12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Wednesday, January 8, 2025
If you’re traveling abroad and wondering if it’s chill to smooch a pal on the cheek, then we’ve got just the map for you.
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Facebook Is Moving Its Moderation Team to the Most Unbiased State in the Nation: Texas
Among a landslide of capitulations to fascism, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he’s going to kill off the meager fact-checking operation that existed within Meta, and move the content moderation team from California to Texas, “where there’s less concern about the bias of our teams.”
The Italian Village Where You’re Not Allowed to Get Sick
The mayor of a small remote town officially ordered its residents to “avoid contracting any illness that may require emergency medical assistance.” He was half-joking, but also pretty serious — the town is made up of mostly seniors, and the nearest hospital is 30 miles away on a road with an 18 mile-per-hour speed limit.
Where Did Alexander Actually Become Great?
Historians say that Alexander came to known as “The Great” after a major victory over the Persians in 334 BC, and they believe they’ve pinpointed the exact location of the pivotal Battle of the Granicus: an inauspicious field in northwest Turkiye.
Brave Missouri Cops Captured an Adorable Little Monkey
Officers started receiving reports of a small creature on the side of a highway, and were able to track down and capture a baby monkey in a pink tutu. It was legally owned by a local resident, and they were able to return it safely.
Two Stock Photo Companies Are Teaming Up Against Generative A.I.
Getty Images and its rival Shutterstock announced a $3.7 billion merger in the hopes of beating out A.I. slop machines like Midjourney and DALL-E.
If You Have Medical Debt, You May See Your Credit Score Jump 20 Points
On the way out the door, Joe Biden has instituted a rule that says medical debt can’t show up on credit reports. Fifteen million Americans with $49 billion in medical debt will be impacted, with credit scores expected to raise by 20 points on average.
The Best and Worst Cities for Dating
According to data on economics, recreation and dating opportunities, a study found that the best dating scenes are in Seattle, Las Vegas and Atlanta, while the worst are in Brownsville, Texas, Port St. Lucie, Florida and Pearl City, Hawaii.
Where Are You Allowed to Kiss People on the Cheek?
The website BrilliantMaps.com has devised a world map depicting which countries it’s chill to greet someone by kissing them on the cheek, as well as how many kisses are customary. According to the map, it’s perfectly fine to smooch a friend in Afghanistan up to eight times.
The Origins of the New Year’s Kiss
Historians think we have Vikings and other pagans to thank for the tradition of kissing at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The pagan festival Saturnalia and a Viking party called Hogmanay (still celebrated in Scotland) involved drunken debauchery that included a bit of PDA. The first literary reference to a New Year’s kiss is from the 14th-century story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Times Square’s New Year’s Eve Confetti Is All Hand-Tossed
Balloon art mavin Treb Heining pioneered the iconic floating confetti effect 30 years ago. Every year since, he’s managed a small team to hand-toss 3,000 pounds of ‘fetti.
How Do Spiders Smell?
Scientists have long known that spiders smelled, because male spiders are able to detect pheromones from females. But they’ve only recently figured out how they do it: olfactory hairs on their legs.
A Guy Taking a Waymo to the Airport Got Stuck in an Infinite Traffic Loop
A guy filmed himself talking to customer support while his self-driving Waymo cab was whipping him around in the same tight circle over and over again. They were able to remotely update the software to get him out of the digital death spiral.
