Fun Fact Friday - Frisky Facial Hair

Hello, dear reader. I have missed you. I cannot help but feel partially responsible for my long absence from the wonderful world of the interblag, probably because I am, in fact, responsible. Sometimes you just have to graduate from college. And then spend a week lying around your room watching what some might consider an irresponsible amount of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit while you should really be doing other things like, I don't know, unpacking from school or looking for a real job so you don't spend the rest of your life living in your parents house and working at a water park where people poop in the pools. But enough about you, dear reader! It's fucking Fun Fact Friday!

Fun fact: Cleopatra sometimes put on a fake beard to perform her duties as queen. Maybe.

"With curves like these, who needs scruff?" - Cleopatra

With all my facts, I try to find some extra information in order to weed out the scurrilous rumors that sometimes masquerade as trivia. This fact is no different, dear reader. I don't know how I could live with myself if, after leaving you to fend for your own fun facts for two weeks, I returned only to feed you false information.

There seems to be a great division on whether or not Cleopatra ever wore a false beard. It is widely acknowledged that Hatshepsut (the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, if that means anything to anyone) did often wear fake beards.

Hatshepsut rocking her beard like it's 1463 B.C.E.

But Cleopatra? It's less clear. I've found sources that say Cleopatra still whipped out her beard because lots of women wore false facial hair to appear more powerful. Some believe that by the time Cleopatra ruled people were more okay with their leader having tits and a lack of chin hair.

And while I am perturbed that I cannot find an absolute answer to whether or not Cleopatra wore a fake beard, I am more perturbed there are no speculations on style. Was it a long chin beard like Hatshepsut's? Or was Cleopatra a pioneer of the soul patch much like James K. Polk was an early supporter of the mullet? Or, and we can only hope that this is the case, did Cleopatra invent the monkey tail?

People's sexiest man alive 2013.

The answers to these burning questions may be lost to history by now, but at least we still know what Cleo's o-face looks like:

She must've been thinking about men with monkey tails.... Until next time, dear reader!

Fun Fact Friday - Battle of the Oranges

Yesterday, my darling husband asked me to help drawing a picture for him. And I did. And it was awesome. Which leads me to today's fun fact, which you might think would be about drawing, but it's not. It's about oranges.

Fun fact: The people of Ivrea, Italy, celebrate the beginning of Lent by throwing oranges at each other.

I do not know if these Eporediese antics are widely known, but it is apparently the largest food fight in Italy. Except for that one time with Burlesconi, his bunga bunga girls, and the limp noodles, but they don't talk about that anymore.

The origins of the Battle of the Oranges are unclear, but why on earth would I bring up this fun fact? Because my darling husband wanted me to draw a different kind of battle of the oranges. I have a skill for drawing vampiric blood oranges, and really, I just wanted to share it with you, dear reader. Also because food fights, at least in theory, are interesting.

Until next time!

Fun Fact Friday - Nerds!

I know what you're thinking, dear reader. It is Saturday. But I was really excited about this fun fact. And then, as it does, shit happened. So it's Fun Fact Fsaturday!

Anyway, I got the best gift in the mail on Thursday, dear reader. "What? What is it‽" I like to imagine you asking, interrobang and all.

It is The Book of Useless Information! Not a book of useless information but The Book of Useless Information!

See! See how awesome it is! And how excited I was!

Anyway, I found an awesome fun fact in it. A fun fact that I want to share with you.

Fun fact: Dr. Seuss invented the word nerd. It first appeared in his book If I Ran the Zoo.

Fun facts about nerds! Holy shitballs, Batman! Does it get any nerdier? Yes, there are probably lots of ways this could be nerdier. Here is one:

After reading that fun fact, I decided to consult the Oxford English Dictionary, you know, the dictionary professors may or may not be telling you to use all the time to trace back the meaning of words at the time they were written so you can really get to know authors... semantically. I don't so much do that. I did, however, use it for this. Because I think you're that important, dear reader. And damn, you look good today.

You're so much prettier than this.

In any case, the Oxford English dictionary says the origin is "uncertain and disputed." But those dictionary wizards do say that perhaps it comes from Dr. Seuss. And all the other explanations they say might, might, explain nerd are unsupported by early spellings. So fuck yeah, Dr. Seuss! And fuck yeah, dictionary wizards! And fuck yeah, dear reader. It might be early to say this, but I love you. I love you so much. Until next time....