The Austin Chronicle

https://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2019-10-11/mr-smarty-pants-knows/

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

By Mr. Smarty Pants, October 11, 2019, Columns

The Chinese characters for the word "good," hao, are a combination of characters that mean "son" and "daughter" separately.

A rhino calf stays close to its mother for about 2-3 years.

In England's peerage, with title and property going to the eldest son, the other descendants of a peer would after two years become commoners. A duke's eldest son would later be a duke, while any other son would be a lord. The sons of the lords would be called "mister."

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory uses only 15 digits of pi for its highest-­accuracy calculations for interplanetary navigation.

Before batons, orchestra leaders conducted with a staff. During a performance in 1687, composer Jean-Baptiste Lully accidentally hit his foot with a staff. Gangrene set in and he died. Thus marked the beginning of the end of conductors using staffs.

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