People

Fun facts about people in history and other weird celebrity facts!

WTF Fun Fact 12927 – Sidney Poitier Was Once Homeless

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When the legendary Sidney Poitier died in January of 2022, people who paid tribute to him remembered an interview from 1985 in which he told ABC News that he arrived in NYC with $3 to his name, worked as a dishwasher, and was homeless.

Working his way up

If you’re over 40, you probably immediately recognize the name Sidney Poitier, even if you never sat down and watched “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.” If you’re lucky, you’ve seen him in movies such as “In the Heat of the Night” and more. Poitier was the first Black person to win an Academy Award for lead actor.

But his beginnings were far more humble. He arrived in New York City from his home in the Bahamas with dreams of being an actor but was quickly dismissed. According to his obituary in the LA Times (cited below):

“It was the most unlikely of beginnings. Newly arrived from the Bahamas with a thick West Indian accent, Sidney Poitier fumbled his lines so badly when he tried out for the American Negro Theatre in Harlem that he was advised he’d be better off getting a job as a dishwasher.

Humiliated but unbroken, Poitier bought a $13 radio and spent hours listening to the announcers, mimicking their pronunciation and the rhythms of their speech. When he returned to the theater, his audition was little better, but when another unknown actor, Harry Belafonte, pulled out of a performance, Poitier stepped into the limelight.”

Poitier’s time homeless on the streets of NYC

While his subsequent rise to stardom was the stuff dreams are made of, in 1985 he sat down with ABC News to describe those early days in New York working as a dishwasher. And with the dignity he seemed to exude so effortlessly, he dropped the bombshell that he once used to sleep in the public toilets on the streets of the city.

They cost a nickel to get into, so he’d put in his money, prop his feet up against the stall door, and sleep “uncomfortably” for the night until it was time to go back to work or auditions.

Poitier’s first film came out in 1950 and was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. In “No Way Out” he played an intern in a hospital prison ward in a film that explored racial prejudice.

At the time, Black actors had such minor roles as maids and janitors that they could be easily cut out of the films when they aired in the U.S. South. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Sidney Poitier, trailblazing star who helped break down Hollywood color barriers, dies at 94” — LA Times

WTF Fun Fact 12916 – Princess of Netherlands Born in Canada

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It may not seem like a big deal for a princess to be born in another country, but some royal families (any families, really) find it important for their children to be citizens of just one country. So when Princess Magriet of the Netherlands was born in Ottowa in 1943 after her family fled from the Nazis, a Canadian hospital did something remarkable.

The Netherlands in Canada

Crown Princess Juliana was going to give birth to her child in Canada regardless since she couldn’t go back to the Netherlands during the war. If she had a boy, he would have been next in line for the Dutch throne after his mother, making it very important that he be a Dutch citizen. Being born in Canada meant that the child could be considered a British subject (since it’s part of the British Commonwealth).

To avoid any controversy, the maternity ward was temporarily declared extraterritorial by the Canadian government so the child would not be a sole Canadian citizen. This was the case even though the baby happened to be a girl – Princess Magriet.

The Canadian tulip tradition of Princess Margriet

Princess Margriet is indeed a citizen of the Netherlands thanks to Canada’s gesture, and the family remains grateful to the country as a result. When they returned to their home after the war in 1945, the royal family send 100,000 tulip bulbs to the Canadian people. This is the origin of Ottawa’s annual Tulip Festival.

To this day, the Netherlands sends 10,000 tulip bulbs to Canada every year in thanks.

Princess Magriet has returned to Canada many times over. the years and has also attended the tulip festival in Ottawa.

Another fun fact: There is a reference to Magriet’s mother Queen Juliana being pregnant in the Diary of Anne Frank. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Princess of Netherlands Born in Canada” — The Canadian Encyclopedia

WTF Fun Fact 12915 – The Rainbow Taboo

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The recognition of the long-lasting and widespread “rainbow taboo” began in the 1980s when linguist Robert Blust was in the Tugu communit outside of Jakarta. He pointed out a rainbow and was promptly informed of the bad luck it carried by two people from two separate East Asian communities.

Returning to the Netherlands, he began researching the superstition and realized it was taboo in India as well. Realizing it was not confined to East Asia, he looked around the world and in documents throughout history to find out just how widespread the belief was.

Researching the “rainbow taboo”

Blust was originally told that pointing at a rainbow would make his finger go crooked and be bent like a rainbow permanently. But in other cultures, the bad luck it supposedly wrought was less specific.

According to Atlas Obscura (cited below): “Blust began to cast a wider net. He sent questionnaires to colleagues and missionary stations around the world, inquiring about rainbows and taboos related to them. He would soon amass evidence for the rainbow taboo—in some form or another—in 124 cultures. The prohibition turned up in North America, among the Atsugewi of northern California and the Lakota of the northern plains; in remote parts of Australia and isolated islands in Melanesia; among the Nyabwa of Ivory Coast and the Kaiwá of Brazil. At one time it was present in Europe, too: one of the Grimm brothers noted it in his book on German mythology. The belief was not found in every culture, according to Blust’s search, but it was present globally, across all inhabited regions.”

