The 1927 White House Renovation and the Overdue Bill to the King of England
Calvin Coolidge, the 1927 White House renovation, and the deadpan joke that Britain should get the bill for damage dating back to the War of 1812.
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The Early Bird Gets the Worm … and the Cheese It Lives In
Read more: The Early Bird Gets the Worm … and the Cheese It Lives InCasu marzu is a type of cheese found mainly in Sardinia, Italy. It is distinctive in that it contains live maggots. The maggots — larvae of the cheese fly (Piophila casei), are translucent white worms about 0.3 inches (8 mm) long. When disturbed they tend to jump as much as six inches (15 cm) into the…
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Escape From POW Camp? It Might Be In the Cards
Read more: Escape From POW Camp? It Might Be In the CardsEscape maps were printed on Bicycle playing cards and distributed to Allied prisoners of war during World War II. The deck of cards was created specifically to help Allied prisoners of war escape from German POW camps. This deck of cards became known as the “map deck.” It was made by hiding maps of top-secret…
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Hair Today; Gone Tomorrow
Read more: Hair Today; Gone TomorrowPriests in ancient Egypt plucked every hair from their bodies, including eyebrows and eyelashes. source
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Ring Around the Rosie: A Cheery Children’s Rhyme About a Ghastly Cataclysm?
Read more: Ring Around the Rosie: A Cheery Children’s Rhyme About a Ghastly Cataclysm?“Ring Around the Rosie” first appeared in Mother Goose in 1881. However, the origin of the poem may actually rest with the original Black Death outbreak of the mid-fourteenth century. The Black Death struck Europe with a fury in 1347. The disease depopulated the world by at least 20% and killed between 30-60% of Europe’s…
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Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death
Read more: Give Me Coffee or Give Me DeathDrinking coffee in Turkey was against the law in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Those caught breaking the law were put to death. source
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Cleopatra and Ptolemy: Brotherly Love
Read more: Cleopatra and Ptolemy: Brotherly LoveCleopatra married her brother, Ptolemy XIII. She was 18 years old and he was 10 years old at the time. They married in keeping with the Egyptian tradition and served as co-regents. Not only were they far from affectionate toward each other, they actually fought a civil war against each other, attempting to claim sole…
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The Ultimate All-Male Retreat
Read more: The Ultimate All-Male RetreatIn the Greek monastery of Mount Athos, nothing female is allowed. Men can enter, but not women; roosters, but no hens; horses, but no mares, bulls, but no cows. The border is patrolled by armed guards to ensure that nothing feminine passes the gates. It has been this way ever since an official proclamation by…
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Rain? What’s That?
Read more: Rain? What’s That?In Calama, Chile, a town in the Atacama Desert, no rain fell for 400 years, from 1570 to 1971. source
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Creative Eccentricities
Read more: Creative EccentricitiesThey say that genius and eccentricity go together. Perhaps that’s why these creative geniuses required Rudyard Kipling would only write when he had black ink in his pen. Ludwig von Beethoven poured ice water over his head when he sat down to compose music, believing it stimulated his brain. Charles Dickens wrote (and slept) facing…
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Serve ‘Em Up Fast
Read more: Serve ‘Em Up FastAustralian tennis player Samuel Groth holds the record for the fastest serve in a game. He smacked a ball at 163 mph (263 km/hr) in an event in Busan, South Korea in May 2012. source
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Not the Hometown Favorite
Read more: Not the Hometown FavoriteFranklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States more often than any other person. Despite being elected four times, he failed to carry his home county, Dutchess County, New York, in any of the elections. source
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Robert Todd Lincoln: The Unlucky Witness to 3 Presidential Assassinations
Read more: Robert Todd Lincoln: The Unlucky Witness to 3 Presidential AssassinationsRobert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, witnessed the assassinations of three U.S. presidents—Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. Explore his eerie reputation as America’s unluckiest VIP guest.
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Blaise Pascal Made Child’s Play Out of Euclid’s Geometric Propositions
Read more: Blaise Pascal Made Child’s Play Out of Euclid’s Geometric PropositionsWhen he was a child, Blaise Pascal once locked himself in his room for several days and would not allow anyone to enter. When he emerged, he had figured out all of Euclid’s geometrical propositions totally on his own.
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The Little Man from Nuremberg
Read more: The Little Man from NurembergMatthew Buchinger (1674-1740) was known as “The Little Man of Nuremberg.” Buchinger was born without hands, legs, or thighs and was less than 29 inches tall.
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The Definition of a Second: Making Every Cesium 133 Atom Count
Read more: The Definition of a Second: Making Every Cesium 133 Atom CountWhat is the scientific definition of a second? Find out here.
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