funny facts

WTF Fun Fact 12941 – Jousting is Maryland’s State Sport

On June 1, 1962, Maryland became the first U.S. state to adopt an official sport. And you may be totally confused by its choice. That’s because jousting is Maryland’s state sport.

Why on earth is jousting Maryland’s state sport?

For most of us, it seems like an odd choice. But if you explore the Maryland State Archives, you’ll see that “jousting tournaments have been held in Maryland since early colonial times but became increasingly popular after the Civil War.”

And they never really stopped jousting in Maryland. According to The Culture Trip: “The pageantry is not lost in modern-day tournaments. Men (referred to as knights) and women (referred to as maids) are dressed in colorful costumes full of regalia and many of the medieval customs and practices are still utilized. The Maryland State Jousting Championship is held annually and has been sponsored by the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association since its founding in 1950.”

Ok, so we just have to chalk our surprise up to ignorance. But in all fairness, they should really televise that stuff widely.

Making jousting “official”

States that want an official anything – whether it’s a bird, song, flower, or sport – need only propose a bill and have it passed by their state government. Not all states have an official sport, but we’re sure some followed in Maryland’s footsteps (though they didn’t pick jousting).

For Maryland, the whole thing was apparently a no-brainer. In 1962 “Henry J. Fowler, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from St. Mary’s County, introduced a bill during a session of the Maryland General Assembly to establish jousting as the official state sport. The bill passed both houses and was signed into law by Governor J. Millard Tawes.“

Modern Maryland jousting

Today’s jousting competitions in Maryland are held throughout the state and abide by rules created in 1950. It’s a non-contact sport “where competitors on horseback with lance in hand try to spear hanging rings of various sizes while quickly riding by three arches. Rings, ranging in diameter from one-quarter of an inch to approximately two inches, are hung nearly 7 feet off the ground.”

Tournaments take place between May and October

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Why Jousting Is Maryland’s Official State Sport” — The Culture Trip

WTF Fun Fact 12935 – Pumpkin Spice Taste Mystery

Traditionally, pumpkin spice flavorings have not contained pumpkin at all. Of course, pumpkin spice lovers have been mocked for their “fake flavor,” even though there are plenty of flavors that have no real foodstuffs in them. That pumpkin spice taste so many of us like is really just cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc.

Starting around 2015, things changed for Starbucks fans. They actually got pumpkin in their pumpkin spice drinks.

The new pumpkin spice taste

Even though Starbucks’ pumpkin spice drinks are sold in the fall and winter, they are the chain’s most popular offerings, with the pumpkin spice latte (or PSL) maintaining the #1 spot. In fact, Starbucks sells around 20 million of them per year. We don’t drink them, but we can’t deny there’s a certain tastiness there (thanks to lots of sugar and fat and stimulating spices like cinnamon and clove).

According to Newsweek (cited below): “On August 30, Starbucks officially ushered coffee lovers into the fall season with the return of its pumpkin spice latte; however, the return has left some customers feeling disappointed, as they believe the iconic drink tastes different this year than in years past.
Posting to TikTok on Thursday, a purported Starbucks barista named Maria confirmed that the drink does, in fact, taste different this year because the company “changed” its pumpkin spice recipe. The video has amassed over 860,000 views and more than 1,400 comments.”

How could they change such an iconic flavor?! Well, it turns out that some stores are getting an updated recipe, but pumpkin has been part of it for around 8 years.

Now with real pumpkin (kind of)

The newer Starbucks syrup contains “real pumpkin ingredient” – whatever that means.

While PSL fans on TikTok are insisting there’s something different about the 2022 lattes, Starbucks has maintained that they are using the same recipe as in previous years.

So what is pumpkin spice?

Until Starbucks relented and added some sort of pumpkin-derived flavoring, no pumpkin spice actually contained pumpkin. Even the pumpkin pie spice we buy in stores is simply a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and ginger.

Regardless of whether it’s “real” or not, the flavor is now iconic. In fact, Merriam-Webster added the phrase “pumpkin spice” to their dictionary in 2022. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Why Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Tastes Different This Year: Barista Explains” — Newsweek

WTF Fun Fact 12930 – Koala Bears Sleep 22 Hours a Day

Koalas bears might be cute, but they’re some of the least energetic animals on Earth. In fact, koala bears sleep 22 hours a day (or at least from 18-22 hours). The rest of the time they spend wanding around looking for food or mates.

Koala bear facts

The koala is a marsupial (not a bear) native to Australia. They live in the eucalyptus forests in south and east Australia, which is where they find their food – it’s like sleeping at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Considering how brutal competition can be among the world’s creatures, it’s a wonder that koalas still exist. They only eat one thing (eucalyptus), that thing is toxic, and it doesn’t reall have many nutrients. Nevertheless, they eat about 1 pound of eucalyptus a day, which is also where they get most of their water.

Their little bodies can break down the toxins in ways other animals can’t, however, while they manage to extract enough nutrients to stay alive, their diet doesn’t really provide them with any extra energy. Hence all the sleeping.

