#curiosity corner

Quick Facts

Full name: Stephen McDannell Hillenburg

Nationality: American

Birthday: August 21, 1961

Died: November 26, 2018 (aged 57)

Cause of death: ALS

Occupation(s): Marine biologist, animator, voice actor

Years active: 1984-2018

Spouse: Karen Hillenburg

Children: 1

Fun Facts

Steve taught marine biology before he became an animator. Ocean life and animation fascinated him his entire life, hence his creation of SpongeBob SquarePants.

The first show Steve worked on was Rocko’s Modern Life, a few of whose crewmembers would go on to help out with SpongeBob, namely Tom Kenny, Mr. Lawrence, and Dan Povenmire.

Hans, SpongeBob’s French narrator, is based on Jacques Cousteau, who Steve idolized.

Steve’s hobbies included scuba-diving and surfing.

Steve’s favorite band was Ween, who performed the song “Loop-de-Loop” in the SpongeBob episode “Your Shoe’s Untied”.

SpongeBob was based partially on Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character. Steve wanted to make an innocent character who unintentionally “annoys people”.

Steve chose to draw SpongeBob as a kitchen sponge instead of a sea sponge because he thought the former would be “funnier”.

Quick Facts

Full name: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Nationality: English

Birthday: January 3, 1892

Died: September 2, 1973 (aged 81)

Cause of death: Stomach ulcer

Occupation(s): Writer, linguist, poet, professor

Years active: 1925-59

Spouse: Edith Bratt (1916-71; died)

Children: John Francis, Michael, Christopher, Priscilla

Fun Facts

Ronald was good friends with fellow fantasy writer C.S. Lewis, and even helped convert him to Christianity.

Ronald and his brother were originally homeschooled by their mother. Mabel Tolkien proved to be a good teacher, as Ronald was able to read and write by the age of four. Moreover, by the time his mother had sent him to public school, Ronald proved to be a gifted student, mastering whatever language his teachers threw at him. He even made up his own languages for fun.

Ronald was a devout Catholic.

Ronald’s father died of a fever when he was three, and his mother of diabetes complications when he was 12. Following the latter’s death, the Tolkien boys were raised by their priest, Father Francis Morgan.

Ronald met his future wife, Edith Bratt, at a boardinghouse when he was 16. The two fell in love, but, because Edith was a Protestant, Father Francis forbade Ronald from marrying her until he was 21. They got married on March 22, 1916, when Ronald was 24 and Edith had converted to Catholicism.

Ronald and Edith had four children together: John Francis, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla.

Ronald worked as a linguist at The University of Leeds from 1925-59.

As of April 2025, The Lord of the Rings remains one of the bestselling fantasy book series of all time, with over 150 million copies sold worldwide.

Quick Facts

Full name: Matthew Richard Stone

Birthday: May 26, 1971

Occupation(s): Animator, filmmaker, voice actor, songwriter

Years active: 1992-present

Spouse: Angela Howard (2008-present)

Children: 2

Fun Facts

Matt is, of course, best known for co-creating the hit adult cartoon South Park with his creative partner Trey Parker. Trey directs the series, Matt produces, and they both write and voice most of the male characters.

Among the characters Matt voices are Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Butters Stotch, Big Gay Al, Jimbo Kearn, Craig Tucker, Tweek Tweak, and others.

Matt’s father is an economist and has authored several college textbooks on the subject.

Matt majored in math and film to assuage his father’s concerns about him becoming a “musical bum”.

Matt is a huge fan of Rush. He appeared in their documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage, and even played drums with the surviving members in the South Park: 25th Anniversary Concert TV special in 2023.

Matt can play the drums, bass, and guitar.

Matt married Comedy Central executive Angela Howard in 2008, and has two children with her. They live in Los Angeles, California, where Matt and Trey’s animation studio is headquartered.

(Painting credit: Leonardo da Vinci)

The 12 Apostles were Jesus’ closest friends, each of whom were given the mission of spreading His gospel around the world after His death and resurrection. Their names were John the Beloved, James the Greater (or James son of Zebedee), James the Lesser (Jesus’ half-brother), Judas Iscariot, Simon the Zealot, Andrew, Matthew, Thomas, Simon Peter, Philip, Jude Thaddeus, and Bartholomew.

The closest English translation of “apostle” is “messenger”.

It isn’t entirely clear if The Apostles wrote their gospels themselves, or if they hired scribes to do it for them. The Book of John in particular has a lot of theories surrounding its authorship because of the ambiguity of The Beloved Apostle’s death, with some historians and theologians believing there were a handful of Johns who wrote his gospels.

