Random facts

I know a lot of weird and random stuff and have no idea where it came from most of the time. So here's a list of some of them.

1. William the Conqueror exploded and the cathedral caught on fire during his funeral.
2. It's impossible to teach all the way around an elbow with one hand.
3. Aeschylus died by an eagle dropping a turtle on his head. (The eagle thought Aeschylus was a stone good for breaking turtles open with.)
4. Christians used to be accused of cannibalism because of Communion.
5. It's possible to put fire out with blood.
6. The city of Bath is named that because of the baths the Romans put in.
7. A lot of European roads come from the Romans.
8. Agamemnon's Death Mask was found in a place other than where Agamemnon was buried and in the wrong type of grave.
9. Jean-Baptiste Lully died by stabbing himself in the foot with his conducting staff. He got gangrene and died.
10. Jack Daniel (the whiskey guy) died because he couldn't remember the combination to his safe. So he kicked the safe, got gangrene in his big toe, and died.
11. Robert Clary was in a concentration camp when he was a kid. He always wears long sleeves in Hogan's Heroes to hide the number tattooed on his arm.
12. John Banner was a Jew who escaped Germany during World War II.
13. The man that played Burkhalter was in a concentration camp and the scar on his face is from there.
14. The Eifel Tower was used as a Gestapo interrogation center in World War II.
15. The Allies won the war because Hitler had a migraine on D-Day and didn't want to be disturbed for any reason.
16. Julius Caesar stabbed one of his attackers with a stylus before dying.
17. There was one Roman emperor who was emperor for one day before being assassinated.
18. The Vikings sailed as far east as Turkey.
19. Jericho is one of the oldest, still inhabited cities.
20. Tea wasn't brought into England until the Stuart era.
21. Anglo-Saxons would bring a little kid with them when they were doing business with each other. When they were done with the business, the little kid would be smacked so he'd remember the day.
22. The English monarchs from William the Conquer to now are in this order: William, William, Henry, Steven, Henrey, Richard, John, Henry, Edward, Edward, Edward, Richard, Henry, Henry, Henry, Edward, Edward, Richard, Mary, Elizabeth, James, Charles, (Cromwell killed Charles and took over, but wasn't king), Charles, James, Mary and William, Anne Gloria, George, George, George, George, William, Victoria, Edward, George, Edward, George, Elizabeth.
23. "IVLIVS" is not pronounced "Iv-liv-z". It's "Ewe-li-us." 
24. Machen's Greek teacher would take notes in Greek during the sermon if the sermon got boring.
25. Edgar Allen Poe is distantly related. (He's a third cousin of an uncle or something like that.)
26. The Black Death didn't reach some parts of Scotland.
27. Live bacteria have been found in the bodies of dead Arctic explorers.
28. The phrase "Hocus pocus" comes from the Latin Communion service.
29. The song "Do the Hokey Pokey" also comes from the Latin Communion service. "Put your left leg in and out" means going up and down from the altar. "Turn it all about" means turning around and holding up the elements after the consecretion." I forget the rest.)
30. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" are code for Roman Catholic doctrines. ("A partridge in a pear tree" is Jesus on the cross. "Twelve lord's a leaping" are the apostles. "Two calling birds" are the two natures of Jesus. "Three French Hens" are the parts of the Trinity. I forget the other parts.)
31. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers come from the account of the Sabine women written by Herodotus.
32. Pontius Pilate was kinda driven into a corner when he had to deal with Jesus because he REALLY didn't want to cause a revolt. And he was looking forward to retiring pretty soon and a revolt would complicate it.
33. Most of the animals extinct in Africa come from the gladiator shows. The gladiators would fight so many animals and so many more had to be imported that Africa kinda ran out.
34. Green peppers with three bumps are male. If they have four bumps, they're female.
35. There weren't any cats in Britain until the Roman invasion.
36. Martin Luther would spend longer than most people in the confessional confessing his sins because he kept thinking of more things he'd done wrong.
37. There's a prophecy that if the ravens leave the Tower of London, England will fall. So during World War II, the ravens were watched over really carefully in case they got hit by bombs. 
38. Hitler and Napolean were born 132 years apart, came into power 132 years apart, and died 132 years apart. (They were also both corporals.)
39. St. John was released off of Patmos (a prison colony where people were sent for life) because the emperor didn't want to deal with all the trouble the four previous emperors caused. So he released everybody.
40. On St. Patrick's Day, if you're wearing green or black, you shouldn't be pinched because those are the colors of Ireland. But orange is the color of England, so go pinch those people. It came about because of the many kerfuffles between Ireland and England.
41. Aristophanes made fun of Socrates all the time and it worked so well because they were friends.
42. The Battle of Agincourt was won because of a rain storm. The mud stopped the French horses from advancing as well and the British, who had no horses, were able to move faster.

Crazy Parents

Mom and Dad are both teachers, and they teach online from home. (People still ask me if they've found a job, and I say, "Yeah. They've had one for years and years and years.)

Dad teaches more classes, so most of the weird things in this post are from his. Mom teaches a couple classes: no more than three a year.

A couple days ago, Dad was teaching his Latin students about the parts of the body. For lips he did that thing that babies do. Rubbing your finger over your mouth and making a funny noise.

He also has a resident rabbit in the office, who probably chewed through the headset cord.

There's a chapter in Lingua Latina where Julia, a four year old, is annoying her older brother, Marcus. Her other brother, Quintus, is just ignoring them.

Julia: Lalala.

Dad sings like a four year old girl. He also does this well:

Marcus: Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

And he can give a shocked look over mike, too.

Mom's classes are less funny. Her students always think that the pictures of composers are really dorky and/or strange. Especially the composers with wigs, big glasses, or huge beards.

She has a joke that goes like this:

Why did Mozart kill his chickens? Because they went "Bach! Bach!".

Which is a horrible joke. (Bach is a composer, for those who don't know. And for those who don't know, go take Mom's class.)