12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Friday, January 24, 2025
The U.S. dollar needs to be backed by something stronger than gold. Something like cattle gallstones.
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In Rare Good News for the Environment, No One Wants to Drill on Sacred Alaskan Land
A plot of land in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was controversially made available for oil and gas drilling, but for the second time, not a single company tried to lease it.
Which Books Were Americans Least Likely to Finish Last Year?
A poll found that 30 percent of Americans who started Crime and Punishment couldn’t finish it within 90 days, nor could 31 percent of those who started The Count of Monte Cristo and It.
A Couple Got Magnets Implanted Under Their Skin to Level Up Their Hand-Holding
Two body modifiers in love agreed to get little magnets injected under the skin of their hands, and say they “use the implant almost daily to link” with each other.
Snort Away Your Depression
The FDA has approved a nasal spray from Johnson & Johnson, called Spravato, as the first stand-alone treatment for people whose depression has been unresponsive to two or more traditional treatments.
Chicago’s 2025 Plow Naming Contest
Winners of this year’s You Name a Snowplow contest include Bean There, Plowed That, Lollaplowlooza and Bozo the Plow.
Cow Gallstones Are Worth Twice As Much as Gold
There’s a black market for cattle gallstones in Brazil, because there’s a huge demand for the ingredient in China's $60 billion “traditional medicine” industry.
A Major Setback for Elephants’ Rights
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that five zoo elephants don’t have the right to sue for their freedom because they’re not human. Surely this precedent won’t be used by a fascist regime obsessed with pedantic reclassification to take rights away from marginalized people.
Scientists Discovered a Brand New Bee That Forages Nightshade Pollen
A newly-discovered small blue bee has a hair pattern that resembles eyeliner, and is one of very few insects that collect the pollen of the deadly plant nightshade. The researcher who discovered it said, “I observed this matte-blue-colored bee doing a handstand on the flower, sucking nectar with its tongue while scraping the flower with its hind legs and rubbing the flower with its hairy belly.”
So these guys are little freaks.
A Woman Thought the Baggage Carousel Was the Moving Walkway at a Russian Airport
A Moscow airport caught security footage of a woman checking in, then promptly and casually stepping onto a baggage carousel. She fell on her back and disappeared behind a curtain, directly behind a couple of employees who were busy with another customer.
A New Zealander’s Cat Was Left on a Plane for Three Flights Over 24 Hours
A woman moving from New Zealand to Australia was told, three hours after landing, that her cat Mittens had been left in the cargo hold because its cage was hidden by a wheelchair. The plane was already on the eight-hour flight back to New Zealand, so she had to wait for the eight-hour return flight to be reunited.
An Australian Arsonist Set His Pants on Fire
A guy set fire to a bunch of buildings outside of Melbourne on Christmas morning, and was caught on CCTV going up in flames after accidentally dousing his pants with flame propellant. He ran down the street with his burning pants hanging off of one ankle before jumping into a getaway vehicle.
Sydney’s Stinky Flower Is About to Bloom
A corpse flower named Putricia at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney is about to bloom for the first time in seven years. The Gardens are constantly livestreaming the plant on YouTube, where viewers noticed it preparing to bloom, a process that will take about 24 hours once it kicks in.
