wtf fun fact

WTF Fun Fact 13154 – Shaggy’s Real Name

The character Shaggy from the cartoon Scooby Doo has a real name. It turns out that Shaggy is just a nickname. Now, that’s not surprising, but the fact that someone decided to give him enough of a backstory to name him Norville Rogers sure is.

The lowdown on Shaggy’s real name

Norville “Shaggy” Rogers is one of a group of amateur detectives and the slacker of the group, truth be told. Scooby-Doo is his dog, and is just as fond of running away from danger as his owner.

Shaggy is a bit of a hippie, and when the legendary Casey Kasem was asked to voice the character, he was reportedly unsure what hippies were supposed to sound like. Kasem ended up basing the character Walter Donton on the tv show Our Miss Brooks.

Kasem even convinced the producers of Scooby Doo that Shaggy should also be a vegetarian, like Kasem himself.

Since the show began, the character of Shaggy has been voiced by over 20 different people.

Shaggy’s family

Shaggy has quite an extended family. And they have some unique names, including a little sister named Sugie, Uncle Gaggy, Uncle Shaggworthy, and Betty Lous Shaggbilly. Pretty impressive for a guy who is only nicknamed Shaggy!

Of course, Shaggy hails from Coolsville, Ohio and adopted Scooby Doo from Knittingham Puppy Farm. It was after that when Shaggy met Daphne, Fred, and Velma and decided to start Mystery Incorpotated. And it’s no surprise that he’s also the one who bought and painted the Mystery Machine. It does seem like his taste.

According to his Wikipedia entry, there are some other random fun facts about the cartoon character:

“Shaggy’s old nickname was Buzz (apparently for his buzz cut) until his 10th birthday. Fred says that, contrary to what people believe, Shaggy is not skinny because Scooby is always stealing his food, but rather because he’s a vegetarian. But as healthy as Shaggy tries to stay, he has battled unhealthy habits. Velma calculates that he once ate exactly 45% of his body weight. This led to him dieting and starting a new hobby: collecting decorator belt buckles. Shaggy claims to have the largest collection of decorator belt buckles in the world and currently owns 653. He also states that he wears a different belt buckle for every mystery if one pays attention, the joke being that his baggy shirt always hides them.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “Shaggy Rogers” — Wikipedia

WTF Fun Fact 13153 – Albert Einstein and Yoda

The appearance of the Star Wars character Yoda was partially influenced by a poster of Albert Einstein hanging in the creator’s studio.

What’s the relationship between Albert Einstein and Yoda?

We suppose that a close look and some squinting at the Star Wars character Yoda could conjure an image of Albert Einstein in one’s head. But they’re hardly twins – and that’s not just because of the green skin and alien visage.

Still, they have more in common than just their supposed wisdom.

Stuart Freeborn is the special effects artist that worked as a Star Wars makeup supervisor and was primarily responsible for Yoda’s final look. And he had a poster of Einstein hanging on the wall of his office.

Freeborn said Einstein played a role in influencing his vision of Yoda. But he also admitted that the character is based on his own face.

CineSecrets had a quote from the artist:

“…A picture of Einstein ended up on the wall behind the Yoda sculptures and the wrinkles around Einstein’s eyes somehow got worked into the Yoda design. Over the course of this evolutionary process Yoda slowly changed from a comparatively spritely [sic], tall, skinny, grasshopper kind of character into the old wise spirited gnome that we all know today. The final step in that transformation was Franks [Oz, sic] insistence that the puppet should have no jaw fitted. That allowed him more freedom for expression as a puppeteer but it also meant that the skin hung loosely below the cheeks and that gave Yoda an older, rather chinless look that is quite different to the drawings Ralph [McQuarrie] did.”

Surprising it is not

Look at them side-by-side and see what you think. The more you look, the more you can see it.

We want to know what Einstein would have thought. There are many photos of the genius looking goofy and joking around. But he wasn’t always known as a good guy. Unlike Yoda, his attitude sometimes outstripped his wisdom. — WTF fun facts

Source: “How Einstein Influenced the Look of Yoda” — Mental Floss

WTF Fun Fact 13152 – The Cadaver Synod

In 897, Pope Stephen VI held what is now known as the “Cadaver Synod.” He put Pope Formosus on trial. The catch was that Pope Formosus had been dead for about seven months. In what could (but should probably not) be described as a medieval Weekend At Bernie’s, the pope’s corpse was propped up on the papal throne throughout the interrogation.

What was the Cadaver Synod?

