In High Wycombe, England, a tradition called “Weighing the Mayor” takes place. The mayor is weighed in public at the start of the term and again later at the end or re-election. A special scale and chair are used during this spectacle. The town crier announces “and no more” if the weight is the same or lower, and “and some more” if it's higher.
The tradition is said to originate from the late 1600s and checked if officials did not grow wealthy at public expense. Today it is a heritage ceremony.
⚖️🏛️🎭⏳

[Read more]

@GoogleFactss
#HighWycombe #WeighingTheMayor #UKTraditions #History #CivicTradition

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision requires every state to license marriages between two people of the same sex and to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states. The majority opinion was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy. The ruling made same-sex marriage legal across the United States and extended equal legal recognition to married same-sex couples nationwide.
🏳️‍🌈⚖️🇺🇸

[Read more 1]
[Read more 2]

@GoogleFactss
#Obergefell #MarriageEquality #SupremeCourt #LGBTQHistory #CivilRights

Pruno is an alcoholic drink made in prisons and jails. It is also called prison wine or prison hooch. It is made by fermenting sugary foods such as fruit, fruit juice, sugar, candy, bread, or ketchup mixed with water. The mixture is left to ferment in a sealed container for several days. The alcohol level varies depending on ingredients and fermentation time. It has been linked to food safety risks, including botulism in some cases.
🍇🍞🧃⚠️😵‍💫

[Read more]
@GoogleFactss
#Pruno #Fermentation #FoodSafety #PrisonHistory #Alcohol

Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are great apes found only in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa. They are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. They are among the closest living relatives of humans. They use sexual behavior, including frequent non-reproductive mating, as part of social bonding and conflict reduction in groups. Mating can involve face-to-face positions and other physical interactions typical of great apes.
🐒🌿🌍

[Read more 1]
[Read more 2]

@GoogleFactss
#Bonobo #GreatApes #Wildlife #EndangeredSpecies #Congo

Among the Hamar people of Ethiopia, the bull-jumping ceremony is a traditional rite of passage that marks a young man's transition into adulthood and eligibility for marriage. To complete the ceremony, he must run across the backs of several cattle without falling. The event also includes a whipping ritual in which women receive lashes that can leave permanent scars. Within Hamar culture, these scars are viewed as symbols of loyalty, courage, family support, and commitment to the man undergoing initiation. The ceremony remains part of Hamar traditions in southwestern Ethiopia.
🐂🏃🩹🇪🇹

View and open these links at your own discretion.
[Read more 1]
[Read more 2]

@GoogleFactss
#Ethiopia #HamarTribe #BullJumping #CulturalTraditions #Facts

Contact us with feedback & ideas:
@Googlefactss_Feedback_bot

The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated book written in an unknown script. It is dated to the early 15th century and contains drawings of plants, stars, and baths. Its language and meaning have not been deciphered.
📖 ✍️ 🔍 🌿

[Read more]

@GoogleFactss
#VoynichManuscript #AncientTexts #Mystery #HistoryFacts

Rockstar Games faced several lawsuits. 🎮💼
Lindsay Lohan claimed GTA V used her likeness. Courts dismissed it.
Former Rockstar president Leslie Benzies sued over unpaid royalties.
Rockstar also sued cheat software makers.
Some employees got $2.75M for unpaid overtime.
🎮⚖️💰

[Read more]

@GoogleFactss
#RockstarGames #GTA #Lawsuits #GamingNews #Gaming #Games

In The Theory of Everything, Stephen Hawking said Eddie Redmayne’s performance sometimes felt like watching himself. Hawking also shared his Companion of Honour medal and signed thesis for use as real props in the film. 🎬🪙📄

@GoogleFactss

[Read more 1]

[Read more 2]

#StephenHawking #EddieRedmayne #TheTheoryOfEverything #FilmFacts

The Rongorongo tablets are a set of wooden boards from Easter Island, covered with glyph-like symbols. Their meaning has not been deciphered, and little is known about how they were used.

