History world and US Bizzare Facts - Page 6

Bizarre Fact #251:
Did you know...
The last words spoken from the moon were from Eugene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 Mission on 11 December 1972. "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."

Bizarre Fact #252:
Did you know...
The last words spoken from the moon were from Eugene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 Mission on 11 December 1972. "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."

Bizarre Fact #253:
Did you know...
The Marquis de Lafayette, America's Revolutionary War ally, named his only son George Washington Lafayette.

Bizarre Fact #254:
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The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.

Bizarre Fact #255:
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The pharaohs of ancient Egypt wore garments made with thin threads of beaten gold. Some fabrics had up to 500 gold threads per one inch of cloth.

Bizarre Fact #256:
Did you know...
The practice of exchanging presents at Christmas originated with the Romans.

Bizarre Fact #257:
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The Ramses brand condom is named after the great pharaoh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children.

Bizarre Fact #258:
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The right arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty crossed the Atlantic Ocean three times. It first crossed for display at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition and in New York, where money was raised for the foundation and pedestal. It was returned to Paris in 1882 to be reunited with the rest of the statue, which was then shipped back to the U.S.

Bizarre Fact #259:
Did you know...
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 Coliseum, where they were ordered to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers.

Bizarre Fact #260:
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The State of Nevada first legalized gambling in 1931. At that same time, the Hoover Dam was being built and the federal government did not want its workers (who earned 50 cents an hour) to be involved with such diversions, so they built the town of Boulder City to house the dam workers. To this day, Boulder City is the only city in Nevada where gambling is illegal. Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall and 660 feet thick at its base. Enough rock was excavated in its construction to build the Great Wall of China. Contrary to old wives' tales, no workers were buried in the dam's cement.

Bizarre Fact #261:
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The steel industry, in 1943, introduced the 5-day, 40 hour work week. Henry Ford adopted it in 1926.

Bizarre Fact #262:
Did you know...
The Taj Mahal complex in India was built between 1631 and 1634 at a cost of about 40-million rupees.

Bizarre Fact #263:
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The Tower of London, for which construction was begun in 1078 by William the Conqueror, once housed a zoo. It also has served as an observatory, a mint, a prison, a royal palace, and (at present) the home of the Crown Jewels.

Bizarre Fact #264:
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The traditional symbol of the pawnbroker—three golden balls—is thought to be derived from the coat of the arms of the Medici family, who ruled Italian city of Florence between the 15th and 16th centuries. The symbol was spread by the Lombards—Italian bankers, goldsmiths, and moneylenders who set up businesses in medieval London.

Bizarre Fact #265:
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The U.S. Automobile Association was formed in 1905 for the purpose or providing "scouts" who could warn motorists of hidden police traps.

Bizarre Fact #266:
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The very first enclosed shopping mall was and is Valley Faire in Appleton, Wisconsin. Not in Minnesota as most people believe. Appleton is also famous for being the birth place of Harry Houdini and the first city in America to use Hydro-electric power in homes.

Bizarre Fact #267:
Did you know...
There was a "pony express" in Persia many centuries before Christ. Riders on this ancient circuit, wearing special colored headbands, delivered the mails across the vast stretch of Asia Minor, sometimes riding for hundreds of miles without a break.

Bizarre Fact #268:
Did you know...
There were 57 countries involved in World War II.

Bizarre Fact #269:
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Time magazine's "Man of the Year" for 1938 was Adolf Hitler.

izarre Fact #271:
Did you know...
Traffic engineering was not developed in London, New York or Paris, but rather in ancient Rome. The Romans, of course, were noted road builders. The Appian Way, for example, stretched 350 miles from the Eternal City to Brundisium. In Rome itself there were actually stop signs and even alternate-side-of-the-street parking.

Bizarre Fact #272:
Did you know...
U.S. Army doctor D.W. Bliss had the unique role of attending to two U.S. presidents after they were shot by assassins. In 1865 he was one of 16 doctors who tried to save Abraham Lincoln, and in 1881 he supervised the care of James Garfield.

Bizarre Fact #273:
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Unfortunately Gaius grew up and became emperor, incongruously retaining his boyhood diminutive. "Little boots" in Latin is "Caligula." As you may know, he was a bloodthirsty, sadistic fiend.

Bizarre Fact #274:
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Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.

Bizarre Fact #275:
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Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it's known as Tennessee.

Bizarre Fact #276:
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Until the 19th century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia.

Bizarre Fact #277:
Did you know...
Values on the Monopoly gameboard are the same today as they were in 1935.

Bizarre Fact #278:
Did you know...
Vincent Van Gogh painted a picture a day in the last 70 days of his life.

Bizarre Fact #279:
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Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas was the eight-year-old girl who, in 1897, asked the staff of The New York Sun whether Santa Claus existed. In the now-famous editorial, Francis Church assured Virginia that yes, indeed, "there is a Santa Claus."

