Recite a sequence by heart!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Rollo, William Longsword, Richard I, Richard II, William the Conqueror, Robert Curthose, William Rufus, etc.

The early dukes of Normandy.

Edward the Confessor, William I, William Rufus, Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, Richard I, John, etc.

The kings of England.

Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius (Caligula), Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan…

100 years of Roman Emperors.

andra moi ennepe, mousa, polutropon+, hos mala polla
planchthê, epei Troiês hieron ptoliethron epersen:
pollôn d’ anthrôpôn iden astea kai noon egnô,
polla d’ ho g’ en pontôi pathen algea hon kata thumon,
arnumenos hên te psuchên kai noston hetairôn.
all’ oud’ hôs hetarous errusato, hiemenos per:
autôn gar spheterêisin atasthaliêisin olonto,
nêpioi, hoi kata bous Huperionos Êelioio
êsthion: autar ho toisin apheileto nostimon êmar.
tôn hamothen ge, thea, thugater Dios, eipe kai hêmin.

The first ten lines of the Odyssey.

Dies irae, dies illa
solvet saeclum, in favilla
teste david cum sybilla

quantus tremor est futurus
quando iudex est venturus
cuncta stricte discusurus

tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulchra regionum
coget omnes ante thronum…

It goes on for another 15 verses or so. I know them all.

Dies Irae, by Thomas of Celano, c. 1215.

Just thinking of that opens the floodgates of poetry…don’t even get me started with more poetry. You all get the idea. It’s amazing I have enough room left to speak English.

22

Speaking of poetry, I memorized Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” at some point. It was harder than I thought, but here it is:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought –
So rested he by the Tumtum tree.
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

-Lewis Carroll

23

Poezd’ pribyl - nakonechnaia stantsiya, Primorskaya.
Ostorozhno, dveri zakryvaiutsa!

Names of U.S. Presidents. Pssh, big deal.

George Washington 1789 - 1797 Grover Cleveland 1885-1889
John Adams 1797 - 1801 Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893
Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809 Grover Cleveland 1893-1897
James Madison 1809-1817 William McKinley 1897-1901
James Monroe 1817-1825 Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909
John Quincy Adams 1825-1829 William Howard Taft 1909-1913
Andrew Jackson 1829-1837 Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921
Martin Van Buren 1836-1841 Warren Gamaliel Harding 1921-1923
William Henry Harrison 1841 Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929
John Tyler 1841-1845 Herbert Hoover 1929-1933
James Knox Polk 1845-1849 Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945
Zachary Taylor 1849-1850 Harry S Truman 1945-1953
Millard Fillmore 1850-1853 Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
Franklin Pierce 1853-1857 John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961-1963
James Buchanan 1857-1861 Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969
Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 Richard Milhous Nixon 1969-1974
Andrew Johnson 1865-1869 Gerald Rudolph Ford 1974-1977
Ulysses Simpson Grant 1869-1877 James Earl Carter, Jr. 1977-1981
Rutherford Birchall Hayes 1877-1881 Ronald Wilson Reagan 1981-1989
James Abram Garfield 1881 George Herbert Walker Bush 1989-1993
Chester Alan Arthur 1881-1885 William Jefferson Clinton 1993-2001

and, of course, George Walker Bush 2001.

Sorry it’s a mess - can’t get the code to work right.

Hwaet! We gar-dena in geardagum
Theodcyninga thrym gefrunon
Hu tha aethelingas ellen fremedon…

first three lines of Beowulf.

24

**The geologic time scale: **

Phanerozoic Eon

Cenozoic Era
Quaternary Period
Holocene Epoch
Pleistocene Epoch
Tertiary Period
Pliocene Epoch
Miocene Epoch
Oligocene Epoch
Eocene Epoch
Paleocene Epoch

Mesozoic Era
Cretaceous Period
Jurassic Period
Triassic Period

Paleozoic Era
Permian Period
Carboniferous Period
Pennsylvanian Period
Mississippian Period
Devonian Period
Silurian Period
Ordovician Period
Cambrian Period

Precambrian Time

Proterozoic Era
Vendian Period

Archaean Era
Hadean Time

(Ok so it makes more sense if you see it diagrammed out with the corresponding time periods. I had to do that on every geology test I took for 2 years in college.)

New England prehistoric timeline (where BP=years before 1950):
Paleoindian 12,000-9,000 years BP
Early Archaic 9,000-7,000 years BP
Middle Archaic 7,000-5,000 years BP
Late Archaic 5,000-3,400 years BP
Early Woodland 3,400-2,000 years BP
Middle Woodland 2,000-1,200 years BP
Late Woodland 1,200-350 years BP
Contact 350-250 years BP

I’d give you the New England projectile points typology, but you’d all die of boredom… I think archaeology Latin for “the science of memorizing lots of stuff”.

