Pablo Picasso’s full name was more than 100 letters long. Pablo Picasso is one of the most recognizable names in art history, but if the painter had opted to go by his full name, it’d be a lot harder to remember. He was baptized with one first name, two last names, and 12 middle names, for a grand total of 112 letters: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispín Crispiniano María de los Remedios de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso. (The exact order and spelling vary by source.) It’s common in Spanish-speaking cultures to have two last names, one for each parent. In Picasso’s case, Ruiz was his paternal surname, Picasso was his maternal surname, and he was given his first name, Pablo, in honor of a paternal uncle who died a few years before his birth. His many middle names each had their own meaning, too. Some are family names: He was given Diego for both his paternal grandfather and oldest uncle, Francisco de Paula for his maternal grandfather, Juan Nepomuceno for his godfather, and María de los Remedios for his godmother. Others are religious. Santísima Trinidad means Holy Trinity, while Crispín and Crispiniano come from St. Crispín and St. Crispinian, whose feast day, October 25, is also Picasso’s birthday. Some of the artist’s earlier works are signed P. Ruiz, P. Ruiz Picasso, or P.R. Picasso — but eventually, he settled on the name known by millions today, choosing just “Picasso” for his signature. #Picasso

A woman traveled more than 86,000 miles by bicycle in a single year. Amanda Coker is an endurance cyclist who currently holds the record for the greatest distance cycled in a single year by either a woman or a man. She covered 86,573.2 miles between May 15, 2016, and May 14, 2017, averaging 237.19 miles each day. She largely achieved the record by cycling through the same 7-mile stretch of paved trails in Flatwoods Conservation Park near Tampa, Florida, where Coker usually spent more than 12 hours a day pedaling away. She continued on until July 11, 2017, in an effort to become the fastest person to complete 100,000 miles. Coker finally accomplished the feat after 423 days, shattering legendary cyclist Tommy Godwin’s 500-day record set back in 1940. On October 23, 2021, Coker also became the first recorded female cyclist to break 500 miles in 24 hours, riding a whopping 512.5 miles in that brief time frame.

Did this man really eat an entire plane?! 🛩️ A man ate several bicycles, TVs, and a waterbed over the course of his life. Michel Lotito was a French entertainer renowned for his unusual diet, earning him the nickname “Monsieur Mangetout” (“Mr. Eat-it-All”). He was known to consume bicycles, TV sets, and other items made of metal and glass. In a 1978 interview with Canadian newspaper The Leader-Post, the man with the seemingly iron stomach claimed to have eaten his first piece of glass in a swimming pool at the age of 16 before going on to eat “plates, nails, and bottles — all to win bets.” He later carved out a career eating indigestible objects for others’ amusement. On one occasion in 1978, Lotito ate 15 pounds of a bicycle over the course of 12 days for $5,000 (around $24,000 today), washing it down with 10 bottles of mineral oil and 100 razor blades on the side. To digest these materials, Lotito chopped the metal items into tiny pellets, stretched his meals out over multiple days, and drank plenty of water. Newspapers also reported on Lotito’s ability to consume TV sets, and he once ate a whole waterbed to help promote a Texas-based furniture company. However, Lotito’s most awe-inspiring feat, if true, was his claim to have consumed an entire Cessna 150 aircraft between 1978 and 1980 — an achievement confirmed by Guinness World Records but deemed unverifiable (though possible) by Snopes. Lotito maintained the truth of this claim until he died of natural causes in 2006, and in a 1999 interview with journalist Ben Sherwood, he purported the plane’s rubber tires to be the least appetizing part of the aircraft. #Dinner

Should We Be Eating Ants? Some ants are edible. Although ants rarely appear on the menu in the United States, it’s a different story in other parts of the world. Countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America — not to mention Mexico in North America — all have traditional dishes or ingredient blends that contain ants. In Laos, weaver ants add an acidic tang to fish soups, while in Mexico, fried leaf-cutting ants are a fixture at local markets. Although both larvae and adult ants can be eaten, the former is usually more appetizing; adult ants contain less flavor, though they are richer in protein. Ants also contain fiber, vitamins, and minerals such as iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and phosphorus. In other words, ants might just count as a superfood. Nutrition aside, perhaps the most convincing reason people might consider adding ants — and other insects — to their diet is the low environmental impact of consuming these creatures. Compared to conventional livestock farming, which may produce around 17% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, raising insects for consumption produces less emissions, uses less land, and provides other benefits, such as pollination and waste decomposition. Even substituting corn-based animal feed with insects could take a significant bite out of the agricultural industry’s carbon footprint. With the world’s population expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, some experts argue that a green-friendly source of protein and vitamins shouldn’t be ignored — even if some people will still need to get past that unappetizing “ick” factor. Estimated number of people around the world who eat insects on a regular basis 2 billion The world’s most painful sting belongs to a South American ant. Think of the most painful sting in the world, and the infamous “murder hornet” might come to mind. However, the record for the most painful sting from an animal belongs to the bullet ant (Paraponera clavata). The bite of these tiny creatures, native to parts of Central and South America, contains poneratoxin — a paralyzing toxic peptide that reportedly feels like “walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail embedded in your heel.” That’s according to American entomologist Dr. Justin Schmidt, nicknamed “the King of Sting,” who allowed a variety of species to sting him and then rated the results on a four-point scale in a pain index published in 1983. The effects of a bullet ant’s sting last around 12 to 24 hours and can include sweating, shaking, goosebumps, nausea, and vomiting — but thankfully not death.

