"That Was Then" Trivia

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The first people to create and use rubber
were the Olmec culture in the area which is
now south central Mexico.

In the time equal to 1600 BC, they mixed the
latex from a rubber tree with juice from morning
glories to form rubber. One common product was
rubber balls in various sizes for ballgames.

The latex and flower juice were believed to be
the blood and semon of the plants and were sacred
to the Olmecs. So the ballgames were serious affairs...
losing the game = death. The rubber balls were burned
in respect of the balls' spirits after games.

Only about 100 have been found, all from fresh water
pools and bogs. These had been offered as living
sacrifices to gods.

In 1659, it was illegal to celebrate Christmas in Massachusetts.

{{ Hi Cat! }}

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In Britain the longest north south road is
the A1, built about a hundred years ago.
It was know to be a Roman route built about
40AD.

Now, archaeologists working along the A1 have
discovered that was actually also used as a
north-south by people living about 8000BC.

Hi, Tunkan!! (waving)

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In 1912 the archbishop of Paris declared dancing the tango a sin.

^^ any dancing I do is declared a sin. ^^
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While on a bus trip to visit a cousin in Scotland,
a young John Lennon was playing a harmonica.
The bus driver said he really played well and if
John would stop by the Edinburgh station the next
day, he would give John an unclaimed harmonica
from the lost and found.

Turned out that it was a professional instrument
and John threw away his toy one. Lennon went on
to use this harmonica throughout the Hamburg era
and on many of the early Beatles' recordings.

Shinsengumi member Souji Okita was said to be very handsome, and as such he is continually portrayed time and again in various anime/manga as a bishounen. Doll companies such as Volks and Pullip have even released special edition dolls depicting a romanticized Okita.

However, Okita's entire reputation as a samurai hunk is nothing but a misconception. In reality he was rather thin with stooped shoulders and a "flatfish face". Source (click)

When medieval Europeans burned witches, the witches' families had to pay for the firewood.

The Ancient Greeks celebrated the birthdays of all adult males----even after they died. Women's and children's birthdays were considered too unimportant, to observe.

The Cost of Things: 1950s

• Corvette: $3,498
• Roll of Film: 38 cents
• Toilet Paper (20 rolls): $2.39
• Combination 19-inch television / FM radio / phonograph: $495

Price of a ticket to see T.Rex perform at Belle Vue, Manchester, June 1972:

75 pence (about$1.10).


I was there.

Cost to mail a letter using the Pony Express: $5.00 per half ounce.

Hey, Tunk----how ya doin'! That was extremely interesting----COOL!!

(Sidebar: Why is your writing always over to one side of the page, and not stretched-out across it? Just curious....)

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Christoper Columbus' fee for "discovering" America: $300.