100 Mind-Blowing Period Facts

When George Washington died, Napoleon Bonaparte of France gave a personal eulogy and ordered a ten-day mourning period for France.

The T.rex likely had feathers. Scientists in China discovered Early Cretaceous period tyrannosaur skeletons that were covered in feathers. If the ancestors of the T. rex had feathers, the T. rex probably did, too.

The first time the word “period” was used on TV about menstruation was in 1985. It came via a line in a Tampax commercial: “Feeling cleaner is more comfortable. It can change the way you feel about your period.” And the actor who made pop culture history was Courtney Cox of Friends fame.

“Running amok” is a medically recognised mental condition. Considered a culturally bound syndrome, a person “running amok” in Malaysia starts with a period of brooding and then commits a sudden, frenzied mass attack.

Irish bars used to be closed on Saint Patrick’s Day. You might associate Saint Patrick’s Day with wearing green and drinking so much you think you see leprechauns. But until 1961, there were laws in Ireland that banned bars from opening on March 17. Since the holiday falls during the period of Lent in the heavily Catholic country, the idea of binge drinking seemed a bit immoral.

February used to be the last month of the year. We may know January and February as the first two months of the year, but these months were the last couple of months added to the Gregorian calendar. Before, the Roman calendar only recognised 10 months. However, the winter period was measured in these two months – making February the last month of the calendar. This is also why February has the shortest number of days in a month.

The design for the seatbelts we use now was given away by Volvo. Before 1966, seatbelts were not mandated. During this period, seatbelts just secured the lap but offered no upper-body protection. When Nils Bohlin of Volvo invented the three-point seatbelt design, he gave away the patent for free to keep drivers safe.

China originated paper making. The first papermaking process was documented during the 25-220 CE (Eastern Han period). At some point during the 8th century, Chinese papermaking spread to the Islamic world which later on was used as a method of making paper currency.

Back in Medieval Times, bedrooms weren’t private. Aside from absurd, ominous art, we can all agree that the Medieval Ages was a weird time. During this period, beds were placed in areas where guests could see them. Usually, beds would be placed by a window, so passersby can admire whoever is sleeping. Sounds like something out of a thriller movie by today’s standards.

There’s a company you can pay to kidnap you. The Ultíme Réalité is a French company that offers kidnapping services. If you pay them a fee, they will come to kidnap you when you least expect it – ropes, binds, and all. They won’t do it immediately, though. They’ll wait for a certain period so you won’t remember that you paid someone to kidnap you.

Argentina produced the first animated feature film ever. Even if you are well-versed in Disney history, you might suppose that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a 1937 Walt Disney production, holds the distinction of being the first animated feature film. However, Argentina produced a full-length animated feature film 20 years earlier. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, El Apostol, a political satire, had a running period of 70 minutes and was composed of 58,000 drawings.

Elephants have a gestation period (the time when the fetus is growing in the mom) of 22 months—the longest of any mammal.

Government vehicles in Cuba are legally required to pick up hitchhikers. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba went through a period of severe economic hardship called the “Special Period,” and the majority of the country’s vehicles came to a standstill. Unable to take public transport because there wasn’t enough oil or parts to maintain the buses, citizens resorted to hitchhiking. Times got so difficult that the government forced all of their vehicles with free space to pick up any hitchhikers, typically found at designated pick-up points.

Recorders used to be a popular instrument. Many people around the world will fondly recall the moment in their early schooling years when they no longer had to screech out a horrifying rendition of Three Blind Mice or something along those lines on a recorder. This seemingly useless musical instrument, while shunned today, was all the rage back in the Baroque period of the early 1700s. It was so quiet that it was eventually replaced with the significantly louder flute so that the rest of the orchestra wouldn’t drown it out.

Graffiti bombing is when a large graffiti piece is put up over a short period. Train bombing is one common form where a group of writers will quickly cover a train in graffiti before the authorities arrive.

Hacking attacks increased significantly during 2020 (Iomart): According to studies from Iomart, the number of cyberattacks, hacking, and their resulting costs have increased significantly during 2020. The number of breaches increased by around 273% during the first quarter of 2020, compared to the same period in the year before. Not only has the number of attacks increased, but the severity of the hacks is higher too. According to Japanese brand, Honda in June, a hacking attack hitting internal production systems cost the company around $250,000 in bitcoin.

The top 5 dishes in England are… Whilst Chicken Tikka Masala may be the national dish, England’s top five most popular dishes include: 1. Full English Breakfast – The ultimate, fried classic that is bursting with a mixture of flavours. Including those from tomatoes, eggs, sausages and bacon. 2. Black Pudding – A blood sausage that consists of a mixture of pork or beef blood, cereal and fat. The English county of Lancashire is often associated with savoury pudding. 3. Devilled Kidneys – This dish has ties to the Victorian period, originating from gentlemen’s clubs in London. It comprises lamb kidneys simmered in a spiced sauce. 4. Eggy Bread – Inspired by French toast and believed to date back to the medieval period, eggy bread comes as it’s described! You can enjoy this as a sweet or savoury dish for breakfast/brunch. 5. Kedgeree – This meal is the English take on an Indian dish, khichdi. It is packed with different flavours, including spiced rice, eggs and fish.

Stonehenge is older than the Pyramids: Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments, built as a cemetery in the Bronze Age, but not many people know that this is even older than the pyramids. The first stones were an early henge monument, built 3000 years BC and the exceptional stone circle was constructed in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC. The pyramids were built and finished around 2500-2400 BC. We can conclude that both monuments are very old and worth a visit!

During the Victorian period, sausages were also known as “little bags of mystery”.

London experienced a ‘Great Horse Manure Crisis’ in late 1894. During this period, the London streets were always buried in nine feet of horse manure.

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