Bizarre Fact #280:
Did you know...
What would eventually become one of the world's most prestigious museums, the Louvre Museum opened in Paris in 1793. Until the French Revolution, the King's art collection had been strictly for the private pleasure of the Court, but revolutionary leaders decided to open the collection to the public. Among some of its most famous art pieces, the Louvre houses, the Joconde (Mona Lisa), Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and the Liberty Leading the People.

Bizarre Fact #281:
Did you know...
When airplanes were still a novel invention, seat belts for pilots were installed only after the consequence of their absence was observed to be fatal - several pilots fell to their deaths while flying upside down.

Bizarre Fact #282:
Did you know...
When Elizabeth I of Russia died in 1762, 15,000 dresses were found in her closets. She used to change what she was wearing two and even three times an evening.

Bizarre Fact #283:
Did you know...
When Gaius Caesar was a boy, Roman soldiers affectionately nicknamed him "little boots" for the boy-sized military footwear he sported.

Bizarre Fact #284:
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When he resigned in 1923 because of illegal behavior in the Teapot Dome Affair, Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was offered an appointment to the Supreme Court by President Harding. In 1931, Fall was tried and found guilty of conspiracy to defraud.

Bizarre Fact #285:
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When Napoleon wore black silk handkerchiefs around his neck during a battle, he always won. At Waterloo, he wore a white cravat and lost the battle and his kingdom.

Bizarre Fact #286:
Did you know...
When Sir Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco into England in the early 1600's, King James I wrote a booklet against it. I guess that makes King James the founding father of the "Just Say No" campaign.

Bizarre Fact #287:
Did you know...
When the first U.S. Congress set the president's pay at $25,000 per year they established the vice president's salary of $5,000.

Bizarre Fact #288:
Did you know...
When the U.S. War Department was established in 1789, there were 840 soldiers in the regular army. Their job was to supervise public lands and guard the indian frontier.

Bizarre Fact #289:
Did you know...
When Thomas Jefferson became U.S. President in 1801, 20 percent of all people in the young nation were slaves.

Bizarre Fact #290:
Did you know...
While performing her duties as queen, Cleopatra sometimes wore a fake beard.

Bizarre Fact #291:
Did you know...
While the world was busy welcoming the arrival of the twentieth century on December 31, 1900, a forceful gale on England's Salisbury Plain blew over one of the ancient monumental stones at Stonehenge.

Bizarre Fact #292:
Did you know...
While the world was busy welcoming the arrival of the twentieth century on December 31, 1900, a forceful gale on England's Salisbury Plain blew over one of the ancient monumental stones at Stonehenge.

Bizarre Fact #293:
Did you know...
While Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee in 1912, a would-be assassin fired a bullet into the right side of his chest. Much of the force of the slug was absorbed by the President's eyeglasses case and by the 50 page speech he was carrying double-folded in his breast pocket. Nevertheless, the bullet lodged itself just short of his lung, and, dripping in blood, Roosevelt pulled himself up to the podium. He asked the crowd to please "...be very quiet and excuse me from making a long speech. I'll do the best I can, but there's a bullet in my body... I have a message to deliver, and I will deliver it as long as there is life in my body." He spoke for 90 minutes, but was unable to refer to his text due to the gaping hole which the bullet had torn through it.

Bizarre Fact #294:
Did you know...
While Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee in 1912, a would-be assassin fired a bullet into the right side of his chest. Much of the force of the slug was absorbed by the President's eyeglasses case and by the 50 page speech he was carrying double-folded in his breast pocket. Nevertheless, the bullet lodged itself just short of his lung, and, dripping in blood, Roosevelt pulled himself up to the podium. He asked the crowd to please "...be very quiet and excuse me from making a long speech. I'll do the best I can, but there's a bullet in my body... I have a message to deliver, and I will deliver it as long as there is life in my body." He spoke for 90 minutes, but was unable to refer to his text due to the gaping hole which the bullet had torn through it.

Bizarre Fact #295:
Did you know...
Who posed for the painting? Dr. Lillian Schwartz of Bell Labs suggests that Leonardo painted himself, and was able to support her theory by analyzing the facial features of Leonardo's face and that of the famous painting, She digitized both the self-portrait of the artist and the Mona Lisa. She flipped the self-portrait and merged the two images together using a computer. She noticed the features of the face aligned perfectly.

Bizarre Fact #296:
Did you know...
WWI flying ace Jean Navarre attacked a zeppelin armed with only a kitchen knife.

Bizarre Fact #297:
Did you know...
In 1917, Margaret Sanger was jailed for one month for establishing the first birth control clinic.

Bizarre Fact #298:
Did you know...
Romans used to believe that walnuts could cure head ailments during the Renaissance, since their shape was similar to that of a brain.

Bizarre Fact #299:
Did you know...
Abdul Kassam Ismael, Grand Vizier of Persia in the tenth century, carried his library with him wherever he went. Four hundred camels carried the 117,000 volumes.

Bizarre Fact #300:
Did you know...
After the U.S Civil War, about 33%-50% of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit.