News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
What do Bangkok and Rome have in common? Both were founded on April 21. Of course, Rome, which was founded in 753 B.C. is 2535 years older. Bangkok’s original name was Rattanakosin. Rome was always Rome.
Happy birthday cities.
Adolph Hitler uncontrollable flatulence — Adolph Hitler had uncontrollable flatulence and bad breath. He was also impotent and addicted to cocaine.
Who was Lord Warkworth? He was Englishman better known as Hugh Percy but that was what he was called in his 20s. He became Earl Percy in 1766. He joined the British Army, became a general and led the relief force that let Lt. Col Francis Smith’s detachment escape to Boston after the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
The word “tax” is from the Latin taxare, meaning “evaluate, estimate, assess, handle.”
Japanese restaurateur Kiyoshi Kimura paid $1.76 million for a bluefin tuna in 2013. It weighed 489 pounds. That’s $230 per ounce which does not make it the most expensive food. The title belongs to 2.9 pounds of white truffles sold in 2010 for $330,000 or $7,112 per ounce.
The Titanic had four smokestacks. Only three of them worked. The fourth was just for looks.
Today, Maundy Thursday, commemorates the washing of the disciples’ feet by Jesus before the Last Supper. Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum, meaning “commandment,” and refers to the commands Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper: to love with humility by serving one another and to remember his sacrifice.
A curious person in 2012 took over 420,000 routers, uninterrupted power supplies, printers and other internet-enabled devices whose passwords nobody bothers to change from the default to see who used the internet. His probes created a visual mosaic of the World Wide Web. He then quietly deleted his code. His deed is called the Carna Botnet.
He found that of the then 4.3 billion possible IPv4 addresses about 2.3 billion were not used.
As 32-bit IPv4 has been replaced by 128-bit IPv6 — which provides for a lot, lot, lot more addresses, 3.4×1038, to be exact — 2012 is probably the last time such a census was possible.
4.3 billion is 4.3 x 109.
John Paul Jones was also a rear admiral in the Russian navy.
Who were the Parisii? They were a Celtic tribe that made their home on an island in the Seine in France. A city is named for them.