April | 2011 | Still Got It

Trixie: I wouldn’t do that if I were you!
Junior: If I were you, I wouldn’t do a lot of things, like go out in public.

The Heart of Rock n’ Roll is in Cleveland

… and the award for Most Valuable Wikipedia-Page I stumbled into this Evening goes to… Tycho Brahe!… The best parts, as chosen by me…

Tycho’s nose

While studying at University of Rostock in Germany, on 29 December 1566 Tycho lost part of his nose in a duel against fellow Danish nobleman Manderup Parsbjerg. The duel (which took place in the dark) resulted in Tycho losing the bridge of his nose. For the rest of his life, he was said to have worn a replacement made of silver and gold, using a paste to keep it attached.

Tycho’s Elk (Moose)

Tycho was said to own one percent of the entire wealth of Denmark at one point in the 1580s and he often held large social gatherings in his castle. He kept a dwarf named Jepp (whom Tycho believed to be clairvoyant) as a court jester who sat under the table during dinner. Pierre Gassendi wrote that Tycho also had a tame elk (moose)… the elk died on a visit to entertain a nobleman at Landskrona. Apparently during dinnerthe elk had drunk a lot of beer, fallen down the stairs, and died.

Death

Tycho suddenly contracted a bladder or kidney ailment after attending a banquet in Prague, and died eleven days later, on 24 October 1601. According to Kepler’s first hand account, Tycho had refused to leave the banquet to relieve himself because it would have been a breach of etiquette.After he had returned home he was no longer able to urinate, except, eventually, in very small quantities and with excruciating pain. The night before he died he suffered from a delirium during which he was frequently heard to exclaim that he hoped he would not seem to have lived in vain.