Some of these interesting facts will surprise you, while others will just plain be disgusting.
Here we go with one from my youth.
“The television was invented only two years after the invention of sliced bread.”
For me, sliced bread has been around my whole life. Otto Rohwedder from Chillicothe, Missouri, invented the first machine to slice bread in 1928. Some bakers in his area tried to discourage him because they thought sliced bread would go stale quickly or fall apart. Nevertheless, he produced a power driven, multi bladed automatic slicer. Wonder Bread was one of the first companies to pick up this machine to use on their products.
During World War II, sliced bread was briefly banned in an effort to conserve resources such as the paper used to wrap each loaf to maintain freshness.
The fact sheet says television came along in 1930. I remember our first television coming into our home when I was only four years old. That was almost 1950, and the screen was about eight inches diagonally, in a box that was about three feet by two feet tall. When the channels went off at night, probably about midnight, a big thing called a test pattern came on the screen and it made a humming noise. Then when programming returned at maybe 8 a.m. or so, the National Anthem was played, just as Fox News does now and the programs started for the day.
I was too young to be involved much, but I can remember my parents gathering around this tiny little screen in our small living room to watch whatever there was.
It seems Philo Farnsworth made the first working television in 1930 in a laboratory in San Francisco. Obviously many years later they started to be distributed all over the country.
“Bullfrogs do not sleep.”
This is because they do not have a need for rebound energy. Dolphins do not totally sleep either. Only half of their brain goes to sleep at a time. I’ve often wondered how they swim around all night and protect themselves. Now we know.
But back to bullfrogs – the American bullfrog is a nocturnal creature that hunts all night for almost anything that it can fit in its mouth. The bullfrog rests during the day and it could appear to be sleeping, but it’s not really. When stimulated by a pain causing apparatus (I didn’t do that – somebody else did.), it always responds. You never know when you need to know more about bullfrogs.
“It took the creator of the Rubik’s Cube, Erno Rubik, one month to solve the cube after he created it. As of June 2018, the world record in China is 3.47 seconds.”
Really just so you know, I’ve never been close to solving it. I think patience comes into this solution and I don’t have that. Three and a half seconds … are you kidding me?
Now we get to the creepy stuff.
“Iguanas have three eyes – two normal eyes and a third eye on top of their head that only perceives brightness.”
Of course, in order to research this I had to look at pictures and read about these ugly iguanas. Honestly, they are scary. That little eye is a tiny thing on the top of their head you would never notice if you weren’t looking for it. It helps to alert them to risks of aerial threats. That’s because they’re crawling in trees and bushes and, oh my gosh, they’re so ugly. I know they can’t help it and they don’t care if they are ugly.
“In Slovakia they have Christmas Carp that live in the family bathtub for a few days before they are eaten.”
This is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard of. While researching, I saw children actually playing with these fish a few days before they ate them!
Traditionally the big fish swims in the family tub for a day or two, almost becoming a pet before it is eaten. Believe me, this Salt Carp is not pretty, either. After the fish is killed, it is marinated in milk and then carved from spine to belly to make horseshoe shapes thought to be good luck. This would just not be for me. It’s a traditional holiday meal, which has been going on for centuries, also in countries like Poland and the Czech Republic.
So glad to share this craziness with you!
(Melanie Behrens – melb@marysvillejt.com)