Did you know?

Hello and welcome to another installment of Eccentric Spheres! Installment number 177, in fact.

Speaking of facts, here are some interesting ones to help you along in the new year (how, I have no idea):

In 2007, a 75 year old woman named Mona Shaw destroyed a Comcast office with a hammer because she was outraged at their continually poor service. Police arrested her and fined her $345. I assume the local PD was also using Comcast...

The Manchineel tree is so poisonous that you get a violent rash if you stand under it when it rains. Smoke from burning Manchineel trees can cause you to go temporarily blind. Don't even think of eating the fruit, unless you happen to be a garrobo (striped iguana). They are the only ones who seem to really like the Manchineel tree.

When WWI ended with the Treaty of Versailles, Marshal Ferdinand Foch said, “This is not peace, it's a 20 year armistice”. WWII started 20 years and 65 days later.

If you think modern soccer riots are out of control, consider this: in 532 AD 30.000 charioteering fans died when a riot broke out between fans in Byzantium.

Scientists have created a sort of quantum gas that can reach temperatures colder than absolute zero (-459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, -273.15 degrees Celsius). At this point the gas becomes similar to dark energy.

Walter Summerford was struck by lightning three times when he was alive. After dying, his gravestone was also struck by lightning. Someone doesn't like him...

The Lone Star tick can give you a lifetime allergy to red meat by injecting a sugar found in said meat. Your immune system then creates antibodies against the sugar, which makes you allergic to eating red meat.

Bugs Bunny accidentally created a new insult when he called Elmer Fudd a nimrod. In the Bible, Nimrod is a mighty hunter, and Bugs was just being sarcastic, but no one got the reference, and still today calling someone a nimrod is to call him stupid.

The reason children can wolf down as much sugar as they can lay their sticky little fingers on and adults can't is down to your bones. As an adult your bones have stopped growing. It's as simple as that.

And with that simple fact, I'm signing off for this time. Until we see each other again, have an interesting week!