Useless, but Interesting

During my break from school, I have learned many interesting facts, some of which are believable and some of which are not so believable.  If I may, I will indulge you in a little recitation.

I'm assuming that you have agreed that I may, and so, here goes.

1. Marilyn Monroe slept in the nude.  She also bleached her pubic hair.  In addition, she had irritable bowel syndrome.  Didn't see that one coming, did you?

2. During the French Reign of Terror, executioners reported that they asked executed people questions moments after their heads were cut off...and they were able to answer.  (Not for very long, I'm sure, and also, I don't know what questions were asked.  I think I would ask, "Did that hurt?"  But I might already know the answer.)

3. During the filming of Gone With the Wind, Vivien Leigh apparently gagged before kissing Clark Gable because his breath was so bad.  (I, personally, do not believe this could possibly be the case--Vivien Leigh was a devoted smoker and SHE must have been smelling her own breath rather than Clark Gable's.)

4. During the making of the Wizard of Oz, the actress who played with Wicked Witch of the West was severely burned during the second taping of the scene where she leaves Munchkinland in a swirl of smoke.  Because of this, in the movie, they included the first take---where you can see the trap door she exited through.  (You're going to watch again, aren't you?)

5. Before the filming of the Harry Potter movies began filming, each of the three main stars (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint) were assigned an essay--to describe the essence of their characters.  Daniel wrote a couple of pages, Emma wrote a short novel, and Rupert totally forgot...  A little bit like their characters in the movies, perhaps?  Personally, I find this very funny.  Maybe if you're not a huge Potter fan, though, it's less interesting. 

6. A man from China went to an Ikea store and started designing furniture in a rural Chinese town and created a business that now grosses $1 million a year.  The average income for a person in China is like $300 a month, and many farmers don't make that in a year.  Did you know they had Ikeas in China?

7. It CAN snow a foot in the Tidewater area.  When it does, you should not drive in your pregnant roller skate-looking car during the heaviest snow on a covered on ramp.  You WILL get stuck and I WILL laugh at you.

8. A male platypus is venomous.

9.  Although a hippopotamus is a vegetarian, they will still kill you.  Therefore, mom is right that a hippo will eat you up and a hippo is not an appropriate Christmas gift.

10. In the rainforest, where insects are plentiful, there are certain spores that can give insects brain diseases.  When this happens to ants, the rest of the ants take the affected ant friend away to die because when the spore germinates, it can kill off an entire colony.  When it germinates, it sends a plant looking thing through the ant's head and it slowly goes crazy and dies.  The more plentiful an insect species, the more likely a spore will attack that particular species.  I wonder if all species take their sick away to die?   Is that practical, or sad?  Do ants have feelings?  Unfortunately, each fun fact I discover only creates more questions.

I hope that you have enjoyed these fun facts although they are, unfortunately, completely worthless, and will probably never even give you a dramatic and decisive win while you watch Jeopardy on the couch with your friends.  Probably you will never even have cause to mention them in general conversation unless, of course, you decide to write a blog about any or all of them and I certainly wouldn't judge you if you did.