Why Queen Elizabeth I had black teeth. Queen Elizabeth I’s teeth turned black from too much sugar. You may think you have a sweet tooth, but it likely doesn’t compare to the sugar craze that swept through the English upper crust in the 16th century. Due to colonial trade, sugar — a rare seasoning and preservative in the medieval period — flowed into Elizabethan England. Yet because of its high cost, the sucrose could only be purchased by the wealthy. The treat became the central ingredient of lavish banquets, and cookbooks of the well-to-do began to collect delectable dishes made with this new confection. However, sugar’s deleterious dental effects weren’t as well known at the time, and the most high-profile victim of this sweet ignorance was none other than Queen Elizabeth I herself. It was no secret that the queen possessed a legendary sweet tooth; historians say she even used a sugar-based toothpaste to polish her teeth, which 10 out of 10 dentists don’t recommend. In 1599, a German traveler named Paul Hentzner described the 65-year-old queen and revealed what a lifelong sugar addiction can do: “Her Lips narrow and her Teeth black… a defect the English seem subject to, from their too great use of sugar.” Yet the queen’s black, rotting teeth didn’t detract from her appeal. Because only the rich could afford sugar (and the tooth decay it engendered), black teeth became seen as fashionable, and people would artificially blacken their teeth with soot to fit in, a fad that eventually faded after the reign of Elizabeth I. Did you know? Queen Elizabeth I made red hair fashionable. The Tudor dynasty, which ruled England from the coronation of Henry VII in 1485 until the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, was known for its redheads. Henry VIII, the most infamous of the Tudor kings, was described as having golden-red hair, but it was his daughter Elizabeth who really made fiery manes fashionable. A natural redhead, Elizabeth chose to forgo the use of wigs (which were fashionable at the time) in favor of her own red locks, and even dyed her horses’ tails the same color. There are a few theories as to why her majesty chose this striking color, including that she wished to put questions about her legitimacy to rest by highlighting the hair color she shared with her father, the former king. Whatever the reason, the fashion trend stuck, and courtesans dyed their hair and beards to show their allegiance. The Elizabethan era was a golden age not just for England, but for redheads, too.

The story of Europe’s “dance plagues” Medieval and early modern Europe saw “dance plagues” in which people danced uncontrollably for days. There’s dancing like no one’s watching, and then there’s dancing like you have a plague. Such was the plight of hundreds of denizens of Strasbourg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and now part of France, where a “dancing plague” lasted for weeks in 1518. First on the dance floor (read: city square) was one Frau Troffea, who danced until she collapsed from exhaustion one extremely hot day in July; after recovering her strength, she resumed her rug-cutting. She and the 30 or so others who joined in over the next week in a variety of public locations seemed unable to stop, as though their movements were involuntary. The “plague” lasted until early September, by which time at least 400 had joined in. Many were injured, and some sadly didn’t live to tell the tale. This wasn’t the only dance plague to occur in medieval and early modern Europe. Similar events took place throughout the Holy Roman Empire as well as in Germany, Switzerland, and France, though none have been documented as thoroughly as the one in Strasbourg. No one is sure, all these centuries later, why any of this happened in the first place — many contemporary explanations were religious and/or superstitious in nature, whereas more modern theories suggest that a mold called ergot might have been responsible. As with many phenomena from ages past, we may never know the full story.

Lindbergh baby kidnapped. On March 1, 1932, in a crime that captured the attention of the entire nation, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, is kidnapped from the family’s new mansion in Hopewell, New Jersey. Lindbergh, who became an international celebrity when he flew the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, and his wife Anne discovered a ransom note demanding $50,000 in their son’s empty room. The kidnapper used a ladder to climb up to the open second-floor window and left muddy footprints in the room. The Lindbergh's were inundated by offers of assistance and false clues. Even Al Capone offered his help from prison. For three days, investigators found nothing and there was no further word from the kidnappers. Then, a new letter showed up, this time demanding $70,000. The kidnappers eventually gave instructions for dropping off the money and when it was delivered, the Lindbergh's were told their baby was on a boat called Nelly off the coast of Massachusetts. After an exhaustive search, however, there was no sign of either the boat or the child. Soon after, the baby’s body was discovered near the Lindbergh mansion. He had been killed the night of the kidnapping and was found less than a mile from home. The heartbroken Lindbergh's ended up donating the mansion to charity and moved away. The kidnapping looked like it would go unsolved until September 1934, when a marked bill from the ransom turned up. The gas station attendant who had accepted the bill wrote down the license plate number because he was suspicious of the driver. It was tracked back to a German immigrant and carpenter, Bruno Hauptmann. When his home was searched, detectives found a chunk of Lindbergh ransom money. Hauptmann claimed that a friend had given him the money to hold and that he had no connection to the crime. The resulting trial was a national sensation. The prosecution’s case was not particularly strong; the main evidence, besides the money, was testimony from handwriting experts that the ransom note had been written by Hauptmann. The prosecution also tried to establish a connection between Hauptmann and the type of wood that was used to make the ladder. Still, the evidence and intense public pressure were enough to convict Hauptmann and he was electrocuted in 1936. In the aftermath of the crime—the most notorious of the 1930s—kidnapping was made a federal offense. #Crime, #Ransom, #Kidnapping,

