A BALLSY MANUEVER

Photo by Lenore Edman (Flickr: SB 206) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

In the 1960s, Wham-O was manufacturing more than 170,000 SuperBalls (those hard rubbery toy balls which have a high coefficient of restitution and which, as a result, bounce incredibly well) a year. Wham-O, as a publicity stunt, made an extra-large SuperBall the size of a bowling ball. One day, during an exhibition in Melbourne, Australia, the sphere fell out of a 23rd story window, hit the ground, bounced back up to the 15th floor, and finally crashed into a parked convertible on the 2nd trip down. The ball was unscathed, but the automobile was totally demolished. 
  

The owner of the vehicle probably had difficulty explaining to his insurance company that his car was destroyed by a toy rubber ball.

You may recall that the SuperBall's other claim to fame is that it served as the inspiration for the name of the Super Bowl.

THE CASE OF THE PROFOUNDLY PROFANE PARROT

Andrew Jackson’s wife, Rachel, had an African Grey parrot with the unimaginative name of “Pol.” After Rachel’s demise, Jackson personally took care of Pol until Jackson’s own death. Pol was initially present at Jackson’s funeral but was quickly ejected after screaming various creative and obscene phrases in English and Spanish which he had previously learned from the President.

THE DULLES VERSION OF THE BATPHONE

John Foster Dulles, who was the Secretary of State under President Eisenhower, liked to unwind on Duck Island, which was a remote spot on Lake Ontario without landlines or even electricity. And, of course, cell phones were a thing of the future. His opportunities for telecommuting were thus quite limited. Therefore, as a precaution, he had made arrangements for his office to call CBS if he was needed in the event of an international crisis. If Dulles heard on his transistor radio the phrase on World News Roundup "[T]his story is of special interest to Secretary of State Dulles...", he knew that he had to take a boat or plane back to the mainland immediately so that he could get to a telephone.

PRURIENCE AND MINIATURE GOLF

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Minature golf was invented in 1867 at the prestigious Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland. The club members wanted to provide a sport for their wives and daughters but could obviously not have the females play regular golf.  After all, it would be intolerable to permit women to raise their clubs past their shoulders on the backswing, as it could then cause their breasts to bounce around on the downstroke. The Club thus provided a two-acre course called the Ladies Putting Green which could be played in full modesty with just a putter.

Times have changed since then, as evidenced by this 2011 Kia commercial featuring Michelle Wie.

THE BARLEY MEN

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Fans of classic loincloth movies such as Spartacus, Demetrius and the Gladiators, and the Terror of Rome versus the Son of Hercules are led to believe that gladiators were lean, mean, fighting machines. These combatants are usually portrayed  with wiry, sinewy bodies with sculpted six-pack abs and arm muscles like steel cables covered with bulging veins.

There is little doubt that most gladiators were skilled and savage fighters and not someone you would want to offend. They were without question well-muscled. However, for the most part, these muscles were concealed under a thick layer of fat. Gladiators were generally stout individuals and looked more like John Belushi than a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The cause of this phenomena is simple. The warriors were fed primarily beans and cheap grains. In fact, they were nicknamed "barley men" as a result of their diet. The high amount of carbohydrates really bulked them up. In order to obtain the necessarily calcium and other minerals required for their heavy physical regime, they consumed a primitive sports drink comprised of plant ashes dissolved in vinegar. They rarely ate meat except on the night before a match.

The diet was intentionally chosen on its merits and not just for the fact that it was inexpensive. The adipose actually served as protection so that an injury would be inflicted on the padding of fat instead of on vital organs. In addition, such superficial wounds bled dramatically and added greatly to the theater of the occasion.

For further information on feeding barley men, please click on this article on the Archaeology website.

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SALARY

George Washington's Presidential salary was $25,000 a year, which would be about $700,000 in today's money. He led a lavish lifestyle, including spending on liquor about 7% of his net earnings (which was the same as his gross salary, as back then there were no income taxes or Social Security withholding). He also pimped his ride by buying leopard-skin robes for his horses.

HONGEO

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One of the most highly-prized food delicacies on the Korean peninsula is "hongeo." Hongeo is specially prepared skate (a fish similar to a ray). The preparation consists of letting the fish rot in a refrigerator for two months or so and then eating it raw. Prior to the invention of refrigerators, the fish was stuffed in a pile of hay during its period of fermentation.

Cartilaginous fish (i.e. rays, sharks, and skates) do not excrete uric acid through a bladder like most critters. Instead, it seeps out through their skins. Hongeo, therefore, is essentially fish which has been pickled in its own concentrated urine. Diners who have eaten this stuff in a restaurant report that the stench of ammonia is burning and overwhelming, follows them home on their clothes, and infiltrates their houses. The ammonia level is so dense that it can cause intoxication. Perhaps the only substance which is more vile is hongeo juice, which is the liquid which seeps out of the fish when it is decomposing. It is collected for drinking by truly devoted conno-sewers. 

Hongeo is not readily available in grocery stores in the USA. Please do not accuse me of xenophobia if I assert that this is not necessarily a bad thing.