What’s so bad about a rainbow?

Ideas about what would happen if you point at a rainbow vary from culture to culture. Some people believe your finger will become deformed or paralyzed, others believe it will bring bad luck to your mother. In almost all cases, pointing with your index finger is the key to the offense. Telling someone to look at a rainbow or even pointing another part of the body at it carried no risk, according to Blust’s research.

He also discovered that there were things you could do to prevent the bad luck if you did accidentally point at a rainbow – including wetting your finger and sticking it in your belly button.

Atlas Obscura asked: “What could possibly motivate this bizarre belief?” and noted that Blust proposed “two key factors.”

“The first is that, traditionally, rainbows were considered sacred, a manifestation of another realm. He writes that, accordingly, they were “greeted with that mixture of fear, awe and reverence generally accorded to spiritual things.” The second factor is that pointing is widely viewed as aggressive; guidebooks often advise travelers to avoid it.”

There aren’t too many widespread beliefs that exist in nearly every corner of the world. Things like flood myths or specific mythological storylines are some examples, but pointing out a rainbow is a very specific taboo.

Interestingly, Blust had a hard time getting his research published until recently. Once he did, anthropologists found it fascinating and are still studying it.

These days the taboo is taken less seriously, but people around the world are still aware of it.  — WTF fun facts

Source: “Even Rainbows Have a Dark Side_https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-at-rainbows-taboo

WTF Fun Fact 12913 – St. Hildegard of Bingen

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Being a medieval nun didn’t come with many perks – and it certainly didn’t come with much power. Well, unless you’re the (now St.) Hildegard of Bingen.

Who is Hildegard of Bingen?

The 12th-century abbess was given to the church by her noble family at age 8 and took her vows at age 15. She was an enclosed “anchorite,” which, according to Atlas Obscura (cited below) “were metaphorically “buried” in a small cell or structure attached to a monastery or church. They were often given food through grilles, and were allowed little or no communication with the outside world.”

She spent the next three decades learning about music, botany, health, and healing. It wasn’t until she was in her 40s that she was called by God to start writing things down, after which she became a prolific writer and composer.

Hildegard could have easily been seen as a heretic because she was an openly vocal critic of Church abuses of wealth and power who unapologetically insisted she had visions and received prophecies sent by God. But the Church believed her and needed her intellect.

Why is St. Hildegarde famous?

After Hildegard began writing, a monk friend of hers began translating her words into proper Latin, and in 1147 her work Scivas was given to Pope Eugenius III. He declared her work important to the church and later called on her to start preaching.

While the word “feminist” didn’t exist at the time, she did use her visions to empower herself and carve out a place for herself in the Church. And she could be highly critical of the institution as well, calling out their desire for power and prestige over piety. She believe Church corruption was destroying the faith.

Atlas Obscura notes that “Hildegard became an advisor and honest critic of Kings, Queens, Emperors, Popes and priests. Over 400 of her letters survive, and according to biographer Fiona Maddocks, they offer fascinating insight into the different ways she portrayed herself. To men, she was but a poor, frail woman, who was speaking what God had told her. In her correspondence with women, she was much more straightforward and honest, often dispensing practical advice from one of her many areas of expertise.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “The Medieval Prophetess Who Used Her Visions to Criticize the Church” — Atlas Obscura

WTF Fun Fact 12912 – Tons of Twins

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There are more twins living now than ever before. Well, at least we think so. We only started recording the rate at which twins were born in the 1980s when it was about 1 in every 50 pregnancies (2%).

The rise of the twin rate

The rate at which twins were born went up to 2.5% in 1995. By 2001 it was 3%, and it rose to 3.3% in 2010.

Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic (cited below) explained how he calculated the number of twins as of 2014: “When the CDC calculated the number through 2009, they pegged it at 865,000. Now that several years more data is available, I recalculated the number. I took the number of twins that would have been born if the 1980 twin rate had held, and subtracted it from how many twins were actually born.

The result: 1,009,337! That’s a million extra twins from 1981 through 2012, the most recent year for which data is available.”

Why so many twins?

Madrigal also reported that “A few years ago, the Centers for Disease Control researchers looked into the phenomenon.” They did so because, from an evolutionary perspective, twins are more likely to result in premature births and low birth weights – neither of which is ideal for human survival.

The reason? They can only guess, but “Older women tend to have more twins than younger women—and older women are having more of the nation’s babies. The researchers found this demographic phenomenon accounted for one-third of the increase. They attributed the rest of it to the increase in infertility treatments, specifically in-vitro fertilization and ‘ovulation stimulation medications.'”

Reproductive technology allows for multiple embryos to be implanted during IVF, and that’s common since implanting more embryos has a better chance of resulting in a successful pregnancy – of course, it also increases the chance of having twins. However, as the technology gets better, more couples are opting to have just one embryo transferred.

