Mental Floss: Instant Knowledge
Page 9
MILK
(it does a reputation good)
USEFUL FOR: barroom banter, fraternity halls, wherever someone is carrying a funnel and a six-pack
KEYWORDS: got milk, milk mustache, or really anytime the word milk comes up
THE FACT: Before civil wars ravaged Sudan, unmarried Dinka tribesmen used to compete in extreme milk-drinking competitions to strut their stuff for eligible females.
The goal was for the men to gulp down endless gallons of the stuff and refrain from exercise in an effort to become as fat as possible. Supposedly, this showed the single ladies that a bachelor had enough cattle to drink all this extra milk. Of course, this isn’t the only case where excessive weight is associated with stature. Various cultures throughout history, from South Asian to Polynesian societies, have valued obesity as an indicator of the lush life. Dinka men, however, are generally quite tall and thin (basketball star Manute Bol being one of the more prominent), and some men would gain so many unfamiliar milk pounds so quickly that they were known to topple over upon rising from the competition.
MONA LISA
(gone missing)
USEFUL FOR: museum dates, chatting with bitter Italians, and giving tours at the Louvre
KEYWORDS: Leonardo da Vinci, Italian pride, or bumbling art heist
THE FACT: While the Mona Lisa’s probably pretty well protected today, there used to be a time when you could walk into the Louvre and just pluck it off the wall. In fact, somebody did.
In 1911, an Italian workman named Vincenzo Peruggia walked into the gallery, took the painting off the wall, and carried it out. Not exactly the high-minded cat burglary you might imagine, since security was practically nonexistent. Of course, it did take officials about two years before they located Old Mona buried in a trunk in Vincenzo’s cheap lodging in Florence. So what was the working man’s motive? Not money apparently. Vinnie claimed that since the painting was by an Italian, Leonardo da Vinci, it was part of Italy’s national cultural heritage, and he was, in true patriotic spirit, simply taking it back to where it belonged: Florence. The painting was returned to the Louvre shortly thereafter.
MONOGAMY
(a.k.a. A Tale of Two Georges)
USEFUL FOR: impressing your history teacher or date, or arguing that monogamy and true love actually might not be myths
KEYWORDS: mistress, low fidelity, or royal romance (sort of)
THE FACT: While most royalty has a real problem with the whole “staying faithful” thing, a couple of Georges were apparently cast from a different mold.
From harems to courtesans, it can make you dizzy to think about all the women on the side royal men have taken a “liking to.” Oddly enough, though, there have been a few kings who wanted desperately to be faithful to their beloveds. Take England’s King George II (1683–1760) for example. Old George was happily married to his wife, Queen Caroline, but he took a mistress just to maintain his reputation. After all, a mistressless king could be seen as weak or, worse still, impotent. His son, George III, however, broke that streak of monarchial infidelity when he married the notoriously homely Princess Charlotte Sophia in 1761. Seeing her for the first time, George is said to have winced in disgust, but the two came to love one another immensely (and frequently—they had 15 kids), and George III was never unfaithful.
MOTHS
(that use protection)
USEFUL FOR: barroom banter, chatting up etymologists
KEYWORDS: stamina, moths, or unusual types of protection
THE FACT: If you’re looking for clever dating tactics, put down your men’s magazine and take a closer look at the male red moth of the Cosmosoma myrodora species.
The male red moth dines on the fluid from the leaves of the dog fennel plant and stores some of it in a pair of pouches under his abdomen. Then, when the little guy goes a-courting, he discharges the pouch contents all over the female, sort of like nuptial confetti. The fluid contains a variety of alkaloids from the plant that repel predators, such as spiders. Indeed, virgin female moths coated with the stuff and placed into spiders’ webs are quickly cut loose by the spider. This chemical protection seems vital since the moths spend up to nine hours copulating! The male wants to ensure that his mate doesn’t become a meal while he attempts to impregnate her.
MOUNT EVEREST
(and the guy who should’ve gotten credit)
USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, impressing your history teacher, consoling anyone who’s ever felt shafted
KEYWORDS: Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary
THE FACT: While Hillary gets all the glory for getting to the top of Everest first, he should probably share some of the hype with his Nepalese buddy who got him there.
Tenzing Norgay was a Sherpa, one of the hardy mountain folk of Nepal. Like many Sherpa, he discovered that he could make a nice living guiding Europeans up the mountains of his homeland. In 1953, he led Sir John Hunt’s expedition to Mount Everest, the highest point on earth. But few remember Norgay’s name, because a New Zealander, Edmund Hillary, insisted on being the first person to stand on the summit. It took Hillary and company seven weeks to climb to the summit and three days to descend, though one suspects Norgay could have done better without the Europeans. In 2004, Pemba Dorji, another Sherpa, reached the peak in just 8 hours, 10 minutes.
MOUNT RUSHMORE
(America’s greatest rock group)
USEFUL FOR: impressing your history teacher, nerdy dates, and South Dakotans
KEYWORDS: Rushmore, South Dakota, and the inevitable why?
