Mental Floss Presents Instant Knowledge Read online

  USEFUL FOR: baby showers, making friends at Lamaze, and justifying your lack of preparation at your kid’s birth

  KEYWORDS: curses, spirits, or The Exorcist

  THE FACT: Since many societies believe that newborns are particularly susceptible to evil spirits, a baby’s name is sometimes kept secret (or not given at all) so it can’t be used against the child in spells.

  In some Haitian, Nigerian, and Romany (Gypsy) cultures, babies are given two names at the time of birth. The parents keep one of them a secret, and they do not share it with the child until he is considered old enough to guard the name for himself. Similarly, in Thailand, a newborn is often referred to by a nickname (usually that of an animal or a descriptive term) to escape the attention of evil spirits, who are believed to be the spirits of dead, childless, unmarried women. The newborn is given a two-syllable name that is mainly used later on by teachers, employers, and during formal occasions. Some Vietnamese parents even delay naming their baby until it’s over one month old—the safety margin, spiritwise.

  BAD TRADES

  (how Cincinnati gets hosed)

  USEFUL FOR: ballpark chatter, seventh-inning stretches, impressing anyone over the age of 100 (who still remembers baseball)

  KEYWORDS: bad trades, bad management, or bad foresight

  THE FACT: Forget the Curse of the Bambino. Compared to this gaffe by the Cincinnati Reds, Boston’s decision to trade Babe Ruth (and the subsequent 86-year curse) looks like a carefully orchestrated work of managerial genius.

  In 1900, the Reds traded relative newcomer and Renaissance man Christopher “Christy” Mathewson to the New York Giants for the ailing “Hoosier Thunderbolt,” Amos Rusie. Following this brilliant move, Mathewson won 372 games for the Giants, including more than 20 games in 11 different seasons. He won wide renown as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. Rusie, on the other hand, pitched in three games following the trade, losing one and winning none…following which he promptly retired.

  BANK ROBBERY

  (gone wrong)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, road trips, chatting up your bank teller

  KEYWORDS: Jesse James, Ocean’s 11, or crime doesn’t pay

  THE FACT: Despite a ridiculously well known cast of rascals, the Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid was one of the worst-executed heists in history.

  It’s true, in terms of actual success this robbery was a total bust. But just take a peek at the culprits: legendary bandits Frank and Jesse James; Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger; and three lesser-known outlaws. Their target was Northfield’s First National Bank, which the gang settled on after casing a half-dozen other towns. Clearly, not enough casing, as the robbery couldn’t have gone worse. The bank’s cashier refused to open the safe, an alert passerby sounded the alarm, and townspeople killed two of the robbers as the rest escaped. A week later, a posse killed or captured all of the other outlaws except the James brothers, who escaped home to Missouri. It was the beginning of the end for 19th-century America’s most notorious bandits. Worse still? The entire take from the Northfield bank was a mere $26.70.

  BEARDS

  (a.k.a. The Trouble with Stubble)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, chatting up cat lovers, and questioning the Amish and other assorted bearded folk

  KEYWORDS: beard, stubble, or chin whiskers

  THE FACT: If you’re having trouble relating to your cat, perhaps you should think about shaving.

  A study led by Fairfield University indicates that cats react negatively to men with long, dark beards. On the other hand, the fickle felines seem rather indifferent to short beards or unshaven men. In another study, Robert Bork’s distinctive partial beard caused disorientation and paralysis in some cats. Of course, now all we need is a study to figure out why cats don’t like facial hair. It will probably require a hefty chunk of grant money, but we’re certain it would be worth it.

  instant personalities

  PABLO PICASSO liked to carry around a Browning revolver loaded with blanks just so he could fire it at any bourgeois who asked him what his work meant. (Talk about a loaded question!)

  American icon WALT DISNEY loved tomato juice so much that he offered it to everyone who came to his office…and got seriously upset if they didn’t drink it!

