Toilet tissue used to be called “therapeutic paper” back when it was introduced in 1857 by Joseph Gayetty.

The part of a key that you hold while turning it is called the bow. The bit is the pronged part that enters and activates the lock, and the shaft connects the two.

Hamsters can remember their relatives.

The first Moscow tavern or kabak that could serve distilled liquor was exclusively reserved for the Oprichniki, Czar Ivan the Terrible’s secret police. Their black robes included an insignia of a severed dog’s head.

Clint Eastwood almost played Two-Face, a villain on the Sixties Batman TV series. The show was canceled before filming of that episode began.

This article appears in May 11 • 2012.

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