12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Thursday, November 7, 2024
It’s been a big half-decade for dudes named Will Smith who play professional baseball.
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A Data Thief Is Demanding a Baguette Ransom
Hackers who stole sensitive data from France’s Schneider Electric have demanded $125,000, and specifically (though probably tongue-in-cheek) requested to be paid in baguettes.
The Longest Journey by Pumpkin
An Oregon man grew a 950-pound pumpkin in his backyard, carved it into a boat and set a Guinness World Record by paddling 46 miles down a river.
The Biggest Brain in Human History
A 19th-century Dutch man had a brain that weighed over six pounds (the average brain is around three pounds). He probably didn’t have the best time with his hulking gourd: He passed away in an asylum at age 21.
Dutch Thieves Forgot to Measure the Art They Stole
Thieves attempted to steal a set of four Warhol paintings, called “Reigning Queens,” from an art gallery in the Netherlands. They blew the building open with a bomb, grabbed the paintings, but then found they couldn’t fit all four in their car. They then tried to break two out of their frames, badly damaging them, and ultimately dropped them on the sidewalk and fled.
The MLB’s Magic Mud
Every MLB baseball is coated in a special mud that comes from a secret site somewhere in New Jersey, called Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud. The benefits were more anecdotal than scientific, until geophysicists ran it through a rigorous study. Doug Jerolmack concluded that “it spreads like face cream, but it grips like sandpaper. It has this magical ability.”
After 20 Years in Prison, a Newly Freed Man Saved Two Lives in Two Months
Shortly after getting out of prison, a Texas man saved someone from drowning in a lake, and a few weeks later pulled a guy from a burning car. He got out of prison 15 years early on good behavior, too, in case you’re inclined to believe in divine intervention.
Which Countries Believe in Aliens the Most?
A survey of citizens of 36 countries found that Poland, Belgium and Japan have the fewest ufologists, all with 10 percent or less of their population who believe. At the top of the list were the United Arab Emirates (36 percent), Saudi Arabia (38 percent) and India (43 percent). The United States clocked in at 17 percent.
2024’s Most-Searched Slang Terms
According to Google Trends, the most-searched words that should have never entered the lexicon were “hawk tuah,” “skibidi,” “sigma” and “demure.”
The World’s First Wooden Satellite
A satellite designed by Kyoto University scientists has just launched into orbit, and is intended to burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere when its job is done, hoping to start a wave of satellites that don’t clutter up Earth’s orbit or put humans on the ground at risk.
Someone Named Will Smith Has Won the World Series Five Times in a Row
Dodgers catcher Will Smith won in 2020 and 2024, while a pitcher named Will Smith won in 2021, 2022 and 2023, somehow on three different teams.
Des Moines’ 88-Year Trick-or-Treat Drought
In 1936, Des Moines, Iowa instated “Beggars’ Night” on October 30th, to combat Halloween “hooliganism.” 2024 was the first time since then the city celebrated Halloween on the 31st.
The World’s Largest Chicken-Shaped Building
Campuestohan Highland Resort in the Philippines is home to a 114-foot-tall chicken that has 15 air-conditioned hotel rooms inside.