John the Beloved, James the Greater, Andrew, and Simon Peter were Jesus’ first Apostles. They were converted after they saw The Savior walking on water while they were out fishing.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Simon Peter was sent out on a mission to set up one of the first Christian churches. This began a process known as “apostolic succession”, in which an Apostle makes a church “valid”. Many Catholic and Orthodox churches view this as an important part of their faith, while most Protestants deem it unnecessary. 

It’s generally believed that Peter was crucified in Rome sometime between 64-68 A.D. He was hung upside-down out of respect for Jesus, and his remains were buried underneath what would later become St. Peter’s Basilica.

Like his brother Peter, Andrew was also crucified for his religious work, though his cross was X-shaped. He was buried in Patras, Greece, where his crucifixion took place. A Catholic church has been built there in his honor.

As detailed in the book of Acts, James the Greater became the first Apostle to be murdered when King Herod of Judea had him beheaded. Following his death, James became the patron saint of Spain, where some historians claim he preached the gospel before he met his demise in Judea.

James the Greater and John the Beloved both had nasty tempers, leading to Jesus nicknaming them “The Sons of Thunder”.

John the Beloved and Judas Iscariot were the only Apostles who weren’t executed. Judas betrayed Jesus to The Roman Empire for 40 pieces of silver and hung himself out of guilt, while John is generally believed to have died of natural causes in the year 100 A.D. (aged 93). He was widely instrumental in setting up the modern church and wrote five of the 27 books in The New Testament. 

There are some Christian denominations, most notably The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who believe John the Beloved never died. This stems from interpretations of John 21:22-23, in which Jesus tells Simon Peter that John would “remain until [He] comes [again]”. 

Matthew (referred to by his original Jewish name of “Levi” in two of the gospels) worked as a tax collector before Jesus converted him. He even invited Jesus and His Apostles for dinner once, which was a huge deal at the time because of how publicly villainized tax collectors were. The rest of Matthew’s life is shrouded in mystery, although some sources claim he traveled to Iran and Ethiopia and was stabbed in the latter place for scolding a King who was lusting after a nun he’d just converted.

Thomas is perhaps best known as the Apostle who refused to believe Jesus had been resurrected until he could see and feel The Savior’s wounds, earning him the nickname “Doubting Thomas”. Thomas’ missionary work sent him to India, where he was speared to death by pagan preachers. His body is buried underneath The St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica in Chennai, India.

Philip is the most mysterious of The 12 Apostles, thanks partially to some name confusion between him and an Evangelical Christian preacher also called Philip. A letter written by Simon Peter suggests that St. Philip left The Apostles at some point, and some Christian denominations believe he preached in Carthage, Greece, Syria, and Asia-Minor, but that’s about it. Philip’s death is unclear as well; his place of death has been confirmed (see below), but whether it was via stoning, beheading, or crucifixion is still debated.

In 2011, Italian archaeologist Francesco D’Andria discovered St. Philip’s tomb in Hierapolis, Turkey, close to The Church of the Sepulchre in Denizli.

After Jesus’ resurrection, Bartholomew was sent on missions to India, Armenia, and modern-day Turkey. Some sources claim he was flayed and beheaded after converting the then-King of Persia to Christianity, while others say he was crucified alongside St. Philip.

Very little is known about James the Lesser aside from his aforementioned relation to Jesus and the fact that he converted a group of Jews to Christianity, only to be betrayed and either stoned or clubbed to death by them.

Simon the Zealot (or Canaanite) was either sawed in half in Persia or crucified in The UK. His remains are kept in St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica, next to Jude Thaddeus’.

The RMS Titanic was the largest boat ever built; she was 882 ft. / 9 in. long, 92 ft. wide, 175 ft. high, and weighed 52,310 tons. Plus, she could move at 23 knots (26.5 mph), making her fast for her size.

The Titanic had 840 cabins onboard.

Captain Edward Smith famously declared The Titanic “unsinkable” before managing her on what would be the most disastrous (and final) voyage of his otherwise successful career.

The boat was powered by 29 coal-powered, triple-furnace boilers, which used 825 tons of coal per day.

The “RMS” in the boat’s name stood for “Royal Mail Steamer”, as she carried British royal mail.

The Titanic had to use two heavy anchors to hold herself in place.

In 1955, American author Walter Lord published A Night to Remember, a written account of the Titanic tragedy, which was adapted into a movie three years later.

The Titanic took two years and $166 million to build. Eight workers were killed during the boat’s construction, and 246 were injured.

The Titanic could’ve carried at least 64 lifeboats, but ended up with only 20 due to her crew not wanting the deck to appear cluttered. This was actually considered legal at the time, as maritime law required at least 14 lifeboats for a ship The Titanic’s size.

The Titanic was four days into her maiden voyage when she hit the iceberg on April 14, 1912. The collision occurred at 11:40PM, and by 2:20AM (two hours and 40 minutes later), she had completely sunk. 

The Titanic’s survivors drifted around in lifeboats for about an hour before they were saved by the rescue boat Carpathia.

