Total Trivia

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In the Disney adaptation, the true name of Prince Charming is never revealed, nor is he ever referred to as "Prince Charming"

Prince Charming is a stock character who originates in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to the rescue of the damsel in distress and typically must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. The name has been given to the heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, including Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.
Prince Charming is typically a well groomed adolescent. He frequently wears a sash or ribbon around his princely uniform, and often sports a small, waxed moustache.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Sylvan N. Goldman of Humpty Dumpty Stores and Standard Food Markets developed the shopping cart so that people could buy more in a single visit to the grocery store. He unveiled his creation in Oklahoma City on June 4, 1937.

 

[Daizie]

Many of the tales told about medieval traveler Marco Polo were just legends. But Marco Polo did live, and he stands along with Columbus and Magellan as one of the most important explorers in history.

 

[Daizie]

Marco Polo came from a family of traders in Venice, Italy. When Marco was still a boy, his father met travelers in Central Asia who brought him to meet Kublai Khan, the great leader of China. The Khan asked Polo to return to Europe and bring teachers and priests back to China.

A few years later, Polo, his son Marco, and Marco's uncle, left for the Far East. In 1275, they reached the court of Kublai Khan. They remained there for many years, exploring parts of the East that even the Khan didn't know about, before returning to Venice in 1295.

A few years later, Marco Polo was captured by enemies during a naval battle and put in prison. While there, he wrote a book about his journeys, describing the many strange lands he had seen.

 

[Daizie]

Marco Polo was the first European to describe and locate dozens of lands in the East and in Africa. His book was the basis of one of the first accurate maps of Asia, and was read by Christopher Columbus before he sailed for America.

 

[Daizie]

The confetti we throw today at newlyweds and returning heroes is a way of honoring them on special occasions or celebrating their accomplishments. But these little bits of colored paper did not begin as paper at all.

Hundreds of years ago, the celebration of carnival days in Italy gave merrymakers an excuse for boisterous carryings-on. Included in these celebrations was the custom of flinging coins and pieces of candy at each other. This candy, in Italian, is called confetti.

At one point in history, a storekeeper decided that he could make more of a profit at carnival time by selling imitation candies cut out of colored cardboard. His idea became a huge success.

Down through the years, the candy-shaped cardboard became the small square bits of colored paper we use today.

 

[southerntierguy]

In 18th century Maine, lobster was so plentiful it was commonly used as farm fertilizer.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In 18th century Maine, lobster was so plentiful it was commonly used as farm fertilizer.

Lobsters in Maine are now protected and controlled by the remaining fishermen who farm them, who are in turn protected by the state.

 

[Daizie]

Fish get their oxygen directly from the water. They have organs called gills that take oxygen out of the water, just as your lungs take oxygen out of the air. But water can run out of oxygen, just as air can. So fish can suffocate in water — which means they can drown!

These drownings occur most often in small ponds that dry up. All the fish that live in the pond are crowded into the remaining water, where they use up all the oxygen in the water, then drown. Fish can also drown if their gills are damaged in a collision with an underwater plant or in a fight with other sea creatures.

Weather conditions also account for some drownings. For example, when some fish realize that oxygen supply in the water is getting very low, they rise to the surface and suck air into a sac-like organ called the air bladder.

The fish can then take oxygen out of this air instead of directly out of the water. But in cold weather, when the surface of the water is frozen, the fish can't reach that air, and so drown.

 

[MikeCasanova]

There is extensive medical evidence indicating that aquariums are a highly effective means of alleviating stress even in difficult situations such as dental surgery. This is why you see them in many dentists' offices, real and fictional, including part of the secondary setting of Disney/Pixar's _Finding Nemo_.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Aquarium fish are the most popular pet in America, with nearly 12 million households owning more than 158,600,000 fish.

 

[fire_breeze]

Verona, the Italian city where Shakespeare's play lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters every year sent to Juliet on Valentine's Day.

 

[fire_breeze]

The oldest surviving love poem till date is written in a clay tablet from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C.E.

 

[fire_breeze]

Lace is a fine texture associated with love and romance from a long time. Many years ago, a woman would drop her handkerchief in front of the man she liked. This was supposed to be a type of indication to him encouraging him to come forward. If he picked it up for her an introduction could be made. Lace has always been part of women's handkerchiefs, and it has from that time been linked to romance

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pinewood, 77 cm x 53 cm (30 in. x 20 7/8 in.) in the year 1506.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In June 1963 in Britain, the British tennis player Michael Sangster served a ball that was clocked at 154 miles per hour. This is the fastest tennis serve ever recorded.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Up to the age of six or seven months, a child can breathe and swallow at the same time. An adult cannot do this.

 

[Daizie]

On May 24, 1844, the world's first telegraph message was sent. It consisted of just four words: "What hath God wrought."

 

[Daizie]

People have always been superstitious about mentioning the name of a dead person. Primitive man thought that by doing this, the dead person's spirit would be disturbed and it would return to haunt the living. By wishing for a soul to "rest in peace," people hoped that the spirit would stay within the dead body.

Today, "May his soul rest in peace" is used more as a sign of respect for the dead person rather than the continuation of a superstition.

 

[Sienna]

On April 2nd 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.

After British forces were sent to free the islands, the war ended on the 14th June 1982. The war cost a total of 907 lives; 258 British and 649 Argentinian troops including naval seamen.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

A polar air mass moving south from Canada may pick up from the Mississippi basin more than nine times as much water as flows out from the mouth of the river.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Jardine River in Australia’s Cape York Peninsula is home to Crocodylus porosus, the saltwater or estuarine crocodile. It is the largest and perhaps most dangerous of all 23 species of crocodilians.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Ketchup was sold in the United States as a patent medicine in the early nineteenth century — Dr. Miles' Compound Extract of Tomato.

 

[desideratum]

I like that Mona Lisa Trivia Lorraine (and also fire_breeze that lace trivia is divine!)

Leonardo da Vinci drew skeletons with Greek feet (which have short big toes, as seen on Greek and Roman statues in the classical tradition), rather than so-called Egyptian feet, in which the big toe is longest.

Some cultures have considered short big toes to be a sign of intelligence.... Researchers have reported varying incidences of Greek feet in different populations, ranging from 3 per cent to 40 per cent. The trait is thought to be genetic, with Greek feet being recessive and Egyptian feet being dominant.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In Egypt, social engagements usually begin later than they do in the United States. Dinner may not be served until 10:30 p.m. or later. When invited to dine, it is customary to take a gift of flowers or chocolates. Giving and receiving gifts should be done with both hands or the right hand – never with the left.