Mental Floss: Instant Knowledge

by Editors of Mental Floss

  SOUTHERNERS

  (and their fisticuffs)

  USEFUL FOR: barroom banter, Civil War reenactments, and avoiding fights across the land

  KEYWORDS: excuse me

  THE FACT: Strangely enough, “cultures of honor”—or societies where it seems essential for men to avenge insults with their knuckles—have been on anthropologists minds for a while, and the South made for an interesting case.

  Two University of Michigan researchers decided to see if theU.S. was still split into cultures of honor. They conducted a study in which a man bumps into a male subject in a long hallway and then calls him a derogatory term (one that rhymes with “bass hole”). The result? Men from the South were deemed more likely to throw a punch. And not only were they visibly angrier than their Northern counterparts, but, after the incident, their saliva tested higher for cortisol (associated with stress, anxiety, and arousal) and testosterone (associated with aggression). It’s thought that this simply means that Southerners (generally rural) are less accustomed to this type of confrontation and thus react angrily, whereas Northerners (in crowded urban areas) get bumped around and called names on a regular basis.

  SPANISH FLY

  (great for beetles, a little less so for humans)

  USEFUL FOR: barroom banter, locker room chats, and warning anyone looking for happy pills in Chinatown

  KEYWORDS: Viagra, aphrodisiac, or any condition that starts with “erectile”

  THE FACT: Mention “Spanish fly,” and people’s thoughts turn to carnal activities. In truth, though “The Fly” isn’t a fly at all, but a beetle.

  In fact, it’s a beetle that produces a compound called cantharidin, an irritant of the urogenital tract. While it isn’t an aphrodisiac, “Spanish fly” can produce an erection. It can also pose a serious threat to human health. Luckily, however, it poses no threat to the male pyrochroid beetles, which rely on the stuff for mating purposes. During the mating ritual, the male secretes a gooey substance that the female tastes. Only if she tastes cantharidin does mating become a possibility—a good example of chemical warfare and species survival. The female passes the cantharidin on to her eggs, which are then less appetizing to predators such as ladybugs.

  SPOILED MILK

  (and a reason to cry over it)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, impressing history buffs, and anytime you’re drinking milk

  KEYWORDS: Lincoln, sour milk, or expiration date

  THE FACT: Strangely enough, one of the unfortunate victims of bad milk was Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who died of milk sickness in 1818.

  The sickness, which actually wiped out many pioneers, had nothing to do with bacteria and everything to do with a cow’s diet. When the animals grazed on a plant called snakeroot, people who drank their milk got sick and often died. A naturally occurring substance in the milk called tremetol was converted by human body enzymes into a highly toxic substance. When chemists linked milk sickness to snakeroot early in the twentieth century, farmers were counseled to rid their fields of the plant, and the milk sickness was quickly eliminated.

  SQUID

  (studs of the animal kingdom)

  USEFUL FOR: barroom banter and making small talk at the aquarium

  KEYWORDS: endurance, tentacles, or calamari

  THE FACT: According to some interesting recent research, the lowly squid has the kind of stamina that could put Sting to shame.

  Scientists at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have uncovered the bizarre and intricate mating rituals of the squid, a deep water creature, and, once word gets out, the squid is certain to become the talk of the ocean. Squid mating begins with a “circling nuptial dance,” where teams of squid continuously circle around spawning beds in an area that can reach 200 meters across. At daybreak, the squid (or squids, whichever you prefer) begin to mate and continue all day long, halting the activity only long enough for the female to dive down and deposit her eggs. Once she comes back to the circling area, she reunites with her male companion and the process begins again. At dusk, the males and females go offshore to feed and rest. Then, at the first sight of sun, they head back to the spawning area and go at it again all day long. In fact, it’s believed that this routine can last for up to two weeks, which undoubtedly results in some sore tentacles.

  THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

  (and the beer it should make you want to chug)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, ball games, and barroom banter

  KEYWORDS: will you please stand for…

  THE FACT: Believe it or not, the American national anthem, and the source of a lot of pregame pride, was actually nicked from a drinking song written by John Stafford Smith.

  Every third-grader knows the story of Francis Scott Key penning the great poem while watching the siege of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. But that’s just a poem. So where exactly did all this music hoo-ha come from? When Key wrote the anthem, he had a song in his head as a reference for the poem’s meter (a song from England, ironically enough). The tune, notoriously difficult to sing, is from a drinking song written by John Stafford Smith. Original title: “To Anacreon in Heaven.” It was the theme song of a club of rich London men who got together to eat, drink, and then for good measure drink some more. The Anacreontic Club took its name from Anacreon, a Greek poet who wrote about such things. Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that the song is usually sung before sporting events, after fans have been tailgating (translation: drinking) for several hours.

  STELLA (THE FELLA?)

  USEFUL FOR: Olympic banter, half-time conversation, and awkward pauses at drag shows and high school track competitions

  KEYWORDS: Olympics, track-and-field, or hermaphrodites

  THE FACT: In one of the most unusual cases ever, Olympic superstar Stella Walsh was unmasked after her death as being a little more than just woman.