The “twin rate” seems to have leveled off as a result, but hasn’t reversed yet. — WTF fun facts

Source: “There Really Are So Many More Twins Now” — The Atlantic

WTF Fun Fact 12906 – People Seem to Love Throwing Bikes in Water

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We don’t understand it. It’s a phenomenon that’s still being investigated across the world. What’s behind the desire for people to throw perfectly usable bicycles into waterways like rivers, lakes, and canals? After all, it’s such a waste.

Mistreated bikes are a big problem

Amsterdam is one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world. And yet, lately, city workers have been pulling out roughly 15,000 bikes each year(!) from canals. There are so many bikes on the bottom of these canals that they sometimes scrape the bottom of barges coming through. And despite that obscenely large number of trashed bikes, it’s actually less of a problem than it was years ago.

Bike-sharing companies have had to pull their bikes out of rivers in Southern China and Rome’s Tiber River as well. In fact, bike-sharing companies have pulled out of some cities because they cost is greater than the reward.

But why on earth are people so wasteful? What’s the point of trashing a (in most cases) perfectly good bike?

Why do people throw bikes in the water?

On a 2022 episode of NPR’s All Things Considered (cited below), author ofTwo Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle, Jody Rosen, tried to shed some light on the matter.

She said: “When you see the bicycle go in there and slip below the surface of the water, there’s just a certain satisfaction, a certain free zone in that. And I say that not because I’ve done it myself, mind you. This is a practice which is documented online, for instance, on YouTube quite comprehensively. So there’s lots of videos that you can see where people are tossing bikes into water and taking videos of it for fun and sport. So that is definitely a factor. But there’s all kinds of other types of vandalism that surround this, which I think are interesting.”

Rosen believes bike-sharing programs make it easier for people to take these two-wheelers for granted, noting, “The fact that these bike programs are proliferating across the world, which I think we can say is a good thing — we need more bicycles in the city — but there are simply more of them around. And in fact, you can imagine that people feel a little bit more impunity, that a potential bicycle drowner would feel less guilt attached to tossing a bike in the water if it’s a share bike that has a bank or some sort of corporate sponsor’s logo on the mudguard as opposed to, you know, some individual joe-schmoe’s bike.”

Interestingly, Rosen also thinks there may be a political dimension to this – that somehow people are threatened by bikes because they are so attached to the idea of driving a car. “We’re seeing a kind of increasingly heated debate over what kinds of vehicles belong on the streets of cities. Motorists are reacting to the increased numbers of bicycles on the streets, sometimes with great annoyance and and sometimes with actual violence. So it may be that at least these drowned bikes, these trashed and vandalized bikes reflect a kind of ongoing battle for the right to the roadways,” she suggested.

Whatever the reasons, this is happening all over the world, in bike-friendly cities. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Why do so many bikes end up underwater? The reasons can be weird and varied” — NPR

WTF Fun Fact 12903 – Annual T-Rex Race

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After a brief pause during Covid, the annual T-Rex Race at Emerald Downs is back. Granted, you probably never noticed it was missing unless you live in or around Auburn, Washington or watched the viral video of the 2019 race.

The T-Rex Race

According to an Emerald Downs press release (cited below), the T-Rex Race “produced one of the most watched videos in the world in 2019” and “was viewed more than 100 million times on social media and was featured in People Magazine and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Newscasts from coast to coast and around the world covered the unique event.”

Somehow, we missed that. But I think we can all agree our lives have been infinitely improved by knowing such a thing exists.

In 2022, the race was bigger and better than ever:

“Not only is the event returning but three times as many T-Rexes are expected to race. As in past years the staff of Tri Guard Pest Control in Renton will be participating and for the first time the race is open to the public. Anyone dressed in an inflatable T-Rex costume may run. There will be a race for kid dinosaurs aged 16 and under and one race for adults,” noted the press release.

Bigger and better than ever

We got a kick out of the statement that “Track officials are expecting this to be the biggest Dinosaur race in the past 233 million years!” No doubt!

There were horse races at the track on the day of the race, but the T-Rex races took place after the third and fourth horse races of the day. There was a race for adults and a race for children – at 3:15 and 3:45 p.m.

A resident of Auburn, Washington, Logan Kludsikofsky, won the adult race while 13-year-old Sebastian Davis of Silverdale, Washington won the kid’s race. – WTF fun facts

Source: “T-Rex Race Returns Sunday, August 21!” — Emerald Downs

WTF Fun Fact 12902 – Tom Cruise Split From Wives At Age 33

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Tom Cruise has been married three times. And all of his marriages ended when his wife at the time was 33 years old. Coincidence? Maybe.

The significance of 33

What is it about the number 33? Tom Cruise’s three wives – Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes – were all 33 when their relationships with the actor ended. They were all 34 when the divorce was finalized.

