15 Trivia Tidbits for Saturday, November 30, 2024
This weekend is a time for slowly digesting and not doing very much of anything. But along with digesting pecans, you can also devote some time to digesting facts. For example, did you know that Picasso based some of his paintings on sculptures stolen from the Louvre that he’d stored in his sock drawer? And that during one meal, he doodled on the tablecloth, seemingly gifting the restaurant some valuable art, but then he made sure to destroy the cloth before he left?
We’ve got something else on Picasso below, as well as some info on smelly wine and the world’s shortest political career.
Love Bug
The leopard slug’s penis measures 2 to 3 feet in length. This is particularly notable because the slug’s body maxes out at around 8 inches in length. Also, the penis is attached to its face, which isn’t considered a problem in slug culture.
The Phoebus Cartel
You might have heard about how a cartel of lightbulb manufacturers created planned obsolescence, in a conspiracy. This was actually a good move for buyers, because earlier bulbs were terrible. They lasted longer but quickly lost brightness over time. It’s normal and fine for industries to define standards, with trade-offs.
In Soviet Russia, Women Needed a Gyno Exam to Get a Driver’s License
In a practice from Soviet times, and continuing through the start of this century in post-Soviet countries, women were required to get gyno exams to receive driver’s licenses. If they’re sick, they could crash their car, reasoned proponents of the practice.
Double Oh No
John Barry, who composed the James Bond theme, also composed a musical in 1971 based on Lolita, entitled Lolita, My Love. It failed and closed down before it reached Broadway.
Truck Stop
In 2021, a construction truck in Taiwan slid down a hill and landed in front of a railway tunnel, right as an express train was approaching. The train hit the truck and derailed, killing 49.
Base Balls
The first baseball player to ever be punished for injecting performance-enhancing substances was James Galvin. He injected himself with an elixir made of crushed dog testicles. He pitched superbly after dosing, if only because of the placebo effect.
Cleanliness Next to Deadliness
This week marks the 61st anniversary of the time Liberace inhaled so much dry cleaning fluid fumes that he nearly died. That precise chemical, containing carbon tetrachloride, has since been banned for household use.
Yes Go
Business schools tell a story about how Chevrolet tried selling their Nova car in Spanish-speaking countries, and this failed because Nova is Spanish for “no go.” It’s a funny story that happens to be totally untrue. In fact, Nova was already a brand name for gasoline in Mexico, so it’s clear that people are fine with associating that name with automotive tech.
High Beams
Reindeers change color to navigate better during the winter. No, it’s not the color of their noses but the color of their eyes, which change from gold to blue in the winter and then go back to norml in the summer.
Musty Taint
When wine has spent a lot of time corked in a bottle, it may smell musty, which is a condition known as cork taint. However, this isn’t because any dirty or smelly compound has entered the wine. Instead, a chemical shuts down your sense of smell, and mustiness is how your brain interprets the sudden absence of scent.
Tempting Fate
In the 1890s, the Florida town of Keystone City renamed itself to “Frostproof.” This way, reasoned town officials, citrus growers would flock here, knowing that their crop would be safe from frost. Then came 1895, and a particularly bad frost swept in, killing all the citrus there.
Sweet Escape
Killer bees don’t exist naturally. Scientists crossbred two different species of honeybees in 1956, hoping to breed a new kind that makes more honey. The resulting hybrid proved extra aggressive and escaped from the lab. The species went on to kill more than 1,000 people.
Doomed Request
Pablo Picasso died in 1973, the night after hosting a party for a few friends. As a result, his last words to be recorded were his goodbyes to these friends: “Drink to me. Drink to my health. You know I can’t drink anymore.”
Tunnel Vision
A lot of people enable subtitles on all movies nowadays, and this leads to an unintended problem. When you’re focused on the words at the bottom of the screen, it’s impossible for you to see anything else in detail. That’s because the part of your eye that perceives detail, the fovea, is too small to focus on a wide area at once.
Brief Career
Australian rugby coach Mal Meninga decided to enter politics in 2001, running to be a state rep. When he announced he was entering the race, someone at the conference asked him why. He replied, “And the thing about that is, I guess, I was a public figure and I was put on the podium where I was just a person out there... I’m buggered, I’m sorry, I have to resign.”