Koala bears sleep most of their lives

Beacuse eucalyptus doesn’t provide them with enough nutrients for a high-energy diet, koala bears sleep for the vast majority of the day – from 18-22 hours. During this time, their bodies need much of the energy they take in to break down the eucalyptus.

The rest of their time is dedicated to survival – eating and mating to be exact.

Koala bear survival

Between poaching and habitat destruction, koala populations have plummeted. According to National Geographic (cited below): “Land clearing, logging, and bushfires—especially the devastating 2019-2020 season—have destroyed much of the forest they live in. Koalas need a lot of space—about a hundred trees per animal—a pressing problem as Australia’s woodlands continue to shrink.”

Koalas are now on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s list of the 10 most vulnerable animals to climate change. And NatGeo notes that “Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is decreasing the nutritional quality of eucalyptus leaves (which is already quite low) and causing longer, more intense droughts and wildfires.”

Droughts also force koalas to go in search for water, which means they have to leave their eucalyptus trees “spending precious energy and putting them at a higher risk of predation. Predators include dingoes and large owls. They’re also at risk of getting hit by cars and attacked by dogs.”

Chlamydia is also very common among pockets of koala bear populations and causes many of the animals to be blind and infertile.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Koalas 101” – National Geographic

WTF Fun Fact 12926 – The Zero Star Hotel

In our last fun fact, we mentioned the Null Stern Hotel in Switzerland. Some of those rooms have no walls. But let’s talk about the whole concept of Null Stern, which means “zero star,” as in a zero-star hotel.

A Zero Star Hotel

According to Architectural Digest, their hotel rooms with no walls can be fairly posh, in a way, if they’re situated in the right location:

“Although the hotel lacks many common amenities, guests may find comfort in an on-site butler who will play a ‘central role,’ in the experience, according to [hotierl Daniel] Charbonnier. Null Stern’s slogan, ‘The only star is you,’ is a key philosophy at the alternative accommodations, where the founders strive to put the guests at the center of the stay. At all of the zero real estate suites, a butler provides meals and facilitates other requests from guests during their stay. At the anti-idyllic suite, the butler ‘provides a sense of security and care in an environment of insecurity,’ Charbonnier said.”

The concept was launched back in 2009 but began to make headlines in 2017 when their suite in the Swiss Alps got a reputation for having a waitlist of thousands (it’s up to 6000). And while the only “star” might be the guest in their open-air suites in the Swiss Alps, you can certainly get a good view of the stars.

But it all began as something slightly less glamorous than glamping in the Alps.

The original concept

The first hotel that twin brothers Frank and Patrik Riklin created and named Null Stern was an old 1980s nuclear fallout shelter that they retrofitted.

According to The Guardian (cited below), it’s located in “the small Swiss town of Teufen, in the canton of St Gallen near the Austrian border.”

“Billed as the world’s first zero-star hotel, the Null Stern Hotel occupies the underground space of a nondescript apartment block. The hardened concrete structure and near-two-foot-thick blast doors were designed to take the full brunt of a nuclear or chemical attack. In time of crisis the bunker would have been able to hold more than 200 people.”

We just want to know if this is considered an Instagrammable location.

The original zero star hotel is no longer open since it has been turned into a museum, but you can still grab a room (or sign up for the waiting list at other locations, including in the mountains or at the corner of a busy street outside a gas station). — WTF fun facts

Source: “Switzerland’s Null Stern Hotel: the nuclear option” — The Guardian

WTF Fun Fact 12925 – The Hotel Room with No Walls

Back in 2017, a Swiss hotel room with no walls made the headlines. And it turns out the people who designed it have come up with another version – people are now paying over $300/night to sleep…wait for it…at a gas station!

An “open-air” suite

Do you like the idea of open-air sleep? Do you like sleeping outside for $340/night?

Well, as long as you don’t like fresh air or sleeping peacefully, we might know just the place for you.

For us, the most important part of a hotel room is the ability to get some rest, so we won’t be signing up any time soon for the “room” located at an intersection and entirely without walls. Even if you have that fairly common love for the smell of gasoline, the idea of hearing traffic, noise, and smelling gas all night as you sleep outside a gas station (in a nice bed, though!) may not be the right choice for you either.

According to Architectural Digest (cited below): “Brothers and conceptual artists Frank and Patrik Riklin, who partnered with hotelier Daniel Charbonnier to create this hotel ‘room,’ are perfectly aware that you won’t be sleeping peacefully in their newest hospitality experience—but that is exactly the point. ‘In view of the current world situation, there is no time to sleep,’ the brothers said in a statement.”

But isn’t that why we try to get away?!

AD notes that “The open-air suite—which is located between a gas station and busy intersection and purposefully lacks a door, ceiling, or walls—is designed to keep you up so you have time to contemplate current social, economic, and environmental issues.”

Hard pass.

