Humanities desk
< August 17	<< Jul \| August \| Sep >>	August 19 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

August 18

any idea why "May you live in interesting times" is trending this week?

The article May you live in interesting times got 368,673 views this week. And I can't find a reason why. I thought maybe I might try asking here. Any ideas? Serendi ^pod ous 10:32, 18 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Often, this kind of thing can happen when something is mentioned in a popular news source. Searching news.google, this is the only recent hit with that exact phrase: [1]. Not exactly convincing for generating >350k views on it's own though. You could also try searching facebook or twitter. If e.g. George Takei said this phrase on his facebook, that alone could account for the pageviews. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:44, 19 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It only had 9,712 in the previous month. Since you've posted the question, it's gotten 25,252 more. Interesting times (and numbers) indeed, but no idea why. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:44, 19 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Might be this. I don't understand why xkcd is popular on the Internet, but it is. Doesn't contain the exact phrase, but shows up as 7th result for a This Week exact-phrase Google search. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:48, 19 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This 3rd result from August 16 is also a strong (probably stronger) candidate. Astrology is wildly popular, as well, for some reason. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:57, 19 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I recall hearing it in an American TV show I watched this week, although since I am already familiar with the saying and barely took notice of it, I don't remember which show. It may have been NCIS Los Angeles but that's just a guess based on what I've watched this week. Maybe that has caused the surge in searches.--William Thweatt ^Talk^Contribs 04:43, 20 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Relationship between Presidents Johnson and Reagan

I wrote a longer report upon the political differences of the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson. I found out that while Reagan was in the White House, Johnson was long dead, but Reagan became Governor of California while Johnson was president. So Reagan was chief executive of a very imporanant state with the highest population. It would be interesting now to analyze their relationship during those years. What did they say about each other? Did they critize each other publicly and privately? How was their relationship? --78.51.75.169 (talk) 17:19, 18 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

According to this, Reagan didn't support Johnson's presidency in relation to the conduct of the Vietnam war at least. - Ka renjc 22:21, 18 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Gisela of Hungary at coronation of Saint Stephen

Was Gisela of Hungary in attendance during coronation of Stephen I of Hungary? I don't think she was crowned but was she allowed to watch the ceremony.--The Emperor's New Spy (talk) 21:59, 18 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]