odd facts

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When Leo Tolstoy and his brother were children, they created a club
with a peculiar, almost impossible initiation ceremony. In order to
become a member, one had to stand in a corner for a half an hour and
not think of anything white.

Because of the rotation of the earth, an object can be thrown farther
if it is thrown west.

Mrs. Caroline Squires of Cincinnati filed for a divorce from her
husband in 1949 on grounds of desertion. She testified he'd stepped
out "for a beer" on the Fourth of July, 1917, and had never come back.

The French national anthem, "La Marseillaise," derived its title from
the enthusiasm of the men of Marseilles, France, who sang it when they
marched into Paris at the outset of the French Revolution. Rouget de
l'Isle, its composer, was an artillery officer. According to his
account, he fell asleep at a harpsichord and dreamt the words and the
music. Upon waking, he remembered the entire piece from his dream and
immediately wrote it down.

Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale

A law passed in Nebraska in 1912 really set down some hard rules of
the road. Drivers in the country at night were required to stop every
150 yards, send up a skyrocket, then wait eight minutes for the road
to clear before proceeding cautiously, all the while blowing their
horn and shooting off flares.

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The Admiral wrote:

{all but useful stuff snipped}

The admiral's sister is well known to many sailors in the fleet.

Bill "factual, but not odd" S.