DID YOU KNOW …? Ten Years of Trivia!

I’ve told this before, but it’s definitely worth retelling now.

In October of 2016, I had a problem – I was laying out the newspaper and had a pretty good-sized “hole” on one page, blank space with nothing in the folder with which to fill it.

Remembering my days as a teacher, I recalled the trivia bits I used to post on the classroom bulletin board and thought, “Why not stick some of those in that hole on page six?” or whatever page it was.

The reaction from the readers was immediate and positive, so I made it a column the following week.

That was ten years ago.  This week, my little emergency solution turns ten years old, and I am amazed and gratified that it’s lasted so long, and is so popular with you, the readers. Thank you for the last decade of enjoyment that we have both derived from all of this.

Let’s get to the tenth anniversary of trivia right now!

Did you know …

… a woman was elected to Congress before women had the federal right to vote? Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was the first woman to hold federal elected office in the United States. She was elected in 1916 as a member of the House of Representatives from Montana. She was elected again in 1940. Montana women were able to vote for her at her first election; the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave all American women the right to vote in federal elections from that point on. (A true trend-setter.)

… it’s never a good idea to land a plane with your eyes closed? In 1986, a jet from the Soviet national airline Aeroflot was on approach to land in the Russian city of Grozny. The captain of the flight reportedly bet the first officer that he could land the plane without visual confirmation – in other words, land with his eyes closed. He didn’t really close his eyes, of course; he used an all-instrument approach and curtained off the windows of the plane’s cockpit. As you might expect, this did not end well: Flight 6502 touched down far too fast, overturned, and killed 63 people, including the first officer. (I guess the captain never collected on the bet.)

… colors exist that your eye cannot see? Of course, you already know about infrared (one wavelength below red) and ultraviolet (one wavelength above violet), but other such colors exist – and don’t have names. People perceive these colors when looking at an image featuring side-by-side red and green strips and side-by-side blue and yellow strips on a black background. Scientists are studying these shades of color never before detected. (A colorful comment, no?)

… a popular celebrity was the inspiration for an insect’s nickname? The species of horsefly that has a large gold backside is known as the “Bootylicious” horsefly. The identity is associated with entertainer Beyoncé (born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles, 1981). She recorded the song “Bootylicious” in 2001, and researchers say the horsefly is something of a diva among insects. (Uh, yeah.)

… goats have been used as torture devices? Specifically in the torture known as “the goat’s tongue.” In the Middle Ages, the victim would be tied to a tree, and the soles of the victim’s feet would be moistened with salt. A thirsty goat would then be set loose to lick the victim’s feet until the flesh was worn away. (A baaa-a-ad way to torture people.)

… those lines down the middle of the highway were inspired by milk trucks? A man named Edward Hines (1870-1938) was traveling on a highway in 1911 and following a milk truck which was leaking onto the roadway. Hines realized that putting a line down the middle of the road would help with safe traveling, and the idea took off. (Hey, whatever works!)

… talk show host Jerry Springer (1944-2023) was British? Springer was born in London – inside the Highgate Underground station, to be precise, which was used as a bomb shelter during World War II. Springer and his parents would later emigrate to the United States and settle in Queens, New York. He served as a city councilman in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1971 to 1974, resigning after admitting to hiring a prostitute, but won his seat back in 1975. Springer was chosen by the council to serve as Mayor from 1977 to 1978 (Cincinnati did not elect mayors at the time; they do now). He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Ohio in 1982 and twice considered running for the Senate, but negative associations with his off-the-wall talk show kept him from doing so. (Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry!)

… the popular 1940s and 1950s fad of swallowing live goldfish began on a bet? In 1939, a freshman at Harvard University, Lothrop Withington, Jr. (1917-2013) was challenged to swallow a live goldfish for a $10 bet. Withington, who was running for class president at the school, accepted the challenge, swallowed the fish, and began the series of events which eventually forced a Massachusetts state senator to introduce a bill outlawing the consumption of live goldfish. (There’s something awfully fishy about that story.)

… Beauty and the Beast was the first animated movie nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award™? The 1991 Disney feature also had the distinction of having three of its musical numbers nominated for Best Song, one of