THE FACT: Meet America’s greatest rock group: George, Tom, Abe, and Teddy. But how exactly did this presidential summit come about? And more important, why South Dakota?
The fact is, a South Dakota state historian had a big idea in 1924: Turn a cliff in the Black Hills into a tribute to heroes of the Old West. And sculptor John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum liked the idea, but not the choice of subjects. So the idea morphed a little, and a quartet of presidential busts was opened to the public in October 1941. Mount Rushmore, which cost about $1 million to build and is the largest American artwork ever created, attracts 2.7 million visitors a year—even though it was never finished. America got into World War II and funds ran dry. That’s why Lincoln is missing an ear. Either that, or that’s van Gogh up there.
instant personalities
Talk about a pant well taken, Flamenco dancer JOSÉ GRECO took out an insurance policy through Lloyd’s of London against his trousers splitting during a performance.
Showing off his jujitsu abilities, poet EZRA POUND is well known for having flung poet Robert Frost over his shoulders.
As president, GEORGE WASHINGTON pulled in a salary of nearly $25k a year—roughly $1 million today. So it’s no wonder he started living the high life immediately, buying leopard-skin robes for all his horses and spending seven percent of his income on alcohol.
NAPPING
(like a Movie Mogul)
USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, business lunches, justifying lazing in the hammock when you’re supposed to be out mowing the lawn
KEYWORDS: snooze, sleep, slumber, power naps, or Sam Goldwyn
THE FACT: Sam Goldwyn, one of Hollywood’s most prominent film producers, believed in the power of working hard. He also believed in the power of a good afternoon’s sleep.
It’s no secret that Sam Goldwyn was a workaholic who demanded a lot from his employees. But like any good mogul, he also believed in pampering himself. Every day after lunch, Sam would take a siesta, disappearing into a room adjacent to his office, changing into pajamas, and sleeping for an hour. According to biographer Arthur Marx, Goldwyn—the man behind such classics as Wuthering Heights and The Best Years of Our Lives—believed a 60-minute afternoon nap was the secret to good health. One day he recommended the practice to two writers working on a script for a Danny Kaye picture. “You ought to try it, too,” he said. Then, realizing that he didn’t want the scribes sleeping on company time, he added, “…In your cases, eat a half-hour,
sleep a half-hour.”
NATIONAL ANTHEMS
(one that’s easy to love, but hard to sing)
USEFUL FOR: Olympics, ball game banter, anytime someone fumbles the words to a song
KEYWORDS: Please rise for the national anthem
THE FACT: Every time you struggle a bit with “The Star Spangled Banner,” just be glad that you’re not from South Africa.
Like the nation itself, the South African National Anthem is a combination of words from several different ethnic groups. During the apartheid era, the white government had its anthem, “Die Stem van Suid Afrika” (The Call of South Africa). Of course, Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress had its own separate-but-unofficial tune: “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrica” (God Bless Africa). Then, when apartheid finally ended, and blacks and whites were legally forced to coexist, the two anthems were forced to coexist with equal status. That is, until 1995, when the pieces were melded to form the current national anthem in all its disjointed glory. Just how awkward is it? The anthem changes key in the middle, and is in five different languages. Starting as “Nkosi,” the tune goes on to sample the more prevalent of South Africa’s many native languages. Verse 1 is in Xhosa. Verse 2, Zulu. Verse 3, Sesotho. Then the key switches and “Die Stem” powers through. Verse 4 is in Afrikaans, and verse 5 is in English. Whew!
NEW COKE, PART I
(the idea)
USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, ’80s nostalgia, and picking up people at the vending machine
KEYWORDS: the biggest mistake in history
THE FACT: In the early 1980s, the cola wars were in heavy combat, and Coke was dangerously close to losing its number-one spot to Pepsi. Its (poor) solution? A newly formulated version of the original soda.
On April 23, 1985, New Coke was released to the American public amid a barrage of media hype. The result was nothing short of a national crisis. Consumers were relentlessly enraged, comparing the taste of New Coke to “sewer water,” “furniture polish,” and worse, “two-day-old Pepsi.” Before long, Old Coke had a thriving black market, with a case going for as much as $30. Other avid drinkers had supplies shipped to them from Canada or created stockpiles in their basements. But, apparently, you didn’t even have to taste New Coke to be extremely angry about the beverage. The simple act of altering the formula at all set off its own firestorm. One disgusted consumer commented, “It’s like spitting on the flag.” Said one husband and father of two: “I couldn’t have been more surprised if someone had told me that I was gay.”
NEW COKE, PART II
(the damage done)
USEFUL FOR: telling people that whatever their mistake, it can’t be that bad
KEYWORDS: hooray, hallelujah, or thank you, Jesus
THE FACT: In those first two months after New Coke hit the market the company received over 40,000 letters of complaint and 6,000 calls to its 800 number every day.
