Fascinating Facts ~Page 7~

Death: After his death, Alexander the Great's remains were preserved in a huge crock of honey. Among the ancient Egyptians, it was common practice to bury the dead in this manner.

Energy: The world consumes 1 billion gallons of petroleum a day.

China: The famous Boxer Rebellion in China received its name from its association with an ancient Chinese martial art Kung-fu. During this bloody uprising in northern China in 1900, traditionalist members of a secret society called I-ho ch'uan ("Harmonious and Righteous Fists") set out to destroy all foreign influences in China, including schools, churches, and places of commerce and trade. The members of this society were well trained in the ancient fighting art of Kung-fu, which, because there was no equivalent word in English to describe it, became known to westerners simply as "boxing." Hence the uprising was termed the "Boxers' Rebellion."

Churches: The first gold brought back by Christopher Columbus from the Americas was used to gild the ceiling of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The Ceiling and the gold are still there.

Names: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantsiliogogogoch is the Welsh name of the town of Llanfair in Wales. At the Llanfair railroad station a 20-foot-long sign makes this fact clear to all arrivals. Translated, the name means "Saint Mary's Church in a hollow of white hazel, close to a whirlpool and Saint Tysilo's Church and near a red cave."

The Classical and Ancient World: The Roman emperor Commodos collected all the dwarfs, cripples, and freaks he could find in the city of Rome and had them brought to the Colosseum, where they were ordered to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers.

Weather: The outdoor temperature can be estimated to within several degrees by timing the chirps of a cricket. It is done this way: count the number of chirps in a 15-second period, and add 37 to the total. The result will be very close to the actual Fahrenheit temperature. The formula, however, only works in warm weather.

Demography: The average life expectancy in Bangladesh is thirty-five years. Forty-five percent of those who die before thirty-five are mothers and infants. A child has only a fifty-fifty chance of living past five. Yet in this country only 11 percent of the population has ever visited a doctor.

Music & Musicians: The song most frequently sung in the western world is "Happy Birthday to You." The song was written in 1936 by Mildred and Patty Hill, and their estate still collects royalties on it.

Animals: Greyhounds have the best eyesight of any breed of dog.

Language: The term "hooker," meaning a prostitute, originated with U.S. Army General Joseph Hooker, whose penchant for war was matched only by his predilection for paid female companionship. In New Orleans, U.S.A., during the Civil War, Hooker spent so much time frolicking with ladies of the night that the women came to be called "Hooker's division." Eventually these specialized "troops" became known simply as "hookers."

Sports: In ancient Greece a boxing match began with two boxers standing face to face, their noses touching. Greek boxers wore leather thongs embedded with metal studs strapped on their wrist. At one time metal spikes were added, too.

Flowers, Plants, & Trees: The Japanese have a special method for growing superb melons. They plant a seed, allow it to sprout and form buds, then pick all the buds but one. This one bud is allowed to mature into a full fruit. In this way a single fruit receives all the nutrients originally meant for the whole plant. The result is a remarkably succulent melon.

Occupations: In the nineteenth century, European and American glass blowers, because of constant dryness of the throat and mouth, worked up such extreme thirsts that they had to drink enormous quantities. A doctor named McElroy, making observations in an American glass factory in 1877, noted that in nine working hours a glass blower might imbibe 50 to 60 pints of water, and this without the excreta or urine being measureably increased. When not working, McElroy added, the blowers drank no more than 3 or 4 pints of water a day. Occasionally a workman on the job would become so bloated that he would stop perspiring and, unable to move, would have to be carried out to the factory office, where rest and friction rubs finally restored his ability to sweat.

Literature: Shakespeare once wrote a play called "What You Will." (Its alternate title: Twelfth Night.)

Magic & the Occult: Bobbing for apples at Halloween originated as part of a divinatory technique practiced by the Druids. Participants floated apples in a tub of water on the 31st of October (the Druid New Year's Eve) and attempted to fish them out without using their hands. Those who succeeded were guaranteed a prosperous year.

Manners & Customs: Date-palm trees in Iraq are passed down through generations as part of family legacies. The trees are given individual names, have carefully recorded personal histories and are considered a basic part of family wealth.

Religion: There have been 262 popes since Saint Peter.

People: U.S. President James Garfield could write Latin with one hand and Greek with the other---simultaneously. Leonardo da Vinci could draw with one hand and write with the other, also simultaneously.

Diseases: One cannot catch cold at the North Pole in winter. Neither can one contract the flu, nor most of the ailments transmitted by viruses and germs. The winter temperature is so low in this part of the world that none of the standard disease-causing microorganisms can survive.

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