Fun Friday Fact - hope you respond weekly to give us all a smile

[miz miranda]

You Can Thank Goats for Coffee

Did you know goats were the reason why coffee was invented? According to legend, in the 9^th century, Ethiopian farmers noticed the way their goats danced when they ate the Coffea plant. A local monk decided to give it a try and realized the drink kept him up at night and thus, coffee was born.

 

Finland Loves Coffee

According to the International Coffee Organization, the people of Finland are the world’s biggest coffee lovers. Most adults in the country drink an average of 27.5 pounds of coffee per year.

 

Coffee May Help You Live Longer

According to the American College of Physicians, it’s possible.  A study done by the team showed that people who drank coffee long-term had longer mortality than many of those who were not coffee drinkers.

 

Coffee Drinkers Were Once Punished

During the reign of the Ottoman Empire, people were punished for drinking coffee. This may sound a bit drastic, especially since the punishment was usually death, but rulers believed coffee was a narcotic and banned it from consumption.

[Davie]

Transgender Beings

Clownfish are born to one sex but are able to switch from male to female when necessary.
The humphead wrasse is able to change from female to male at nine years of age.  Lycaeides butterflies display a rare dual condition that can cause male and female traits to be arranged either haphazardly or bilaterally with one side male and the other side female.
They all find a place in the Pride parade.

 

 

[Heather Shay]

Humans have been performing dentistry since 7000 B.C., which makes dentists one of the oldest professions.

[miz miranda]

A bit of a challenge to find something fun about dentistry but here goes:

 

During the Middle Ages, a barber could not only give you a shave; this individual could also pull teeth. The processes they used could be quite barbaric, and many people didn’t survive the process or its aftermath, particularly if infection set in. For this reason, barbers were not especially popular in the neighborhood.

 

Today, we have a wide array of toothpaste options. The ancients, it seems, didn’t have lots of options, but they did have toothpaste. In ancient Greece, for example, people brushed their teeth with water, gum arabic, and soot. Ancient Romans used a mixture made of eggshells, honey, and oyster shells to clean teeth. Interestingly, honey is also known for its antibacterial properties.

 

In ancient India, people didn’t brush their teeth with a paste or brush. They chewed on twigs with bristled edges. The sticks helped to clean the teeth. This practice dates to 4000 BC.

 

Paul Revere, who achieved historic acclaim by warning the colonists that the ‘British were coming,’ also worked as a dentist. Not only that, but he also seems to have pioneered the field of dental forensics. He was able to identify a fallen soldier by the bridge he had installed in his mouth years before.

 

Want to try to reduce gum disease and cavities naturally? Eat more coconuts. Coconuts have natural antibacterial properties that support various aspects of oral health.

[_Kira_]

Paul Revere, who achieved historic acclaim by warning the colonists that the ‘British were coming.

 

Interesting fact about Paul Revere's ride. He was one of several riders that night. He didn't actually make it to Concord, he was captured outside of Lexington. It was his companion rider Dr. Prescott who completed this legendary part of the warning system. 

[Ivy]

One of whom was a woman, Sybil Ludington.

 

"The last of the famous night riders was, surprisingly, a woman. Although she would not make her journey until April 26, 1777, her service to the American forces was remarkable. The daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington, Sybil, at the young age of sixteen, would make a journey double to that of Revere (totaling 40 miles) to warn the colonists at Danbury, Connecticut of the approach of the British."

 

https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-declaration-of-independence/the-five-riders/#:~:text=Four men and one woman,William Dawes%2C and Sybil Ludington.

 

[Heather Shay]

The Stonewall Uprising took place early morning on June 28, 1969 when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar known as a safe place for LGBTQIA+ individuals. The raid sparked riots, six days of protests, and clashes with police. Although the uprising was not the start of the LGBTQIA+ movement, it was seen as a critical moment and spark in the movement. The Stonewall Inn is still open today in New York City and is a national monument!

 

The first Pride flag was designed by gay artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. It originally had eight stripes with each color symbolizing a different concept. The flag first flew on Gay Pride Day in San Francisco on June 25, 1978.

[Jani]

Even though others claim Stonewell as their own, it was started by transgender women.

[Davie]

1 hour ago, Jani said:

Even though others claim Stonewell as their own, it was started by transgender women.

Stonewell is a huge historical event, but the transgender women leadership is not so well known. Yay for transgender women! Tell everyone in Texas and Florida. They need to know.

[Ivy]

2 hours ago, Jani said:

Even though others claim Stonewell as their own, it was started by transgender women.

Which makes me wonder about the "LGB" crowd wanting to exclude trans people.

[Heather Shay]

The voices of Mickey and Minnie Mouse got married in real life.

[Jani]

David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album was released on this date in 1972.  That was over half a century ago!  Time flies!

[Heather Shay]

The word “summer” originates from the Old English word “sumor”

The word “summer” originates from the Old English word “sumor,” which meant “together” in the original language.The origin of the name may refer to the aggregation of individuals during the warmer months or the concept of everything converging and thriving during the summertime.

[Heather Shay]

In 2016, Mozart sold More CDs than Beyoncé. In October of the same year, the Universal Music Group released a box set commemorating the 225th anniversary of Mozart’s death. Every box set held 200 CDs.   The box has been extremely popular. A New Complete Edition, presenting Mozart’s entire work including every last fragment, in the most authoritative edition ever created. The Edition presents over 240 hours of music, 600 solo performers and ensembles including 60 orchestras and every significant Mozart interpreter of the past 30 years. You can still buy the set on amazon.

