Tempur-Pedic pillows freeze.

None of the Beatles plays a musical instrument on the original recordings of “Eleanor Rigby,” “The Inner Light,” or “Good Night.”

China’s 719.8 million cell phone users sent 574.6 billion text messages in the first nine months of 2009, according to the most recent data released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The journalist and playwright George Ade dubbed Theodore Roosevelt “the Eva Tanguay of politics.”

Canned food was invented in 1813 by Peter Durand for the British Navy. But the first practical can opener was invented by William Lyman of the United States in 1870. Original instructions for opening canned food were “Cut round the top near the outer edge with a chisel and hammer.”

This article appears in December 11 • 2009.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US