  Despite the fact that propaganda pics always had him showing off his pearly whites, CHAIRMAN MAO TSE-TUNG was actually pretty lax with his dental hygiene, and often reasoned: “If tigers don’t brush their teeth, why should I?”

  BERTRAND RUSSELL

  (the Cambridge Casanova)

  USEFUL FOR: academic gatherings, impressing professors, and giving philosophy majors hope

  KEYWORDS: philosophy, Russell, or The Ladies Man

  THE FACT: One of the founders of analytic philosophy, at first blush Bertrand Russell sounds like a pretty dry guy. But you don’t get a nickname like the Cambridge Casanova by staying in on Friday nights.

  Bertrand Russell had been orphaned at a young age, but before his father died, he instructed that young Bertie be raised agnostic—a decision that no doubt had some impact on the philosopher’s life. Plagued by bouts of depression as a young man, Russell quickly learned to cultivate a zest for life. In fact, this heavy-drinking, pipe-smoking professor was notorious for having affairs with his friends’ wives (on top of his four attempts at marriage!). He lived passionately, rejecting organized religion with his famous essay “Why I Am Not a Christian,” but spent his life pursuing social justice. He even flirted with runs for political office and did jail time for political protest (his last stint being at age 94!). Most notably, perhaps, Russell was a leading intellectual voice against nuclear weapons and the war in Vietnam.

  BLACKJACK

  (or playing your cards right MIT-style)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail parties, MIT reunions, and chatting up anyone who loves that Dogs Playing Poker picture

  KEYWORDS: blackjack, Vegas, or the phrase “the geeks shall inherit the earth”

  THE FACT: Most people say the house always wins, but in the 1990s there was good reason to put your money on MIT.

  Blackjack is a beatable game—that is, if you can count cards well enough to know when the deck favors the player, not the house. And while solitary card counters are relatively easy to spot for most casino security outfits, it took them six years during the 1990s to tumble to the strategy used by a group of MIT students. Using card-counting teams, complete with diversionary players—the cavalier math-letes raked in millions. One player recounted walking from one casino to another carrying a paper hat stuffed with $180,000 in cash. Amazingly, the MIT ring was never actually caught in the act. Some members retired. A few others were ratted out by a team traitor and banned from the casinos, which learned a lesson about the concept of team play.

  BOWER BIRDS

  USEFUL FOR: academic gatherings, impressing nerdy dates, and making small talk with art teachers

  KEYWORDS: This Old House, Trading Spaces, or arts and crafts

  THE FACT: While many male birds use elaborate visual signals to pique female interest, bower birds take more of a Bob Vila approach to the practice.

  To attract a mate, these Australian birds carefully craft elaborate structures, called bowers. Amazingly, though, these structures turn out more like love mansions than love shacks. Using everything from leaves, sticks, and feathers to manmade items such as paper, cellophane and glass, these birds construct sturdy tunnels, towers, and archways. Some bowers include roofed bridges connecting two towers, while others have groomed lawns made from moss.

  Once the bower is completed, the male calls out to females in the area, who, if impressed with the male’s structure, will mate with him inside it. Interestingly, though, the bower only serves to show off the male’s strength and vigor. After the mating is over, he tosses it aside along with the girl’s phone number.

  BOXING

  (and the guy you should always bet against)

  USEFUL FOR: consoling anyone who’s ever lost a fight<
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  KEYWORDS: jab, TKO, or I’ve seen grandmothers throw better punches

  THE FACT: Despite being knocked out more than any professional boxer, the abysmal Bruce “the Mouse” Strauss isn’t a sore loser.

  In fact, Strauss proudly claims to have been knocked out on every continent except Antarctica. His career began in Oklahoma City in 1976 when the completely novice (and drunk) Strauss agreed to enter the ring as a last-minute replacement fighter for a match. Surprisingly, he won. Afterward, he became a professional boxer, though he never sought formal training. Later, he decided to fight as an “opponent,” a boxer who almost exclusively fights inferior opponents in order to pad his or her record. By doing this, opponents can qualify for big fights to collect big checks, knowing with almost complete certainty that they won’t win. This can lead to some pretty nasty losses, of which the Mouse had plenty. Of his strategy, Strauss once said, “If I couldn’t knock ’em out, I’d look for a soft spot in the canvas, wait for a big punch, and close my eyes.”

