AWESOME FACTS ABOUT EVERYTHING CXLV

1. Geographically, China spans five time zones. But in 1949, in a symbolic move to unify the country, the Communist party "eliminated" the five zones in favor of "Beijing time" which is still the single time zone in China.

2. Lemurs live in Madagascar and nowhere else on earth. The world's oldest living primates, scientists think lemur ancestors floated across the ocean on islands of vegetation when Madagascar separated from Africa 70 million years ago. 

3. The Mason-Dixon Line is an eponymous demarcation line separating four U.S. states - Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. It was originally drawn by surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon between 1763-1767 to settle a border dispute between the British colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. It was regarded as the symbolic dividing line between the free and slave states before the  Civil War, and may also be the origin of the word "Dixie" for the South.

4. Joining Kleenex, Levi's, and Zipper,  Q-TIP has become generic for any cotton swab.

5. The Mandela Effect is a social phenomenon in which a large number of people believe something that is not true or did not happen - a collective false memory. Coined by paranormal researcher  Fiona Broome, the term reflects Broome's own experience. She was certain that Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 1980's. When she learned this was not true, she dismissed the idea. But she later learned that many people had the same misconception. In fact, Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years (1963 - 1990), but he was released in 1990 and went on to become the first President of South Africa (1994-1999). He died in 2013 at the age of 95. Another example of the Mandela Effect is the common belief that the Wicked Witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs says "Mirror, mirror on the wall". In fact, she says "Magic mirror, on the wall.

6. You may never have heard of Richard Drew, but without doubt you have used the product he invented - Scotch tape. Drew invented Scotch tape in 1930 while working as a research assistant at 3M. Drew's invention was the first transparent sticky tape and stands as one of the most practical and pervasive inventions of all time. ("Scotch" is a trademark and refers to the founders of 3M who were of Scottish descent.) 

7. The word "tip" meaning a gratuity may have come from the taverns of 17th-century England. T-I-P might have stood for "To Insure Promptitude."

8.  Few of us keep gloves in the glove compartments of our cars, but the glove compartment goes back to the earliest days of the automobile. Driving the first automobiles could be a dirty business. Steering wheels could become sticky and oily, the roads were rutted and dusty,  there was no climate control, and the cars could break down. Early drivers really needed gloves. The first glove compartments were glove boxes, located on the floor by the driver's seat. With the advent of dashboards, and the improving of automobiles and driving conditions, glove boxes  became glove compartments - and are still with us today.