title: random trivia

date created: 2025.03.05
last modified: 2025.03.05

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The first vending machine was created in the 1st century AD. It dispensed holy water.

You can tell the age of a horse from its teeth. This is what the phrase 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth' is referring to (basically, 'don't question the value of a gift').

Morphine was named after Morpheus, a Greek god of sleep and dreams.

Pigeons were the first domesticated bird.

The Guinness Book of World Records has stopped recognizing attempts to break the sleep deprivation world record as they deem it too dangerous.

The optic nerves route optical data to the limbic system as well as the conscious mind, so some blind people can respond to facial expressions without seeing them. They can even catch yawns this way.

In the German tradition, the letter labelling of musical notes went up to 'h'. This meant that Bach could spell his name in notes, which he actually did, using B-A-C-H as a motif in some of his music.

The number zero used to be called 'cipher'.

The type O blood type was supposed to be called type zero, but it was misread when written down.

The symbol for the letter 'A' is an upside-down ox's head. It can be traced back to the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, aleph.

We don't know whether the first language was spoken or signed.