Fact of the day thread

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Londoners in the 1600s were advised to keep "fart jars"—consisting of trapped fart odors—on hand to combat bubonic plague. The idea was that the potent smell would somehow purify the air.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. In 1997, a woman from Louisville left actor Charles Bronson all of her money in a handwritten will—a total of about $300,000. She'd never met him; she was just a fan.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Christopher Walken worked as a lion tamer in his youth.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Night of the Living Dead director George A. Romero got his start making short films for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Before earning a living as a writer, Octavia E. Butler once worked as a potato chip inspector.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. In 2009, a team of scientists searched Scotland’s Loch Ness for evidence of Nessie. They did not find the monster, but they did recover more than 100,000 golf balls.

 

[Pete]

Today's fact. Over the course of her sixty-three-year reign, Queen Victoria survived eight assassination attempts.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. In a study by the Smell and Taste Treatment Research Foundation, the scent women found most arousing was Good & Plenty candy mixed with cucumber. I’m going to start buying cucumbers by the pounds.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. The term “lawn mullet” means having a neatly manicured front yard and an unmowed mess in the back.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Bangladesh has six seasons: Grishmo (summer), Borsha (rainy), Shorot (fall), Hemanta (cool), Sheet (winter), and Boshanto (spring).

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. When a man allegedly found a dead mouse in his can of Mountain Dew, Pepsi had an expert claim in an affidavit that the drink was so acidic it would have dissolved the mouse after 30 days.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. In 1953, Swanson had 260 tons of frozen turkey leftover after Thanksgiving, so they packaged them into trays with peas and potatoes, and the TV Dinner was born.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. 30 Rock was known for its fast-paced writing. In 2014, one reporter calculated that there was an average of 7.44 jokes per minute.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact which I agree with. According to a 2017 survey, "whatever" tops the list of words Americans find most annoying for the ninth year in a row.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. The Margherita pizza was named after Margherita of Savoy, Queen consort of Italy from 1878 to 1900.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Paraskavedekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Casting for Quentin Tarantino’s 'Jackie Brown' was partly done by Jaki Brown, and Lee Daniel’s 'The Butler' was cast by Leah Daniels-Butler.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. During WWI, German measles were called "liberty measles" and dachshunds became "liberty hounds."

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Caribbean sperm whales have their own accents.

 

[Pete]

Today’s fact. Kea parrots spread warbles when they’re in a good mood, making them the first known non-mammal species to communicate with infectious laughter.