* Maurice Sendak’s beloved kids’ classic “Where the Wild Things Are” was originally titled “Where the Wild Horses Are.” Why the change in title? Sendak realized he was unable to draw horses.
* Rapper Lil’ Wayne originally went by the moniker “Shrimp Daddy.”
* Not ones to marry in haste and repent at leisure, a Paraguayan couple set up housekeeping in 1933. After 80 years, eight children and 50 grandchildren, the 103-year-old groom finally said a formal “I do” to his 99-year-old bride.
* The prize money for winning the Monopoly World Championship is $20,580 — the same amount of money there is in the game’s bank.
* Modern students who complain about the amount of homework they’re issued might well wish they’d lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when doctors crusaded against it because they believed it was causing children to become wan, weak and nervous. In 1901, California even banned homework for anyone under the age of 15.
* Over a 24-year career, Roman charioteer Gaius Appuleius Diocles amassed an astonishing fortune worth 35,863,120 sesterces (an ancient Roman coin), or roughly $15 billion in today’s dollars, making him the highest-paid athlete of all time.
* In January 2021, the first commercial 3D-printed house in the U.S. went on sale for $299,000.
* The term “rum bubber,” which originated in the 16th century, referred to a thief who specialized in stealing silver tankards from inns and pubs.
* An actual “chill pill,” which could even be made at home, was used in the late 1800s to remedy chills associated with a high fever.
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Thought for the Day: “We should live, act, and say nothing to the injury of anyone. It is not only best as a matter of principle, but it is the path to peace and honor.” — Robert E. Lee
(c) 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.