There’s no getting around the fact that this was a weird moment in papal history.

Pope Stephen VI even had Pope Formosus’ corpse dressed up in ecclesiastical robes for his “trial.” He hired a deacon to “speak” on the corpse’s behalf. All this is to say that Pope Stephen VI really felt like he was owning a corpse.

And if you think this all sounds crazy, consider the fact that there was an earthquake in the middle of the trial. One that the current pope was said not to notice he was so obsessed with his interrogation.

The verdict and aftermath

You’ll probably be unsurprised to know that Pope Formosus was found guilty of usurping the papcy. According to JSTOR Daily (cited below): “Stephen VI declared all his acts as pope null and void: all consecrations, all appointments, all ordinations were undone. Formosus’ body was stripped of its rich garments and dressed in rags. Three of his fingers—the fingers of the benediction, with which, in life, he had given blessings—were cut off, and his body was cast into the Tiber River.”

The living pope may have felt like a winner, but he was imprisoned and strange to death within months of the trial, having been pope only around one year.

The papacy was a particularly high-stakes position in the Middle Ages since the pope got to appoint the Holy Roman Emperor. The following pope lasted around a year and the next only roughly three weeks. But at least there were no more corpse trials.

Why did this happen?

You’re probably why Pope Stephen VI would go to so much trouble as to hold the trial of a corpse. To this we defer to JSTOR Daily:

“To understand this, you have to understand the importance of relics in the medieval era. The dead body of a holy person was more than rotting flesh; it was transformed by death into a holy relic, a source of miraculous power. These relics were the center of religious life. 

As historian Lionel Rothkrug writes:

“Through their relics, saints continued to be members of the community: hearing the pleas of petitioners, responding to the needs of the people with divine intercession, and receiving their gifts of thanks. They were participants in the daily lives of the people that venerated them. In this sense, they were still alive.”

Apparently, Stephen VI wanted Pope Formosus both dead and forgotten. — WTF fun facts

Source: “The Cadaver Synod: Putting a Dead Pope on Trial” — JSTOR Daily

WTF Fun Fact 13151 – Franz Liszt Sent Fans Dog Hair

In the 1830s, pianist Franz Liszt became one of the first celebrities. Women were so enamored of him (and his hair) that they sent requests to him for a lock of it. Eventually, Liszt bought a dog to clip hair from to fulfill their requests.

The first celebrity

Long before The Beatles made women go mad, there was Franz Liszt (1811-1886). The Hungarian musician was the star of concert halls all over 19th-century Europe. And not only was he talented, but people also found him very attractive. Word of his beauty spread like wildfire in a time before anyone could even share photos.

It’s probably no coincidence that the word “celebrity” began to appear in the dictionary around the time of his popularity in the 1830s.

It probably helped that Liszt’s talent was matched by his luscious locks, which he threw around in a frenzy as he played piano. And since he gave around 8000 concerts in just eight years alone, plenty of people got a chance to see him.

Fans were so mad about Franz Liszt that his biographer described the height of his popularity as “Lisztomania.” According to the BBC, “One eyewitness recalled that ‘on one occasion a woman snatched up a half-smoked cigar that Liszt had cast aside and in spite of repeatedly retching she continued to smoke it with feigned delight’. Baronesses and countesses tore at each other’s hair in trying to lay hands on a glass or handkerchief that Liszt had used.”

Eventually, women were throwing themselves at his feet and tearing at both his and their own clothing while doing so. Then there was the fanmail.

Franz Liszt and the hair conundrum

Women would often try to get a piece of hair or a broken piano string in his presence. One story that’s often repeated is that Liszt got lots of fanmail asking for the locks of his beautiful mane.

It may be an apocryphal story. But legend has it that he got so many requests for hair that in order to fulfill them, Liszt bought a dog that he could snip hair from.

To this day, people claim to have locks of his hair that likely belong to a dog (if the story is indeed true). — WTF fun facts

Source: “Forget the Beatles – Liszt was music’s first ‘superstar'” — BBC

WTF Fun Fact 13150 – When Moscow Ran Out of Vodka

On May 9, 1945, reports that Nazi Germany had surrendered to the USSR resulted in a 22-hour celebration. The Soviets partied so hard that the entire country briefly ran out of vodka.

How the Soviets ran out of vodka

On May 9, 1945, a radio report in the USSR announced that Germany had officially surrendered to the Soviet Union. There was every reason to celebrate immediately. Joseph Stalin, the country’s leader, would address citizens later that day, but revelers were too overjoyed to wait.

