15 Trivia Tidbits for Saturday, July 20, 2024
This past week lasted approximately four months, while also passing by in no longer than 50 hours. The entire world may be going mad, but we urge you to anchor yourself, using the power of facts. Learn about the panics of the past, and of predictions of the future. Learn of battles underwater and up in the air. You might even learn something about potatoes, if you read very carefully.
Moon Shot
The manager of the New York Giants once noted that a pitcher of his, Gaylord Perry, couldn’t hit well. “There would be a man on the Moon before Gaylord Perry would hit a home run,” he said. Perry went on to hit a home run on July 20, 1969, shortly after Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon.
Lucky Mistake
In 1982, Baltimore police went to an apartment, suspecting they’d find marijuana and cash. They knocked on the wrong door by mistake. This apartment turned out to also have a bunch of marijuana and cash, so they made an arrest. The resulting legal case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Wicked Ways
One American town in the 19th century was known as “the wickedest town in the west.” A single saloon there had seven murders in two years, and such killings generally went unpunished. This town was Bismarck, North Dakota.
Valium and Sour Cream
In the mood for some benzodiazepines? You can find some just by eating potatoes! You won’t find a lot, to be fair, but you’ll encounter trace amounts.
The Slime Defense
The hagfish has a method for fending off any sharks that attack: slime. It just needs to squeeze out a teaspoon of the stuff. Then, once outside the fish’s body, the slime can expand to 10,000 times its original volume in a matter of seconds.
We Have to Go Back
Toasters 70 years ago were better than they are now. You didn’t need to lower bread into the toaster with a lever. The toaster detected the weight of inserted slices, automatically lowered them, and then smoothly raised them again once toasting completed.
Loose Lips
An armed naval ship from Venezuela rammed into a German passenger cruise ship in 2020, attacking it. The cruise ship had no way to fight back, but the naval ship split itself open in the process and sank.
No Law in the Sky
The first airplane thief was acquitted. The case went in 1931 to the Supreme Court, who noted that there was no law against stealing planes — just against stealing “vehicles,” and airplanes weren’t deemed vehicles.
Aurora Bore-ARGH-lis
Norway launched a rocket to study the northern lights in 1995. Russia handed the nuclear briefcase to Boris Yeltsin so he could respond, because they thought this rocket came from the United States.
Cup of Flower
If you want real vanilla, instead of the synthetic stuff, that’ll cost you. That’s because it’s cultivated by individually pollinating the flowers by hand. It’s unclear why you’d want real vanilla, though, since the synthetic stuff is chemically identical.
The Ides’ Eve
“The best sort of death would be sudden and unexpected,” said Julius Caesar. He said this on March 14th. The next day, he was stabbed to death — by (along with other people) the guy who’d been next to him when he’d said that remark.
The Drunken Prince
Saudi Arabia has opened its first liquor store, following a ban that was in place since 1952. The country didn’t simply ban alcohol because of Islamic law, as many think. They banned it after the king’s son got drunk and shot a British diplomat.
Erectile Robusta
In the 1600s, a petition circulated around London, protesting coffee. It claimed to be written by the city’s women, complaining that the drink had rendered their husbands impotent.
Legacy
After he stopped being president, Andrew Johnson ran for Congress. That would have been quite a step down. But he lost. He came in third place.
Noted
Lisa McVey vanished in 1984, right after writing a suicide note. She hadn’t killed herself — she’d been kidnapped by a serial killer. She managed to escape that killer, never killed herself and is still alive today.