Bob's Fact of the Day

In 1961, a chimpanzee named Ham was sent into space to test out how a human might fair during a manned mission. The chimp was trained to pull levers in response to flashing lights during flight, which he did at a height of 250 kilometers above the Earth in zero gravity.

In 2014, Ars Technica did a study that estimated about 37 percent of the 781 million games that users purchased on the Steam video game marketplace have never been played. The estimates were based on publicly available data. They also determined that the most owned game at the time was Dota 2 with over 25.93 million owners.

In England, the tradition of having two birthdays for the King and Queen was started by King George II in 1748. He was born in November, which doesn’t have great weather for a big public celebration, so King George decided to have his big birthday celebration in the summer by combining it with an annual military parade. Since then, the King and Queen have always had two birthdays, their actual birthday and their “official” publicly celebrated birthday.

In 2013, the CEO of Japanese sushi chain Sushi Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura, was awarded a medal by the government of Djibouti for majorly contributing to a drop in piracy off the Somalian coast. He found out that most pirates only became pirates because they had lost their homes due to civil war, and they needed to find a way to make a living. So, Kimura suggested to the pirates that they should catch some tunas in the same ocean where they were attacking vessels, and make money that way. Kimura went out of his way to provide ships and skills required for tuna fishing.

Watership Down, the best selling classic by Richard Adams, was originally created during a car trip. He told the story to his two daughters who convinced him to write it down after he finished it. The story was turned down by 4 publishers and 3 writers’ agencies before it was finally published, selling over a million copies worldwide. It also won Adams the Carnegie Medal award and the Guardian Children’s Fiction prize, making him one of only six authors to win both awards.

The Westminster Kennel Dog Show is the second-oldest US sports event, first held on May 8, 1877. It was initially only for sporting dog breeds, but now even mutts can compete for the “All American Dog” prize. Terriers win “Best in Show” most often, which is the top prize, while Golden Retrievers have never won.

A Coleopterist is a person who studies beetles. Coleoptera comes from the Ancient Greek word, koleópteros meaning “sheath-wing”. The Coleoptera is the largest of all orders, making up almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms, with new species being discovered frequently.

Thomas Jefferson, most commonly known for his political accomplishments and as the third President of the United States, is also responible for introducing Americans to French fries, champagne, macaroni, waffles, ice cream, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. Jefferson’s penchant for enjoying French cuisine was so great that it even caused his enemies to accuse him of colluding with Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1887, a group of men who were against women in politics put Susanna Salter on the ballot as a prank. They did this hoping to secure a loss that would be so humiliating to women that it would discourage them from running for political office. Salter won that election by a two-thirds majority becoming the first female mayor in the United States.

The Ghost Club, founded in London in 1862, is believed to be the oldest paranormal investigation organization in the world. Its member roster has included Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Babbage, and a slew of other notable individuals. The club is still in operation today and continues to have monthly meetings at the Victory Services Club near Marble Arch, in London.