In 1898, American author Morgan Robertson wrote Futility, a book in which a boat called The Titan sinks after she hits an iceberg. Following the eerily similar incident with The Titanic, people hailed Morgan as a psychic, but the author modestly dismissed the claims, stating that his story was fictional, whereas the Titanic tragedy was real-life.

Before the collision, The Titanic’s radio operators received six ice warnings from passing boats, but they were all ignored.

At the time of the sinking, the water was 28 degrees (four degrees below freezing). People who hit the water froze to death within minutes; The Titanic’s first mate compared the feeling of hitting the water to having “1,000 knives hitting your body”.

Quick Facts

Date founded: January 29, 1892

Founded by: Asa Griggs Candler, Sr.

Key people: James Quincey (chairman & CEO), John Murphy (president & treasurer)

Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Fun Facts

Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton as a means of weaning off his morphine addiction. Three years later, he sold the formula to businessman Asa Griggs Candler, Sr. for $2,300, and Asa began marketing it as a soda for maximum profit.

Coke is the best-selling soft drink in the world, dominating the beverage market in (almost) every country with a total net worth of $262 billion.

Cuba and North Korea are the only countries where Coke isn’t sold.

It would take nine years to drink every beverage brewed by The Coca-Cola Company. These include regular Coke, Sprite, Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Barq’s Root Beer, Fanta, Minute Maid, Fresca, etc.

The average Mexican drinks 745 bottles of Coke a year — higher than any other country in the world. This is probably because of Mexico’s water pollution.

Coca-Cola helped popularize the image of Santa in a red suit.

An estimated 96% of the world’s population can recognize the Coca-Cola logo.

Coca-Cola had an awkward, controversial relationship with The Nazi Party. The company didn’t suspend their operations in Germany while Adolf Hitler was in power due to most of their executives at the time being Nazis themselves. Fanta was created specifically for the German market during World War II, as Hitler’s minions couldn’t get their hands on any regular Coke at the time. Ironically, however, every American soldier who fought in the war received a crateful of discounted bottles of regular Coke.

Coca-Cola was once sued by Asian farmers for corrupting their water supplies. In response, the company established a water efficiency program that they claimed would reduce the amount of H2O needed to make their product by 27%.

In 2006, three people tried to sell (what they claimed was) Coke’s secret recipe to PepsiCo. In a remarkable act of good sportsmanship, PepsiCo immediately reported the frauds to Coca-Cola and the FBI.

Coca-Cola used to have vending machines that would raise their prices on hot days.

Quick Facts

Genre: Punk rock

Origin: Rodeo, California, USA

Years active: 1987-present

Labels: Lookout!, Reprise, Adeline, Warner, Epitaph

Current members: Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool

Former members: Raj Punjabi, Sean Hughes, Al Sobrante, Jason White (currently a touring member)

Other bands: Pinhead Gunpowder, The Network, The Longshot, The Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Coverups

Fun Facts

Green Day was founded in Rodeo, California in 1987 by childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt. 

Under the name Sweet Children, the band’s original lineup consisted of Billie (lead vocals, lead guitar), Mike (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Sean Hughes (bass), and Raj Punjabi (drums, percussion). This lineup only lasted a year before Sean and Raj left the band, whereupon Mike switched to bass and John Kiffmeyer (a.k.a. Al Sobrante, a pun on the name of his hometown, El Sobrante) was brought in as the new drummer. Sweet Children would record only one album with Al, their debut 39/Smooth, before he left to go to college. Billie and Mike cycled through a revolving door of touring drummers before finally settling on Frank Wright III (a.k.a. Tré Cool) as their permanent percussionist.

In 1989, Sweet Children changed their name to Green Day, which is slang for a day spent smoking weed.

Mike was born Michael Ryan Pritchard on May 4, 1972 in Berkeley, California. He got his stage name from his habit of making a “dirnt” noise while playing air bass back in high school.

Tré was born on December 9, 1972 in Frankfurt, West Germany, where his father was working as a helicopter pilot at the time. His family moved to California when he was six.

Billie Joe Armstrong was born on February 17, 1972 in Rodeo, California. He is the oldest of Green Day by nearly three months, and writes most of their songs.

As of August 2025, Green Day has released 14 studio albums: 39/Smooth, Kerplunk, Dookie, Insomniac, Nimrod., Warning, American Idiot, 21st Century Breakdown, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré!, Revolution Radio, Father of All…, and Saviors.

American Idiot is a rock opera, or a record album that tells a story through its songs. Initially inspired by Billie’s outrage over The War on Terror, the album tells the story of The Suburbian, a teenage rebel who leaves the hometown he hates for the big city. While there, he falls in love with a girl whose name he can’t remember (referring to her only as “Whatsername”), but things get complicated when he becomes addicted to drugs (personified as “St. Jimmy”). Following his breakup with Whatsername and the eradication of his St. Jimmy persona, The Suburbian returns to his hometown, having learned to control his rage.

