California horticulturalist Luther Burbank invented the Russet Potato.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, people in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Finland pay on average less than $130 a year for cell phone service. Americans pay $635.85 a year.

By some estimates, a third of all text messages in China today are spam.

Legendary actress/sex symbol Mae West was thrown in jail in 1927 for writing, producing, directing, and starring in a play called Sex, because it was deemed too lewd and risqué. She served eight days of her 10-day sentence and liked to brag afterwards that the warden let her wear her own silk underwear instead of the usual scratchy, prison-issued ones.

John Lennon said the reason for the song “I Am the Walrus” was to confuse, befuddle, and mess with Beatles experts.

This article appears in April 27 • 2012.

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