re: Fun fact: No hurricane has ever crossed the equator

No fully true. The strength of Coriolis changes with latitude and changes direction at the equator. Move around near the poles and experience more force; near the equator experience less.

Teaching the physics of movement on a spinning Earth is really hard if the teacher and students aren't math whizzes.

The people who figured this out were trying to aim long-distant cannon shots. The artillery guys knew that the shot had a drift.