Mental Floss: Instant Knowledge (24 page)

(and the guy you should thank for ’em)

USEFUL FOR:
movie theater chatter, making small talk while waiting for your popcorn to pop, and impressing anyone who really loves their microwave

KEYWORDS:
I really love my microwave

THE FACT:
If it weren’t for the candy bar in Percy Spencer’s pocket, it might have been years before we got the kitchen appliance.

Radar and microwave technologies developed during World War II were credited with helping to change the tide in the battle in Europe. But after the war, scientists like Percy Spencer stumbled across all sorts of new applications for the technology. Percy, who was working for Raytheon at the time, happened to be in the path of powerful radiation emitted from a magnetron (ouch), when he noticed that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. He then put popcorn kernels in front of the device and watched in fascination as the popcorn popped. He also demonstrated cooking an egg from the inside out (don’t do this at home, they tend to explode!). Of course, using low-density microwave energy to cook is now commonplace, and Spencer’s use of popcorn as an early experimental substance was prescient—today the United States produces 500,000 tons of popcorn, most of which is cooked in microwave ovens.

(it does a reputation good)

USEFUL FOR:
barroom banter, fraternity halls, wherever someone is carrying a funnel and a six-pack

KEYWORDS:
got milk, milk mustache, or really anytime the word
milk
comes up

THE FACT:
Before civil wars ravaged Sudan, unmarried Dinka tribesmen used to compete in extreme milk-drinking competitions to strut their stuff for eligible females.

The goal was for the men to gulp down endless gallons of the stuff and refrain from exercise in an effort to become as fat as possible. Supposedly, this showed the single ladies that a bachelor had enough cattle to drink all this extra milk. Of course, this isn’t the only case where excessive weight is associated with stature. Various cultures throughout history, from South Asian to Polynesian societies, have valued obesity as an indicator of the lush life. Dinka men, however, are generally quite tall and thin (basketball star Manute Bol being one of the more prominent), and some men would gain so many unfamiliar milk pounds so quickly that they were known to topple over upon rising from the competition.

(gone missing)

USEFUL FOR:
museum dates, chatting with bitter Italians, and giving tours at the Louvre

KEYWORDS:
Leonardo da Vinci, Italian pride, or bumbling art heist

THE FACT:
While the
Mona Lisa
’s probably pretty well protected today, there used to be a time when you could walk into the Louvre and just pluck it off the wall. In fact, somebody did.

In 1911, an Italian workman named Vincenzo Peruggia walked into the gallery, took the painting off the wall, and carried it out. Not exactly the high-minded cat burglary you might imagine, since security was practically nonexistent. Of course, it did take officials about two years before they located Old Mona buried in a trunk in Vincenzo’s cheap lodging in Florence. So what was the working man’s motive? Not money apparently. Vinnie claimed that since the painting was by an Italian, Leonardo da Vinci, it was part of Italy’s national cultural heritage, and he was, in true patriotic spirit, simply taking it back to where it belonged: Florence. The painting was returned to the Louvre shortly thereafter.

(a.k.a. A Tale of Two Georges)

USEFUL FOR:
impressing your history teacher or date, or arguing that monogamy and true love actually might not be myths

KEYWORDS:
mistress, low fidelity, or royal romance (sort of)

THE FACT:
While most royalty has a real problem with the whole “staying faithful” thing, a couple of Georges were apparently cast from a different mold.

From harems to courtesans, it can make you dizzy to think about all the women on the side royal men have taken a “liking to.” Oddly enough, though, there have been a few kings who wanted desperately to be faithful to their beloveds. Take England’s King George II (1683–1760) for example. Old George was happily married to his wife, Queen Caroline, but he took a mistress just to
maintain his reputation
. After all, a mistressless king could be seen as weak or, worse still, impotent. His son, George III, however, broke that streak of monarchial infidelity when he married the notoriously homely Princess Charlotte Sophia in 1761. Seeing her for the first time, George is said to have winced in disgust, but the two came to love one another immensely (and frequently—they had 15 kids), and George III was never unfaithful.

(that use protection)

USEFUL FOR:
barroom banter, chatting up etymologists

KEYWORDS:
stamina, moths, or unusual types of protection

THE FACT:
If you’re looking for clever dating tactics, put down your men’s magazine and take a closer look at the male red moth of the
Cosmosoma myrodora
species.

The male red moth dines on the fluid from the leaves of the dog fennel plant and stores some of it in a pair of pouches under his abdomen. Then, when the little guy goes a-courting, he discharges the pouch contents all over the female, sort of like nuptial confetti. The fluid contains a variety of alkaloids from the plant that repel predators, such as spiders. Indeed, virgin female moths coated with the stuff and placed into spiders’ webs are quickly cut loose by the spider. This chemical protection seems vital since the moths spend up to nine hours copulating! The male wants to ensure that his mate doesn’t become a meal while he attempts to impregnate her.