Really TRUE odd factoids

[Chris S]

April Ashley was Vogue's first transgender model, in 1961.

 

[Chris S]

Merry Clayton sang backing vocals on Lynyrd Skynyrd's controversial Southern anthem 'Sweet Home Alabama'. She was African American.

 

[Blue Hills]

April Ashley was Vogue's first transgender model, in 1961.

Just died of course.
Was very vaguely aware of her as a kid because of Sunday newspaper references.
Shame on the scummy journo and rag that outed her without consent.
An incredible life.

 

[classic33]

Kiribati, also known as Christmas Island, is located in the Central Pacific. They celebrate throughout the nation at each village's maneaba or meeting house, where all social and political activity takes place.

Meanwhile
American Samoa is the second to last place to celebrate the new year behind Baker and Howland Island, which are both uninhabited. Some tourists take advantage of the time difference by flying from Samoa to American Samoa to celebrate twice.

 

[classic33]

There's a local tradition, in Akita, Japan, called Namahage where grown men dress up like demons to scare children into behaving for their parents. They go from house to house yelling things like "Are there any crybabies at home?" or "Are naughty kids around?"

 

[Blue Hills]

The electric vibrator came 10 years before the electric vacuum cleaner.

In truth I'm not sure whether this is odd/surprising or not.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

There are owls who freeze mice to eat later — when they’re hungry, they just sit on a mouse until it thaws and eat it then.

 

[Blue Hills]

There are owls who freeze mice to eat later — when they’re hungry, they just sit on a mouse until it thaws and eat it then.

Do the mice scream?

 

[ClichéGuevara]

 

[Chris S]

Ben Elton and Olivia Newton John are third cousins.

 

[classic33]

It's illegal to set the burglar alarm on your house, and then go out.

 

[T4tomo]

Curries weren't made in India until about 500 years ago when the Portuguese brought chillies there from South America.

Incorrect. Curry just means Gravy.
But yes the chilly is not native to India

 

[Chris S]

Incorrect. Curry just means Gravy.

I don't think that is correct. I saw a cookery progamme (with Rick Stein?) where Indians making a curry used the English word 'gravy' to refer to the liquid that the meat was cooked in.

 

[T4tomo]

I don't think that is correct. I saw a cookery progamme (with Rick Stein?) where Indians making a curry used the English word 'gravy' to refer to the liquid that the meat was cooked in.

exactly and curry is the Indian word it or the anglicised version of "Kari" the Tamil word for gravy or sauce.

For Chris S(low) below Gravy/Sauce in English = Kari / "Curry" in Tamil. Same word.

 

[Chris S]

If they use 'gravy' to refer to the sauce then presumably they use 'curry' to refer to the whole dish? If they used the same word to refer to both then nobody would know what they meant.