– Perhaps you have noticed an occasional boss or politician that seemed “strange” or even “not brilliant.” Imagine the dilemma French citizenry faced dealing with Charles VI (ruled 1380-1422). Initially, he was quite popular as a monarch and was known as Charles the Beloved. Then there was a wedding (not his) celebration in January of 1393 wherein The Beloved was hosting. A prank involving honored guests went very bad very quickly. More than a few guests donned brightly colored costumes that were extremely flammable. The inflammable (somehow means the same as flammable) clothing became almost instantly ablaze. The ballroom became a raging inferno. Many of the unfortunates died quickly. Other guests lingered for days prior to succumbing. Several survivors were disfigured for life. Charles VI was unharmed physically, but the horrible incident apparently drove him insane. He became known as Charles la Fou or Charles the Mad. He became unfit to rule or even take walks unattended. Fortuitously, a committee reigned until Charles’ death in 1422. Committees always seem to make fine decisions.
– During the American Civil War, approximately 180,000 black men enlisted in the Union Army.
– Pursuing a quite different topic … It is estimated that more than 1,000,000,000 people speak Mandarin Chinese. Language statisticians claim roughly 360,000,000 people speak English as their first language. That supposedly includes us Texans that sort of “speak the English.” We have compound words such as “jeet.” If a native Texan says “jeet yet” to you, he/she is likely asking “have you already eaten?”
– I was reading a book on specific situation etiquette and discovered that when a person is toasted at a banquet, dinner party etc. — the toasted person is not supposed to drink during the toast. Actually, I do not recall being toasted at all. Roasted? Yes.
– Florida is the state ranking third in population (USA) with more than 21,000,000 residents living inside nearly 66,000 square miles. The Spanish word for Florida is Florida. No location in our “Sunshine State” is more than 80 miles from a beach.
– Asparagus was a popular vegetable in ancient Rome. Evviva per asparagi!
– In 2015, archer Matt Stutzman shot an arrow a verified distance of 930.04 feet. Amazing feat. While Matt does have feet, he has no arms.
– The first recorded public prize fight between two women took place March 16, 1876 in New York City. Miss Nell Saunders defeated Miss Rose Harland. The prize was a butter dish. Well, do not forget dinner. Jeet yet?
James White is a retired mathematics teacher who enjoys sharing fascinating trivia. He can be reached at [email protected].
