Did a well-known actor flatly refuse to shave off his mustache for a role in a television series?

Ever have one of those days?  You know, the kind your mom warned you would come?

I’ve been having one of those decades.

Seriously, though, how we slog through the bad days has a lot to do with how we sail through the good days, doesn’t it?  It’s attitude, after all, and if you have a good attitude, you have half the battle won already.

A good thing to have by your side, in the good days or the bad, is trivia.  The things that can distract you, if you catch my meaning.  So get ready to be distracted!  Have some fun.

Did you know …

… it’s very possible that you suffer from “cute aggression”?  What’s cute aggression, you wonder?  It’s a reaction to excessive “cuteness” that includes a minor violent impulse.  So the next time you see a puppy, or a kitten, or a baby that you could just “eat up” or “squeeze to death” or that makes you “just die,” you are likely having a cute aggression attack.  (That kind of explains the look in my grandmother’s eye when she held me while I was a baby, now that I think about it.)

… President Gerald Ford (1913-2006) was once accidentally locked outside the White House?  He was walking his dog Liberty (1974-1984) at the time.  The dog had alerted Ford that she needed to go out at 3 a.m., and Ford got out of bed,  pulled on his robe and slippers, and took the dog downstairs out onto the south lawn.  When Liberty had finished her business, the president and the dog returned but found the elevator to the living quarters was not responding.  Undaunted, Ford decided to try the stairs, but when they got to the second floor, the door from the stairwell was locked.  Ford went to the third floor … also locked.  The two went back down to the first floor, and by then the Secret Service realized where the president was, and had the elevator ready for him.  (Somehow, it’s fitting that this would happen to Gerald Ford.)

… you may suffer from glossophobia?  I certainly don’t.  Glossophobia is a fear of public speaking.  It’s a common phobia, studies tell us.  (Not to me it isn’t.  Put me in front of people and I’m on!)

… diamonds have been a feature of engagement rings since the 15th Century?  The first recorded instance of a diamond being used in a ring to signify engagement is believed to date from 1477, when Archduke Maximilian of Austria (1459-1519), later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, proposed to Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482) with a ring featuring diamonds in the shape of the letter “M.”  (So it’s Max’s fault!)

… debates in ancient Persia were probably fun?  Ideas up for debate in the old Persian Empire would be discussed twice – once sober, and once drunk.  The idea had to sound good in both states of mind to be considered a good idea.  (Sounds like Washington, D.C. sometimes.  The jokes often write themselves.)

… a well-known actor flatly refused to change his appearance for a television role?  From 1966 to 1968, Cesar Romero (1907-1994) played the villainous Joker on the Batman television series.  The Joker has a unique appearance featured in the comics, and that appearance did not include a mustache – but Romero, whose film career was built around the image of a “Latin lover,” wore a mustache which he called his trademark.  When he was cast as the Joker, Romero refused to shave off the mustache for the role, so the producers of the show came up with a compromise:  the flat white makeup used on his face would also be thickly applied on the mustache.  With Romero’s beloved over-the-top performance and the remainder of the unique makeup, most viewers of the show never realized the actor had a mustache at all.

… an American soldier earned the Medal of Honor after laughing at the enemy?  On January 29, 1945, First Sergeant Leonard A. Funk (1916-1992) and a squad of his soldiers was confronted by a contingent of 80-90 German troops.  When the Germans called on Funk to surrender, the sergeant laughed hysterically – then unleashed his machine gun on the Germans, killing 21 and capturing the rest.  For that, Funk was awarded the Medal of Honor.  (The German suggestion was pretty funny, at that.)

… the first use of a submarine in warfare took place in 1776?  On September 7 of that year, the American submarine Turtle tried to plant a time bomb on the hull of the HMS Eagle in New York harbor.  The attempt was unsuccessful.  (Define “unsuccessful.”)

… a popular singer was once a cast member of a soap opera?  Kylie Minogue (born 1968) was in the cast of the Australian soap opera Neighbours in 1985.  She used that as a springboard to her musical career.  (And did it ever work!)

… the first patent for a tree was issued in 1932?  James E. Markham (1881-1959) of Illinois received a patent for a peach tree he genetically developed on February 16, 1932.  (A patently good idea.)

… a Brazilian island is inhabited solely by snakes?  Ilha da Queimada Grande, or Big Snake Island, is one part of the country you probably don’t want to visit.  Estimates vary, but it is believed that for every square meter of land, there are one to five snakes – and so many of them are so venomous that people are forbidden from going there.  On the rare occasion scientists are allowed, they must have a medical doctor among them … just in case.  (Scratch that one off my vacation list.)

… Earth may once have had two moons?  According to 2011 research by planetary scientists Dr. Erik Asphaug (born 1961) and Dr. Martin Jutzi (born 1986), Earth had two natural satellites millions or even billions of years ago.  The smaller of the two is thought to have slammed into the Moon we know in a massive cosmic collision.  The two scientists say that accounts for the vastly different landscapes of the “near” and “far” sides.  (Works for me.)

Now … you know!