12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Friday, December 6, 2024

The date-o-sphere is trying to make the term “loud looking” stick, referring to a new trend among singles on dating sites: explicitly stating what they’re looking for. A cynic might say that dating apps have fallen out of favor and the dating advice industry is desperate for a trendy expression to write about.

They’ve been planning to land people on the moon again by 2026, but pushed the due date back a year because they found a mistake in the heat shield of the vehicle that would actually drop people onto the lunar surface. Surely this sort of careful study and self-correction will continue under the leadership of billionaire space tourist and war profiteer Jared Isaacman.

They’ve risen to prominence as a top-secret exercise just for women, but Kegels are ultimately just abdominal exercises, and it’s far more important to have a strong pelvic floor than to have six-pack abs. Pelvic floor strength in men is directly related to bladder control, sexual function and prostate health. 

So get squeezing!

A study has found that the human liver breaks down dietary fructose into perfect building blocks for cancer cells. Our consumption of fructose is 15 times what it was a century ago. Not a great combination.

Sure, mosquitoes kill around a million people every year. But according to data from World Atlas, the list of the 15 animals that kill the most humans each year is devastating news for kindergarteners everywhere: lions and elephants each kill about 100 people, and man’s best friend is responsible for 25,000 human deaths.

In the span of one day, three important and possibly related things happened: 1) Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that they would only cover anesthesia during part of your surgery; 2) the brutal and public murder of a health insurance CEO was celebrated nationwide; and 3) Blue Cross Blue Shield reversed course on the anesthesia thing.

A fourth, probably related thing happened as well: Health insurers quickly removed the parts of their websites where the executive boards’ names and pictures are proudly displayed.

A Canadian couple were attacked by a polar bear in their driveway. They physically fought the bear, with one of them receiving massive injuries to his arms and legs, before a neighbor came out with a gun. A polar bear expert weighed in: “If you’re attacked by a polar bear, definitely do not play dead. That is a myth. Fight as long as you can.”

The New York Times found that Huang is saving himself $8 billion in taxes thanks to series of loopholes and shell foundations.

Los Angeles isn’t beating the “fake” allegations. As Santa Monica tried to position itself as a resort destination for the rich and famous in the early 20th century, they devised a plan to widen their meager natural beach. From 1939 to 1957, 13.4 million cubic metres of sand were trucked in from further south, or dredged up from the ocean floor, quintupling the average width of the beach.

Pantone announced “Mocha Mousse” as 2025’s color of the year, choosing a shade of brown for the first time ever. They say it represents our “desire for comfort” and the “growing movement to align ourselves with the natural world,” which is an insane thing to say among the rise of A.I. and cryptocurrency. We have to agree that 2025 will be the year of some bullshit.

According to language learning site Babbel, the most mispronounced words of the year include tech company Nvidia, garbage manufacturer Shein, arm candy Barry Keoghan and a parasite that thrives in microplastics called cryptosporidium.