Cruise is a Scientologist, and while there’s no proof that the “magic number” had anything to do with the breakup, 33 is a significant number for him. However, it’s not clear that Cruise was in control of any of the breakups – in fact, Katie Holmes was said to have left him.

As for the actual significance of the number 33, it’s hard to say. Scientologists are a notoriously secret group, so while some “sources” say the number is important, it’s unclear exactly how. We do know that L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, built his first church in Phoenix, on the 33rd parallel.

Is it all a coincidence?

The average age of divorcing couples in the U.S. is around 30 years old, so it’s more than likely just a kooky coincidence. The number has some significance in other religions an in numerology, but it’s not clear if Cruise believes in any of that.

It’s also worth noting that while the news widely covered the fact that Cruise’s breakups all came when his wife at the time was 33, all of the divorces happened when they were 34. It’s just that Holmes announced the breakup when she was 33, people picked up on the number, and no one was sure how old Holmes would be when the divorce was finalized.

So maybe 34 is the unlucky number here. – WTF fun facts

Source: “All three of Tom Cruise’s marriages ended when wife was 33” — TODAY

WTF Fun Fact 12899 – China Bans Reincarnation

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According to the Chinese government, any Tibetan monk needs government permission to reincarnate. The goal of this law, according to foreign policy and religious experts alike is to ensure that the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, reincarnates inside of China’s borders so they can control his actions.

How did China ban reincarnation?

The current Dalai Lama is considered a threat to the Chinese government and its claim to Tibet. Despite the fact that the Chinese government is atheist by nature and its officials are not allowed to practice religion, they still want to regulate what they consider to be Tibetan “separatists” in the form of Buddhist monks. So they rubber-stamped legislation that tries to interfere with the spiritual leadership of the region.

In 2007, the legislation insisted that monks must have “recognition from the religious world and the temple” to reincarnate. “The selection of reincarnates must preserve national unity and solidarity of all ethnic groups, and the selection process cannot be influenced by any group or individual from outside the country,” it says.

That might sound non-controversial at first glance, but the Chinese government has published an official registry of “licensed Buddhas” (monks who have achieved the highest place in the Buddhist religion) along with their recognized temple and an ID card number. The goal is to use the database to recognize only certain monks who tow the party line. The Chinese government says that “fake living Buddhas” are the reason behind the action.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, and other Tibetan Buddhist monks pose a threat to the government with their desire for an autonomous Tibet, so they are not on the list.

In other words, if the Dalai Lama wants to reincarnate, he’ll have to do it within Chinese borders and be on the list in order to be recognized as the new, reigning Dalai Lama. Of course, the current Dalai Lama has refused to be reincarnated within Chinese borders, so we’ll likely see two Dalai Lamas when Tenzin Gyatso passes away – one recognized by China and one recognized by most of the rest of the world.

The reaction to the reincarnation law

In 2011, the Dalai Lama called the country’s reincarnation laws “outrageous” and “disgraceful,” saying “The enforcement of various inappropriate methods for recognizing reincarnations to eradicate our unique Tibetan cultural traditions is doing damage that will be difficult to repair.”

The Dalai Lama currently can’t return to Tibet or China and monks have protested this for decades. According to the LA Times (cited below): “More than 140 people in Tibet and neighboring provinces have burned themselves to death since 2009 as a grim protest against Chinese rule; many have called for the Dalai Lama’s return as they went up in flames.”

The newspaper also noted that, in 2016, “Baima Chilin, deputy Communist Party chief of the region, said that the Dalai Lama was ‘no longer a religious leader’ after he left Tibet in 1959. ‘If the Dalai Lama wants to return to China, he must give up ‘Tibet independence,’ and must publicly acknowledge Tibet and Taiwan are inseparable parts of China and that the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government.'”

There’s no chance of that happening. — WTF fun facts

Source: “In China, the state decides who can come back from the dead” — LA Times

WTF Fun Fact 12898 – A Restaurant Run By Deaf Staff

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Sid Nouar is deaf. The unemployment rate for deaf people in Europe is over 50%. So when Nouar opened his restaurant,1000&1 Signes in Paris, he was committed to hiring deaf staff. And he’s not the only “deaf cafe” in the world.

1000&1 Signes

When Nouar first opened his Moroccan restaurant, he couldn’t find deaf staff trained in the restaurant business (something very necessary for Parisian restaurants, where restaurant positions are careers). As a result, he ended up performing the roles of the whole front-of-house staff while his mother cooked in the kitchen.

As you might imagine, he burned out as a result.

Luckily, he was able to reopen at an even larger location a few years later and hire a full staff of deaf people.

Deaf cafes around the world

According to Atlas Obscura (cited below): “Although every country has its own unique sign language, Deaf people across the globe share many common experiences, especially the frustration of primarily communicating in a language not shared by the majority. Instead of focusing on what they cannot access, however, many Deaf people take pride in their rich sign languages, plus the arts, athletics, folklore, values, and history that make up what is known as Deaf Culture.”