Authentic rongorongo texts are written in alternating directions, a system called reverse boustrophedon. In a third of the tablets, the lines of text are inscribed in shallow fluting carved into the wood. The glyphs themselves are outlines of human, animal, plant, artifact and geometric forms. Many of the human and animal figures, have characteristic protuberances on each side of the head, possibly representing eyes.
🪵🔤🏝️🗿

[Read more]

@GoogleFactss
#Rongorongo #EasterIsland #AncientWriting #HistoryFacts

The Nazca Lines are large geoglyphs located in the desert of southern Peru. They were created by removing surface stones to form giant designs, including animals and shapes. Their purpose is still debated by researchers.
🦅 🌵 🇵🇪 🔍

[Read more 1]
[Read more 2]

@GoogleFactss
#NazcaLines #AncientHistory #Archaeology #Peru

Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville invented the phonautograph in 1857. It recorded sound as visual wave patterns but could not play audio. In 2008, researchers converted an 1860 recording of the French song “Au Clair de la Lune” into sound. It is the earliest known recording of a human voice.
Listen to it in the connected post under this one.
🎶📜🔊

[Read more]
@GoogleFactss
#History #SoundRecording #Science #Innovation #MusicHistory

The first recording is how it was perceived at first, after they discovered it was the longer version that is correct.
The full original songtext:

Au clair de la lune,
Mon ami Pierrot,
Prête-moi ta plume
Pour écrire un mot.
Ma chandelle est morte,
Je n’ai plus de feu,
Ouvre-moi ta porte,
Pour l’amour de Dieu.

Au clair de la lune,
Pierrot répondit :
« Je n’ai pas de plume,
Je suis dans mon lit. »
Va chez la voisine,
Je crois qu’elle y est,
Car dans sa cuisine
On bat le briquet.

Translation to English:

By moonlight,
My friend Pierrot,
Lend me your pen
To write a word.
My candle is out,
I have no fire left,
Open your door for me,
For the love of God.

By moonlight,
Pierrot replied:
“I have no pen,
I am in my bed.
Go to the neighbor,
I think she is there,
Because in her kitchen
They are lighting a fire.”

@GoogleFactss
#History #OldestKnownRecording

Our apologies for the delay,
Here is the second version.
This version is said to be more accurate. They sped it up and changed the voice to what you can hear here.

@GoogleFactss

#BetterLateThanNever
#OldestKnownRecording

Human blood is always red. Oxygen-rich blood is bright red, and oxygen-poor blood is darker red. Veins appear blue because skin and tissue affect how light is absorbed and scattered, not because blood is blue. The idea that blood is blue in the body is a myth.
🩸🔬💉

[Read more]

@GoogleFactss
#Science #Biology #HumanBody #Myth #Facts

Contact us with feedback & ideas:
@Googlefactss_Feedback_bot

Lieutenant-General Henry Scrope Shrapnel (3 June 1761 – 13 March 1842) was a British Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He invented the shrapnel shell, which was named after him.
🪖💣💂‍♀

[Read more]

@GoogleFactss
#war #shrapnel #horror
#soldier

Contact us with feedback & ideas:
@Googlefactss_Feedback_bot

In June 1962, three prisoners escaped from the infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco. Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin spent months digging through the walls of their cells using improvised tools. They left behind realistic dummy heads made from soap, paper, and real hair to fool the guards. The men disappeared after escaping the island on a homemade raft. Despite extensive searches, they were never found, and their fate remains officially unknown.
🏝🚔🕵️‍♂️🌊

[Read more]

@googlefactss
#History #Alcatraz #Escape #Mystery #WorldFacts

The world's oldest known non-colonial animal was a 507-year-old ocean quahog clam nicknamed Ming. Born in 1499, the clam was dredged off the coast of Iceland in 2006 by researchers who unknowingly ended its life by freezing it and opening its shell to count the internal growth rings to verify its age.🦪🥟🐚

[Read more]

@googlefactss
#clam #organism #ocean #life

Contact us with feedback & ideas:
@Googlefactss_Feedback_bot

Scientists are developing artificial spider silk made from engineered proteins produced in lab systems. These proteins are spun into fibers that form strong, flexible materials similar to natural spider silk. The materials can be shaped into bandage-like dressings and combined with antibiotics or antimicrobial agents to help reduce bacteria and support wound healing.
🧬🕷️🩹🦠

[Read more 1]
[Read more 2]

@GoogleFactss
#Science #Biomaterials #MedicalResearch #SpiderSilk