GREENSBORO, N.C. — Thanks to our friends at Reader's Digest here are some useless trivia facts that you can take to the watercooler.
We begin with the shortest war in the history of the war. It all began back when Zanzibar was a British territory and the sultan died. They quickly appointed a replacement named Khalid. The only trouble was that they never consulted Britain!
The Brits didn't take too kindly to that and when the newly elected sultan wouldn't step down they sent the warships. After 38 minutes of battering the coastline, Sultan Khalid said, "OK that's enough" and he ran for the hills. Thereby ending the ANglo-Zanzibar war in less than 40 minutes!
Next up is a little story about Michelangelo. Did you know that he hated painting the Sistine Chapel? So much so that he wrote a poem about it. Found years later it read "I've already grown a goiter from this torture. Hunched up here like a cat in Lombardy or anywhere else where the water's poison."
Here's one... did you know that shadows are darker on the moon than here on Earth? Since we have an atmosphere a lot of the light is scattered in different directions as it passes through our air but since there is NO atmosphere on the moon that's not the case. In fact, Neil Armstrong said that the shadows were so dark it was hard to tell where he was going.
And finally the shocker. Strawberries....are NOT berries! By definition, a berry has to come from a single flower and contain at least 2 seeds. A strawberry doesn't meet those criteria. Neither does a blackberry or blueberry.
Now you know.