Now, there is a “Deaf Ecosystem” that employs the deaf community whenever possible. And deaf travelers seek out these deaf entrepreneurs. Still, 80% of the clientele at deaf cafes are hearing people. But they’re required to adapt to their surroundings rather than the other way around.

Atlas Obscura offered an example: “When visiting Austin, Texas, Deaf travelers are sure to visitCrêpe Crazy. The birth of this popular crêpe restaurant evokes the quintessential American fairytale: two Deaf immigrants turn a secret family recipe into a pair of successful central Texas restaurants, serving an American take on a European classic.” –WTF fun facts

Source: “Deaf-Owned Restaurants Offer Cuisine and Community” — Atlas Obscura

WTF Fun Fact 12890 – When You Divorce and Remarry the Same Person

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They say the second time’s a charm. And some folks take that seriously since they divorce and remarry the same person.

In fact, while 80% of divorced people remarry, 6% remarry their former spouse.

Trying again with the same person

According to stats reported by Psychology Today (cited below): “Research suggests that 10-15% of couples reconcile after they separate, and about 6% of couples marry each other again after they divorce.”

Interestingly, research also suggests that the more times a person marries, the more likely they are to get divorced. The divorce rate for second marriages is 67%, and for third marriages, it’s 73%!

But among those who marry the same person a second time, the divorce rate is just 30%.

Psychology Today posts that “the lower rate suggests that the renewed marriage is stronger than it was before the divorce.”

Why get back together?

Around 10% to 15% of couples reconcile after divorce even though only 6% get remarried.

In some cases, this is a result of getting some distance from and perspective on the problems that harmed a marriage in the first place and a desire to work on them. (Of course, some people just continue to chase toxic relationships.)

Psychology Today also notes that: “If a problem has been resolved, such as lack of intimacy or financial stress, couples may reconnect. Problems such as substance abuse, neglecting the marriage and over-focusing on career, and loneliness due to lack of attention from a partner—these are problems that can be resolved with a commitment to couples and/or family therapy and making changes at home.”

Just like a successful first (and only) marriage, a second marriage requires compromise and recognition of the role each spouse plays in a couple’s overall happiness. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Why Many Divorced Partners Remarry Each Other” — Psychology Today

WTF Fun Fact 12889 – Dasia Taylor’s Life-Saving Sutures

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Anywhere from 2% to 5% of surgical incisions and other stitched-up lacerations get infected, and it can be life-threatening. That’s partly because patients may not know their wounds are infected until they see signs like redness or experience pain. Teenager Dasia Taylor has an answer – she invented sutures that turn a different color when a wound is infected.

Dasia Taylor’s suture solution

When she began the project in October 2019, Dasia Taylor was just 17 years old. The Iowa City West High School student was participating in science fairs and was eventually named one of 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, a highly prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

Her invention was a suture threat used for medical stitches that changes color from bright red to dark purple when an infection is present. She uses beet juice to make the dye. But it’s far more chemically complicated than that.

Color-changing sutures save lives

Dasia Taylor’s invention is designed in part to help people who don’t have access to convenient medical care and is based on a process already known to scientists.

According to Smithsonian Magazine (cited below): “Taylor had read about sutures coated with a conductive material that can sense the status of a wound by changes in electrical resistance, and relay that information to the smartphones or computers of patients and doctors. While these ‘smart’ sutures could help in the United States, the expensive tool might be less applicable to people in developing countries, where internet access and mobile technology is sometimes lacking.“

While less than 5% of people in the US whose wounds are treated with sutures develop an infection, that number jumps to 11% in developing countries.

Taylor is also concerned about the high rate of C-section infections in parts of Africa and the US (the US has just as high of a rate of infection – sometimes higher – than some African nations with fewer medical resources).

How do color-changing sutures work?

So, how do the sutures help notify patients of an infection? Well, according to Smithsonian: “Healthy human skin is naturally acidic, with a pH around five. But when a wound becomes infected, its pH goes up to about nine. Changes in pH can be detected without electronics; many fruits and vegetables are natural indicators that change color at different pH levels.”

“I found that beets changed color at the perfect pH point,” said Taylor. Bright red beet juice turns dark purple at a pH of nine. “That’s perfect for an infected wound. And so, I was like, ‘Oh, okay. So beets is where it’s at.’”

But that wasn’t the full solution. Taylor also had to find a material that would hold onto the dye while not being too thick to be used as a suture. She tackled the problem during the COVID lockdown and ran experiments until she found the best of the 10 materials she was trying – a cotton-polyester blend that could change color in just minutes of picking up a change in pH.

There are still some kinks to work out before it goes from the laboratory to the bedside, but it’s safe to say this teen is on her way to an illustrious research career. – WTF fun facts

Source: “This High Schooler Invented Color-Changing Sutures to Detect Infection” — Smithsonian Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12887 – The Reagan Astrology Connection

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Ronald and Nancy Reagan believed in astrology. And they never tried to hide that – in fact, the Reagan astrology connection was confirmed by the White House in 1988.

