MARY BRASWELL: In some serious times, Looking Back at some lighter trivia

In light of all the serious news of late, this week is a good time to offer up a collection of mostly useless and lighthearted trivia.

—Thomas Edison filed 1,093 patents including one for concrete furniture and a cigar that would burn indefinitely.

— The three wise monkeys are Mizaru (See No Evil), Mikazaru (Hear No Evil) and Mazaru (Speak No Evil). Rarely mentioned is the fourth wise monkey named Shizaru (Do No Evil).

— John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son.

— Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

— Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

QUIK QUIZ

There are over three million homeless people in America. Approximately how many vacant homes are also in America?

a) 10 million

b) 12 million

c) 16 million

d) 18 million

— “Facebook Addiction Disorder” is now a mental illness recognized by psychologists.

— If a kangaroo’s tail is lifted off the ground, the animal will be unable to hop.

— Movie trailers were originally shown after the feature film, which is how the snippets got the name “trailers.”

— People don’t sneeze during sleep because the brain shuts down that reflex.

— In the 1800s and up until after World War II, lobster was considered the “cockroach of the ocean” and mostly eaten by the poor, prisoners, slaves and the homeless.

— A copyright filed in 1935 for the song “Happy Birthday” granted rights to specific piano arrangements, but not the song itself.

— Shoe stores used X-rays to measure the foot size of customers in the 1940s, before the risks of X-rays were fully understood.

— Australia has around 10,000 beaches, making it possible to visit a different beach every day for over 27 years.

— On average, more people in the U.S. are killed by dogs than by sharks over a 100-year period.

— The following sentence can be read backward and forward: “Do geese see God?”

— Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to watch television for three hours.

— Adolf Hitler’s death was announced on May 1, 1945. Osama Bin Laden’s death was announced on May 1, 2011.

— Unlike other big cats, a snow leopard is not aggressive toward humans. There are no verified fatal attacks on humans by this feline.

— Paraskavedekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th. The next time there will be such a day to fear is next April.

— Most toilet paper sold for home use in France is pink.

— According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.

— In 2014, a missing woman on vacation in Iceland was found when it was discovered she was a member of the search team looking for herself.

— Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be advertised on television.

— The two tiny holes drilled in the shaft of every BIC pen are to ensure that the air pressure is the same inside the pen as outside. This helps the ink flow to the tip.

— Even though Froot Loops are different colors, all have the same flavor.

— The stripes of a tiger are as unique as the human fingerprint.

— On average, a person will spend 38 days of his or her life brushing their teeth.

— The Boston Marathon did not allow female runners until 1972.

— Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon with his left foot first.

— India has the lowest divorce rate in the world, though many marriages are still arranged by parents.

— In 2014, a new $15 silver coin with Superman on the heads side were made legal tender in Canada.

— Alligators will give manatees the right of way when swimming near one another.

— When watermelons are grilled or baked, they lose their granular texture and can serve as a meat substitute.

— In 1999, hackers discovered a security flaw in Hotmail that allowed anyone to log on to any account using the password “eh.” At the time, this was considered to be the “most widespread security incident in the history of the Web.”

— Stilts were invented by French shepherds who needed a way to move around in wet marshes.

— Since 2004, it has been mandatory in the state of Ohio that drivers convicted of DUI display a different color license plate (yellow with red numbers).

— The first movie shown in the White House was “The Birth of a Nation” when Woodrow Wilson was president. The 1915 silent movie was a pro-white supremacy film used at times by the KKK for recruiting new members.

— Bill Gates designed a traffic control system for Seattle when he was only 15 years old.

— Human birth control pills also work for gorillas.

— Many sources agree that most stolen/shoplifted book is the Bible. Of that number are many Gideon Bibles taken from motel rooms. However, members of Gideons International say, “You can’t steal God’s word. It is freely given.”

— In Japan, a person is as likely to die from being struck by lightning as from a gunshot wound.

— The Nazi Party was the first in modern history to organize an anti-smoking campaign.

— There is now technology built into some American guns that allows the owners to control the safety with a smartphone.

— Research shows that surgeons who play video games at least three hours a week make 37 percent fewer errors than their non-video playing counterparts.

— The air quality of Mumbai (India) is so bad, it’s equivalent to smoking 2.5 packs of cigarettes a day.

— France has conducted more nuclear weapons tests than the United Kingdom, India, China and North Korea combined.

— A flea can jump up to 200 times its own height. This would be like a man jumping the Empire State Building.

— The year 2013 was the first since 1987 to feature four different numbers.

— In 1995, the winner of the $1 million Monopoly game piece at McDonald’s sent it to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in an anonymous letter.

QUIK QUIZ answer: d) 18 million

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.