Archives: Facts

Custom post type for facts

Thomas Jefferson kept grizzly bears at the White House.

Two grizzly bear cubs
Credit: jared lloyd/ Moment via Getty Images
Author Michael Nordine
December 23, 2025

Love it?

The most common presidential pets have historically been cats and dogs, but the White House has also been home to considerably more exotic creatures. Calvin Coolidge alone had raccoons, a donkey, and a bobcat; Martin Van Buren was gifted a pair of tiger cubs (though they were confiscated by Congress and sent to the zoo); and Theodore Roosevelt had a badger named Josiah and a hyena named Bill, among many other animals. Most fearsome of all the presidential pets, perhaps, were the two grizzly bears Thomas Jefferson received from an American explorer named Zebulon Pike in 1807.

The two cubs didn’t call the White House home for long, alas. Jefferson realized that housing them on the grounds would be impractical, writing in a letter to his daughter, “These are too dangerous & troublesome for me to keep.” He knew just who to send them to: Charles Willson Peale, an artist who had a museum in Philadelphia. In a letter to his friend, Jefferson assured him that the cubs were “perfectly gentle” and “appear quite good humored” in addition to not eating much. Before sending them on their way, the nation’s third president briefly kept the bears on the White House lawn.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

An annual competition crowns the fattest bear of the year.

2025 was an eventful year for a lot of reasons, few more uplifting than the underdog story of Chunk, the year’s fattest bear. After two consecutive years as runner-up, the 1,200-pound brown bear finally won Fat Bear Week, an annual competition devoted to ursines who “best exemplify fatness and success.” 

Brown bears pack on the pounds before hibernating in the winter, and the public gets to vote in a single-elimination contest to crown a winner. Bear 32, known as Chunk, had lost twice in a row to bear 128, Grazer, the first female back-to-back winner since the competition began in 2014. It has since turned into an autumnal highlight, with this year’s final-round matchup between Chunk and bear 856 (who has no official name) garnering more than 160,000 votes.

Australia used to be called New Holland.

New Holland map
Credit: The Picture Art Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Kerry Hinton
July 2, 2024

Love it?

In 1606, toward the end of Europe’s age of exploration, Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Australia’s Cape York Peninsula, believing he was on the shores of New Guinea, which is separated from mainland Australia by the Torres Strait. He mapped 186 miles of coastline before departing later that year. Other Dutch navigators followed suit, charting the northern, western, and southern coasts of the landmass. Despite the fact that the Dutch never never colonized Australia, by the late 17th century the continent was known as New Holland (Nieuw-Holland in Dutch) — but the name didn’t last.

In 1768, British explorer James Cook made the first of his three voyages to Australia. Two years later, he claimed the eastern half for Britain and renamed it New South Wales. A secret goal of Cook’s first voyage was to discover what was listed on ancient maps as Terra Australis Incognita (Latin for Unknown South Land), a hypothetical vast landmass that the Greek philosophers theorized must exist in the Southern Hemisphere to counterbalance Asia. By the end of Captain Cook’s third voyage, he had seen portions of Antarctica and mapped enough of New Zealand (also named by Dutch explorers) to disprove that Australia was part of the fabled Terra Australis; rather, a separate southern continent was located in the icy polar region.

In 1803, British navigator Matthew Flinders became the first person to circumnavigate the coast of Australia, charting unknown parts of the coastline and proving that Australia is a single continent. In his journals and maps of the expedition, he harkened back to Terra Australis when naming the continent, but shortened it to Australia. This time, the name stuck. As Flinders wrote in A Voyage to Terra Australis (1814), the new, abridged moniker was “more agreeable to the ear.”

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Australia was once a penal colony.

In 1787, 11 ships holding nearly 1,400 people left Portsmouth, England, for Botany Bay, Australia. This “First Fleet” carried new settlers, and more than 700 convicts. This is not as unusual as it may seem. The British had been sending convicts to work off their sentences in the colonies since 1615. After the American Revolution, British convicts were sent to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land (modern-day Tasmania). Between 1788 and 1868, more than 162,000 convicts were transported to Australia. Some were exiled in lieu of the death penalty, while others were sent more than 9,000 miles from home to serve sentences for more trivial crimes, including petty theft and fraud. Once free, many ex-convicts remained in Australia and joined the ranks of the free settlers. Today, an estimated 20% of Australians are the descendants of convicts. 

