23/vi mmxvi

A best-selling 15th century work of fiction was The Tale of the Two Lovers, an erotic novel by the man who later became Pope Pius II.

In 1967, Picoaz, Ecuador, elected a brand of foot deodorant as the town’s mayor.

The word ‘fun’ does not appear in the King James Bible.

At least 109 journeys between adjacent London Underground stations are quicker to walk.

Apostasy, the abandonment of religion, is a capital offence in Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

See other: Quite Interesting Facts

Unless you are the Mongols

The Mongols are a civilization that are known for being the exception to many historical phenomena.[1] Listed below are some of the most important of those exceptions in a generalised form:

• Nomads: The downside is that you have to move around a lot because your herd always needs new grass, which makes it hard to build cities, unless you are the Mongols.
• Civilization: Certain conglomerations of humans are seen as civilizations, where as, say nomadic cultures generally aren’t. Unless you are, say it with me, the Mongols.
• Early Cities: The city-state period in Mesopotamia ended around 2000 BCE, probably because drought and a shift in the course of rivers led to pastoral nomads coming in and conquering the environmentally weakened cities, and then the nomads settled into cities of their own as nomads almost always will, unless, wait for it, you are the Mongols.
• Persian Empire: Let’s start with the Persian empire, which became the model for pretty much all land-based empires throughout the world. Except for, wait for it, the Mongols.
• Silk Road: […] with the growth of the Silk Road, the nomadic people of Central Asia suddenly become much more important to world history. Much of Central Asia isn’t great for agriculture, but it’s difficult to conquer, unless you are, wait for it, the Mongols.

“A tiger wearing a bell will starve.” – Mongolian proverb

• Early Christianity: Both Herods ultimately took their orders from the Romans, and they both show up on the list of rulers who are oppressive to the Jews, partly because there’s never that much religious freedom in an empire, unless you are, wait for it, the Mongols… or the Persians.
• Early Islam: It’s common to hear that in these early years Islam quote “spread by the sword”, and that’s partly true, unless you are — wait for it — the Mongols.[2]
• Dark Ages: [The Abbasids] hailed from the Eastern, and therefore more Persian, provinces of the Islamic Empire. The Abbasids took over in 750 and no one could fully defeat them; until 1258, when they were conquered by, wait for it, the Mongols.
• Islam in Africa: Until then, most of the people living in the East had been hunter-gatherers or herders, but once introduced, agriculture took hold, as it almost always does. Unless, wait for it, you’re the Mongols.
• Imperialism: So by the end of the 19th century, most of Africa and much of Asia had been colonized by European powers. […] Notable exceptions include Japan, which was happily pursuing its own imperialism, Thailand, Iran, and of course Afghanistan. Because no one can conquer Afghanistan, unless you are, wait for it, the Mongols.
• World War II: So, not to sound jingoistic, but the entry of the U.S. into the war really did change everything, although I doubt the Nazis could’ve taken Russia regardless. No one conquers Russia in the wintertime, unless you are, wait for it, the Mongols.

“A donkey that carries me is worth more than a horse that kicks me.” – Mongolian proverb

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[1] Green. J. (2012) Crash Course World History

[2] Actually, as usual, the truth is more complicated. Many people, including the Mongols, but also including lots of people in Central and East Asia, embraced Islam without any military campaigns.

9/vii mmxiv

The flags of Afghanistan and Ecuador display their flag on their flag; creating the so-called Droste effect, i.e. the image of the image in the image ad infinitum.

The asteroid 13681 is called Monty Python.

Jon Brower Minnoch was an American man who, at his peak weight, was the heaviest human being ever recorded, weighing approximately 1,400 lb (634 kg, 100 stone). This figure was only a close estimation, however, because of his extreme size, poor health, and lack of mobility prevented use of a scale. He died in 1983, aged 41.

In Latin, the verb vireo means ‘I am green’.

When all four members of The Beatles received MBEs in 1965, John Lennon defended this honour as follows: “Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war – for killing people. We received ours for entertaining other people. I’d say we deserve ours more.”

See other: Quite Interesting Facts

23/x mmxiii

All the carrots in the world originally came from Afghanistan.

A variety of carrots

According to the Bible, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. (I Kings 11:3)

The poet AE Housman (1859-1936) kept a notebook in which he jotted down useful insults and unpleasant remarks that occurred to him.

Advertisements for wristwatches almost always show the time as ten past ten.

In the 1850’s, the term bunga bunga was the name given by local natives to a location near Moreton Bay on the eastern coast of Australia. In present day Italy, the definition of bunga bunga ranges from ‘a sort of underwater orgy where nude young women encircle the nude host in a swimming pool’ to ‘an African-style ritual performed for male spectators by twenty naked young women’. In the Malaysian Malay language, bunga-bunga means flowers; it is the plural form of bunga which means flower. The similar phrase bonggang-bongga is Tagalog slang for something fashionable. In Indonesian language it means ‘a field of flowers’.

See other: Quite Interesting Facts