25

Alternately,

Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts, Buy Vodka Gin & Whiskey.

26

I Don’t Play Loud Music After Lunch.

The greek modes: Ionian Dorian Phrygian Lydian Mixolydian Aeolian Locrian.

In a comparative negligence state, in any accident, each individual will be assessed a percentage of negligence based on their contribution to the causation of the accident, balanced against their attempts to avoid the accident once it became apparent that an accident was likely to occur.

Sean Connery, David Niven/Woody Allen (and a host of others), George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan.

27

You guys are incredible. The only thing I remember is a little French, and I’m sure they’re mispelled…

un deux trois quatre cinq sept huit neuf dix onze deuze treize quatorze cinze seize dix-sept dix-huit dix-neuf
vingt vingt-et-un vingt-et-deux vingt-trois etc.
trente
quarante
cinquante
soizante
soizante-et-neuf is as high as I can go…

69! Hah!

28

Yes, there is, Steve! I think I just fell in love with you ;).

As for myself, sooo mundane … Two allbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsona sesameseedbun. Hmmph. I even knew it backwards at one time, like in the commercial.

29

HEATHEN! MAY WE BURN HIM?? :smiley:

30

(transferred to modern English cognates because I’m never going to spell it properly in middle English. Rest assured I’m hearing it in my mind in the langue de Chaucer…)

When that April with his showers sweet
The drought of March hath pierced to the root
And bathed every vein in such liquor
Of which virtue engendered is the flower
When Zephyrus eke with his sweet breath
Inspired hath in every holt and heath
The tender crops, and the young sun
Hath in the Ram his half-course yrun,
And small fowls make melody
That sleep all the night with open eye,
So pricketh them Nature in their courages,
Then long folk to go on pilgrimages,
And palmers for to seek strange strands,
To foreign hallows, couth in sundry lands,
And specially from every shire’s end
In England to Canterbury they wend,
The holy blissful martyr for to seek
That them hath helped when that they were sick.

(On checking, I find I only missed two words the first time through… yay!)

31

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love
I and my Annabel Lee.
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this is the reason that long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee.
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes! That was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we.
Of many far wiser than we.
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
And so, all the night tide, I lay down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Exactly how memorizing Poe was supposed to prepare me for college I’m not sure, but it by-gods stuck, eh?

I can do most of Lenore, too, but I’ve tortured you enough for one day.

32

-No please no, not tonight, please, no mister,
Can’t you go, no, I can’t have a scene -
-What!
-No you, no please, hello, sir!
I said no, important customer -
-What am I, just a blur?
-You sit all night, you never buy -
-That’s a lie, that’s a lie!
I had a tea the other day -
-You couldn’t pay!
-Oh yeah…
-Benjamin Coffin the Third, here?
-Oh, no.
-WINE AND BEER!
-The enemy of avenue A - we’ll stay.
-Oy vey.
-What brings a mogul in his own mind to the Life Café?
-I would like to propose a toast to Maureen’s noble try.
It went well.
-Go to hell.
-Was the yuppie scum stomped?
Not counting the homeless, how many tickets weren’t comp’ed?
-Why did Muffy -
-ALISON.
-miss the show?
-There was a death in the family if you must know.
-Who died?
-Our Akita.
-EVITA.
-Mimi! I’m surprised! A bright and charming girl like you
Hangs out with these slackers, who don’t adhere to deals.
They make fun, yet I am the one
Attempting to do some good.
Or do you really want a neighbourhood
Where people piss on your stoop every night?
Bohemia, Bohemia, it’s a fallacy in your head:
This is Calcutta; Bohemia - is - dead.

Dearly beloved, we gather here to say our goodbyes.
Here she lies, no-one knew her worth,
The late great daughter of Mother Earth,
On this night when we celebrate the birth
In that little town of Bethlehem,
We raise our glass - you bet your ass -
To La Vie Bohème.

To days of inspiration, playing hooky, making something out of nothing…

Here it occurs to me that this is probably all copyrighted, so I’ll just cut it off here. I can’t believe I know an entire sequence for a musical I’ve never even seen, I’m such a faggot.

33

Why are fire trucks red?
Because book are read too.
Two and two are four.
Four times three is twelve.
Twelve inches make a ruler.
Queen Mary was a ruler.
Queen Mary was a ship.
All ships sail on seas.
All seas have fish.
All fish have fins.
The Finns were fighting the Russians.
And firemen are always rushin’.