The Reagans’ astrology beliefs

A report in Newsweek after Reagan was president hinted that the first family were believers in astrology. This make some people skeptical since the belief in the alignment of planets and stars having influence on human affairs raises some questions about presidential decision making. And since the Reagans seemed so mainstream, people had a hard time believing that they might live their lives in a way that was decidedly outside of the mainstream.

But the Reagans never hid it. Presumably, it didn’t come up a lot outside of the White House. But inside, Nancy Reagan, in particular, was a follower of astrology (which doesn’t mean she wasn’t also Christian, of course). But it would be a likely be a mistake to assume her husband just went along for the ride to make her happy.

In fact, former (but current at the time) White House spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, told the New York Times in 1988 that Mrs. Reagan’s beliefs influenced some decision-making, especially when it came to scheduling important events.

It’s hardly any reason for concern. For his part, Ronald Reagan had assured anyone who asked that astrology never influenced his policy-making decisions. (Scheduling things on a Tuesday instead of a Friday or at 3pm instead of 4pm doesn’t typically change the course of human affairs.)

In other words, it’s interesting and surprising, but it’s not that big of a deal to most people.

Was there controversy about the Reagans’ astrological beliefs?

No one watched the White House with the kind of scrutiny we do today. There were no 24-hour news stations or websites, after all.

You’ll find the majority of the information about the role astrology played in the White House in the memoirs of Donald T. Regan (no relation, especially considering the spelling of the name) in a memoir called Inauguration After Midnight.

The book’s title references Reagan’s inauguration as Governor of California in January 1967 which took place after midnight – at 12:10 A.M. “News reports at the time said the decision was made to take advantage of favorable astrological portents,” said the Times, referencing information from officials.

According to the NYT (cited below), Fitzwater said “Mr. Fitzwater said Mrs. Reagan is particularly worried about the impact astrological portents can have on her husband’s safety. But he declined to say exactly how Mrs. Reagan had used astrological information.”

Nancy Reagan’s concerns

We can’t say for sure what the president believed, but we do know it was Nancy Reagan who consulted astrologers for the most part. In the White House response to the controversy in 1988, he said: ”It’s true that Mrs. Reagan has an interest in astrology. She has for some time, particularly following the assassination attempt in March of 1981. She was very concerned for her husband’s welfare, and astrology has been part of her concern in terms of his activities.”

Of course, the California inauguration would indicate that her concerns went back further.

In any case, the couple was seemingly bothered that people made a big deal out of it. ”They both feel it’s unfortunate and a distraction and hardly relevant to the business of government,” Fitzwater said.

A former White House aid also downplayed the role of astrology, saying that Mrs. Reagan simply believed her husband needed more downtime in his schedule. Of course, both things might be true. Nancy Reagon was well-known to be interested in astrology and didn’t hide her own interest.

The Evening News

It’s no surprise that the former First Lady may have become more interested in astrology after the assassination attempt on her husband in 1981. The NYT notes that Ted Koppel reported on the ABC News show “Nightline” that “he had learned that before the President was shot on March 30, 1981, an astrologer warned Mrs. Reagan that something bad would happen that day. Mr. Koppel declined to identify the source of his information.

Tracking presidential astrology

Reagan was still president when this came out, but it never did any damage to his reputation. It was simply titillating to people because we have an innate desire to peek into people’s private lives and react to whatever seems most salacious.

Even before the reports there were people tracking the Reagans’ interest in astrology since it was so out-of-the-oridinary, especially for the Reagan “brand.” Most people doubted the president would have come to astrology on his own and was never an avid believer but that the knowledge did have some impact on him.

The White House made light of the story in 1988, with Mr. Fitzwater opened his briefing by saying, ”I’ll take your first question at exactly 12:33 and a half.”

In any case, the Reagans’ interest in astrology was right in line with their life as celebrities in 1930s and 40s California. And Ronald Reagan would not have been the first president interested in astrology – both Roosevelts were as well. – WTF fun facts

Source: “White House Confirms Reagans Follow Astrology, Up to a Point” — The New York Times

WTF Fun Fact 12830 – Tourists Fined for Visiting Hyperion

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According to conservationists and no less an authority than the mighty Guinness World Records, a redwood called “Hyperion” is the oldest living tree on Earth. Of course, that only makes people want to visit it, and it’s very hard to get to. As a result of the damage done, by tourists are now being fined for visiting Hyperion.

More about the “world’s largest tree”

The mighty Hyperion is located in California’s majestic Redwood National Park. According to CNN (cited below): “The coast redwood Ssequoia sempervirens) tree is 115.92 meters (380 feet) tall, and its name is derived from Greek mythology — Hyperion was one of the Titans and the father of sun god Helios and moon goddess Selene.” Its trunk diameter is 13 feet around!

While it had long been photographed from above, it has long remained hidden from hikers on the ground.