Early cars came with a vase for flowers.

Sterling silver auto vase
Credit: SBS Eclectic Images/ Alamy Stock
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd
December 23, 2025

Love it?

Imagine riding in a car in the 1920s. There was no air conditioning, the smell of auto exhaust was overwhelming, and the modern air freshener hadn’t been invented yet. Fortunately, many early automobiles had a pretty, fragrant feature: flower vases mounted to either the dashboard or the passenger-side window.

Automotive vases date back to at least the late 19th century and emerged in the United States by 1909, when Ward’s Automobile Topics noted that limousines on New York City’s ritzy Fifth Avenue had adopted the “Parisian notion.” In 1913, Popular Mechanics also credited France with the origin of the trend and published a perhaps-apocryphal origin story of a French automobile manufacturer that appeased an impatient American customer by adding a bouquet holder.

These vases came in all kinds of materials and designs, from sterling silver to glowing uranium glass. Some had brackets for mounting, while others included chains for hanging. Initially, they were a luxury item, but by the 1920s they were more accessible to the average consumer. Aftermarket models were widely available in jewelry stores or the Sears catalog. And Henry Ford was so taken with them that he even added them to his assembly line. 

Today, dashboard flowers are more widely associated with Volkswagen vehicles, although the manufacturer didn’t start offering them as an option until the 1950s (a tradition that continued into the 1970s). When the company rebooted the VW Beetle in 1998, one of its many quirky vintage touches was an acrylic vase in the dash.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Portable vases were all the rage in the Victorian era.

In upper-class society in Victorian England, people often gave small, tightly wrapped bouquets to friends and romantic prospects. But if you received such a gift at the beginning of a social function, you had to hold it or stash it for the rest of the night, and after hours without water, the flowers got a little wilted. In the 1830s, Queen Victoria helped popularize small, ornate bouquet holders that included a vessel for water and a pin to keep the flowers in place. Many came with a clip or a pin to attach to clothing, or a ring to dangle from your finger or affix to a belt. Others came with little tripods for setting the vase on a surface — and some, while they kept flowers fresh and hands clean, still required carrying. Use declined toward the end of the 19th century, when long-stemmed bouquets went into fashion.

Warren G. Harding’s dog sat in on Cabinet meetings. 

Harding's dog, Laddie Boy
Credit: Glasshouse Images/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine
July 2, 2024

Love it?

It isn’t uncommon to see pets in Zoom meetings these days, as some cats and dogs can’t help being the center of attention while their humans attempt to check in with their co-workers. Even so, the fact that Warren G. Harding’s dog sat in on Cabinet meetings sounds especially distracting (albeit in an adorable way) for such important positions as, say, the secretary of state. Laddie Boy, who’s been called the White House’s first celebrity dog, was an Airedale terrier whom the 29th president of the United States deeply adored. In addition to fetching the newspaper and joining the first lady at fundraisers, he had his own seat at Cabinet meetings and was written about in the press on a near-daily basis.

Sometimes, Laddie Boy even “wrote” back. “So many people express a wish to see me, and I shake hands with so many callers at the Executive Mansion,” read one such letter, “that I fear there are some people who will suspect me of political inclinations. From what I see of politics, I am sure I have no such aspirations.” The presidential pup remained popular even as Harding did not (he’s routinely ranked among the worst heads of state in American history). Following Harding’s untimely death in 1923, a poem by Edna Bell Seward titled “Laddie Boy, He’s Gone” was set to music by composer George M. Seward in order to console the faithful dog.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Presidents have had bobcats, tigers, and other exotic pets at the White House.

Having your pet in Cabinet meetings is a bold choice, but at least the animal itself was tame. The same can’t be said of all White House pets through history. There was Calvin Coolidge’s bobcat, Andrew Jackson’s foul-mouthed parrot Poll (who had to be removed from Jackson’s own funeral because it kept swearing), the sheep Woodrow Wilson kept on the White House lawn during World War I, and John F. Kennedy’s pony, Macaroni. When it comes to sheer quantity, however, no one tops Theodore Roosevelt. The 26th president had nearly 40 pets, including 11 horses, a badger, flying squirrels, five guinea pigs, six dogs, a hyena, and a bear, among others.