Mike wrote the distinctive bassline for “Longview” on an acid trip and struggled to remember it the next day.

In 2010, theater director Michael Mayer turned American Idiot into a Broadway musical, following the album’s story almost beat-for-beat (horrible pun intended). Although Green Day had little to no involvement in the musical’s production, Billie played St. Jimmy on occasion, skyrocketing the ticket sales as he did so.

¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré! — known collectively as The ¡Uno! Trilogy — were all recorded back to back and released from September to December 2012. These albums are noted for being the only records in Green Day’s catalog to feature touring rhythm guitarist Jason White as an official member, which White stated was done to give The Trilogy a more “live” feel. He was demoted back to touring member in 2016.

During a promotional performance at The iHeartRadio Festival on September 21, 2012, an intoxicated Billie had a meltdown when he realized his band’s set was being cut short for Usher. The singer cussed out the festival’s organizers (“I’m not f**king Justin Bieber!”), smashed his guitar, flipped the audience off, and stormed offstage. Two days later, Green Day’s publicist issued a statement, apologizing for the incident and saying that Billie had entered rehab for substance abuse. However, the damage had already been done; Billie’s freakout led to several of the band’s planned promotional activities and concerts being cancelled, which severely impacted The ¡Uno! Trilogy’s sales. Mike later stated in an interview with Rolling Stone that, although it was “heartwrenching” to see his best friend flip his lid in public, he actually agreed with Billie about it being unfair for iHeartRadio to cut their performance short for Usher’s sake.

Green Day performed on The Late Show with David Letterman 10 times from 1994-2009. David later revealed in a 2023 interview with his successor, Stephen Colbert, that Tré would always jumpscare him after they finished performing.

Billie got his first guitar, a Fernandes Stratocaster, from his mother as an 11th birthday present. He calls it “Blue”.

Billie wrote the song “Wake Me Up When September Ends” as a tribute to his father, who passed away of cancer on September 10, 1982 when Billie was 10. The song’s title was the same thing the singer said to his mom when she knocked on his door that day after his father had died.

Mike has been married three times: to Anastasia Serman from 1996-99, to Sarah Garrity from March to October 2004, and Brittney Cade from March 14, 2009-present. He has just as many children: Estelle Desiree (with Anastasia), Brixton Michael, and Ryan Ruby Mae (both with Brittney).

Billie has been married to fashion designer Adrienne Nesser since July 2, 1994. They have two sons, Joseph and Jakob, both of whom have followed in Billie’s footsteps as musicians.

Similar to Mike, Tré has also been married three times and has the same amount of children. He was married to Lisea Lyons from 1995-96, Claudia Suarez from 2000-03, and Sara Rose Lipert from October 2014-present. His children are Ramona Isabel (with Lisea), Frank Edwin IV (with Claudia), and Mickey Otis (with Sara).

Quick Facts

Birthday: August 26, 1980

Occupation(s): Actor, musician

Years active: 1985-94, 2003-present

Spouse(s): Rachel Miner (1998-2003; div.), Brenda Song (2017-present)

Children: 2

Fun Facts

Macaulay Carson Culkin was born on August 26, 1980 in New York City, New York, USA. He grew up with six siblings, all of whom slept in a single room in a New York apartment. Their mom, Patricia, was a receptionist for a casting agency, and their dad, Kit, was a priest for a Catholic church.

When Mac became a child star, he had little say in what direction his career took. His parents chose all his roles, and his dad hit him when he screwed up his lines. Kit was abusive to Patricia as well, even going so far as to threaten to throw her off a balcony one time when he was drunk. This resulted in Patricia filing for divorce and acquiring full custody of their children in 1997. Mac hasn’t talked to his father since the divorce, and has even disowned him.

Mac grew up with the paparazzi and manic fans in his shadow. He couldn’t walk down the street without having a camera flash in his face or a fan hounding him for an autograph. He’s had to move several times because of the fan mania.

Mac was good friends with Michael Jackson, having starred in the music video for “Black & White” and visited Neverland Ranch several times. Mac was even made the godfather of Michael’s children.

As Mac got older, his career began spiraling downward, and his films began receiving less-than-stellar reviews. Against his father’s wishes, Mac retired from acting in 1994 and went back to school, a place he hadn’t been since he was six years old.

On the first day of his return to school, Mac met Rachel Minor (a fellow child actress) and began dating her off and on. They married in 1997 when they were both 17. The couple had one child together before they divorced in 2002.

Mac is currently engaged to former Disney Channel actress Brenda Song. They have had two children together, one of whom was named after Mac’s sister who died in a car accident (Dakota).