There are no trails to the tree. In fact, getting there basically requires you to bring a machete and hack away at the surrounding foliage.

But in 2006, a pair of naturalists did find the tree – and you can imagine what happened after that.

To their credit, the park never gave out directions and never made a path so people could reach Hyperion. It has always required people to take the risk of going off the trail and potentially getting lost or hurt. There’s spotty service for phones and GPS, so anyone trying to reach the tree not only takes their own life into their hands but risks the safety of rescuers (if they’re even able to contact them) as well.

But, of course, some people need that Instagram shot. So they do it anyway.

Visiting Hyperion now comes with fines

The California park recently issued a statement threatening thrill-seekers with up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. After all, they’re risking the life of an ancient landmark as well as the lives of those who have to help them get out of the forest.

The statement reads, in part:

“Hyperion is located off trail through dense vegetation and requires heavy ‘bushwhacking’ in order to reach the tree…Despite the difficult journey, increased popularity due to bloggers, travel writers, and websites of this off-trail tree has resulted in the devastation of the habitat surrounding Hyperion…As a visitor, you must decide if you will be part of the preservation of this unique landscape – or will you be part of its destruction?”

Do we really need to read a blog about the tree so much that we’d risk it being destroyed? Clearly, people have different answers to that question.

And the damage caused so far by tourists includes erosion at the base of the tree, bushwacked paths away from its base so people could use the bathroom nearby, leaving human waste behind and toilet paper, and just plain old trash around the site.

Clearly, it’s not just nature-lovers who are hacking their way to Hyperion. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Visitors to the world’s tallest tree face $5,000 fines” — CNN

WTF Fun Fact 12827 – The Urge to Cancel Plans

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The pandemic might have made us feel more FOMO, but when it comes to actually following up on getting out and about, we’re more eager than ever to cancel plans.

Canceling plans and dread

Doesn’t it seem like there was once a “Golden Age” of making plans with friends and following up on them with no drama? Well, these so-called golden ages tend to be overrated and misremembered. But even if it wasn’t and you’re the life of the party (or co-dependent), you’ve probably felt some dread as plans crept up at least once or twice.

Sometimes we agree to plans we didn’t really want to follow through on in the first place (like a play date for our kid whose parents we just can’t stand but have to make small talk with for a few hours, or a golf buddy who gets a bit too loud every time you hang out for a beer). We say “yes” just to be polite and keep the wheels of friendship moving.

Other times, the plans seem like a great idea in the moment (like hanging out with girlfriends, having one too many glasses of champagne, and deciding to take a road trip over Labor Day weekend). But when it’s time to follow through, it feels like more of a chore than a good time.

That dread can creep up slowly, making the plans seem more miserable to execute with each passing day or they can hit you on the day of the outing. All of a sudden you feel like your home is so comfy, your snacks are so good, you have a line-up of bad TV to watch or a great book to read, and going to bed early sounds like far more of a luxury than getting yourself together to spend time with friends or family.

I don’t wanna go

If you’ve felt this way, you’re not alone – over 30% of people want to cancel plans they’ve made. If you haven’t felt this way, it’s worth noting that a lot of people do, so you should probably high-five your friends when they do show up.

The totally unsurprising news comes not just from our personal experience but an actual YouGov survey (cited below) that found “one-third of Americans say they often agree to plans in advance only to realize closer to the date that they don’t want to participate, with 11% saying this happens to them very often.”

Frankly, we’re surprised it’s only 11%. Maybe people who participate in YouGov survey are very outgoing. (Or maybe we’re just lame.)

Interestingly, it’s the young folks who say this happens most often. According to YouGov:

“Americans under 30 are most likely to say this happens to them somewhat often or very often: 56% say so. About half of 30- to 44-year-olds (49%) say the same, as do just 31% of 45- to 64-year-olds (31%) and 12% of Americans 65 and older.”

All we can say is apparently this gets better with time. When you’re 65, you’ll finally be ready for that night on the town with your besties!

–WTF fun facts

Source: “Ever agree to plans and later wish you hadn’t? According to this poll, you’re far from alone” — YouGov America

WTF Fun Fact 12824 – Teen Invents Tool To Catch Elephant Poachers

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A teen named Anika Puri has invented a new way to catch elephant poachers.

“I was quite taken aback,” the 17-year-old Chappaqua, New York student told Smithsonian Magazine. “Because I always thought, ‘well, poaching is illegal, how come it really is still such a big issue?’”

Learning more about elephant poachers

Puri and her family visited India a few years ago and saw ivory lined up at a Bombay market. The ivory trade has been illegal for decades in India.

After some research, Puri realized African elephants are still being hunted and that the “forest elephant population had declined by about 62 percent between 2002 and 2011.” Those numbers continue to drop today.

As a wildlife lover who is gifted in science and technology, Puri invented a system to help catch poachers.

