Facts You Probably don’t Need

• Between 1912 and 1948, art competitions were part of the Olympics. Medals were awarded for architecture, music, painting, and sculpture.

• New York City homeowners can request that a tree be planted outside their homes for free.

• In order to prove that the bacteria H. pylori could cause stomach ulcers, an Australian doctor named Barry J. Marshall drank a culture of H. pylori, developed an ulcer, and successfully treated it with antibiotics. He won a Nobel Prize for it in 2005.

• You cannot name your baby “IKEA” in Sweden. Sweden has strict naming laws that bar certain first names.

• Freestyle swimming means you can do any stroke; however, almost everyone does the front crawl because it is the fastest.

• When the historic Plaza Hotel in NYC opened in 1907, a room cost $2.50 per night, the equivalent of $64.26 today. The Plaza now charges over $1000 per night.

• Iceland is building the first temple to worship the Norse gods since the time of Vikings.

• A San Francisco Bay Area kid named Frank Epperson accidentally invented the popsicle in 1905.

          Facts by Sean McVeigh, factologist.