Facts You Probably don’t Need

• Sloths look kind of like monkeys, but they are actually closely related to armadillos and anteaters.

• Woodrow Wilson’s first name was Thomas.

• The patent for the fire hydrant was lost in a fire at the U.S. Patent Office in 1836.

• Benjamin Franklin is credited as one of the earliest English speakers to write about tofu. He first mentions it in a 1770 letter as a “cheese” from China.

• German chocolate cake is not, in fact, German at all. It was invented by a woman from Texas who used “German’s Sweet Chocolate” which was named for another American, Samuel German.

• Corgi is a translation of the Welsh for dwarf dog. In the Mabinogion, an early Welsh book of myths and legends, corgis were the battle steeds of fairies.

• The figure in Munch’s famous painting “The Scream” is not screaming but is rather reacting to hearing the scream.

• HBO passed up “The Walking Dead” because it was “too violent.” They also passed up “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men.”

          Facts by Sean McVeigh, factologist.