Totally Useless (or not) Fact of the Day

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Since 1950, neither winners

nor heirs may sell their Oscar statuette
without offering to sell it back

to the Academy first for $1.

Sale! - Today only! - Useless Fact 10-pack! ...

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
...................................116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
..............................................Ecuador
3) From which animal do we get cat gut?
....................................Sheep and Horses
4) When do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
.............................November
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
............................................Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands are named after what animal?
........................ Dogs
7) What was King George VI's first name?
.........................................Albert
What color is a purple finch?
............................................. Crimson
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
.................................New Zealand
10) What color is the black box in a commercial airplane?
...............Bright Orange

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Soccer gave us the term "melee." It means a "confused mass," which was what the playing field looked like in Europe in the Middle Ages. Towns competed using teams of up to a hundred players, with the goals a half-mile or so apart!

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Some viewers of Gilligan's Island apparently took the television show seriously in the 1960s. The U.S. Coast Guard received several telegrams from concerned citizens asking why they didn't rescue the Minnow's crew.

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The tails of comets generally point away from the Sun whether the comet is approaching the sun or receding.

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In 18th century English gambling dens,
there was an employee whose only job
was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid.

The only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution is treason — Article III, Section 3.

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On a bingo card of 90 numbers,
there are approximately 44 million ways
to make B-I-N-G-O.

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A survey conducted at Iowa State College in 1969 suggests that a parent's stress at the time on conception plays a major role in determining a baby's sex. The child tends to be of the same sex as the parent who is under less stress.

Today's helpful hint for the kitchen:
To clean tarnished copper bottoms of pots and pans,
spread a little ketchup onto the bottom.
Let it sit for about one minute. Wipe it clean and rinse.

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On July 20, 1969, Neil A. Armstrong took the famous "small step" on the surface of the Moon. He was shortly joined by "Buzz" Aldrin. The two astronauts spent 21 hours on the lunar surface, then successfully docked with the command module Columbia, piloted by Michael Collins.

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In history today:
The Trans-Siberian Railway was officially completed
on July 21, 1904. The trip from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok is a journey of more than 6,200 miles from Moscow, or eight days of non-stop train travel.

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Libra the Scales is the only inanimate symbol in the zodiac.

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Columbus had three ships
on his first American exploration.
On his second expedition,
seventeen ships were under his command.

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July 21st ...
Influential French scientist and Jesuit Jean-Felix Picard (namesake of the Star Trek "Next Gen" character portrayed by actor Patrick Stewart) was born on this date in 1620. The astronomer Picard was the first person in the Enlightenment to measure of the size of the Earth with close accuracy.
A crater on the Moon was named in his honor in 1935.

JackRabbit wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
On a bingo card of 90 numbers,
there are approximately 44 million ways
to make B-I-N-G-O.

Wow!!! 44 million!! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

"Columbus had three ships
on his first American exploration."

I remember them! The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria!

Yuletide-named towns in the United States include
Santa Claus, located in Arizona and Indiana,
Noel in Missouri, and Christmas in both Arizona and Florida.

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The adjective "sesquipedalian" defines itself: it is used to describe the use of very long, or multi-syllabic, words.

Q: In golf, where did the term 'Caddie' come from?
A. When Mary, later Queen of Scots, went to France as a young girl (for education & survival), Louis, King of France, learned that she loved the Scot game 'golf.' So he had the first golf course outside of Scotland built for her enjoyment. To make sure she was properly chaperoned (and guarded)while she played, Louis hired cadets from a military school to accompany her. Mary liked this a lot and when she returned to Scotland (not a very good idea in the long run), she took the practice with her. In French, the word cadet is pronounced 'ca-day' and the Scots changed it into 'caddie.'
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John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third presidents of the U.S. both died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826. It was the 50th anniversary of the nation's independence.
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"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]",
supposedly said by a French princess upon learning that the peasants
had no bread. As brioche is a luxury bread enriched with eggs and
butter, it would reflect the princess's obliviousness to the nature of a
famine.
Although commonly attributed to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],^{[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]}
there is no record of these words ever having been uttered by her; they
first appear in [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'s [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
his putative autobiographical work (completed in 1769, when Marie
Antoinette was 13), where he wrote the following in Book 6:

Enfin je me rappelai le pis-aller d’une grande princesse à qui
l’on disait que les paysans n’avaient pas de pain, et qui répondit :
Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.
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Did someone mention "cake!"
Oh boy, oh boy! What kind are we having?

Boxing was the first sport to be filmed.
Thomas A. Edison filmed a boxing match between
Jack Cushing and Mike Leonard in 1894.

Famed British writer Ben Jonson (1573-1637)
was buried upright in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner because he died in debt and couldn't afford a proper gravesite.
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JackRabbit wrote:
Boxing was the first sport to be filmed.
Thomas A. Edison filmed a boxing match between
Jack Cushing and Mike Leonard in 1894.

Who won?

Tater Salad wrote:

JackRabbit wrote:
Boxing was the first sport to be filmed.
Thomas A. Edison filmed a boxing match between
Jack Cushing and Mike Leonard in 1894.

