Was a man shot to death at a Major League Baseball game . . . and nobody cared?

Well, another birthday has passed (and I’m starting to get a bit anxious about how few are in front of me now) and it’s time to get back to the business at hand.

Which hand was I talking about, anyway?

Oh, yes! Trivia! That’s what I’m supposed to be doing here. (Don’t laugh. You’ll get old one day, too.)

The nicest thing about a birthday is the number of people who congratulate you on making it for another trip around the sun. Everybody is nice to you, even when they don’t have to be.

I like that.

I also like trivia, so here’s this week’s heaping helping!

Did you know …

… the first coin-operated vending machine was created about 2,000 years ago? Brainchild of the Greek scientist Hero of Alexandria (10 AD-70 AD), the machine was a holy water dispenser that required a five-drachma coin to operate. He created it in the first century AD. (And he probably went broke trying to reimburse customers when it didn’t work.)

… a wanted pirate turned the tables on the official who wanted him? Jean Lafitte (1780-1823) was a French pirate who operated primarily in the Gulf of Mexico. During the War of 1812, Governor of Louisiana William C.C. Claiborne (1775-1817), advertised a $500 reward for the capture of the pirate. In retaliation, Lafitte offered a $5,000 reward for the capture of the governor. No one ever tried to claim either reward. (Turnabout is fair play, after all.)

… a bizarre crime wave rocked London in the late 17th century? In 1681, the city was plagued by an attacker who would – seemingly out of nowhere – spank his female victims with a rod, shout “Spanko!” and then run away. The man was referred to in the press as “Whipping Tom,” and he was never captured or identified. Additional trivia note: During the same general time period, London actually saw two “Whipping Toms.” The second one was caught and confessed, saying that because a woman had been unfaithful to him, he wanted to beat 100 women before Christmas of 1712. (I’m not sure which is weirder … the act itself, or shouting “Spanko!”)

… you may be a sufferer of derealization? If you’re curious, it’s the feeling that the external world is unreal or dreamlike, and about 74% of people claim to have experienced it. (What? You mean the external world is real??)

… a man was shot dead at a Major League Baseball game and nobody cared? On July 4, 1950, Bernard Doyle (1896-1950) was seated in the grandstand at the Polo Grounds in New York, awaiting the start of a doubleheader between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. At an apartment building near the Polo Grounds, 14-year-old Robert Peebles (born 1936) randomly fired a single shot into the air from a .45-caliber pistol he had found a few days before. The bullet arced across the sky, hit Doyle in the forehead, and killed him instantly. However, instead of showing concern for the now-dead man in the stands, fans clambered to get his seat as his body was carried out. The doubleheader proceeded as scheduled, with the Giants winning the first game 5-4, and the Dodgers taking the second, 5-3. Peebles was never charged in the case, and the gun he found was suddenly “lost” again.

… heroin was once marketed as an over-the-counter drug? Developed in 1874 from morphine, it was sold legally as a pain reliever and cough reducer by the Bayer Pharmaceutical Company. In 1924, heroin became a controlled substance due to its being abused.

… a “green card” is not actually green? The card, officially known as a “Permanent Resident Card” issued to non-U.S. citizens who live and work in the country on a full-time basis, has not been green in color since 1964.

… a congressman once proposed renaming the United States? In 1893, Congressman Lucas Miller (1824-1902) of Wisconsin introduced a measure in the House of Representatives to rename the country to the “United States of Earth.” Miller – who also proposed the abolition of the Army and Navy and the elimination of laws governing pensions – introduced the bill because he felt that the country would expand so much it would eventually swallow up the entire world. (Just another day in the hallowed halls of Congress …)

… the digestive juices of a crocodile are so strong it can digest a steel nail? Also, crocodiles cannot chew. A crocodile’s jaws do not move from side to side, and their tongues cannot move. (I’m still fascinated by the bit about the nail, myself.)

… a rug and a carpet are not the same thing? Well, the American floor covering industry thinks so, anyway. In their parlance, a floor covering smaller than 40 square feet is considered a rug, while anything larger is a carpet. (A thousand toupee jokes just filled my mind …)

… about half of all advertising directed at teens and children in the United States is for food? (And not healthy food, either, I’m sure.)

… if you can play a harmonica, you can attract the Mediterranean fruit fly? No, the little pests are not music aficionados or anything like that. It’s just that scientists have discovered that the mating call of the fruit fly has the exact same frequency as the lower F sharp as played on a harmonica. (Good to know if you’re ever in the mood to attract a Mediterranean fruit fly.)

Now … you know!

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