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[Mongrel]

My own relatives aren't famous or wildly wealthy, but they're prosperous, healthy, decent-enough looking, fairly kind, and (to all outward appearances) sane. My brother and I are the bad seeds of a failed genetic experiment, but they don't seem to hold that against us. Spending time with them (which is too infrequent given how far away they are) is strange... like being trapped in an episode of the Andy Griffith show. I have to keep reminding myself that people like that really do exist.

Now, my old schoolmates on the other hand, THAT'S a closer analogue. Most of them are internationally-renowned doctors, urban planners, architects, financiers, etc.  in places like New York, LA, Berkeley, London and so on. But I don't really have to talk to them, so it's not as bad as what DN is getting.

[Mongrel]

”During the filming of some scenes for The Princess Bride, the weather became markedly cold for Robin Wright Penn. Andre the Giant helped her by placing one of his hands over her head; his hands were so large that one would entirely cover the top of her head, keeping her warm.”

[Büge]

He also helped Wallace Shawn overcome his fear of heights.

Princess Bride - On the Cliffs Of Insanity

[A²]

That SwifteRock wasn't cut from Legend of Mana, but is legit obtainable in the JP version if you have a PocketStation

[Lottel]

"One Norwegian fairy tale had an extremely well endowed male character searching for a bride, no easy task considering his size. He finally found one and they decided to get married. Some time before the wedding they had a party, but they didn't have enough places for people to sit. The man unzipped his trousers and rolled out his member for people to use as a bench. When the bride to be entered the room, the man instantly got an erection, throwing the people who were using it as a bench into the roof, breaking their necks."

[François]

Wow. I suppose you don't get in Valhalla for being thrown off a guy's dick, so double whammy right there.

[Büge]

I learned that the reason American beer sucks so much is from the one-two punch of Prohibition and World War II. Prohibition shut down breweries and forced speakeasies to water down their product to get more life out of it, and WWII put much of the beer-making resources (barley, yeast, good growing soil) towards feeding civilians and troops.

[Kashan]

Well, before prohibition American's actually didn't drink all that much beer outside of strongly German areas. We mostly drank hard liquor and hard cider. Beer actually became the dominant drink in America as a result of the fact that when prohibition was ending 3.2% alcohol was legalized before stronger alcohol, which gave beer a heads up on everything else.

[Brentai]

In Mexico, Prodigy Internet is the main ISP with an estimated 92% of market share. It is also the leader in WiFi (hotspots) and broadband (DSL) access.

Mexican nerds are the best nostalginauts.

[Thad]

I learned that the reason American beer sucks so much is from the one-two punch of Prohibition and World War II. Prohibition shut down breweries and forced speakeasies to water down their product to get more life out of it, and WWII put much of the beer-making resources (barley, yeast, good growing soil) towards feeding civilians and troops.

Anchor Steam is the only American style of beer to survive Prohibition; the rest of the recipes were lost.

[JDigital]

Why did your country ever ban alcohol, anyway?

[Ziiro]

It was a large combination of factors for years beforehand actually.

I actually wish I could give you a TLDR but I can't. Someone else better versed in that area of history I'm sure will chime in though.

[Büge]

Why did your country ever ban alcohol, anyway?

You're joking, right? We're talking about a nation that gave the world Mormonism, Southern Baptists and Joe McCarthy.

[Thad]

Blaming it all on fundamentalists is convenient but reductivist.  It actually had huge support from the suffragettes -- seems that in addition to wanting to vote, women generally wanted their husbands to stop getting drunk and beating them, too.

Also, like most government intrusions into people's personal lives, it was justified by war, patriotism, and a rabid hatred of immigrants.

[Büge]

Blaming it all on fundamentalists is convenient but reductivist.  It actually had huge support from the suffragettes -- seems that in addition to wanting to vote, women generally wanted their husbands to stop getting drunk and beating them, too.

Also, like most government intrusions into people's personal lives, it was justified by war, patriotism, and a rabid hatred of anyone not white.

In a backlash to the new emerging realities of the American demographic, many prohibitionists subscribed to the doctrine of “nativism” in which they endorsed the notion that America was made great as a result of its white Anglo-Saxon ancestry.

[Mongrel]

The way I look at it, substance abuse had been a big problem for hundreds of countries for centuries (if not millenia). Somebody had to try the obvious-crazy option sooner or later and who better for that than Americans? 

[Thad]

Also, like most government intrusions into people's personal lives, it was justified by war, patriotism, and a rabid hatred of anyone not white.

Right, that's what I meant.

Alcohol consumption was primarily associated with non-whites.

Like the Irish and the Germans.

The way I look at it, substance abuse had been a big problem for hundreds of countries for centuries (if not millenia). Somebody had to try the obvious-crazy option sooner or later and who better for that than Americans?

I really doubt we were the first to do it.

[Classic]

Well, the Irish and the Germans aren't TRUE white people. They're not Anglo-Saxon.

[Mongrel]

Also, like most government intrusions into people's personal lives, it was justified by war, patriotism, and a rabid hatred of anyone not white.

Right, that's what I meant.

Alcohol consumption was primarily associated with non-whites.

Like the Irish and the Germans.

The way I look at it, substance abuse had been a big problem for hundreds of countries for centuries (if not millenia). Somebody had to try the obvious-crazy option sooner or later and who better for that than Americans?

I really doubt we were the first to do it.

Well, in the modern nation-state era (most specifically, after the rise of modern police forces). Yeah, there lots of local bans, or religious proscriptions against it in many previous times and places.

[Büge]

Today I learned that Jack Kirby did costume design for a production of Julius Caesar.