Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

Excessive smelliness could be an offense lodged against the homeless under a proposed law being considered by Britain’s parliament.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs the city’s light rail, will still use 5¼-inch floppy disks for its train control system until 2030. The agency is also still using computer programming languages that were popular in the 1990s.

Within 500 years, everyone in Japan will have the same surname unless there’s a change in current laws, which require married couples to take either the husband or wife’s last name. The name Sato is currently shared by 1.5% of the population. Half of Japan will have that name by 2446, rising to 100% by 2531.

Before 1979, the West called the capital of China “Peking.” The New York Times adopted a word closer to the Chinese pronunciation, “Beijing,” in 1986.

In 1676, lemonade vendors were so popular in Paris, France, that they formed the Compagnie de Limon­adiers to regulate their trade. They carried vats of the drink on their backs to serve passersby.