12 Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Thursday, September 26, 2024

The Chief Commercial Officer of Ring cameras announced a Ghost Search contest, the winner of which will receive $100k for the most compelling supernatural images or videos caught on a Ring device.

Apparel brand Outerknown released the first commercially available seaweed-based shirt, made of a compound of cotton and kelp fiber. Seaweed is a much greener crop than cotton, as it doesn’t need to be fertilized or watered, and obviously contains zero fossil fuels, compared to synthetic fibers.

Crocs is piloting a program called “Old Crocs New Life” where they’ll collect your old Crocs, then shred them and repurpose them for brand new Crocs.

A California couple took their cat on a camping trip to Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, where it freaked out and ran away into the woods. The cat traveled 900 miles in the right direction over the course of two months, before it was finally returned to the family (thanks to a vet scanning its microchip).

Maryland’s College Park Airport is the oldest in the world that’s still in operation, having been established in 1909. Sweden’s Ljungbyhed Airport followed in 1910, and Germany’s Hamburg Airport takes third place at 1911.

Scientists were able to grow a tree from a millennium-old seed that had been found in a cave in the Judean desert in the 1980s.

Coca-Cola introduced a new raspberry-ish flavor, “Coca-Cola Spiced,” in an ill-fated attempt to lure Gen Z sippers back from brands like Olipop and Poppi. Half a year later, no one was buying it and they were forced to retreat back to the lab.

Many high-end hotel chains have deals with luxury skincare and perfume brands to offer their products in rooms. But usually you’re getting a special concoction that’s merely inspired by the real thing. 

For example, the Fairmont Hotel gives you free Le Labo Rose 31 products, but its website stipulates that the toiletries are “lightly fragranced with the Rose 31 scent and are exclusive to Fairmont.”

A well-known Chinese economist criticized Xi’s handling of the economy in a private WeChat group, and was soon detained by police and seems to have disappeared entirely.

Neuroscientists have determined that the human brain categorizes the number zero as just that, a number, as opposed to the much more nebulous concept of “the absence of anything.”

Americans who drive to work average a 55-minute commute. Memphis, Las Vegas and Columbus, Ohio came in at the fastest car commutes while, predictably, L.A., Chicago and New York had the slowest.

According to Rolling Stone, the answer is 1972’s The Harder They Come, 1965’s Help! and 1984’s Purple Rain.