Benedict IX served as pope on three different occasions.

Pope Benedict IX
Maidun Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Bennett Kleinman
November 8, 2023

Love it?

Benedict IX was an 11th-century Catholic pope notable for being the only person to hold the papacy on multiple occasions — in his case, three different times. Born Theophylactus to a powerful Roman family, the future pope was the nephew of two prior popes, Benedict VII and John XIX. Upon the latter’s death in 1032, Benedict IX was chosen by the powerful Tusculani family as the successor, despite being just 20 years old (though some sources claim he was as young as 12). Benedict IX’s first pontificate came to an end in 1044, when he was deposed amid accusations of living an unsavory lifestyle, and replaced by Sylvester III.

Sylvester’s time as pope was brief, as supporters of Benedict IX expelled Sylvester from the role, allowing Benedict to return in April 1045. But Benedict’s second pontificate lasted only until the following month, as he notoriously sold the papacy to his grandfather Gregory VI. This act landed Gregory in hot water; he was deposed in December 1046 and replaced by Clement II. Clement met an untimely demise a few months later, allowing Benedict to seize the papacy for a third and final time in October 1047. Benedict IX remained pope until July 1048, when he was driven away by forces under the control of Holy Roman Emperor Henry III. 

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Benedict XII was accidentally elected pope.

On December 20, 1334, the College of Cardinals gathered to elect a new pope after the death of John XXII. The process of selecting the pope required a two-thirds majority, though it was common for many cardinals to throw away their initial vote on an obscure candidate, as it often took several rounds for a majority to come together around one person. Selecting someone unlikely to win was done in an effort to test the tone of the room and gauge how others were voting before finally coalescing around a winner. This time, however, the strategy backfired, as 11 of 16 cardinals voted for Jacques Fournier, a candidate deemed to have obscure origins and to lack wealth and followers. Given the rules of papal conclaves, revotes weren’t permitted once a majority had been reached, and so Fournier was thrust into the papacy. He took the papal name Benedict XII and assumed the role on January 8, 1335.

Russia once banned vodka.

Crystal bottle and cup
Credit: Winston Springwater/ Shutterstock
Author Michael Nordine
June 6, 2024

Love it?

There’s a Russian proverb that speaks to the country’s love affair with a certain spirit: “Vodka is our enemy, so we’ll utterly consume it.” Russia and vodka are almost synonymous with each other, for better or, sometimes, worse. The problems associated with overconsumption have been known to Russia’s leaders for a long time — so long, in fact, that Tsar Nicholas II announced his intention to ban the liquor on September 28, 1914, in a telegram that read simply, “I have already decided to abolish forever the government sale of vodka in Russia.” He did so at considerable financial risk, as the government’s centuries-old vodka monopoly was responsible for a third of its revenue, but he felt it was important that the treasury was no longer “dependent on the ruination of the spiritual and economic forces of the majority of My faithful subjects.”

The tsar’s motivations weren’t purely altruistic, however. Russia’s 1905 loss in the Russo-Japanese War was attributed in part to soldiers’ drunkenness, and Nicholas II didn’t want to see a repeat of that in the looming conflict we now know as World War I. It didn’t work: Vodka prohibition stunted the country’s finances, infrastructure, and morale at a time when all three were of the utmost importance, and Russia was defeated in WWI as well. The prohibition law was repealed following the ascendance of Joseph Stalin, who reinstated the government monopoly in 1925.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

World War I was partly responsible for Prohibition in America.

The link between war and banning booze wasn’t exclusive to Russia, as World War I played a key role in America’s own experiment with prohibiting the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors.” One war-related reason had to do with the scarcity of resources, namely barley, which advocates argued would be put to better use baking bread for soldiers than brewing beer. Another was good old-fashioned wartime xenophobia. John Strange, the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, put it thusly: “We have German enemies in this country, too. And the worst of all our German enemies, the most treacherous, the most menacing, are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller.” The 18th Amendment was finally passed by Congress on December 18, 1917 — less than a year before World War I ended.

