12 Trivia Tidbits for Monday, July 22, 2024

ESPN put out its ranking of the best athletes of the first quarter of the century, with Lionel Messi, Serena Williams and Michael Phelps going bronze, silver and gold.

The Whoopee Cushion was invented by JEM Rubber Co. in 1931, and Heritage Toronto has dedicated a plaque at the site of the factory where it was first produced.

Ford will be spending $3 billion to up its production of Super Duty trucks, those gas-guzzling, Oops-All-Blind-Spots pickups that your worst neighbor uses to tote groceries home from Wegmans and hit kids in crosswalks. As such, they’re converting one large Canadian plant that had previously been dedicated to EV production.

Renowned computer scientist Cal Newport says the secret to upping your productivity is to do less stuff, while working at a pace that comes naturally to you, and spending most of your time and mental energy focusing on the quality of your output.

Researchers have successfully used magnetic waves to (safely) penetrate the brain and “modulate deep brain neural circuits.”

Nanobots that are powered by enzymes and can navigate through mucus have been used to deliver medicine deep inside of lab mice.

Bodies found on top of the ash, rather than trapped underneath it, have led researchers to posit that there may have been a pretty disastrous earthquake shortly after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, wreaking deadly havoc on those who survived and were fleeing the eruption.

Shocker: The American military has historically been super racist. When two ships carrying ammunition exploded in Port Chicago in 1944, the white officers received leave while the Black crew were forced to clean up the horrific mess. Over 200 refused, and were served a court martial or even charged with mutiny. This obvious inequity was a major contributor to the decision to desegregate two years later. On the 80th anniversary of the disaster, the 256 charged sailors were officially exonerated.

A veteran and math teacher formerly named Dustin Ebey legally changed his name and filed the necessary paperwork to run for president, in a protest against the two-party system.

The hookup app Flirtini surveyed 2,000 people, and found that 40 percent of respondents have sexted with chatbots, and 56 percent trust A.I. more than human dating experts.

They’ve begun offering an $80 tub of 150 freeze-dried meals, now colloquially known as the Doomsday Bucket, in order to provide the consumer “readiness in the face of uncertainty.”

Jupiter’s humongous red dot is a backward cyclone that’s larger than planet Earth and rages 300 miles deep into the gas planet’s surface. But it appears to be shrinking, due to the smaller storms that feed it beginning to die off, and it may be completely gone within a couple of decades.