12 Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Friday, September 13, 2024
The $13,000 Martini
A Chicago bistro teamed up with a jewelry brand with the express purpose of creating the most expensive martini possible, which is enough to make a person want to Google how to build a guillotine. The “Marrow Martini” is a tomato mezcal martini served with a diamond tennis necklace.
Fingers crossed they serve this on the next submarine that goes to the Titanic.
Thomas Jefferson Died on the Fourth of July, Maybe on Purpose?
His last words were, “Is it the fourth? I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country.”
The Franz Kafka VR Experience
A new game called Metamorphosis VR lets you play as a traveling salesman named Gregor who has recently turned into a cockroach and is struggling to regain his humanity.
‘Now Your Fishes Will Be Warmed’
“Nu ska du få dina fiskar värmda” is a Swedish idiom that means you’re in deep trouble — essentially a Nordic version of “your goose is cooked.”
What Happened to the Population of Easter Island?
It’s been speculated that there were as many as 15,000 people living on Easter Island in the mid-19th century, and that a “genetic bottleneck” indicates that some sort of extinction event hit the population. But a recent genomic study found that there were actually only around 3,000 residents at that time, and no bottleneck apocalyptic event occurred at all.
We Just Achieved the Largest Number of People Orbiting Earth
As of this writing, there are 19 humans floating in space, between the International Space Station, Soyuz MS-26, Polaris Dawn and Tiangong Space Station.
Meta’s A.I. Will Probably Have an Australian Accent
Meta was caught red-handed scraping data from the profile of “every Australian adult” to train its A.I., with no option to opt out.
‘We’re So Much More Than Soup,’ Says CEO of Soup
Campbell’s is changing its name from Campbell Soup Company to The Campbell’s Company, in a sign that it’s prioritizing some of its non-soup offerings. CEO Mark Clouse has been on a PR blitz to sooth soup fans, saying, “We will always love soup, but today we’re so much more than soup,” and promising the company will continue to “celebrate soup.”
One Tiny Bone Is the Key to Human Evolution (and Human Suffering)
The lateral fabella is a bone in your knee that’s about the size of a sesame seed. Scientists believe it’s the evolutionary root of both our ability to walk upright — and arthritis.
Americans Have Already Watched 35 Billion Minutes of ‘Bluey’ This Year
And we’re on track to break last year’s total watch time of 43.9 billion minutes, which was somehow only second place, to Suits.
The One Ethical Way to Abuse A.I. Is Illegal
A guy used A.I. to make a bunch of fake songs, then used A.I. to name them, then used A.I. bots to “listen” to them billions of times, raking in $10 million from platforms like Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music. Unfortunately, that’s technically quite illegal, and the guy was arrested.
A.I. Came Up With Some Solid Band and Song Names, Though
His scheme involved artists like “Calorie Event,” “Calms Scorching” and “Calypso Xored” dropping bangers like “Zygotes,” “Zygotic” and “Zyme Bedewing.”