WWII soldiers carried emergency chocolate that tasted intentionally bad.

WWII Ration D bar
Credit: Craig Brown/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Timothy Ott
December 18, 2025

Love it?

In 1937, Captain Paul Logan of the U.S. Army Quartermaster General’s office visited the Hershey Chocolate Corporation with the mission of creating a chocolate bar for use as an emergency ration for soldiers. Among the requirements, this bar needed to supply a hearty dose of energy and have a higher melting point than normal chocolate, so as to remain solid in sweltering conditions. The bar was also meant to taste “a little better than a boiled potato,” in Logan’s words, meaning it had to be unappetizing enough to prevent soldiers from scarfing down the ration when no emergency was afoot.

Following those instructions wasn’t as simple as it sounds. Hershey chemist Sam Hinkle came up with a suitable formula of chocolate liquor, skim milk powder, cocoa butter, oat flour, vanillin, and barely enough sugar, but the resulting paste-like mix was too thick to be poured into molds and challenging to extract after setting. However, Hershey was eventually able to churn out 100,000 of what became known as “D ration” bars per day by 1939, and by the end of 1945, production for these and other military-designated chocolates was up to around 24 million units per week.

As for the order to ratchet up the unappetizing quotient, it’s safe to designate this mission accomplished. The dense ration bars were difficult to bite into with their high melting point, and the lower sugar level meant taste buds were overwhelmed by the bitterness of dark chocolate. As a result, these unappealing bricks were typically saved for emergencies as intended, but there turned out to be an unforeseen use for them as well. With communities across war-torn Europe sometimes desperate for any kind of food, U.S. regiments found they could win over suspicious locals by handing out the chocolate rations.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Tootsie Rolls provided a lifeline for U.S. forces during a Korean War battle.

One of the memorable tales to emerge from the Korean War is that of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, in which U.S. Marines found themselves surrounded by Chinese and North Korean forces amid frigid conditions in late 1950. As the story goes, the Marines radioed for help by requesting additional 60-millimeter mortars by their code name of “Tootsie Rolls,” only to be surprised by an airdrop of actual Tootsie Roll candies. According to historian Todd DePastino, the botched communication story is likely apocryphal, but what is true is that Americans found boxes of Tootsie Rolls that had been stored in the area, originally meant to supply an Army base store. The candies not only provided a sugar boost for the fighters, but also were heated and used to plug holes in bullet-riddled cars and radiators, helping the “Chosin Few” survive this famously grueling battle.

The ancient Roman calendar started the year in March.

Romulus, founder of Rome
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
Author Darren Orf
December 19, 2023

Love it?

Today’s modern calendar comes with a lot of quirks, not least of which are the names of the last four months. Although September, October, November, and December seemingly begin with numeral prefixes, the numbers don’t match their place in the calendar. October, for example, is not the eighth month of the year, but the 10th. So what’s going on here? Well, blame the Romans. 

Ancient Rome’s original calendar, which according to myth was created by the city’s legendary founder Romulus in the eighth century BCE, contained only 10 months. The year lasted 304 days, beginning in March (named for the Roman god Mars) and ending in December, the 10th month (marking the annual harvest). But because this calendar woefully underestimated the true length of a year, it was replaced with a new calendar by the Roman king Numa Pompilius around 713 BCE. The new calendar put the year at 355 days long, divided into 12 months, based on the cycles of the moon. It added the month of January to the start of the year and tacked on February at the end, though the latter eventually moved to its current position between January and March. This change threw the numerically named months (which at that point also included Quintilis and Sextilis) out of whack. Strangely, no one seemed to mind, and this quirk of the calendar has been with us ever since.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

A German librarian deciphered the Maya calendar.

