12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Friday, October 18, 2024
An Army of Raccoons Turned on the Woman Who Had Been Feeding Them
A woman in Washington had been feeding a family of raccoons outside of her house for 38 years, but a ton more started showing up, and the newer ones were getting aggressive. She finally called the police when she had almost 100 raccoons trying to break into her house 24 hours a day, and accosting her when she’d try to get into her car.
Bribing a Qatari Official Is More ‘Frowned Upon’ Than It Is Illegal
Raytheon settled federal charges for defrauding the Department of Defense, and bribing a Qatari official. They agreed to pay $950 million, proving once again that if the punishment is a fine, it’s not illegal, it’s legal for a price.
Pasadena’s Piss Bandit
Some guy is leaving bottles of piss on top of a utility box in Pasadena, California. The town even welded a metal barrier to the box, designed specifically to be hostile to bottles of piss, but the bandit tore off the barrier and continued to deposit his pee-pee bottles there.
2024’s Most-Googled Halloween Costumes
The three most-searched Halloween costumes are CatNap from survival horror game Poppy Playtime, Raygun, the overmatched Australian breakdancer from the Olympics and Shrunken Head Bob from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
BBC Weather’s Ominous Forecast
A glitch in the BBC’s Weather app showed some alarming stats that don’t seem particularly possible, although we don’t know exactly how climate change will play out. It briefly forecasted things like 16,717 MPH winds in Chichester and 832 degrees in Brazil.
Need a Strategy to Make Yourself More Tired When Walking? Science Has You Covered
A study found that walking in random short bursts can burn up to 60 percent more energy than walking at a steady pace for the exact same amount of time. Walk like a toddler, and you’ll sleep like a baby.
A Crypto Criminal Had a Little Fun on LinkedIn on the Way to Jail
Ryan Salame, the former CEO of a gigantic crypto exchange who was convicted of fraud, updated his LinkedIn ahead of his seven-year sentence: “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Inmate at FCI Cumberland!”
Prada Is Designing Space Suits for the Next Moon Landing
NASA has tapped Prada to work with space infrastructure company Axiom Space to design the space suits for Artemis III, the mission that aims to land humans on the moon again in 2026.
Elephants Are Half Righties, Half Lefties
Elephants don’t have hands, but they do tend to favor one side or the other, and any given herd is generally split 50/50. You can tell which is their preferred side because their trunk will have more wrinkles there, as it maneuvers objects in that direction more often.
Mysterious Balls Are Closing Sydney Beaches
Two beaches in Sydney, Australia have been closed temporarily after “black, ball-shaped debris” started washing up on shore. It’s almost definitely chunks of oil mixed with debris after an oil spill, but who knows, it could be something even worse!
Sure Man, a Mobile App Will Probably Solve the Loneliness Epidemic
An app called Pie, with a “mission to fight social isolation,” has raised over $11 million from investors. There are other apps trying to elbow into the space now too, like The Breakfast, which will pair you with a rando for breakfast, and Timeleft, which will chuck you into a dinner reservation with a bunch of strangers.
A Dog Climbed the Great Pyramid of Giza
A paraglider caught footage of a dog scrambling around the top of the Great Pyramid, which it apparently scaled while chasing birds.