According to Smithsonian: “Drones are currently used to detect and capture images of poachers, and they aren’t that accurate, the teenager explains. But after watching videos of elephants and humans, she saw how the two differed vastly in the way they move—their speed, their turning patterns and other motions.”

Tracking and stopping elephant poachers

Once she saw the difference in movements between humans and elephants, she realized she could build a piece of technology to track their movements.

As a result, she spent 2 years creating ElSa (short for “elephant savior”). Still in the prototype stage, the machine-learning driven device “analyzes movement patterns in thermal infrared videos of humans and elephants.”

Better yet, Puri says the accuracy is 4 times that of other tools. Her tool also costs a mere $250 to make whereas others run into the thousands of dollars due to their use of high-resolution cameras.

However: “ElSa uses a $250 FLIR ONE Pro thermal camera with 206×156 pixel resolution that plugs into an off-the-shelf iPhone 6. The camera and iPhone are then attached to a drone, and the system produces real-time inferences as it flies over parks as to whether objects below are human or elephant.” – WTF fun facts

Source: “This Teenager Invented a Low-Cost Tool to Spot Elephant Poachers in Real Time” — Smithsonian Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12817 – The 3-Year-Old Mayor

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In 2012, Dorset, Minnesota had a 3-year-old mayor. He even “won” reelection the following year. And no doubt the townspeople were relieved since he ran on a no-nonsense platform of “Be nice and no poopy talk.” If only other politicians could take a page from his campaign strategy.

How does a town get a 3-year-old mayor?

According to TODAY (back in 2015): “James became the ceremonial head of this northern Minnesota tourist town of about 22 people this month as his name was drawn from the ballot bucket at the annual Taste of Dorset food festival. It cost $1 for each vote cast.”

James is not the only pint-sized mayor the town has ever seen. TODAY also reported: “He hit the campaign trail running, with an experienced political adviser close at hand. His 6-year-old brother, Robert, who made national headlines when he served two terms as mayor at ages 3 and 4, taught him how to shake hands and look voters in the eye.”

A ceremonial position

Of course, the position is ceremonial. The tiny town is run by a small group of business owners.

But that doesn’t mean the mini-mayors don’t take their jobs seriously. According to ABC 7 News (cited below): “Both James and Robert Tufts have long been contributing members of their community, even at their young ages. The two often volunteer their time to help the Salvation Army, plant gardens, and raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.”

Robert said of James: “He doesn’t do too much mean stuff, and I taught him how to be nice.”

According to their mother, they “take it all in stride.” And neither has plans to go into politics long-term. Both boys wanted to be fishermen when they grow up last time they were asked.

– WTF fun facts

Source: “3-year-old James Tufts elected mayor of Minnesota town” — ABC 7 News

WTF Fun Fact 12811 – Pope Francis Conducts Mid-Air Wedding

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Imagine being on the same flight as Pope Francis (we’d feel pretty safe, all considered). Then imagine striking up a conversation with him and having him offer to officiate a second wedding for you!

Pope Francis’ mid-air wedding offer

In 2018, Paola Podest Ruiz, age 41, and groom Carlos Ciuffardi Elorriaga, age 39 were working as flight attendants on a flight from Santiago to Iquique, Chile. The couple had already been legally married in a civil ceremony in early 2010, but they had planned to follow it up with a church ceremony.

However, on February 27, an enormous earthquake hit the country – it measured 8.8 on the Richter scale and caused a massive tsunami that further damaged coastal areas. 525 people lost their lives, and it was clearly no time for a wedding. But the couple always regretted not being married in the church.

Of course, Pope Francis, being a big fan of a Catholic wedding blessing offered to help the couple out by conducting a ceremony right then and there, on the plane, in the sky!

As far as anyone knows, it’s the first time a pope has conducted a mid-flight wedding.

The couple’s reaction

Despite being legally married for years, the couple jumped at the opportunity.

Mr. Elorriaga told Sky News (cited below): “We told him that we are husband and wife. That we are married. That we have two daughters and that we would have loved to receive his blessing. All of a sudden he asked us if we were married by the church too. We are not married by the church because the 2010 earthquake happened on the day we got married.”

The pontiff then asked the most important question:

“He took our hands and he asked if there was love in our marriage and if we want to keep on being together for life. He asked if wanted to stay together until the end. We said ‘Yes’. We laughed for a while. It was very moving. He blessed us. He married us. It was a huge emotion, we are very, very happy.”

The Vatican confirms the story

You might be tempted to think the story is at least partially made up, but Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirmed the mid-air wedding.

“Something totally extraordinary happened today, which was that the hostesses and the stewards going to get their photos taken and one said: ‘We are a couple, we met on a plane.’ And as they walked back they said that the Pope married them in a religious ceremony, which obviously has never happened on a papal plane before. They were super happy. The first time the Pope heard about it was this morning, it wasn’t part of the plan.”

We just wonder…does the drink cart court as an open bar ceremony?

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Pope marries flight attendants in mid-air wedding” — Sky News