Sylvia Shults's Blog, page 8

Today I Learned …

H.G. Wells, who wrote the sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds, once worked as a math teacher at Henley House School in London, England. One of his brightest students was A.A. Milne, the future author of Winnie the Pooh. (from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Out of the Box)

Today I Learned …

As a struggling actor, Sylvester Stallone was so poor that he sold his bull mastiff dog, Butkus, for $40 to a stranger outside a 7-11 store. When Stallone became rich by selling the script for Rocky, he waited outside the same store for three days for Butkus’ new owner to show up again, and bought the dog back for $15,000. (from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Out of the Box)

Today I Learned …

Actor Steve Buscemi was a New York City firefighter from 1980 to 1984. The day after the 9/11 attacks in New York, he returned to his old firehouse to volunteer; he worked 12-hour shifts for several days along other firefighters, searching for survivors in the rubble of the World Trade Center. (from Weird-Facts.org via Bored Panda)

Today I Learned …

In the course of the 12 novels and 20 short stories that feature English writer Agatha Christie’s amateur detective Miss Marple, the characters drink 143 cups of tea. (from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Out of the Box)

Today I Learned …

Pluto is still officially recognized as a planet in Illinois. Three years after it was controversially downgraded to a dwarf planet, the state decreed that Pluto should be restored to its former status to mark its discovery in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, who was born on a farm in Streator, Illinois. (from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Out of the Box)

Today I Learned …

In 2014, a group of South Korean students protested against the amount of air found in potato chip packets by building a raft out of 160 unopened bags and paddling it for a little under a mile across the Han River. (from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Out of the Box)

Today I Learned …

Woody in Toy Story was originally intended to be a talking ventriloquist’s dummy, but film company execs decided that would be too creepy and changed the character to a talking cowboy doll. (from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Out of the Box)

Today I Learned …

They say that dinosaurs went extinct because they didn’t have a space program. But actually, dinosaurs have been to space. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History sent a Coelophysis skull beyond the surly bonds of Earth, aboard space shuttle Endeavor on January 22, 1998. The fossil skull also spent some time on the Russian space station Mir before returning to its home planet. (from The Science of Jurassic World, by Mark Broke and John Arase)

Today I Learned…

Mozart disliked a certain performer he knew, a singer named Adriana Ferrarese del Bene. So, knowing her tendency to drop her chin on low notes and throw back her head on high notes, Mozart wrote a song with constant leaps from low to high in order to make her head “bob like a chicken” on stage. (from Weird-Facts.org via Bored Panda)

Another Award!

I’m pleased to say that Gone On Vacation: Haunted Zoos, Museums, and Amusement Parks has collected another award! It’s been named an International Book Awards Finalist, which I think is pretty cool. You can find it on Amazon, of course, and also at Bookshop.org, where your purchase helps support independent bookstores. So grab your copy and hit the road for some spooky fun! And don’t forget, Tenny Brossity is always hanging out at the back of the book for photo ops, so take a picture of the two of you at some haunted place and post it on social media. #goneonvacation