Ordering and eating food in courses is called Russian service or Service a la Russe. It was introduced to France in 1810 by the Russian ambassador. Prior to this ‘French service’ was the typical with all food being placed on the table and diners serving themselves. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_à_la_russe
“&” and “and” mean different things in movie credits. Two writers’ names joined with “&” means they collaborated, while “and” means they worked on the script at different times. – WTF Fun Facts
Dexter, the U.S. Navy’s very last working horse, was stationed in Philadelphia to haul trash, and upon his passing in 1968, he was buried with full military honors. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Dexter, the U.S. Navy’s last working horse, is buried in Philly (inquirer.com)
Many European maps during the Middle Ages had the East on top instead of the North, thus “to orient” meant to align the map to the East, the Orient. – WTF Fun Facts
The Mexican language Ayapeneco (the name Ayapaneco is an imposition by outsiders, those who speak it call their language Nuumte Oote, which means the True Voice) is dying out. It is only spoken fluently by two people, but they refuse to talk to each other. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: .Language at risk of dying out – the last two speakers aren’t talking | Language | The Guardian
Oregon had the only state-sponsored rock festival in United States history, Vortex I. It was an elaborate ploy to lure young people away from Portland during a planned visit by President Richard Nixon. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregonexperience/segment/vortex-i/
Hiram Maxim, the inventor of the automatic machine gun, spent so much time test-firing his guns that he became completely deaf. His son Hiram Percy Maxim eventually invented the silencer, but too late to save his father’s hearing. – WTF Fun Facts
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For Toy Story 4, instead of creating all of the individual cobwebs by hand in the antiques store, Pixar created AI spiders that were programmed to spin the webs wherever the cobwebs needed to be. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Pixar’s AI Spiders (kottke.org)
The winter solstice has the shortest amount of daylight but the “solar day” itself is actually the longest day of the year at roughly 24 hours and 29 seconds. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: EarthSky | Longest days accompany the December solstice