Why is it called “seltzer”? Seltzer water was named after the German town of Selters. Germany loves its beer, but seltzer is a close second. The country is so entwined with the fizzy beverage that the word “seltzer” comes from the name of the German town of Selters, which is famous for its naturally carbonated mineral springs. The springs have been well known in the area for more than 1,000 years, and by 1791, fizzy water from Selters was so popular, it was exported throughout the world in jugs stamped with the name “selters-wasser,” or “selters water.” The word transformed into “seltzer” when the beverage became popular in North America, especially in New York and Philadelphia, around the early 19th century. Today, the Selters wasser museum (in Selters, of course) chronicles the local spring’s long history. But Germany’s love of seltzer goes beyond just one town. The world’s first commercial soft drink was created by German jeweler and amateur scientist Jacob Schweppe, who improved upon a way to manufacture carbonated water in the late 18th century. Schweppes soda water expanded throughout Europe, and was mostly sold as a health tonic, especially for upset stomachs. According to the company, some early customers called it “lightning in a bottle” because of its then-novel carbonation. Today, Germany is still one of the highest-ranked countries when it comes to bottled water consumption (fizzy and nonfizzy). Coca-Cola was originally marketed as a “brain tonic.” In the 19th century, drink-makers of all kinds sold their concoctions as tonics or healthy cure-alls. In reality, some of these “medicinal drinks” were little more than various alcohols mixed with drugs like cocaine (a legal ingredient at the time). So it wasn’t strange when John S. Pemberton, a pharmacist from Georgia, marketed his newest nonalcoholic libation, Coca-Cola, as a “brain tonic.” The first advertisement for Coca-Cola said the “intellectual beverage … contains the valuable tonic and nerve stimulant properties of the coca plant and cola (or Kola) nuts.” It’s a strange ad campaign compared to soda-swilling Santa Clauses or pop-pounding polar bears, but clearly it worked.

Want to try ice cream that doesn't melt? Turkey makes a kind of ice cream that doesn't melt. Globe-trotters who spend time in Turkey can find many ways to indulge their taste buds: rich and foamy coffees, juicy kebabs, and crispy baklava filled with nuts and honey. Then there’s dondurma, or what some call Turkish ice cream, a warm-weather delight that’s served in a cone but has one not-so-frosty feature: It doesn’t melt. Like most ice cream, dondurma is a dairy-based confection, in this case made from goat milk and sweetened with sugar. However, it has two additional ingredients that give the dessert its unique texture and anti-melting properties: salep and mastic, both harvested from plants native to Turkey. Salep is a type of flour made from the bulbs of wild purple orchids that grow throughout the country; it’s also used in a hot and milky regional drink that goes by the same name. The powder gives dondurma its thickness and helps keep it from melting. The second ingredient, mastic, is a natural resin extracted from the region’s mastic trees and has long been used as chewing gum. The thick and heat-resistant substance looks like sap and has a light cedar flavor. It also gives dondurma its chewy texture. Unlike other ice cream, dondurma isn’t churned, and is instead created more like taffy. Stretching and beating the ingredients together over and over again — much like kneading dough to activate stretchy wheat gluten — gives the ice cream its elasticity. Although it can’t melt, dondurma is still kept frozen, then scooped into cones or bowls as a summertime snack — a recipe that’s been satisfying sweet tooths for possibly 500 years. Scientists don’t fully understand why “brain freezes” happen. “Brain freeze” is much easier to pronounce than “sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia,” the term scientists use to describe the uncomfortable and sudden headache caused by consuming cold foods and drinks too quickly. Brain freezes aren’t at all life-threatening, though it’s not entirely clear why they happen — the working theory is that sudden cold sensations cause the blood vessels in our mouths and throats to momentarily narrow and constrict blood flow. When the vessels quickly widen again, the fluctuation triggers pain receptors in the face and head. Some scientists believe the pain is one way our brain protects itself, warning us to stop what we’re doing to keep a continuous supply of blood and oxygen going at all times. However, not everyone experiences this sensation, and researchers aren’t sure why; studies show that less than half of people get brain freezes, though people who are prone to migraines are more likely to experience the unpleasant response. #Interestingfacts