  BRIDES

  (the kind you could never afford)

  USEFUL FOR: wedding rehearsal small talk, blowing a cheapskate’s mind, scaring potential fathers of the bride, and consoling your parents after spending so much on your wedding dress

  KEYWORDS: I do, for better or for worse, or doesn’t this stuff ever go on sale

  THE FACT: In possibly the most luxurious wedding in history, Vanisha Mittal, daughter of Anglo-Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, married Amit Bhatia, an investment banker who literally cashed in.

  The wedding, held in June 2004 in a chateau in France, lasted six days and was reported to have cost over $90 million (yes, that’s U.S. dollars). The guest roster included some of Bollywood’s brightest stars and some of Europe’s deepest pockets. Among the expenditures: $520,000 for a performance by pop diva Kylie Minogue, who performed for a half hour. That’s almost $300 per second, a figure even more shocking when you factor in dollars per unit of talent.

  BUDDY RICH

  (the original “Little Drummer Boy”)

  USEFUL FOR: barroom banter and anytime a country song plays on the jukebox

  KEYWORDS: Buddy Rich, drumming, or child prodigy

  THE FACT: Sure, Bernard “Buddy” Rich’s technique and speed were impressive, but the fact that he never took a lesson and refused to practice outside of performances made him just plain unbelievable.

  The son of vaudeville performers, Rich hit the stage in 1921 when he was only four years old and soon became the second-highest-paid child entertainer in the world. During his later career, he led some of the most successful big bands ever, and played with such greats as Tommy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie, and Louis Armstrong. But his drive and competitive nature also came with a volatile temper, which Rich was happy to showcase. He was notorious for screaming at his band members for hours on end (which they secretly tape-recorded) and fearlessly ridiculing pop stars during public interviews. Oh, and Rich also always needed to have the last word, even on his deathbed. While lying in a hospital after surgery, a nurse asked Rich if anything was bothering him. His response: “Yes…country music.”

  BURIALS

  (where the early bird gets the body)

  USEFUL FOR: when you’re watching birds feed and making small talk at wakes

  KEYWORDS: vultures, sky burials, or death

  THE FACT: Many Parsis or Zoroastrians (who are mainly concentrated in Mumbai, India) have a truly unusual way of disposing of their dead…involving vultures.

  They place corpses on a tower or on treetops to be devoured by vultures. It might seem crude at first, but it’s religiously poetic. Because Parsis believe that nature is sacred, they choose not to defile the earth, fire, or water by using the elements to dispose of their bodies. Instead, they rely on vultures to perform a “sky burial” and leave little more than crumbs of bone to disintegrate. The practice is not wholly unique to the Parsis, though. Tibetan Buddhists in some areas of China perform comparable sky burials where the body of the deceased is first prepared, then distributed to dogs, crows, and vultures. Similarly, certain Bantu tribes in South Africa leave dead bodies for jackals to devour.

  BUTTERED TOAST

  USEFUL FOR: stunning your nerdy friends and definitively proving to your Charlie Brownish pals that they’re just as unlucky as everyone else

  KEYWORDS: my bread, dropped, or damn (usually in the form of “Damn! I dropped my bread”)

  THE FACT: The reports are in: Toast really does fall butterside down!

  In an experiment led by physicist Robert Matthews of Aston University, British schoolchildren dropped thousands of buttered and unbuttered pieces of toast from their tables. The results are in: The buttered side will hit the ground first more often. In fact, irrespective of the buttering, the side of the toast facing up on the plate will probably hit the floor first. Why? Simply put, when the bread falls, it begins to flip. And it generally only has time to flip over once before it hits the floor, given the average kitchen table height—all of which leads to crying, whining, and restarting the whole toasting and buttering process. Oddly enough, in a related experiment, when the toast is dropped from a significantly higher height, the unbuttered side, on average, hits first.

