or two, I lamented to my husband, "I'm fat."

And right on cue he said what all good husbands must: "No you're not!" To support his position, he added, "Just take a look at some of the other women we know, and you'll see that you are not fat."

But our daughter, a high schooler, saw through it: "Mom, he's grading you on the curve!"


*-------------- Guaranteed to Roll Your Eyes --------------*
Physics 101

Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter: Eskimo Pi

2000 pounds of Chinese soup: Won ton

1 millionth of a mouthwash: 1 microscope

Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour: Knot-furlong

365.25 days of drinking low-calorie beer because it's less filling: 1 lite year

16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone: 1 Rod Serling

Half of a large intestine: 1 semicolon

1000 aches: 1 megahurtz

Basic unit of laryngitis: 1 hoarsepower

2000 mockingbirds: two kilomockingbirds

10 cards: 1 decacards

1 kilogram of falling figs: 1 Fig Newton

1000 grams of wet socks: 1 literhosen

1 millionth of a fish: 1 microfiche

1 trillion pins: 1 terrapin

10 rations: 1 decoration

8 nickels: 2 paradigms

2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital: 1 I.V. League