  In 1980, a 69-year-old member of the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame was shot and killed outside a Cleveland shopping mall. Police immediately ascertained that the victim was Stella Walsh, the greatest female track-and-field athlete of her day. Stella, born Stanislawa Walasiewiczowna in Poland, won a gold medal for Poland at the 1932 Olympics and a silver in 1936, and set 20 world records. But when the police took the body to be autopsied, they found something very unusual on the 69-year-old woman: male genitals! Further studies showed that she had both male and female chromosomes, a condition known as mosaicism. When the shocking news got out, it took approximately 2.7 seconds for the great runner to get a new nickname: Stella the Fella.

  SUDDEN DEATH

  (leading to sudden death)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, barroom banter, and irritating the sports fans at the retirement home

  KEYWORDS: this one’s going to go into overtime

  THE FACT: If Grandpa’s got a heart condition, maybe he shouldn’t be watching the big game this week.

  Scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands analyzed the incidence of death on the five days prior to, the day of, and the five days after semifinal between the Netherlands and France in soccer. The game was particularly exciting, going into overtime before being decided by penalty kicks. (France ultimately won.) The average number of male deaths in the Netherlands by heart attack or stroke on the days surrounding the match: 150; on the day of the match: 173. It isn’t known what the French death rate was during and after the match. Guess that means they’ll have to do more research.

  TELEGRAPH

  (the thing Morse didn’t invent)

  USEFUL FOR: impressing history buffs, irritating anyone related to Sam Morse, and chatting with anyone who still sends telegraphs (if you can find ’em)

  KEYWORDS: Morse code, SOS, or how do you type SOS in Morse code?

  THE FACT: Forget what you learned in grade school: Samuel F.B. Morse was at the least a second placer when it came to the telegraph.

  Instead, set your sights on the true champ, Sir Charles Wheatstone. The British inventor built the first
practical electric telegraph in 1837 or 1838—at the very least four years before Morse received his U.S. patent. Even in America, though, Morse’s “invention” of the telegraph is fraught with controversy: a friend, Dr. Charles Jackson, accused the inventor of stealing his idea (which could move Morse from second into third place). Also in dispute is the extent to which Morse’s assistant, Alfred Vail, contributed to both the design of his telegraph machine and the development of the “Morse code,” which was originally called the “Morse-Vail code.” (Does that even leave Sammy in the running anymore?) Well, whatever the case, you can always trust that the telegraph system will forever bear the good old Morse name.

  TELEPROMPTERS

  (and the guy behind it)

  USEFUL FOR: making small talk with speechwriters, chatting up politicians, and anytime you see someone squinting at the camera

  KEYWORDS: please stay tuned for a message from the president

  THE FACT: Talk about an unsung hero: newscasters and politicians everywhere should be on their hands and knees thanking Irving B. Kahn, the inventor of the teleprompter.

  Kahn stumbled into the idea while working on a projection system for the U.S. Army (not as a piece of military equipment, but simply to make presentations to Congressmen). Ridding newscasters of the need to read cue cards, the teleprompter was a huge success, leading Kahn to start the TelePrompTer Corporation, and leaving us to forever wonder both why newscasters still insist on shuffling papers and why he felt the need to capitalize the P and T in the company name. But those eternal questions aren’t the only annoying legacies Kahn left the world. In 1961, Kahn and fellow TelePrompTer exec Hub Schlafley developed the first pay-per-view television system, called Key TV, by showing (and charging for) the second Patterson – Johansson heavyweight fight.

  TELEVISION

  (and the kid responsible for must-see TV)

  USEFUL FOR: chatting with nerds, scientists, disgruntled inventors, and anyone who used to hang out with the A/V kids

  KEYWORDS: television, genius, or unsung hero

  THE FACT: Who knew the idea for a TV set came from a 21-year-old Idaho farm boy?

  Philo T. Farnsworth took his inspiration from the lines in the freshly tilled fields, and single-handedly dreamed up the cathode ray tube, itself leading to the invention of the television. By scanning and transmitting images in horizontal lines, the young eccentric pioneered an entirely new medium. Sadly, though, his claim to fame was quietly usurped. At just 21, Farnsworth presented his research to RCA executive David Sarnoff and Russian scientist Vladimir Zworykin. Zworykin and Sarnoff then replicated the technology and revised it. Using their position and resources at RCA, the two then began to dominate the marketing of this new technology. Farnsworth sued and seemingly won in court, but the power of the corporation proved mightier, and Farnsworth was never able to profit from the industry he helped launch.

  THALES OF MILETUS

  (the original Baby Jessica)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, wishing wells, and consoling anyone who’s just tripped or fallen

  KEYWORDS: Jack and Jill, absentminded, or genius

  THE FACT: Thales of Miletus, the first Western philosopher, set the standard for absentminded professors to come. After all, lost in thought and gazing at the sky, Thales fell into a well years before Baby Jessica could make the practice famous.

