Other Facts

Before the boys of the Etoro tribe of Papua New Guinea can be called adults, they must consume the semen of their elders!

Cultures around the world have many different traditions, some that are similar to those in the western world and some that are very different. In the Trans-Fly river region of southern New Guinea, the Etoro tribe consists of 400 people. They live by hunting for food and practicing small-scale farming.

The Etoro people believe that, in order for boys to become adults, they must drink the semen of the elder men in the tribe. They hold that every individual has a vital force and that the strongest concentration of this force is found in semen.

This powerful force is transmitted via sex throughout the tribe. The boys are assigned a partner in this transition to adulthood. Women of the tribe are viewed as squandering the power of the semen if they do not become pregnant.

(Source)

A diver drowned after his arm got stuck in the shells of a giant clam!

A young chief in a small tribe in the Philippines named Bogtong had hired a group of the tribes best divers to find conch shells which could be traded for fish, because his village were starving and he lacked the resource to catch the fish that his village so desperately needed.

After noon on the day of the first dive, Bogtong realized that he was missing one of his divers, Etem. All the men of the village were alarmed, as they feared that Etem had died at the hands of the giant octopus. The divers unsheathed their knives, and jumped into the water searching for their lost comrade.

They were incredibly surprised at where they had found Etem. He was in fact, dead, but he had drowned, there was no giant octopus in sight. Instead, there was a giant clam with Etem's arm reaching inside. The clam had shut it's shell on Etem's arm, and he was rendered helpless. But, what lead such an experienced diver to make such a fatal mistake?

As the villages pried the giant clam's shell open, they found what would later be known as the world's biggest pearl - weighing 14 pounds as a result of an abnormal act by Mother Nature. The pearl has been considered priceless, but, is it really a pearl worth dying for?

(Source)

You can marry dead people in France!

Since World War I, the French government was allowed what's called posthumous marriage. It started when a few women were married to soldiers that had died a few weeks earlier. In the 1950s, that practice was extended to civilians.

Nowadays, anyone in France can file for posthumous marriage. They have to send a request to the President of France. It makes it's way down the chain. Two requirements must be met: The couple must have had wedding plans originally, and the family of the deceased has to approve. Then, it gets kicked back up to the President. About 75% of cases are approved.

The reason people do this is mostly to legitimize children a woman may have, or for emotional reasons. The law does not permit the living spouse to receive any of the other spouse's money or property. People cannot do this for financial gain.

(Source)

There is a homeless shelter in Washington that saves the public $4 million a year!

It is located at 1811 Eastlake Ave in Seattle and it opened in 2005. The purpose of the shelter was to house 75 homeless people who suffered from alcoholism. Instead of simply feeding and sheltering homeless people, they made an effort to deal with the cause and the suffering of the people. They treated them for alcoholism and interacted with them as if they were paying, traditional members of society. The results were stunning.

1811 Eastlake has been intricately studied for it's success and has been imitated across the country. By taking homeless people and helping them to better their lives, they allowed previously dysfunctional members of society to restart their lives and contribute to the economy, while simultaneously reducing the number of homeless people throughout the city. It is estimated that around $4 million is saved by helping the people to go back to work and by not needing to support them for the rest of their lives!

(Source)

On April Fool's 1997, comic strip artists pulled off a massive prank in which 46 artists swapped each other strips!

The entire affair was organized by comic strip creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, who created the Baby Blues daily newspaper comic strip. Together they convinced forty-six different artists to participate in switching their material with another comic strip writers.

For example, Mike Peters traded his comic with Lynn Johnston, and they each wrote and drew their own material for the other person’s comic! Some artists did a multiple swap, with thirteen different people trading, and some did simpler switches.

The writer and artist swapped roles for Sally Forth and the Peanuts almost swapped with the comic strip Mutts! There were virtually no rules and everyone was free to do just about whatever they wanted with others’ material. So why was it such a good prank?

It became a huge success because the newspapers, readers, and comic syndicates had no idea it was happening. People opened their newspapers and found their traditional comics written and drawn by different people. It was such a success it even earned the name the Great Comic Strip Switcheroo!

(Source)