April Fools! Time for the annual game of which three are wrong!

April is upon us, and that can only mean one thing.

Showers?  Nope.

Flowers?  Nope.

Baseball?  Yes, but not in this context.

It means that it’s time for the annual April Fool edition of the column.  Three of the items in this week’s collection were totally made up by me, and your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to determine which ones they are.

No prizes are offered because I’m a senior citizen on fixed income (i.e, a cheap so-and-so), but you would at least win the glory of knowing that I can’t fool you.  If you want, you can send your guesses to me at my e-mail address:  didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com and I’ll let you know how many you got right.

The game’s afoot!

Did you know …

… during the 18th Century, there was more than one way to pay admission to the Tower Menagerie in London?  If you wanted to pay cash, the charge was ¾ pence.  However, if you were broke on the day you wanted to go, the admissions people would let you in if you brought them a stray dog or cat.  The animals would be used to feed the lions in the menagerie.  (I don’t think this is what Bob Barker meant when he said, “Help control the pet population.”)

… a metric unit of liquid measurement was named after someone?  The liter, the basic unit of liquid measurement in the metric system, was named after French wine merchant Claude Èmile Jean-Baptist Litre (1716-1778).  Because of his work in defining the liter, we use a capital “L” to denote them today.  (Oooh la la!)

… a television network had a unique explanation suggested about why a lead character was missing from several shows?  In 1967, CBS aired the western series Pistols ‘n Petticoats, about a family of crack shots who helped solve assorted crimes.  The series starred Ann Sheridan (1916-1967), but she became ill with esophageal cancer just before filming started.  Sheridan tried to keep the illness a secret, but as the show progressed the effects of the disease became obvious to everyone.  Sheridan died shortly after filming the 21st episode of the series, but the program continued on for six more episodes without her.  How did CBS explain the absence of Sheridan’s character?  At least one source said the network wanted to put out the idea that her character, Henrietta Hanks, had been eaten by an elephant.  (I guess the fact that elephants are vegetarians didn’t register.)

… one of the most oft-quoted lines from a radio or television series was not actually said at any time during the series?  You’ve undoubtedly heard someone say, “Just the facts, ma’am,” purporting to come from the long-running radio and TV series Dragnet.  But at no time during either the radio or television run of the series was the line said by the main character, Sergeant Joe Friday, played by series creator Jack Webb (1920-1982), or by any other character.  Webb would say lines such as, “All we want are the facts, ma’am,” but the catchphrase itself was never used.  (Those are the facts, ma’am.)

… raw acorns are poisonous to humans?  If you eat a raw acorn, you can do some serious damage to your liver.  Raw acorns contain tannins, which can block your body’s ability to absorb nutrients, and they make the acorns taste bitter as well.  After some preparation such as boiling or roasting, however, they’re okay for humans to eat.  (So roast those acorns!)

… the bagpipe is really a Scottish invention?  These wonderful instruments, which while being played resemble nothing more than a person with cat in his arms, biting his tail, were developed in Scotland in the early 5^th Century AD.  They would be outlawed during the reigns of several English kings, but they always came back.  (Scots who don’t like bagpipes are often kilt.)

… viruses mutate fast?  How fast, you ask?  Well, according to research, viruses mutate more in one day than humans have in the last three million years.  How does it happen so quickly, you wonder?  It’s due to their rapid rate of reproduction, an inability to repair other mutations, and the way they can exchange genes with one another.  (Which makes the development of anti-virus medicines really tough at times.)

… a restaurant in Pittsburgh served only food from nations with which the U.S. was in conflict?  The appropriately-named Conflict Kitchen was in operation from 2010 to 2017, and offered a menu dedicated to nations the U.S. was having disagreements with.  The menu rotated every three to five months, and the restaurant also offered educational information about the nation in question.  Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia … all were featured at one time or another.  The restaurant closed in 2017 because the Carnegie Foundation pulled its support.  (It probably would’ve lasted forever otherwise, since we always seem to be on the outs with some country or other.)

… the Morse code for “SOS” has a meaning?  Depending on use, it can mean “save our ship” or “save our souls.”  (Good advice to follow no matter what.)

… animals experience time differently from humans?  Scientific studies have shown that, on average, the world moves slower to an animal than it does to a human.  It is all determined by how fast the brain can process information.  Lizards see the world much slower than a cat or dog, for instance.  (Of course they do.)

… Americans in World War II used specific challenge words for a purpose?  During the war, American GIs would use words like “thunder” or “welcome” because native German speakers have a difficult time with the sounds of “th” and “w.”  Those sounds do not exist in German.  (That’s wild.  See what I did there?)

… the average American family uses 749 pounds of paper products each year?  (For what?)

Now … you know!