While the country probably wasn’t entirely devoid of vodka, those who stayed up to celebrate drank the store shelves dry. And grain was in short supply in wartime, leaving few vodka reserves on hand to replenish the shelves.

War History Online notes that in the book History of Russia, author Walter Moss wrote, “During the famine of the early 1930s, Stalin ensured that sufficient grain and potatoes were still available for vodka production, and vodka revenues in this period provided about one-fifth of government revenues.”

There was also a state monopoly on alcohol. Stalin made its production a national priority, even during the widespread famine. So it’s likely that the shortage didn’t last long since vodka production never stopped.

In any case, by the time Stalin officially addressed the nation on that fateful day in 1945, those who hadn’t celebrated had to find another way to do so. Those who had were probably nursing one heck of a hangover.

Accounts of the vodka shortage

According to Mental Floss (cited below): “As one reporter put it, ‘I was lucky to buy a liter of vodka at the train station when I arrived because it was impossible to buy any later… There was no vodka in Moscow on May 10; we drank it all.‘”

War History Online quoted naval navigator Nikolai Kryuchkov, who recalled:

“On May 9, 1945, with the permission of the commander, I left for 3 days in Moscow. It was impossible to tell what happened on that day in Moscow…. We celebrated Victory Day with my family, the owner’s apartments and neighbors. They drank for the victory, for those who did not live to see this day and for the fact that this bloody massacre would never be repeated. On May 10, it was impossible to buy vodka in Moscow, because it was completely drunk.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “The Time Russia Ran Out of Vodka” — Mental Floss

WTF Fun Fact 13149 – Spiders Recycle Their Webs

Not all spider webs are destroyed with a broom. In fact, spiders can recycle their webs by eating them!

How and why do spiders recycle their webs?

Some spider webs are built to last years while others only last a day or so. Of course, while those beautifully spun webs in the corner of your attic may have been built as a long-term home for the spider, in that case, their duration is influenced by how long humans allow them to stick around.

But for some neglected spider webs, they can be so enduring that a new generation of spiders might come to reside there.

More fragile webs may only last a day because spiders build them simply to catch food. Rain and pollen may affect their stickiness. In these cases, spiders will pack up a web for the day and build again the next. When this happens, spiders often eat their webs to recycle the amino acids that made up the silk protein used in web construction.

It’s an impressive feat since webs can consist of 65 feet of silk!

Not all spiders ingest their silk though. And some use it to wrap their eggs sacs. But considering how much energy it takes to weave a web, it’s not all that surprising that spiders recycle webs by eating them in some cases.

Spider web building

Spider web silk is made out of protein chains. And some of it is as strong as kevlar (though obviously it’s not as tightly woven, so we hardly notice when batting them away). In fact, scientists are studying it in the hopes of making future body armor!

Spiders typically start building webs by pulling silk from a gland in their fourth leg. The fourth leg on the opposite side contains even more silk glands. Then, in order to begin, the spider (depending on the species) can shoot it out to attach to an object or wait for a breeze to carry it to the base from which it will start building.

From there, the spider will typically create a number of attachment lines. Then they decide which are the strongest and begin weaving from there. Different spiders have different web patterns. In fact, they’re so distinct that experts can look at the structure of a web and tell you precisely which type of spider built it.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Why do spiders eat their own webs?” — Discover Wildlife

WTF Fun Fact 13148 – Pentheraphobia

Pentheraphobia means the fear of your mother-in-law. And while fear might not be the word most people would use, a phobia also refers to anxiety produced by the trigger and subsequent avoidance (to which more of us may be able to relate).

Is pentheraphobia real?

A phobia typically refers to an unfounded fear or dislike – and, let’s face it, some mothers-in-law are scary and threatening. (Of course, some are delightful!).

But the fear of one’s mother-in-law can be real for people who suffer from anxiety and who let their in-laws’ behavior or presence affect their lives in negative ways.

Pentheraphobia is not widespread (or widely recognized). While this specific phobia is not in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), general phobias are. And to qualify as a psychiatric disorder, a phobia must produce excessive and persistent fear, induce a state of panic around the trigger, and lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms in order to avoid contact.

According to Its Psychology (cited below): “It is a specific phobia, and it is important to clarify that it differs from a simple dislike or hatred because it can seriously affect the sufferer of the disorder.”

