Sylvia Shults's Blog, page 25

Today I Learned …

Francisco Rios, of Hartford, Connecticut, won $100,000 on the state lottery in 2018 by using numbers taken from a classic 1958 episode of the TV western series Bronco. He used the numbers 22, 2,18,12, and 28 because the episode was about a man who had been buried in a glacier for 22 years, 2 months, 18 days, 12 hours, and 28 minutes. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Beyond the Bizarre)

Today I Learned …

In the latter half of the eighth century, the Japanese began using incense to mark time by placing a stick of it horizontally in a wooden box with holes marked at specific intervals. You could tell how much time had passed by noting which hole the smoke was coming from. An incense stick could be made with a number of different scent blends, so that simply sniffing the air would indicate the time. (This scented method of keeping time was so efficient that until 1924, geishas were still paid by the number of incense sticks lit during their time with a client.) (From The Elements of a Home: Curious Histories Behind Everyday Household Objects, by Amy Azzarito)

Today I Learned …

During Hurricane Ophelia, tens of thousands of apples were blown off of the trees in an orchard in Clonmel, Ireland — but the fruits landed unbruised and ready for cider processing. The nearby River Suir flooded at the same time the apples were stripped from the trees, and when the water receded, the apples were laid to rest gently, blanketing the ground under the trees. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)

Today I Learned …

Shuttlecocks used in badminton games at the Summer Olympics are always made of feathers from one wing (left or right) of a goose or duck. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)

Today I Learned …

Author Ray Bradbury was a descendant of a woman convicted in the Salem Witch Trials. Mary Perkins Bradbury was sentenced to be hanged in 1692 but managed to escape before she could be executed. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)

Today I Learned …

For an art festival in Kassel, Germany, Argentine artist Marta Minujin built a full-size replica of the Parthenon using 100,000 books that have been banned at one time or another. Constructed with a steel framework, the sculpture was made with books donated by the public from a list of over 170 titles, including The Da Vinci Code, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Catcher in the Rye. And the coolest part? It was built on a former Nazi book-burning site. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)

Today I Learned …

In April 1935, the Titanian, a tramp steamer carrying coal from Newcastle, England, to Canada, encountered an iceberg in the same area as the Titanic had done 23 years earlier. Crew member William Reeves had a premonition seconds before the iceberg came into view and yelled “Danger ahead!” to the navigator, who quickly reversed the engines and brought the ship to a halt. Reeves was born on April 15, 1912 — the date on which the Titanic sank. (From Eyewitness: Titanic)

Today I Learned …

During his lifetime, Edgar Allan Poe’s best-selling book was The Conchologist’s First Book, a textbook about seashells. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)

Guess Whose Book Won First Place?

I have news! Good news! I’ve just found out that Days of the Dead: A Year of True Ghost Stories has won First Place in the Bookfest Awards. How about that? And you can go here to get your very own copy, if you haven’t already: https://bookshop.org/…/days-of-the-dead-a…/9781735668987

You can also get it here: Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735668982?ref=exp_hauntedroadmedia_dp_vv_d&fbclid=IwAR3sWUj9_YTBlM–2kxKyMMQo92XiWTOcAYgaBq8f6lHfINp-He4oeOQyH8

And here: Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GJ1XVMN?ref=exp_hauntedroadmedia_dp_vv_d&fbclid=IwAR1zCffiZI4zEu9_leHa_5mAplDFfEE-YvOsqpIu5cSu_haa0zwgcm6-Nf4

Today I Learned …

At one point in his career, actor Gary Oldman had played so many American characters in movies that he lost his British accent and had to go to a speech therapist to get it back. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)