[Heather Shay]

The largest ice Cream Scoop Weighed 3,010 Lbs

The largest scoop of ice cream weighed in at 3,010 pounds (1,365 Kg) and was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Kemps Dairy in Cedarburg, Wisconsin on June 28, 2014, according to Guinness World Records. It was made of strawberry ice cream and actually contained 733 containers of the delicious pink treat. Thousands of people attending the Cedarburg strawberry festival were able to indulge in a free serving of this gigantic scoop.

[Heather Shay]

No piece of normal-size paper can be folded in half more than seven times. During thinking, we only use about 35% of our brains. A typist's fingers travel 12.6 miles during an average workday. More American workers (18%) call out sick on Friday than any other day of the week.

[Jani]

95% of retired people don't even know its Friday!

[Ivy]

3 hours ago, Heather Shay said:

More American workers (18%) call out sick on Friday than any other day of the week.

I'm afraid they are sick of their jobs.

[Davie]

On 6/9/2023 at 11:26 AM, Davie said:

tonewell is a huge historical event, but the transgender women leadership is not so well known. Yay for transgender women! Tell everyone in Texas and Florida. They need to know.

Xactly!

[awkward-yet-sweet]

Foxes of many different species can run quickly and have incredible strength and endurance for their size. 

 

- A red fox can run 31 mph, while a gray fox can reach 42 mph. 

- Red foxes can jump 4 ft high, and climb an 8ft tall chain link fence in 2 seconds. 

- Gray foxes regularly climb trees like cats, and will jump down from 10-12 feet up. 

- An arctic fox was recorded walking 2700 miles from Norway to Canada in 3 months, averaging 30 miles per day. 

 

Red foxes are also adaptable, and have become the dominant fox species around most of the world.  They have moved into the wild lands of the Arctic, and have become a pest in urban Britain.  In the Southern USA where they have been forced to compete with coyotes, the normally solitary red fox has learned to live in groups and hunt in packs. 

[Heather Shay]

#1 – The First Guitar was Created in Ancient Egypt

Well… in certain faculties it was, despite the fact that the guitar-like instrument made 3,500 years back (that's a vintage guitar!) is a long way from the guitars we play today.
It had a place with an artist of the time known as Har-Mose and was produced using cleaned cedar with a rawhide soundboard, included three strings, and even had a plectrum gadget appended to the instrument by means of horse hair cord. This fascinating guitar treasure is in plain view in the Archeological Museum in Cairo.

#2 – The World's Biggest Functioning Guitar is 13 Meters Long…

The truth is out – the world's biggest guitar, affirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records, is more than 13 meters in length (about 43ft). That is about the length of tour bus! Significantly more impressive, the guitar is more than just a model – it is actually a 100% playable instrument, with each string conveying the right pitch.

The guitar, which was made by the Academy of Science and Technology in Texas, gauged an astounding 2,255lbs (simply over 1,000kgs), took just about a year to assemble, included flying machine link for strings, and was built in the notorious shape of a Gibson Flying V.

#3 The Shortest Guitar is Just 10 Microns!

I mean, I guess you could play it? That's if you have especially tiny and nimble fingers, or are a miniature robot? Chances are, you won't be likely to play this guitar in your lifetime. The instrument comes in at 1/100,000 of a meter long (about the size of a solitary human cell).

Made by analysts at Cornell University in New York, the twofold cutaway style electric guitar even had strings equipped for being strummed (by authority hardware, clearly), in spite of the fact that the frequencies are so high due to the size, they are completely unintelligible to the human ear.

#4 – The Most Expensive Guitar Ever Sold, Cashed Out For A Whopping $2.8million!

The unique Fender made, one-of-a-kind 'Reach Out To Asia' Stratocaster was sold during an auction to raise funds for casualties and victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

While the white Strat itself is supposed to have cost Fender around $20,000 to create, the last cost achieved millions because of the one of a kind 'decorations'. These 'decorations' came in the form of signatures spade over the face of the Strat, signatures of guitar icons such as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Paul McCartney, Sting and Bryan Adams (who imagined the Reach Out to Asia venture), among different legends!

#5 – Gibson Made the Most Luxurious Guitar of All Time

While the Fender Strat we wrote about above was profitable because of the gathering of notorious signatures, in 2015, Gibson divulged a guitar worth almost as much because of the lavish materials used to adorn it.

Working related to adornments architect Aaron Shum, and artist and planner Mark Lui, Gibson's creation – named the 'Eden of Coronet' – is a white SG including in excess of 400 precious stones and consisting of around 1.6kg of 18k gold. Put us down for five of them, lol jks that's a new house right there!

#6 – A Man Once Married His Stratocaster

In 2001 a British performer, Chris Black, fell so frantically infatuated with his red Fender Strat – known by the name 'Brenda the Fenda' – he wedded it, following 35 years of 'dating'. The function was held in a congregation in London and was administered by a companion.

The guitar was actually his second 'spouse', as Chris was likewise wedded to a human lady at the time. Never paying attention to himself as well, Chris stated, 'It was distinctly for a touch of fun, to help brighten individuals up.'

#7 – Ibanez Added the seventh and eighth Strings

While different brands, for example, ESP, have been creating guitars with additional strings, it was Ibanez who turned into the principal brand to mass-produce guitars with both seven strings (presented in 1990) and eight strings (landing in 2007).

Strangely, the 7-string guitar was initially going to have a high A string rather than the low B string we know today. Fortunately – particularly for the universe of metal – it went the correct way!

[Heather Shay]

 

[Ivy]

They play that song at the NC Railroad Museum in Spencer NC.

In the steam days, Spencer was a major shop for the locomotives.  I've always found them fascinating.  One of my earliest memories is the lingering smell of coal smoke while walking the railroad swing bridge across the Hudson at Albany.

[Mmindy]

Let me preface this fact that I have been asked by two different preachers not to sing. 

[Jani]

@Mmindy Argh! (keep your day job.)