Strange But True: Perfect Counterfeit
By Lucie Winborne
In 1865, William E. Brockway printed a counterfeit $100 bill that was so perfect, it left the Treasury Department with the sole option of withdrawing all authentic $100 bills from circulation.
The official name for Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, which is an abbreviation of its ceremonial name: "Krung Thep Mahanakon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit." Which is why we just call it "Bangkok."
Plastic surgery first took place in India around 600 B.C., when it was used with skin from the forehead to reconstruct the noses of criminals that had been amputated as punishment.
In 1928, the German engineer Herman Sorgel proposed increasing Europe and Africa's land mass by slowly draining the Mediterranean Sea, via a dam across the Strait of Gibraltar. Unsurprisingly, the idea never made it past the drawing board.
The word "dunce," meaning a dull-witted or ignorant person, comes from the name of John Duns Scotus, one of the greatest minds of his time.
Jean-Baptiste Lully, the first documented conductor, was the first musician to use a baton -- a six-foot-long staff that he pounded on the ground in time to the music. Sadly, he accidentally stuck the staff into his foot during a concert, developing fatal gangrene as a result.
The quagga, a close relative of the zebra but with stripes only on its head and neck, became the first extinct animal to have its DNA studied, in 1984.
The 13th of the month is more likely to fall on Friday than on any other day of the week.
Thought for the Day: "One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." -- André Gide
(c) 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.