  Of course, the whole well incident wasn’t great for PR. Ridiculed as an impractical dreamer, Thales set out to show that philosophers could do anything they set their minds to, including amassing wealth. One winter, using his knowledge of meteorology and astronomy, Thales predicted a bumper olive crop for the coming season. As such, he cornered the market on olive presses in Miletus and made a fortune when the olive harvest met his expectations. Remarkably also, Thales predicted the solar eclipse of 585 BCE. And he measured the height of the Egyptian pyramids using just their shadows. Despite all this, Thales is perhaps best known for arguing that water is the basic source element, that ultimately all things are made of water.

  instant personalities

  As a practical joke, JACOB HAUGAARD promised voters better weather, used his campaign money to buy them franks and beer, and maintained that every man had the God-given right to impotence. He received 23,211 votes, and became the first independent in Denmark’s parliament.

  In 1820, LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN was arrested on vagrancy charges after alarmed residents reported a disheveled man peeping in their windows.

  STEPHEN STILLS, of the legendary folk-rock group Crosby, Stills & Nash, originally wanted to be a Monkee. His tryout didn’t last too long, though, because producers quickly gave his thinning hair and bad teeth two opposable thumbs-down.

  TOADS

  (and why you should just say no)

  USEFUL FOR: mainly warning teenagers and Grateful Dead fans

  KEYWORDS: tripping, peer pressure, or Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

  THE FACT: No matter what the hype, don’t ever lick a cane toad.

  In the 1930s “sugar cane” toads were introduced into Australia from Hawaii with the idea that they would control the gray-backed cane beetle, a sugar cane pest. Somehow, though, they became guests that overstayed their welcome—overpopulating and growing to be a real nuisance. Aside from their talent for consuming gray-backed cane beetles, “cane toads” can secrete a toxic compound known as bufotenin from a couple of glands behind their eyes (when attacked by predators, of course). But the toxic goo is also a hallucinogen, albeit a dangerous one. In their endless quest to get high, Australian teenagers have taken to drinking the slime produced when toads are boiled. Clearly, emulating this behavior isn’t the brightest idea, as two Canadian kids learned. They purchased a couple of toads from an exotic pet store and licked them hoping for euphoria. They got hospital beds instead.

  TWINKIES

  (and the law)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, afternoon snack conversation, and chatting up lawyers fond of vending machines

  KEYWORDS: Twinkies, insanity, or the law

  THE FACT: What should’ve been an open-and-shut case of murder in the first got a little twisted when a box of Twinkies came to the defense.

  There wasn’t much question it was Dan White who climbed through a window at San Francisco City Hall and methodically shot to death Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, one of the nation’s most prominent gay politicians. So lawyers for White, who was an ex-cop and county supervisor, relied on a “diminished capacity” defense. They argued White was too depressed to commit premeditated murder. As proof, they briefly mentioned White’s recent consumption of sugary snack foods. Oddly enough, the “Twinkie defense” worked, and White was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder. The verdict, however, triggered a night of rioting in the city’s gay community. White served five years in prison and then killed himself a few months after his release. In 1982, California voters abolished diminished capacity as a legal defense.

  UNENVIABLE PREGNANCIES

  (like the spiny dogfish)

  USEFUL FOR: barroom banter, making friends at Lamaze, and ensuring you don’t get invited up “for coffee” after a date

  KEYWORDS: What could be worse than getting pregnant?

  THE FACT: Forget Lamaze! If you want to ease the pain of childbirth, just focus on a spiny dogfish shark.

  To conceive, the male spiny dogfish shark grasps the female’s fins with his mouth and uses his two reproductive organs, known as clappers, to inseminate the female. But this is no gentle act of foreplay. The sharp clappers leave deep cuts and gashes behind the females head, which take a week or so to heal. Once that’s over, she’s got a glorious 22 to 24 months of pregnancy to look forward to—the longest gestation period of any vertebrate. And when that magical day finally arrives, you’d better believe she’s wondering where her epidural is. Spiny dogfish mommies give birth to between two and eleven three-foot-long pups, each coming out headfirst. Of course, evolution has equipped the pups with cartilaginous sheaths on thei
r spines to protect the mother from injury. Yeah, like that makes up for it.

  UNSHELLED NUTS

  (specifically cashews)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, barroom banter, and scaring kids into picking out all the other mixed nuts

  KEYWORDS: shell shock, Shell station, or Shelley Long

  THE FACT: Cashews aren’t sold in shells…and there’s a darn good reason for it!

  While pecans, walnuts, and the oh-so-easy-toeat pistachios can be shelled with relative ease, their brother the cashew is a nut that’s slightly harder to crack. In fact, if you got one in the shell, you’d be struggling to get it out for a good while. Why, exactly? Well, aside from the two layers of shell on the cashew nut, there’s also a slightly trickier toxic oil that contains anacardic acid and cardol that can cause blisters on the hands if touched. Cashews have to be roasted twice to be eaten—once to remove the outer shell, and again to remove the inner shell. So do you want ’em au natural and in their shells or all soft and ready to eat like we do?