One Winner and Thirteen Useless Facts

Thanks to random.org, Commenter #3--Susan Helene Gottfried--won the contest! And she even guessed correctly: my essay in the Perfectly Plum Anthology is "Disaster to Diva: Why Lula Should Be the Next Self-Help Goddess."

Thanks for participating in my very first contest! You guys are the coolest!

About this week’s Thursday Thirteen: I won’t be home tomorrow evening, so I’ll be popping by y’all’s blogs Thursday night. I’m sorry I’ll be so late, but I’ll make sure not to miss you guys!

Thirteen Facts from The Book of Useless Information
By Noel Botham and The Useless Information Society:

1. According to a British law passed in 1845, attempting to commit suicide was a capital offense. Offenders could be hanged for trying.
2. In Cleveland, Ohio, it’s illegal to catch mice without a hunting license.
3. George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.
4. The main library at Indiana University sinnks more than an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the wight of all the books that would occupy the building.
5. A jiffy is an actual unit of time: one-hundredth of a second. Thus the saying, "I will be there in a jiffy!"
6. The queen (or more precisely the Royal Household) owns all the swans in England. The post of Royal Swanskeeper is a post that has been around since 1215, and he and his staff are responsible for keeping accurate statistics about the number and whereabouts of the royal swans.
7. Eleanor Roosevelt at three chocolate-covered garlic balls for most of her adult life.
8. Here’s the recipe.
9. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
10. More than one hundred descendants of Johann Sebastian Bach have been cathedral organists.
11. King Kong was Adolf Hitler’s favorite movie.
12. In Indiana, it is illegal to ride public transportation for at least thirty minutes after eating garlic.
13. Umm ... I forgot to write down a thirteenth one. So do you have a useless fact to add?