  THE CAN OPENER

  (and the can)

  USEFUL FOR: cocktail party banter, impressing history buffs, and sparking conversation anytime you see a tin of something

  KEYWORDS: can, can opener, and which came first

  THE FACT: While the mental_floss staff is still working around the clock to figure out that whole chicken/egg deal, the slightly less asked can opener/can question is definitely something we can answer.

  In 1810, British merchant Peter Durand patented the tin can, allowing sterilized food to be preserved more effectively. The cans were useful for ocean voyages, during which glass bottles tended to break, and soon the British Navy was dining on canned veggies and meat. So far, so good. But what Durand (and everybody else for that matter) forgot to invent was a way to open the cans. For 50 years, getting into your pork ’n’ beans required the use of a hammer and chisel. The can opener was patented by American inventor Ezra Warner in 1858, but even that wasn’t particularly convenient. Early openers were stationed at groceries, and clerks did the honors. It wasn’t until 1870 that the first home can openers made an appearance.

  CASTRATION

  (and Franz Joseph Haydn’s pretty, pretty voice)

  USEFUL FOR: chatting with choirmasters, piano teachers, and anyone who sings well

  KEYWORDS: castration, sopranos, or castrated sopranos

  THE FACT: As a kid, Haydn’s voice was so beautiful that his choirmaster tried to trick him into keeping it forever via some delicate snipping.

  Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was the father of the symphony as we know it. During more than 30 years of experimentation, he came up with the form that influences composers to this day. But as a little boy, Haydn was known for something else—his beautiful soprano voice. He was the star soprano in his church choir. As he got older and his voice was about to change, his choirmaster came to him with a little proposition. If he would consent to the small operation, he could keep his beautiful soprano voice forever. Haydn readily agreed, and was just about to undergo the surgery when his father found out and put a stop to the whole thing.

  CHARLES II

  (England’s royal drain)

  USEFUL FOR: impressing your history teacher, slackers, and any politician who isn’t doing nearly enough

  KEYWORDS: royalty, bum, or royal bums

  THE FACT: Easily one of the most useless kings of all time, Charles II is on record as one of the laziest monarchs ever to “rule” Britain.

  Some might argue that he played an important role just by showing up, because his restoration to the throne signaled a return to peace and tranquility after a bitter civil war. But once he got there Charles didn’t do much of anything. A contemporary English chronicler, Samuel Pepys, described Charles as “A lazy Prince, no Co
uncil, no money, no reputation at home or abroad.” Not the best PR. Even worse, a common saying at the time had it that Charles “never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one.” Ironically, the highpoint of Charles’s popularity came when he survived an assassination attempt during the “Rye House Plot,” named after the place where the would-be assassins allegedly wanted to kill him. After a lifetime spent not doing things, not getting killed was Charles’s biggest accomplishment.

  CHEESE ROLLING

  USEFUL FOR: wine and cheese parties, chatting up extreme-sports enthusiasts or anyone from Wisconsin

  KEYWORDS: cheese, England, or professional sports

  THE FACT: Though it’s without a doubt one of the most absurd sports on record, the annual cheese-rolling contest at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire, England, is also incredibly, incredibly dangerous.

  Which isn’t actually all that surprising when you consider how the sport is played. First, a master of ceremonies gives the countdown—“One to be ready, two to be steady, three to prepare, four to be off”—and then up to 20 contestants chase a 7-pound circular block of cheese down a steep, bumpy hillside, trying to catch it before it gets to the bottom, 300 yards below. Four games are played over the course of one day, including one for women. Video footage of past events shows contestants breaking bones and splitting heads open, with spectators suffering frequent injuries as contestants lose their footing and hurl themselves into the crowds. No one is quite sure how cheese rolling started, but it’s great fun for those who have high thresholds (for watching) pain.