A "Nobel Prize sperm bank" – set up in 1981 to sell the seed of Nobel winners in particular and men with high I.Q.s in general – resulted in the birth of more than 200 children. It shut down in 1999 amid longstanding accusations of elitism and racism. (guardian.co.uk)

Albert Einstein lost most of his Nobel Prize money in bad bond investments on Wall Street. (boston.com)

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling made $10.28 per second last year. (forbes.com)

King Henry VIII went from a 32-inch waist early in his rule to a 54-inch waist near the end. At his death, he weighed just under 420 pounds. (From How Fat Was Henry VIII?, telegraph.co.uk)

Chimpanzees can identify their acquaintances by looking at photos of their rear ends. (news.nationalgeographic.com)

Human toothpaste contains foaming agents that could make a dog vomit. (Modern Dog magazine)

Insects generally can't become obese. "There are exceptions, but few can afford to get too fat – anything that interferes with their bodily function prevents reproduction ... For example, sap-sucking insects get far too much sugar from plant sap, but instead of becoming uselessly fat, most dump the excess as honeydew or convert it into waxy armour." (www.newscientist.com)

John Lydon, a.k.a. Sex Pistols punk rocker Johnny Rotten, has filmed a British TV commercial for Country Life Butter. (youtube.com)

On average, "24 more people died in car crashes during voting hours on (U.S.) presidential election days than on other October and November Tuesdays. That amounts to an 18 per cent increased risk of death." (livescience.com)

October is National Sarcastic Awareness Month. Among the instructive examples cited by the Sarcasm Society: "I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it," "It's always darkest before it turns absolutely pitch black" and "I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here." (brownielocks.com/october.html; sarcasmsociety.com)

John Sakamoto