The world's first newspaper was called the Acta Diurna, or daily acts. It was produced by Julius Caesar as a way of recording the goings-on of the senate to make them appear less mysterious. It was sent out to all quarters of the Empire to keep it connected, and during the Golden Age also became the first tabloid, as it descended into gossip, murder stories and reports about orgies.
Gimme yer lunch money, dweeb.Emperor Hadrian is known as one of the Good Emperors. Despite;
- Stabbing a slave in the eye with a pen in a rage fit. (he later apologised and offered something in compensation, the slave just wanted his eye back)
- Killing off the entirety of the senate at least twice.
And finally he had quite the ego apparently.
"You'd never do something as irrational as dying."Elephants are the only known living species other than humans to have a death ritual. When a member of their herd dies, its relatives will throw leaves and dirt all over the body. Also, if an elephant comes across the body of an unfamiliar elephant, it wil enter a state of morning,
Every time a fairy says that it doesn't believe in humans, a human child dies.IIRC "Taliban" literally translates to "Student warriors" (as in students of the Qu'ran). Of course, how they study and interpret the Qu'ran is far from normal in the Islamic world.
edited 3rd Nov '12 3:43:14 PM by sturmthedark
"If someone asks you 'What is life?' it is like them asking 'What is a carrot?'; a carrot is a carrot, we know nothing more.""Something interesting."
... Okay, okay.
Buttermilk contains no butter and is comparatively low in fat.
Dental phobia, or odontophobia, is the fear of going to the dentist and/or receiving dental care.
In 1938, Time Magazine chose Hitler as Man of the Year.
edited 4th Nov '12 11:37:13 AM by AnEditor
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they're going to be when you kill them.
Good ones.
Funny story. A college student was taking an exam in a class with two hundred people in it. The professor said that time was up and for the students to stop working. However, the student kept working. Enraged, the professor strode over to the student's desk and angrily told him that because of his insubordination, he would receive a zero on the exam. The student stood up and asked haughtily "Do you know who I AM?" The professor looked at him and said no. The student grinned. "Good." he said as he slipped his exam in the middle of the pile of test papers.
Before forming Daft Punk, Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel De Homem-Christo were in a rock band called Darlin'.
...that's all I got. :/
Do not spare the feelings of those who would not spare yours.Fun fact: Before witnessing the horrors of World War II as well as the Holocaust, the United States (likely also most of Europe as well) fully embraced a form of eugenics. While the United States did not round up people for slaughter en masse, they DID involuntarily sterilize groups deemed to be dangerous to the superior groups (white, middle class, Protestant, Anglo-Saxon, and genetically or behaviorally able people). It was further cemented into the public consciousness with thinkers such as Herbert Spencer and Thomas Malthus. We use it even today with ideas that some people are more fit to reproduce than others (like how "stupid" people shouldn't reproduce). Read more here
and here
.
There is a highway in Hawaii called Kamehameha Highway. Both the highway and the attack share a namesake, King Kamehameha.
edited 4th Nov '12 4:52:06 PM by VmKid
The narrator in Johnny Cash's song "I've Been Everywhere" is traveling to Winnemucca, Nevada.
That same song also is, originally, from Australia.
edited 5th Nov '12 10:54:50 AM by SeanMurrayI
Tolkien's publishing company was about to release The Hobbit in Germany when the Nazi party asked Tolkien if he was Aryan. Tolkien, in a Crowning Moment Of Awesome, told the Nazis that he, regrettably, did not have any Jewish ancestry and told them exactly where they could shove it.
edited 8th Nov '12 12:24:47 PM by FantasyLiver

Pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Say something interesting for all tropers to see, be it a fun fact, a funny story, or something insightful. Whatever it is, make it interesting.
For example: Fun fact, Hitler's nephew enlisted in the US Navy during World War II