One of the most complex calendars in history is the timekeeping system created by the Maya thousands of years ago. For centuries, scholars didn’t know what to make of the ancient calendar — in fact, they didn’t even know how to read it. That changed with the arrival of Ernst Förstemann, a librarian at the Royal Library in Dresden, Germany. Although he had no background in Maya history or culture, Förstemann did have an appetite for mathematics and, luckily, access to the Dresden Codex, one of the earliest surviving books written in the Americas, which is filled with Maya hieroglyphics. With help from a 1566 book detailing the inner workings of the Maya writing system, Förstemann decoded the culture’s complex system of three interlocking calendars — the Sacred Round, Solar Round, and Long Count calendar. Building on his work, scholars eventually concluded that August 13, 3114 BCE — known to the Maya as 4 Ahau 8 Cumku — represented the beginning of creation in the Mesoamerican civilization.

George Washington was passionate about mules.

Saddled mule
Credit: Historic Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine
December 18, 2025

Love it?

Among the many things George Washington couldn’t tell a lie about was his love of mules, which come from breeding a female horse (mare) with a male donkey (jack). Considered the best of both worlds, the humble mule can do as much work as a horse while requiring less food and water; it’s also less stubborn and more intelligent than a donkey. Washington believed mules were the future of agriculture and set out to breed them on a large scale — something that hadn’t been done in the fledgling United States.

But there was a problem with Washington’s plan of revolutionizing America’s beasts of burden: The best donkeys came from Spain, which wouldn’t export the prized creatures without a royal exemption from King Charles III himself. As the hero of the American Revolution and soon-to-be president, however, Washington was fairly well connected.

According to an account from Thomas Jefferson, Charles III eventually learned of Washington’s interest in Spanish donkeys and was happy to find “two of the very best to be procured & sent you as a mark of his respect.” Only one of them survived the long journey despite Washington’s detailed transport instructions (such as “let the Jacks be put separate & with no other Creatures, lest they should get kicked, & hurt themselves or hurt others”), but Royal Gift, as the mule-loving military hero named him, eventually arrived at Mount Vernon safe and sound. Within 15 years, Washington had nearly 60 mules working the land, earning him the title of “Father of the American Mule.”

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Mules are almost always sterile.

Mules have 63 chromosomes, which is a problem when it comes to breeding. Donkeys have 62, and horses have 64 — both even numbers, which isn’t a coincidence. These strings of DNA come in pairs, meaning donkeys have 31 pairs and horses have 32. (Humans have 46 chromosomes, or 23 pairs, with each parent contributing one chromosome in each pair, in case you were wondering.) When a horse and donkey mate, one chromosome is left over and has nothing to pair with. This 63rd chromosome doesn’t have any ill effect on the mule, but it does affect its ability to reproduce. The same is true of a hinny, which is the offspring of a male horse (stallion) and female donkey (jenny).

Razor blades used to be disposed of in holes in bathroom walls.

Razor blade collection
Credit: Cutting30/ Shutterstock
Author Michael Nordine
June 24, 2024

Love it?

Should you find yourself renovating your bathroom anytime soon, be on the lookout for something strange: razor blades, which used to be tossed into holes in the bathroom wall. Depending on when your home was built, you might even still have one of these (vaguely terrifying) slots either in your medicine cabinet or in the wall above your sink. They were fairly common in the early 20th century, when disposable blades first became widely available. Disposable razors made it safer and easier to shave at home, but problems arose when it came to actually disposing of the blades: Razor blades are sharp, not to mention potential biohazards, and simply tossing them in the trash ran the risk of accidentally nicking yourself with a used blade.

Enter the bathroom wall solution, which essentially delayed the problem by years or decades and passed the burden to someone else. The question of razor blade disposal became less of an issue once better, more durable razors were introduced to the market, especially the kind you throw away entirely, handle and all. Thanks to these innovations, homes built in the 1970s or later are unlikely to include a disposal slot — which, unless you’d like to be greeted by hundreds of rusty blades when you knock down your bathroom wall, can only be a good thing.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Shaving doesn’t cause hair to grow back thicker.

You’ve probably heard this common misconception many times, but it’s just that: a myth. The reason it persists is because the stubble left behind after shaving tends to be blunt at the end, making it appear thicker (or even darker) even though it isn’t. If hair really did grow back thicker, everyone who’s shaved consistently throughout their life would have increasingly luscious locks — a fun thing to imagine, perhaps, but not a scientific reality.

x