A list of curious facts
One: The hottest trend in China are ‘butler cafes’ where attractive, attentive waiters offer company to women customers—and make them feel like “a woman who deserves to be respected and served.” This Sixth Tone video report has more.
Two: The Bugis live on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and they have five words for genders "that map onto five ways of being in the world."
“[M]akkunrai and oroani correspond to Western concepts of cis female and cis male. Calalai are born with female bodies but take on traditionally male gender roles; they may wear shirts and trousers, smoke cigarettes, wear their hair short and work manual jobs. Calabai are born with male bodies but take on female gender roles, wearing dresses and makeup and growing their hair long.”
The most interesting are the bissu—which is considered neither male nor female but representative of the totality of the gender spectrum: “spiritual beings who are not halfway between male and female, but rather embody the power of both at once.” BBC News offers a deep dive into this very unique culture.
Three: Did you know that the legendary sci-fi author Arthur C Clarke predicted almost everything about the smartphone back in 1976? This clip blew our mind!
Four: Here’s a truly curious fact. Once upon a time, the British imperialists built a Great Hedge in India—which stretched 3,701km and was guarded by 12,000 British officers, at an annual cost of Rs 1,620,000. It was made of prickly thorny bushes designed with one sole purpose: To keep out salt smugglers:
“By 1869, the great hedge stretched from the foothills of the Himalayas to Odisha, and then cut mid-way across the country as it inched towards the Bay of Bengal. Its purpose was to cut off the salt-producing coastal regions in Gujarat and Odisha from the rest of the princely states governed by the British Raj. This ensured that salt remained a precious commodity. It was taxed so heavily that most Indians couldn't afford it.”
BBC Future has the fascinating story of the Great Hedge of India.
