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Welcome back to this month’s edition of Things I Learned, after a one-month hiatus (during which I was occupied working on my dissertation).

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Things I learned

  1. The founding date of the University of Oxford is unknown (source)
  2. The prime launch angle to shoot a shotput is 36-38 degrees. The prime launch angle to hit a home run is 28-30 degrees (source and source)
  3. James Madison was the last president to personally lead troops into battle in his role as Commander In Chief.
  4. In the US, 34% of husbands and wives are within 1 year of each other. Just 14% of wives are more than 1 year older than their husbands.
  5. Philippa Foot, the influential contemporary philosopher who first proposed the trolley problem, was the grandaughter of Grover Cleveland (source)
  6. One penny costs more than three pennies to make and distribute (source)
  7. The word “ok” originated as a comical mispelling of “oll korrect” (all correct). (source)
  8. The US Government pays $3 billion per day in interest expenses (source)
  9. There are a total of two escalators in Wyoming (source).
  10. Sales of the “honey deuce” drink — a beverage sold only at the US Open — account for 2% of all annual revenue made by the United States Tennis Association (source)
  11. Humpty dumpy is never explicitly described as being an egg. (source)
  12. Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, the player with the second most points of any NBA player in history, made a total of one three-point shot in his career. (source)
  13. Wampum shells — beads made from shell of quahog clams — were legal tender in America and were used as currency for more than 100 years (source).
  14. The title “Your Majesty” is typically reserved for the King or Queen; “Your Highness” is reserved for additional members of the royal family (e.g. prince/princesses). (source).

Reflections on the Previous Blog Post