12 Trivia Tidbits for Monday, July 1, 2024
Dangerous cheese and a deep-space tug job.
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A Rash of Phone Outages
About 30 percent of American users of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have been unable to make outgoing phone calls abroad, due to the failure, the companies say, of a third-party contractor. This comes on the heels of a multi-state outage that prevented 911 calls to go through, after a crew hit an underground fiber line while installing a light post in Missouri.
Don’t Bid on My Blue Suede Shoes
A pair of Elvis’ titular blue suede shoes are going up for auction, and are expected rake in around $150,000.
The IRS Is Screening Our Calls
Only 31 percent of the over two million people who tried to contact the IRS this past tax season were able to speak to a representative. Pretty dismal numbers for an agency that threatens to throw you in jail if you do math wrong.
Japan’s Anti-Perv Olympic Uniforms
Team Japan’s official Olympic uniforms are made from a material that absorbs infrared light, so horny freaks out there can’t take infrared pictures that give away what’s going on underneath.
The First Father-Son Duo in NBA History
The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Bronny James, where he’ll join his dad LeBron. They’re not the first father and son to be in the league at the same time, but they’re the first to (likely) play together on the same team.
The Spanish Snow White
Researchers studying bones in an an old Spanish fortress found a female warrior buried alongside 23 monks, and are currently trying to figure out what their whole deal was.
SpaceX’s Space Tug Job
SpaceX was awarded an $843 million contract to create a “deorbit vehicle” that will give the International Space Station a “space tug” to decommission it in 2030.
The Grossest Cheese in the World Is Probably Grosser Than You’re Imagining
Casu martzu is an ancient Sardinian delicacy that’s approximately the consistency of scrambled eggs, and filled with jumping maggots. The idea is to pick the maggots out as you go, but if you miss one, it can make you sick as hell. This all makes casu martzu the “most dangerous cheese in the world.”
The ‘Ain’t No Rule Says a Dog Can’t Play Basketball’ Guy Passed Away
Actor Bill Cobbs, who said that oft-quoted line in the original Air Bud, has died at the age of 90.
SCOTUS Threw the Sacklers to the Wolves
The Sackler family, who almost single-handedly fueled the opioid crisis, reached a settlement wherein they’d pay out $6 billion but were shielded from any future lawsuits. The Supreme Court decided that nope, no deal; this sets the family up to potentially see some degree of comeuppance.
But They’re Also Hand-Feeding Democracy to Said Wolves
The Supreme Court upended 40 years of precedent, once again, by knocking down “Chevron deference.” That was a ruling that said federal agencies could make decisions based on institutional knowledge, science, etc. Without Chevron deference, the president can order agencies to do whatever the fuck he feels like for any goddamn reason.
Woolly Mammoths Did NOT Fuck Themselves to Death
A new study shows that woolly mammoths died off relatively suddenly, and not by gradually inbreeding themselves to extinction, as had previously been thought.