During the Cenozoic Era, ground sloths, mammoths, and gomphotheres ate avocados whole, pits and all.
There’s a good chance you’ve heard the song, “Gwine to Run All Night.” The song’s more popular name is “Camptown Races.”
There is a life-sized bronze statue of actor Peter Falk as TV detective Columbo and his dog on Falk Miksa Street in Budapest. Falk may have been related to the 19th century Hungarian political figure Miksa Falk for whom the street is named. The street is Budapest’s famous antique row.
Salep is a type of Turkish flour made with ground-up tubers from the orchid genus Orchis. It’s used to make a drink and dondurma, which is Turkish ice cream.
On May 6, 2015, Pope Francis was made an honorary Harlem Globetrotter, only the ninth person ever so named. The others have been Henry Kissinger, Bob Hope, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Whoopi Goldberg, Nelson Mandela, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Pope John Paul II, and Jesse Jackson.
This article appears in May 22 • 2015.