Since 1973, the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon, has served drinks with a unique garnish — a mummified human toe. Any drink becomes a Sourtoe Cocktail when the toe is added, provided the drinker’s lips touch the toe. Overeager customers have chugged nine toes over the years. In response, the bar raised the fine for toe consumption from $500 to $2,500 in 2013.

You can be paralyzed in a part of your body, but still feel nerve pain there.

A house bought in 1982 for $69,000 would be worth about $213,000 today. But a $69,000 investment in the S&P 500 in 1982 would be worth about $719,000 today.

In the heat of the summer, the Eiffel Tower gets about six inches taller.

A quisling is a person who collaborates with an enemy occupying force. The word is derived from the Norwegian politician, Vidkun Quisling, who ruled Norway for the Germans during World War II.

This article appears in August 29 • 2014.

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