Why does Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of Moses depict him with horns?

A long time ago, when I was doing radio for a living (and doing it live in studio), the station for which I worked broadcast the day’s funeral notices. Kind of an “obituary column of the air,” if you will.

One Sunday morning, while I was busy getting my newscast ready, our announcer was playing the formatted easy listening music. I heard him say as a song ended, “That was Crosby, Stills and Nash, with ‘Just A Song Before I Go.’ It’s time now for today’s funeral announcements …”

The phones lit up and didn’t stop ringing for hours, it seemed. Our young announcer, in his first month on the job, had no idea of the gaffe he’d just made.

Looking back on it now, it brings a smile; that morning almost fifty years ago, however, I had to do some fancy footwork to explain what had happened to the callers.

Anyway, a side story to prepare you for the trivia which is to come. “Just A Song Before I Go …” Classic.

Did you know …

… a single term exists for nieces and nephews? If you’re into keeping your word use as small as possible and being gender-neutral, you can refer to those particular relatives together as niblings. (You may have to explain what you’re talking about, but such is the price of progress, no?)

… the genome of modern humans contains DNA from four different ancestors? Examining human DNA, we find that the largest portion of it is typical homo sapiens. But there is also residual Neanderthal DNA, Denisovan DNA, and another strand or two from a fourth species that has not yet been discovered or named. (In other words, we’re all mutts. I’d love to know more about that undiscovered fourth species, though, wouldn’t you?)

… one thing links the six leading causes of death? The causes are heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide. The one linking factor – stress. (I hope my boss is reading this.)

… a female mackerel lays about 500,000 eggs at one time? (And breathes a massive sigh of relief when she’s done, too.)

… that orange dust on your fingers when you eat Cheetos™ has a name? According to the Frito-Lay company, makers of the delectable snack, that dust is called cheetle. (And it lasts, and lasts, and lasts …)

… a famous sculpture of Moses has a pretty noticeable error? In 1505, Pope Julius II (1443-1513) commissioned a statue of the Biblical figure Moses to be made by the famed sculptor Michelangelo (1475-1564). The sculptor promptly delivered the statue, which can still be seen in Rome’s Church of San Pietro in Vincoli. The error on the statue is found on Moses’ head, which has what appear to be horns growing out of it. This came about due to an error in translation from the Book of Exodus. The original Hebrew words for “ray of light” and “horn” were spelled the same, and when the Scripture was translated into Latin, the “horn” definition was used. Thus does the statue – and many other depictions of Moses – show him with horns, rather than rays of light emanating from his head. (This has to be the most embarrassing “Oops” in history!)

… the only Opening Day forfeit in Major League Baseball happened in 1907? On April 11 of that year, the Philadelphia Phillies were in New York to play the Giants at the Polo Grounds. New York had been hit by a heavy snowstorm the day before, and the grounds crew had struggled to clear the field, piling snow along the perimeter of the playing area. As the game progressed and the Giants fell behind, fans began scooping up the snow and throwing snowballs at each other and onto the field. When some of the fans took the snowball fight too seriously and crashed onto the field, umpire Bill Klem (1874-1951) tried to reason with them – until he himself was hit by a snowball. At that point, Klem declared the game over, a forfeit, and awarded the win to the Phillies … who were ahead in the score anyway.

… tomatoes were once called “love apples”? The reason is an old superstition that suggested people eating them would fall in love. (They also used to be considered poisonous. I wonder if there’s a connection there …)

… you could become fearless? All it takes is a simple operation. Fear is controlled in the brain by a part called the amygdala, and if you have it removed, you’ll have no fear. (I wouldn’t recommend it, mind you, but it could be done.)

… you may suffer from mageiricophobia? It’s the intense fear of having to cook. (My fear isn’t cooking … it’s people actually eating what I might cook.)

… the average human body contains enough fat to make seven bars of soap? (There was a time, not long ago, when by this metric I was way above average.)

… the death toll from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is believed to have been vastly under-reported? Government officials said that the quake and resulting fires caused a total of 375 deaths. Research, however, has shown that the figure was actually at least 3,000 dead. The under-reporting was said to have been done in a bid to protect real estate prices in the city.

… statistically, men are six times more likely than women to get hit by lightning? (That’s because men are six times more likely to be out in the rain.)

… penguins get depressed? Observers of the flightless Antarctic birds have noted that some penguins walk away from their flocks into the vast icy wilderness alone, and end up dying. No one knows why they do this. (All dressed up and no place to go, I suspect.)

… one in four married couples sleep in separate beds? (The real trick is when they’re sleeping in separate houses.)

Now … you know!

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