A room with a view

The designers became famous with a similar concept a few years back – and while it’s still not one we would personally indulge in, at least it seems more fun and relaxing. In fact, the brothers’ first hotel room still has thousands of people on the waitlist after making headlines in 2017:

“This room is another iteration of the founders’ ‘zero real estate suites,’ which they launched back in 2008 as part of their Null Stern Hotel. The first three suites, which include a queen bed on a platform and two nightstands, all make use of the Swiss Alps and breathtaking Saillon landscape to create picturesque overnight stays in a glamping-like experience. Currently, there are over 6,000 guests on the waitlist eager for the opportunity to spend an evening at the non-traditional hotel,” says AD.

The Riklins don’t have the only open-air suites in the world – there are other hotel rooms without walls as well, and they’re quite popular.

We say to each their own. It’s just that we like to call that camping. — WTF fun facts

Source: “This Bizarre Hotel Room With No Walls or Doors Is Going for $340 a Night” — Architectural Digest

WTF Fun Fact 12917 – The Science of Batman

A course called The Science of Batman was proposed at the University of Victoria in Canada back in 2012, and was offered for the first time a few years later in 2016.

The science of Batman

According to HuffPost (cited below) “the course will examine how the human body can be adapted and improved based on the metaphor of the caped crusader himself” and “Offered in “alternate years” the course would make up only part of a degree and is run by the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education.”

EPHE 156 is described in the course catalog as such:

“The extreme range of adaptability of the human body
explored through the life of the Caped Crusader; examines
human potential using Batman as a metaphor for the
ultimate in human conditioning; evaluates the concepts of
adaptation to exercise and injury from the perspective of
science and exercise training; examines the multiple
sciences behind exercise adaptation, musculoskeletal injury
and concussion, and limitations of the human body and
mind.”

Frankly, it sounds pretty awesome. Just like Batman.

Why teach about superheroes?

It’s hard to get students interested in courses, so sometimes professors (or their administrators) resort to gimmicks. And while they might sound silly, there’s really nothing wrong with it if it helps students learn valuable concepts or skills. The Science of Batman wasn’t about taking away tuition dollars for something mindless, in fact, it was a course about how the human body could be improved.

In some ways, The Science of Batman was ahead of its time. People are only more and more interested in things like “biohacking” and adapting the human body to extreme conditions (like space). Physiology experts travel to high-altitude locations to study these sorts of things all the time. It may even help us improve our health and live longer. So if you have to lure in students with the promise of Batman, so what?

Parents, teachers, and, yes, even executives use references to things people are interested in all the time to explain tough concepts or motivate people.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Science Of Batman: Canadian University Offers Physical Education Class In The Dark Knight” — HuffPost

WTF Fun Fact 12916 – Princess of Netherlands Born in Canada

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

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 12914 – It’s Legal To Kill Bigfoot in Texas

In 2012, a man named John Lloyd Scharf sent a letter to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department asking about the legality of killing Bigfoot. And the Department Chief of Staff, L. David Sinclair confirmed that an indigenous Bigfoot could technically be killed in Texas.

Killing Bigfoot in Texas

Since Bigfoot (referred to as a cryptid – a creature that are considered mythological by mainstream science but are through to exist by cryptozoologists) isn’t considered a game animal in Texas, it turns out that makes him fair game.

Sinclair’s reply read:

“The statute that you cite (Section 61.021) refers only to game birds, game animals, fish, marine animals or other aquatic life. Generally speaking, other nongame wildlife is listed in Chapter 67 (nongame and threatened species) and Chapter 68 (nongame endangered species). ‘Nongame’ means those species of vertebrate and invertebrate wildlife indigenous to Texas that are not classified as game animals, game birds, game fish, fur-bearing animals, endangered species, alligators, marine penaeid shrimp, or oysters.

The Parks and Wildlife Commission may adopt regulations to allow a person to take, possess, buy, sell, transport, import, export or propagate nongame wildlife. If the Commission does not specifically list an indigenous, nongame species, then the species is considered non-protected nongame wildlife, e.g., coyote, bobcat, mountain lion, cotton-tailed rabbit, etc.

A non-protected nongame animal may be hunted on private property with landowner consent by any means, at any time and there is no bag limit or possession limit. An exotic animal is an animal that is non-indigenous to Texas. Unless the exotic is an endangered species then exotics may be hunted on private property with landowner consent. A hunting license is required. This does not include the dangerous wild animals that have been held in captivity and released for the purpose of hunting, which is commonly referred to as a ‘canned hunt.'”

What does it mean?

According to Gizmodo (cited below), “…apparently, as long as you hunt Bigfoot on private property with the permission of the property holder, you are allowed to kill it. I’m a bit surprised, however, that spotting a previously undocumented animal doesn’t automatically transform it from a nonexistent animal into an endangered one. Then again, I suppose rare evidence isn’t evidence of rarity.”

Who knew?

Of course, it might be legal to kill Bigfoot in Texas, but it isn’t going to win you any fans. — WTF fun facts

Source: “It’s officially legal to kill Bigfoot in Texas” — Gizmodo