12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Friday, November 8, 2024
The good news is we’ve solved the bacon heist. The bad news: We’ve got a brand new inflatable planetarium heist on our hands.
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A Student Accidentally Found a Huge Ancient Mayan City
A PhD student scrolling through Google search results found an obscure lidar scan of the Mexican jungle done by an environmental organization. But he noticed something the organization hadn’t: evidence of an entire lost city.
Ultimately, he discovered a 50,000-person settlement from around 750 AD, including pyramids, roads and sports fields, that had been consumed by the jungle.
Dozens of Lab Monkeys Escaped and Local Cops Advise Panicking
Forty-three monkeys escaped from Alpha Genesis research labs in South Carolina, and authorities are telling people to stay inside and lock their doors and windows while they catch them with thermal-imaging cameras and live traps.
Britain’s Largest Inflatable Planetarium Has Been Stolen
In a Carmen Sandiego-esque heist, robbers made off with a large trailer that they didn’t realize contained a gigantic inflatable planetarium that makes the rounds at music festivals and schools.
A Mysterious Bacon Heist May Have Been Solved
Meanwhile, in Florida, an arrest has been made after someone hijacked a refrigerated semi-truck with $100,000 of bacon inside back in September.
A Japanese Bookstore Is Renting Out Shelves
Honmaru book store in Japan is attempting to “reconstruct bookstores,” by renting out shelves for $30 to $60 to let individuals put whatever they want up there for a month.
The Oldest Written Text in the World
The Kish tablet, which dates back to about 3500 BC, represents a weird time in the history of written language. The markings are somewhere between cave drawings and hieroglyphics, and while no one can tell what it’s trying to say, it’s the oldest artifact we’ve recovered that makes it clear some kind of story is being told.
Ozempic Continues Racking Up the Suspiciously Good Side Effects
Ozempic and other weight-loss semaglutides have now been found to help with arthritis and liver disease. Science still doesn’t really know why.
TGI Fridays Has Almost 10 Times More Gift Card Debt Than Actual Value
The company has $5.9 million cash on hand, but $49.7 million in outstanding gift cards that are up to 21 years old.
A French Newspaper Stalked World Leaders on Strava
Le Monde used Strava, a run-tracking app, to hunt down members of the security teams of Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron. By looking at their data, they were able to pinpoint where these leaders were staying (including Putin at a palace he swears isn’t his).
A Raccoon Broke Into LaGuardia
A passenger caught a video of a raccoon falling out of the ceiling, getting tangled up in some wires, then scrabbling around the terminal for a while. You get three guesses as to which airline this happened to, but you’ll only need one (it was Spirit Airlines).
Russia Is Fining Google for More Money Than Exists on the Planet
Google refuses to reinstate Russian state YouTube channels because they pumped out a ton of propaganda, so the Kremlin slapped them with a $20.5 decillion fine. That’s a 35-digit number. The global GDP is somewhere in the trillions or quadrillions.
Belgium’s Ancient Frankenstein Skeleton
Several bones were excavated from an ancient cemetery in 1970, including one full skeleton that was buried in the fetal position. But a recent analysis has found that that one skeleton is made up of bones from at least five different people, spanning about 2,500 years.