15 Law-Defying Scraps Of Trivia We Learned This Week
Election Day was this past week, and while we didn’t spend too much time on politics, we did a rundown of presidential jokes and took a look at the things that might get you thrown out of a voting booth. We also had info for you if this election has you fleeing to Canada, while also recapping some deadly disasters from America’s past, some involving beards.
Here's a look back at the facts we learned this week. These short summaries are not meant to be appreciated by themselves—each one links to a full article we put out this past week with much more info, so click every one that interests you, or you go directly to jail.
1. Jon Hamm was on a TV dating show in 1996 (and lost).
The woman seeking a date said she liked foot massages and therefore had a foot fetish (we’re not sure that’s what “foot fetish” means).
2. The last surviving World War I soldier died at a notable age.
He was 111 years, 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day old. The war’s armistice was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
3. Poison cigarettes treated asthma in the ’60s.
The cigarettes contained belladonna and stramonium, famous poisons, and if you ate them, you got high.
4. The buildings around Wrigley Field put up their own bleachers to spy on Cubs games.
Wrigley pushed against this then finally just bought these buildings to operate the seating themselves.
5. One bit of Canada has less gravity than anywhere else on Earth.
6. 23 spectators died watching a college football game.
Hundreds were sitting on the roof of glass factory, and it broke, sending them tumbling and dropping some of them on a hot furnace.
7. A mob boss got jailed at 93, and released at 100.
Sonny Franzese had been tried for murders, and later admitted to different murders, but when he was 93, they arrested him for extorting a pizzeria.
8. Parker Brothers originally rejected Monopoly, saying it featured “52 fundamental errors.”
The man pitching it, Charles Darrow, then just distributed it on its own till it saw so much success, Parker Brothers changed their minds.
9. Birth control pills actually contain pro-baby vitamins.
It aims to prevent pregnancy, but if you get pregnant anyway, the pill gives you the folic acid you’ll need for that.
10. Those silica gel beads don’t just absorb moisture: They also measure moisture.
11. A rodent called the antechinus copulates to death.
The male has sex for 12 hours at a time, fueled by a special steroid that ultimately kills it.
12. A famous march, whose title you might not know, was commissioned by The Washington Post.
If you do know the title, you’ll know it’s “The Washington Post,” but you might not know the Post ordered it to play during an essay contest.
13. In 1830, beards were super unpopular.
Gangs repeatedly tried to cut the beard off one Massachusetts man who grew a beard, and he went to jail.
14. Back to the Future got a musical stage adaptation.
It debuted in March 2020, a most inauspicious time for public entertainment, and so it quickly closed, but it’s due on Broadway in 2023.
15. 101 dalmatians would yield just two full coats, with maybe enough spare fur for a hat.
We contacted a professional fashion designer to help us do the math on this.
