Was a Nazi film version of ‘Titanic’ made which indirectly caused more deaths than the actual sinking?

Summer is just over the horizon!

Yes, in just a couple of weeks, the longest day of the year – the summer solstice – will take place. After that, the days will get progressively shorter while the nights get progressively longer, until they even out again in September, with the first day of fall.

Don’t you just love how things progress in nature? I certainly do.

Just as I love the way trivia progresses each week in these pages. I get to write it, you get to read it, and we all get to have a pretty good time.

Enjoy this week’s good time!

Did you know…

…the strongest winds in the Solar System are found on the farthest planet? Winds on Neptune, eighth planet from the Sun, can reach up to 1,500 miles per hour. (Yet another reason to scratch Neptune off my list of potential vacation spots.)

…a First Lady did not like dry-cleaning services available in the nation’s capital? Bess Truman (1885-1982) hated the dry cleaning available in Washington, D.C., so she sent all of her laundry back home to Kansas City, Missouri. (Well, we do like the comforts of home, don’t we?)

…the Earth is closest to the Sun in January? I know, people who live in the Northern Hemisphere don’t believe that for a moment. But the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is not circular, it’s elliptical, and during our January we’re closest to the Sun. It doesn’t feel warm because the Earth’s axis is tilted 23 1/2 degrees off the vertical and the North Pole points away from the Sun during that time. We get slanted, not direct, sunlight on our half of the world. (So it’s cold. So there.)

…the ready-made clothing industry came about because of the Civil War? The first time a large amount of clothing was needed all at once in the United States was during the Civil War, when the Union needed hundreds of thousands of uniforms for soldiers. The ready-made clothing industry grew from that. (It had to start somewhere, didn’t it?)

…your teeth are not as solid as you may think they are? Sure, the enamel covering your teeth is the hardest substance in your body. But your teeth are also a maze of channels and canals for blood vessels and nerves. The human tooth has about 55 miles of canals in it. The average amount of tooth canal in a person’s mouth adds up to about 1,700 miles. (The canals are very, very tiny, as you might expect.)

…vampires can turn into animals other than bats? In traditional vampire lore, the being has control over the entire animal world. A vampire can transform itself into an owl, a rat, a moth, a fox, or a wolf, as well as a bat. (That kind of information just drives me … batty.)

… a Nazi propaganda film about the Titanic indirectly resulted in more deaths than the original? In 1943, Titanic was released in theatres in France. The movie’s plot line was not even close to reality, and was instead made as anti-British propaganda. The film had a German first officer aboard the ship, though no such individual existed. The Berlin theatre in which it was to have premiered didn’t show the movie, however, as the Royal Air Force bombed it. Not only was the theatre bombed, the ship on which much of it was filmed was also sunk by the Royal Navy, resulting in three times the number of deaths from the actual Titanic sinking. Additional trivia note: The film itself survives, and four clips from it were used in the classic 1958 film of the disaster, A Night to Remember. Also, once it was finished, the film was actually banned inside Germany by Propaganda Minister Dr. Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945), who found it overly depressing, as well as saying the scenes of panicked passengers and chain-linked gates were too similar to actual conditions in the concentration camps.

…ostriches do not lay the largest eggs in the world? They do lay the largest eggs of any land animal, but the whale shark has them beat when it comes to all eggs. The record holder is a whale shark egg found in the Gulf of Mexico in 1953 that measured 14 inches in diameter. The largest ostrich egg reported was about eight inches in diameter. (Holy omelet, Batman!)

…it was at one time illegal to accept a tip or gratuity in Iowa? The Anti-Tipping Law went into effect in 1915, and subjected both the giver and the receiver to arrest and a fine of between $5 and $25. But in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) and his wife were staying at a Des Moines hotel when the president tipped a cloakroom girl a quarter and gave a $5 gold piece to a waitress. Wilson was not charged with breaking a law, and another man who had been arrested then challenged the law all the way to the Iowa Supreme Court, which overturned it in 1917. (A good tip all the way around, eh?)

…people riot for the strangest reasons? Consider: in 1922, a riot took place in New York over the question of whether it was permissible for men to wear a straw hat beyond September 15, the “socially acceptable” date after which they should be put away. Teenage gangs roamed the streets looking for pedestrians with straw hats to knock off – and beating those who resisted. The riot lasted eight days and led to multiple arrests. (And, not coincidentally, the dying off of the straw hat as a male fashion item.)

…a honeybee’s wings flap about 11,500 times per minute? Also, even though it does not appear so, honeybees have four wings. The pairs on each side move in perfect tandem, so they appear to only have two. (Who sits there and counts how many times a honeybee’s wings flap, anyway? And why?)

Now… you know!

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