Only 87 days after its launch, the company reintroduced the original Coke formula as Coke Classic to subdue the masses. The return of Coke was considered so important to the American people that Peter Jennings of ABC News interrupted General Hospital to break the story on national TV. So what were the Coke execs thinking? Surprisingly, the launch of New Coke was based on the most exhaustive market research project in history. To the tune of $4 million, Coke conducted over 200,000 blind taste tests in which New Coke outperformed both Pepsi and Old Coke. Their mistake? Neglecting the emotional value of the soda to the American public.
NIETZSCHE
USEFUL FOR: academic gatherings, chatting with philosophers, and clearing Nietzsche’s good name
KEYWORDS: superman, will to power, or Nietzsche
THE FACT: Seems like you’ve got to be pretty cocky to pen a phrase like “God is dead,” but the famed philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was more parts mild-mannered Emmanuel than anything else.
In fact, the bold, seemingly atheistic statement was actually a rail against the corruption of the church at the time. But the guy whose autobiographical Ecce Homo includes such chapters as “Why I Am So Wise,” “Why I Am So Clever,” and “Why I Write Such Good Books” was actually an unassuming man. His belief in “the will to power” as the most basic human drive finds little reflection in his own life outside his fantasies. Though he fancied himself a warrior and a ladies’ man, Nietzsche’s military service was brief and unspectacular, and he never had a lover. As a bad boy in college, he may have visited a brothel or two, though. One theory suggests that the insanity that cut his career short and institutionalized him for the last 11 years of his life was the result of untreated syphilis.
NIXON
(and the Beefeaters)
USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, entertaining British guests, mocking anyone who remembers (or voted for) Richard Nixon
KEYWORDS: Nixon, Secret Service, presidential initiatives
THE FACT: Playing the role of fashion police at the White House, President Richard M. Nixon actually tried to makeover the Secret Service to look more like troops protecting a king.
Richard M. Nixon liked a bit of pomp (with occasional circumstance). After all, Tricky Dick often saw other heads of state protected by guards in bright-colored uniforms with shiny trim or tall fur hats (as in Britain’s famous Beefeaters outside Queen Elizabeth’s official London residence). But what did the White House have? Guys in dark, plain security uniforms. Wanting a piece of the regal action, Nixon ordered a redesign of the outfits worn by White House guards. Unveiled in 1970, the new duds featured gold-trimmed tunics and rigid, peaked hats reminiscent of 19th-century Prussia. The royalist look didn’t go over so well with Americans. Critics howled. Comedians snickered. And the White House immediately threw out the Prussian hats. Within a few years the fancy duds (along with their chief proponent) were retired entirely.
NOUGAT
(and its mysterious origins)
USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, grocery store lines, and impressing sweet tooths of all ages
KEYWORDS: Where does nougat come from?
THE FACT: Like falafel and the number 0, nougat is yet another product of Middle Eastern genius.
Originally made from a mixture of honey, nuts, and spices, the basic recipe for nougat was transplanted to Greece, where it lost the spices and gained the name “nugo.” Later cultural exchanges brought the treat to France, where it became “nougat,” and the recipe switched ground walnuts to ground almonds. In 1650, the French made another change for the better, adding beaten egg whites and creating the fluffier, modern nougat texture. The first commercial nougat factory opened in Montélimar, France, in the late 18th century, and today the area is renowned for its nougat, with about a dozen manufacturers producing the sugary treat. As for its ugly American cousin, the nougat you’re probably familiar with from candy bars, it’s not “true nougat.” The imitation stuff is chewier, less almondy, and contains enough artificial preservatives to make a French candy maker wince.
NUTS
(isn’t it time you met the betels?)
USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, barroom banter, and chatting up people from South Asia
KEYWORDS: dip, chew, or Nicorette
THE FACT: The betel nut, which is actually the seed of a certain palm chewed with the leaf of a certain vine, is supposedly the third most popular recreational drug in the world (after alcohol and tobacco).
From India through Southeast Asia and well into the Pacific, this mild intoxicant is often the drug of choice. Chewing it makes the saliva flow freely while coloring it deeply; if you see gloppy masses of red spittle all over the sidewalks, you know that you are in betel country. In many tribal societies of Southeast Asia, betel is a cornerstone of sociability; sharing one’s stash is how friendships are cemented and courtships initiated. Whether it’s good for the teeth, however, is a matter of some debate.
OBJECTION!
(my attorney’s asleep)
USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, prison conversations, scaring defendants into paying for better lawyers
KEYWORDS: lawyer, incompetence, or attorney-cot privilege
THE FACT: Calvin Burdine was scheduled to die on April 11, 1995, 12 years after being convicted of killing his boyfriend in Houston. But a federal judge stopped the execution a few hours before it was scheduled.
What prompted the justice’s change of heart? Well, amongst other things he was troubled that Burdine’s lawyer had slept through portions of the trial. Amazingly, a three-member federal appeals court panel overruled the judge, reasoning that a defendant had no constitutional right to a conscious attorney (this was Texas, after all). Fortunately for Burdine, however, a full appeals court ordered a new trial, and the U.S. Supreme Court concurred. As of 2004, Burdine was doing life in a Texas prison after a plea bargain. And lawyers all over the country were trying to stay awake.