Interesting Facts - Page 228

Ever wonder why you can't find a bathroom in the United States? Blame activists. In the 1970s, a misguided group called the "Committee to End Pay Toilets in America" was able to get pay toilets banned in many states and major cities. This did not, however, cause an increase in the number of free toilets.

In the Middle Ages, some people suffered from the Glass Delusion, believing that their bodies were made of glass and might shatter. Charles VI of France, reigning from 1380–1422, is the first person known to have suffered from this delusion.

The neighborhood of Jamaica in Queens and the country of Jamaica are completely unrelated and not named after each other. The country's name comes from the Taíno word "Xaymaca", meaning "land of wood and water". The neighborhood of NYC comes from a word in one of the Lenape languages, "Yamecah", meaning "beaver".

In 1996, warlord Charles Taylor ran for President of Liberia with the slogan "he killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him". He won in a landslide, earning 75 percent of the vote.

The last Japanese soldier fighting in WWII didn't surrender until 1974, nearly thirty years after the official end of the war. He lived with a small group of die-hard Japanese soldiers conducting guerilla warfare in the Philippines, killing random villagers. Eventually all his compatriots were either killed or deserted and it was just him remaining. They finally flew in his former commander to order him to surrender. He returned to Japan and got a hero's welcome.