Mental Floss: Instant Knowledge (28 page)

(sells his soul and fetches a good price)

USEFUL FOR:
cocktail parties, classical music intermissions, and chatting up string players

KEYWORDS:
Robert Johnson, Led Zeppelin, or any other big name person who supposedly sold his soul

THE FACT:
Forget what you’ve heard about Robert Johnson and the crossroads, Niccolò Paganini was accused of selling his soul years before the blues was around.

It’s true (the accusation part, at least!), Italian violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini was one of the most astounding virtuosos of all time. He had amazing technique and enormous passion. He also promoted himself shamelessly, doing tricks to astonish his audience. Often before a concert he would saw partway through three of the four strings on his violin. In performance, those three strings broke, forcing him to play an entire piece on one string. Rumors flew that Paganini had sold his soul to the devil in order to play so well. And sometimes Paganini would order the lights dimmed while he played particularly spooky music. Everybody fainted—when the candles were lit again, the room appeared to be full of dead bodies sprawled everywhere. (Clearly, it didn’t take much to stun an audience in those days.)

(fighting Nazis since World War II)

USEFUL FOR:
water cooler conversation, making friends at Kinko’s, Staples, or OfficeMax

KEYWORDS:
Norway, pride, Nazis, or office supplies

THE FACT:
In 1899, soon to be Norwegian icon Johan Vaaler designed a paper clip and promptly set out to get his idea patented. He quickly found out that Norway had no patent laws to speak of.

Undeterred by his countrymen’s apparent lack of creativity (or, at least, foresight), the tenacious Norwegian obtained a copyright in Germany and, later, another in America. Interestingly, Norway has yet to recover from the excitement surrounding this achievement. Far from a simple office supply, residents consider the paper clip a symbol of national pride—like the eagle in America, only less endangered. During World War II, the occupying Nazi forces made it illegal for Norwegians to wear or display images of their former king, so resistance fighters looked for a more subtle way to display their sympathies. A paper clip fastened to the lapel proved just the thing, and it soon came to represent a free Norway.

(and one terrible 14-year-old)

USEFUL FOR:
PTA meetings, chatting up bird lovers, convincing yourself your teen would never do that

KEYWORDS:
hunting, conservation, or extinction

THE FACT:
If you’re hankering for a peek at the passenger pigeon, you’re flat out of luck. Oh, and you can thank a 14-year-old kid for your disappointment.

The naturalist John James Audubon once reported seeing a flock of passenger pigeons so numerous it took three days to fly over them. And he wasn’t exaggerating! In the early part of the 19th century, the birds were estimated to make up as much as 40 percent of North America’s entire avian population. But the abundance of the creatures made them easy marks. Effortlessly hunted, the birds were mowed down mostly for food but occasionally for sport, with some “sportsmen” bagging as many as 5,000 in a day. Unfortunately, the birds were unable to sustain themselves except in large flocks, and they quickly dwindled. In 1900, a 14-year-old boy shot the last wild passenger pigeon out of existence. (Boys
will
be boys.) Fourteen years later, the last one in captivity died at the Cincinnati Zoo. Her name was Martha.

(and some painful traditions)

USEFUL FOR:
barroom banter, letting people in the waiting room know just how good they have it

KEYWORDS:
dad, daddy, pop, or stud

THE FACT:
According to some traditions in French Guyana, several days before his wife is expected to give birth, the husband is expected to quit working.

In fact, he’s also expected to maintain a strict diet, because many foods consumed by the father are believed to directly affect the unborn child. When the baby finally arrives, the woman must return to work as soon as she is able. The father, however, is restricted to his bed and kept in relative seclusion. After about six weeks of this, relatives cut openings in his skin and rub his body with a ground pepper plant. (If only he could just buy a few cigars.) Similar ceremonies are found in remote areas all over the world, and they are all related to the concept of couvade, in which the father is expected to share in the pain of his wife’s birthing experience. These days, when expectant fathers experience “sympathy pains” in the abdomen, it’s known as “couvade syndrome.”

(and why Willy can stop worrying)

USEFUL FOR:
perfume counter conversation, chatting up someone from PETA, and calming down your pet whale

KEYWORDS:
ambergris, cologne, or whaling

THE FACT:
Whales can finally relax! Today’s chemists have learned how to mimic ambergris in the laboratory, causing high-pitched sighs of relief in oceans across the world.

For those of you unaware, ambergris is the waxy liquid coating the stomachs of sperm whales, and it protects them from the sharp bones of the cuttlefish they eat. When fresh, it’s soft and black and smells awful. When exposed to sun and water, it hardens, becomes lighter colored, and develops a pleasant smell. Bizarrely, ambergris is an excellent “fixative” that keeps perfume’s scent from evaporating too quickly and for this reason was once a prize booty for whalers. A piece of ambergris weighing 922 pounds was once found floating in the ocean, making its discoverer instantly wealthy. But synthetic analogues have now eliminated the need to kill whales for perfume manufacturing. And ladies no longer have to cope with the notion of anointing themselves with whale regurgitation.