Fear of in-laws

If you’re not a fan of your in-laws or other parental figures, Its Psychology has a few other potential diagnoses to bring up with your doctor:

  • Socerafobia (fear of in-laws in general)
  • Vitricofobia (fear of the stepfather)
  • Novercaphobia (fear of the stepmother)

Suffering from phobias

While fear of one’s mother-in-law may seem amusing in some respects, the symptoms of phobias are no joke. They can include nausea, vomiting, tremors, irregular heartbeat, excessive sweating, and panic attacks. It goes far beyond dread.

Many phobias are believed to be rooted in past psychological trauma. Of course, you don’t have a mother-in-law until later in life, but it’s possible that you can be conditioned from a young age to fear non-blood relatives or pick up on other people’s fear or animosity towards their mothers-in-law. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Pentheraphobia: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments” — Its Psychology

WTF Fun Fact 13147 – Lay-Z-Boy Tank Seats

During World War II, Lay-Z-Boy had to stop producing recliners because of the war effort. As a result, they used their production facility to mass produce (presumably very comfortable) seats for tanks and other military vehicles.

The history of Lay-Z-Boy

Lay-Z-Boy is pretty much synonymous with recliners. The Monroe, Michigan company produces about 30,000 units per week!

The company was founded in 1927 by cousins Edwin Shoemaker and Edward Knabusch, a cardboard factory worker and a farmer, respectively. They were both interested in woodworking and began designing furniture.

Eventually, they built a reclining porch chair out of crates. But realizing that it wasn’t going to be very useful in the snowy Michigan winter, they followed up on a suggestion from a local furniture store owner to upholster it so it could be used inside.

Their “Automatic Adjustable Chair” wasn’t much of a marketing hit, so they held a contest to rename it. According to AdWeek (cited below), “suggestions included the Slack Back and the Sit-N-Snooze,) but “the founders settled on La-Z-Boy.”

An interruption in sales

It would take decades for the brand to become a household name. And the real secret to its success was the popularity of home televisions in the 1960s.

Unfortunately, the 1940s were a tough time for the company. After hardly being able to keep up with demand, Lay-Z-Boy built its first stand-alone 27,000-square-foot factory. However, production was interrupted one year later because of WWII.

As a result of the war, the company stopped lounge chair production and used its factory to mass produce plane parts as well as seats for war machines like ships, tanks, torpedo boats, and armored cars.

We’re guessing they didn’t recline.

Luckily, the pent-up demand during the way meant the Lay-Z-Boy was back in business in the 1950s. They installed an assembly line to help meet demand and invented the reclining rocker.

The 1960s were the real golden era for Lay-Z-boy. AdWeek notes that “Between 1961 and 1970, sales went from $2M to $50M.” Today, the chairs’ prices make them a near-luxury item. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Kicking Back With La-Z-Boy” — AdWeek

WTF Fun Fact 13146 – Oldest Library in the World

Al-Qarawiyyin Library is the oldest library in the world. It is located in Fez, Morocco, and was part of the oldest continually operating university in the world, al-Qarawiyyin University. The university opened in 859. (If you’re thinking this can’t be right because Oxford is the oldest university, note that it’s simply the oldest in the English-speaking world. Even the University of Bologna was founded after al-Qarawiyyin.)

Al-Qarawiyyin had a library, but sultan Abu Inan Faris founded the one we consider the oldest continually operating library in 1349. He was able to collect some of the world’s most precious manuscripts.

How the al-Quarawiyyin Library came to be

Al-Qarawiyyin university, its library, and a mosque were founded by a woman (around the same time algebra was invented!).

Her name was Fatima El-Fihriya, and she even attended the university. Born in Tunisia around 800 AD, her family became wealthy as a result of her father’s successful merchant business and migrated to Fez.

Both well-educated, Fatima and her sister Maryam went on to found mosques in Fez. Fatima’s wealth was a result of her father having only two daughters to leave his riches to, and Fatima’s husband and father died shortly after her wedding. However, we know little else about their lives. A fire in 1323 destroyed most of the records that could tell us more about her life.

It appears Fatima El-Fihriya’s goal was to make Morocco an educational hub, which she did. In fact (while it’s disputed), she likely influenced the future of educational institutions around the world.

Al-Qarawiyyin offered many courses on the Qur’an, but eventually expanded to include the study of medicine, grammar, mathematics, music, and astronomy. It drew intellectuals from all over the world.

Once accessible only to academics, the library is now open to the public thanks to a full renovation Canadian-Moroccan architect Aziza Chaouni began in 2012 and finished in 2017.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “The Fascinating History of the World’s Oldest Library; Al-Qarawiyyin Library and University, Fez” – Odyssey Traveler