I have my father to thank for filling premium space in my brain with this.

34

OK, since someone else did the Greek alphabet (and the same way I would have–all run together)…
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel (I Kings), II Samuel (II Kings), I Kings (III Kings), II Kings (IV Kings), I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther,
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiates, Song of Solomon (Song of Songs),
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

and

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John, Jude, Revelation.

Too easy? Not obscure enough? Well, after writing it, I did check myself on Zechariah/Zephaniah. But I was right.

And since Biggirl introduced a choplogic, I’ll do the one I remember:

Proof that there is life after death.
After death there comes a mourning.
After morning comes the night.
Just past the knight stands the bishop.
Over the bishop there is the Pope.
The Pope has very serious convictions.
After a very serious conviction, you get life.
Therefore, there is life after death.

35

This is so lame…

Fraud history,payment history,payemnt info,previous addresses,memos,unbilled transactions,last three statements,fraud score,credit bureau score and general account info.
Fraud review I do on every call I get at work.
Doric,Ionic,Corinthian.

Classes of Greek Columns.
Jody Davis-c,Leon Durham-1b,Ryne Sandberg-2b,Larry Bowa-ss, Ron Cey-3b,Gary Matthews-lf,Bob Dernier-cf,Keith Moreland-rf.

Lineup of the 1984 Chicago Cubs. (but the the batting order. Only Crunchy Frog would know that, and for the Cards)

36

Hear the sledges with the bells–silver bells
What a world of merryment their melody foretells
How they tinkle tinkle tinkle tinkle in the icy air of night
While the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight
Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of rhunic rhyme
To the tintinabulation that so musically wells
From the bells bells bells bells bells bells bells
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells

[from 9th grade english. I’m not sure about the line breaks.]

I’ve considered typing out the poem we memorized in French, but my spelling’s atrocious. But it’s all there…complete with the awful hand motions the teacher would do…

I’ve got the Fibonacci numbers, too…but mine get interupted:
1,1,2,3,5[eureka!],8,13,21,33… [the power of MathNet… :)]

Kings Hate Dogs Usually Despsing Cats More
Kilo-Hecto-Deca-Unit Deci-Centi-Milli-

I’m SURE there’s more floating around here…and if song lyrics count, I could fill pages…

37 

Gratefully they evade the halflight
rising for me, on the frosty abyss.
Rub your fingers with chalk and
grass, linctus over the ankle, now TV with
the sound off & frame hold in
reason beyond that.  Paste.  Thereby take
the foretaste of style, going naked
wherever commanded, by
                  the father struck
                  in the plain.  His
                  wavy boots glow
                  as he matches
                  the headboard.
Do not love this man.  He makes
Fridays unbearable, with the
ominous dullness of the gateway
to the Spanish garden. His
herb-set teeth are impossible,
tropic to R.E.M. and the white doll.
....

That’s all I can quote from memory (it goes on for another 3 pages). I typed this in & then with the book in hand went back & fixed the linebreaks & a couple punctuation marks, which of course I couldn’t remember. It’s the opening to J.H. Prynne’s “The Bee Target on His Shoulder”, one of the strangest poems I know. When my 3-year-old is behaving badly I start reciting it to her, which flips her out–“not POET’Y!”

I like strange poetry.

38

Terra, Giga, Mega… …mikro, nano, piko, femto, atto

Can anyone do this one all the way from 10[sup]24[/sup] to 10[sup]-24[/sup]?

39

My contribution just pales in comparison to some of these. But here goes:

All the “linking” verbs in English, as told to me in sixth grade:

be, am, is, are, was, were, has, have, had, do, did, does, may, might, must, can, could, should, would, shall, will.

Interestingly, the goal was to be able to recite them all in under 30 seconds. Now when I try to recall them, I have to say them to myself quickly. Trying to type them out slowly, I lose count.

40

In addition to having us memorize these:

my seventh grade English teacher made us memorize all the personal pronouns (in this order)

I, me, my, mine
you, your, yours
he, him, his
she, her, hers
it, its
we, us, our, ours
they, them, their, theirs

and in a different language, here are the indefinite and definite articles for German, in Nominativ, Accusativ, Dative, and Genetiv:

der die das die
den die das die
dem der dem den
des der des der

ein eine ein keine
einen eine ein keine
einem einer einem keinen
eines einer eines keiner

the pattern being RESE, NESE, MR. MN, SR SR