12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Friday, January 3, 2025
We almost killed them entirely in the 1960s, but the bald eagle is finally having its day in the sun.
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A Guy Dropped His Phone in a Temple, and It Belongs to God Now
A guy visiting a south Indian temple accidentally dropped his phone into a collection bin, and the temple refused to give it back. The Minister of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department explained, “Anything deposited into the offering box, even if done unintentionally, becomes part of God’s account.”
The World’s Richest People Hit a Huge Landmark
The 500 richest people on the planet gained $1.5 trillion in 2024, pushing them collectively past the $10 trillion mark for the first time.
The Snow Globe Was Supposed to Be a Medical Innovation
In 1900, medical supply repairer Erwin Perzy was trying to combine a water-filled magnifying glass with an Edison light bulb when he accidentally invented the world’s most ubiquitous and chintzy paperweight. The Perzy family is still selling O.G. snow globes in his hometown of Vienna.
The Bald Eagle Finally Became the National Bird in 2024
Don’t say Joe Biden never did anything for ya; he just signed a new law that designates the bald eagle as our official national bird for the first time ever. Between that, and pardoning eight turkeys, he may go down as America’s most bird-friendly president.
What Was the Longest Day in History?
The old Roman calendar was so imperfect, they had to add an extra month, called Mercedonius, every few years. Things got so out of whack that Julius Caesar had to crank the year 46 BCE up to 445 days.
It Looks Like Paris Cheaped Out on Bronze Medals
Just five months after the close of the Paris Olympics, bronze medal winners around the world are posting pictures of their medals suddenly looking decades old. The “bronze” medals are typically made of a slurry of copper, zinc and tin, and a higher concentration of the cheaper ingredients seems to be causing them to rapidly deteriorate.
A Car-Based Society Is Making Us Clinically Miserable
Over 90 percent of American households have at least one car, and 87 percent of Americans use their cars daily. A study has found that, while owning a car increases quality of life (because infrastructure actively punishes you for not having one), the moment you have to use one for 50 percent or more of your daily tasks, your overall satisfaction with life in general begins to plummet.
Scientists Want to Genetically Engineer Mosquito Spit to Eliminate Disease
Scientists have just pinpointed a protein in mosquito saliva that keeps blood from clotting, leading to greater spread of malaria and other diseases. They’re now looking into altering or eliminating that protein via gene editing.
A New Generation Begins (According to Some Australian Guy, At Least)
Generation Beta technically refers to anyone born between 2025 and 2039. But that’s according to a high-profile consultant named Mark McCrindle, widely credited as the guy who made “Generation Alpha” stick and is dead-set on continuing that naming convention forever. It’s unclear why everyone lets one Australian dude make these decisions for the rest of us.
Americans Haven’t Been This Sober in Over 20 Years
A beverage data company says that alcohol consumption among Americans has dropped to its lowest level since 2002. In that time, the percent of 18- to 34-year-olds who have sampled alcohol dropped from 72 percent to 62 percent.
Bernie Madoff’s Legacy of Terror Is Nearly Mathematically Erased
Over the course of 10 payments, $4.3 billion has been dolled out to more than 40,000 victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. The Department of Justice says that accounts for 94 percent of total losses. So like, we’re all good then, right?
Where’d They Get the Dough From?
The Department of Justice got JPMorgan to cough up $1.7 billion for letting the whole thing happen. Another $2.2 billion came from the estate of Jeffrey Picower, the guy who profited the most from Madoff’s scheme. Oddly, Picower’s estate had to forfeit over $7 billion, and it’s unclear where all the rest of that money went.
