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1/12/2003

A couple in New Plymouth are so enamoured of Ford cars that they have named their five children Falcon, Fairmont, Fairlane, Galaxie and Bonus.

2/12/2003

The shortest war in recorded history was that which took place in Zanzibar in 1896. The East African sultanate was a British protectorate, and on the death of the sultan there was a palace coup and a cousin unacceptable to the British usurped the throne. British troops bombarded the palace and after 38 minutes the usurper was deposed.

3/12/2003

Duelling is illegal in most of the world, but not, apparently, in Paraguay - provided both combatants are registered blood donors.

4/12/2003

If you only bet on the favourite to win in horse races, you need to average over $3.33 per win just to break even, because statistically the favourite wins less than 30% of the time.

5/12/2003

It must be great to be immortalised by having something named after you - a comet, say, or a planet. But usually you have to settle for something smaller. How about these:
• Utahraptor spielbergi (a dinosaur)
• Bufonaria borisbeckeri (a sea snail)
• Campsicnemius charliechaplini (a fly)
• Calponia harrisonfordi (a spider)
• Strigiphilus garylarsoni (a louse particular to owls)
• Legionella shakespearei (a bacterium)
• Funkotriplogynium iagobadius (a mite) [Iago is James and badius is brown in Latin]

8/12/2003

The longest-running hoax in history: Remember the mythical island of 'Hy Brazil' which featured on maps of the Atlantic? (see 11/6/03). The belief in a perfect land in some exotic part of the world was so strong that a letter, supposedly from a king called 'Prester John', led explorers and would-be crusaders to search for his kingdom of righteous and prosperous Christians for four centuries. The letter was addressed to the Emperor (of Constantinople) and pleaded for help to repel heathen invaders. Travellers found that the kingdom wasn't in Asia (the letter had referred to 'the three Indias') and so the focus shifted to Africa. Maps still showed it somewhere in Ethiopia (which was known to be a Christian kingdom), as late as the 1600s.

12/12/2003

For todays tasty tidbit, come back tomorrow... All content is updated at the end of each day

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