A list of curious facts
One: Meet Akihiko Kondo who is a happily married man. His wife: Hatsune Miku—who is a lovely turquoise-haired, computer-synthesised singer. She has toured with Lady Gaga and starred in video games. There’s one little thing that makes Kondo’s marriage a little different: Miku is a fictional character. We’d explain more but the video does a way better job of it. Or read the New York Times piece on ‘fictosexuals’ in Japan.
Two: This isn’t a curious fact but an entire podcast episode—filled with brilliant nuggets about Queen Victoria. This is not the formidable empress we all know from history books—but “a well-known party animal, who could easily stay up until 5am, drunk on a concoction of red wine and whiskey.” Listen to a snippet about Victoria, the hormone-driven teen with an eating disorder thanks to a lifetime of fat-shaming. Listen to the episode here.
Three: Speaking of famous queens, did you know that Josephine Bonaparte was a connoisseur of Kashmiri shawls? She wasn’t very impressed at first, declaring: “I have received the shawls […] They seem most ugly to me. Their great advantage is their light weight. I do not believe they will catch on”—but came to own over 150 of them—and made them a hot fashion trend in both pre-and post-revolutionary France. This Historique Couture blog post has more. Christies has a guide to antique Kashmiri shawls. Kashmir Company has more stunning images and history. See Josephine in her shawl below.
Four: We’ve all had to make a hasty exit to escape a bad date. But a male orb-weaving spider uses an ‘eject button’ instead—using his two front legs to catapult himself off the female right after sex. The reason for such extreme measures: His bae is likely to mummify him so tightly that he will either suffocate or be crushed to death. Watch his ace move below. (Smithsonian)