Who won?

Well Tater, from what I can find on short notice:
Jun 14th 1894: Mike Leonard knocks out Jack Cushing in the sixth round of their fight, the first sporting event ever to be filmed.

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On the evening of January 13, 1888, 33 geographers, explorers, teachers, lawyers, cartographers, military officers and financiers convened in Washington, D.C., to discuss "the advisability of organizing a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge." They established The National Geographic Society, now "the largest nonprofit scientific and educational institution in the world."

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The first outdoor miniature golf courses in the United States were built on rooftops in New York City in 1926.

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Houses were first numbered in Paris in 1463.
In Britain, numbering did not appear until 1708,
on a street in London's Whitechapel area.

July 28 in Canada is observed as the Commemoration of the Great Upheaval. On this date in 1755, a Halifax council unanimously decided to deport the Acadian people from Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia website explains: The British considered the Acadian population a threat at a time when tension was increasing between the empires of France and Britain. The Acadians were deported, their lands were seized and their homes were burnt. The deportations themselves occurred on different dates to various places. The Cajuns in the Gulf Coast are descendants of the Acadians, and every five years there is an international gathering to celebrate Acadian and Cajun culture and history.

Japanese chopsticks are pointed at the eating end
and Chinese chopsticks are blunt.
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Because of the political-contribution habits of the two soft drink companies, Democratic administrations traditionally serve Coca-Cola and Republicans serve Pepsi.

Damn. I wish! Coke's patent hadn't run out and they
hadn't had to mess with their formula. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

JackRabbit wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The first outdoor miniature golf courses in the United States were built on rooftops in New York City in 1926.

Not a bad idea, as long as the roof isn't slanted. lol

JackRabbit wrote:Sale! - Today only! - Useless Fact 10-pack! ...

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
...................................116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
..............................................Ecuador
3) From which animal do we get cat gut?
....................................Sheep and Horses
4) When do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
.............................November
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
............................................Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands are named after what animal?
........................ Dogs
7) What was King George VI's first name?
.........................................Albert
What color is a purple finch?
............................................. Crimson
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
.................................New Zealand
10) What color is the black box in a commercial airplane?
...............Bright Orange

Am I the only one seeing something wrong with this? Basically, they are either all contradictions or something like that. lol

JackRabbit wrote:The only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution is treason — Article III, Section 3.

Hiya, Bunny! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
I think that's good. A reactive lawmaking body is much better,
don't you think? Better than a bunch of God-know-who
sitting around outlawing stuff. All-in-all, I mean. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

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As an advertising gimmick, Carl Mayer,
nephew of lunchmeat mogul Oscar Mayer,
invented the company's "Wienermobile." On July 18, 1936, the first Oscar Mayer "Wienermobile" rolled out of General Body Company's factory in Chicago. Wienermobiles still tour the U.S. today.

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Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs and Ham"
after his editor dared him to write a book
using fewer than 50 different words.

JackRabbit wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
As an advertising gimmick, Carl Mayer,
nephew of lunchmeat mogul Oscar Mayer,
invented the company's "Wienermobile." On July 18, 1936, the first Oscar Mayer "Wienermobile" rolled out of General Body Company's factory in Chicago. Wienermobiles still tour the U.S. today.

I saw one of them rolling down the highway once. Thought maybe it was a flashback at first!

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Popcorn was banned at most movie theaters in the 1920s because it was considered too noisy.

(Can you imagine what people in those days
would think about cell phones today?)

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The brilliant colors in a hummingbird's feather are created by tiny platelets that resemble a pancake filled with air bubbles. They are called "interference colors," and are much like the shimmering colors seen in a soap bubble or in a drop of oil.

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The first umbrella factory in the U.S.
was founded in 1928 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Birthday Today:
August 2nd ... 1951
Andrew Gold, singer

Archie says: "All yous meatheads listen up ..."

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Birthday Today:
August 2nd ... 1924
Carroll O’Connor
Emmy Award-winning actor

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The first portable calculator
placed on sale by Texas Instruments
weighed only 2-1/2 pounds
and cost a mere $150. (1972)
I had one of those!

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Oscar the Grouch used to be orange.
Jim Henson decided to make him green before the second season of Sesame Street. How did Oscar explain the color change? He said he went on vacation to the very damp Swamp Mushy Muddy and turned green overnight.

Americans consume about
138 billion cups of coffee a year.

The words "naked" and "nude" are not the same.
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Naked implies unprotected. Nude means unclothed.

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Four million tons of hydrogen dust
are destroyed on the Sun every second.

There are many cemeteries in southern California that draw countless of visitors each year. It is at Westward Memorial Cemetery in Hollywood, California, where thousands still make an annual pilgrimage to Marilyn Monroe's crypt. Hollywood Memorial Park is the only cemetery which provides visitors maps to the stars' graves. Here visitors can view the graves of early Hollywood greets. The epitaph on the headstone of Mel Blanc, “The Man of 1,000 Voices,” including Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, reads: “That’s all, folks!”

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"Wolf" was the name of the dog
that was with Rip Van Winkle
when he fell asleep for 20 years.
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