Was an entire European country cut off from the Internet by the accidental action of one person?

Every week, I sit at this computer and try to come up with a witty, engaging introduction for the column which follows.  Most weeks, I manage at least to be half witty, and somewhat engaging.

This morning, however, as I rack my brain to find something to talk about here that isn’t spring- or baseball-related, I find myself coming up completely and totally empty.

The field of fascinating facts is not bare at all; it’s the pathway into it that needs work.

So I’ll just hit you this week with trivia and try to be a little more entertaining in this part of the column next week.

You try coming up with something pithy and fun and entertaining every week for eight and a half years … see how you do!

Did you know …

… the iconic voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies originally belonged to someone else?  Actor David Prowse (1935-2020), who was inside the classic black armored suit of Vader, spoke all of Vader’s lines during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, in 1977.  He was shocked to discover that all of his lines had been overdubbed with the stentorian tones of James Earl Jones (1931-2024).  Up until the time he actually saw the final cut of the movie, Prowse believed he was the only person portraying the Dark Lord of the Sith.  (Overdubbing the voice is normal in the industry; not telling the actor in advance, however, is a pretty sleazy thing to do.)

… dogs are banned in Antarctica?  Once needed for sledge journeys to the South Pole, dogs were banned on the continent beginning in 1994.  The Antarctic Treaty required the removal of all non-native animal species, and with dogs the main reason was the possibility that distemper would spread to the native seals.

… you and I are made up primarily of empty space?  What I mean is, if you removed all of the empty space from the atoms that make up every human on Earth – all eight billion plus change – you would be able to fit the entire human population of the planet inside an apple.  (I don’t know about you, but most of my empty space is inside my head.)

… a world record exists for the number of times a person has tried to set a world record?  That record is held by Ashrita Furman (born 1954) of Brooklyn, New York.  Furman holds about 200 world records and has tried to set about 500 more.  (Some people have nothing else to do.)

… diamonds are really nearly worthless?  Like anything else of value, scarcity is what determines what something is worth, and diamonds are anything but scarce.  The entire retail diamond market is reportedly controlled by one company – DeBeers, of South Africa – and has been called a “giant, well-orchestrated, monopolistic scam” that is based on a public misconception that diamonds are scarce.  There really are many, many more diamonds than people think, according to experts in the field.  (Food for thought, that.)

… one person cut an entire nation off from the Internet?  The nation of Armenia lost its entire access to the Internet in March of 2011 when Hayastan Shakarian (born 1936), who was scavenging for copper, accidentally sliced through the fiber optic cable connecting Armenia to Georgia in southwestern Europe.  The accident had catastrophic consequences for Armenia, which got almost all of its Internet service from Georgia – its 3.2 million Internet-using citizens had to do other things during the five hours it took to repair the cable.  Large portions of Georgia and Azerbaijan also lost Internet service when Shakarian’s scavenging caused the disruption.  Shakarian was arrested by security personnel after the location of the break was pinpointed, but was released by authorities due to her age.  In her own defense, Shakarian said she had never even heard of the Internet.  (Oops.)

… a famous composer was the youngest student ever at the Julliard School of Music?  Composer Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012) became a student at Julliard when he was six years old.  He was a child prodigy and, by the time he was five, was able to mimic the piano music he heard on the radio.  

… a Polish doctor saved a town during World War II by faking out the Nazis?  Dr. Eugene Lazowski (1913-2006) saved the inhabitants of the Polish city of Rozwadow by telling the German troops that wanted to invade that there was an outbreak of typhus in the town.  The disease-wary Germans decided to advance around, rather than through, the city, and some 8,000 Poles – Jews and Gentiles alike – were saved from the forced-labor camps.  (Smart move, Doc!)

… bomb disposal experts once blew up an ironically wrong package?  In Bristol, United Kingdom, a bomb squad was called to a suspicious package.  When the squad detonated the package, they discovered it was full of leaflets describing what one should do when one finds a suspicious package.  (That’s ironic!)

… brain surgery is not a modern thing?  Archaeologists and scientists have determined that as far back as 5,000 years ago, a primitive form of brain surgery called trepanning was practiced.  Skulls excavated from several Neolithic sites showed small holes cut into them, to relieve pressure on the brain.  Several skulls had more than one of the inch-wide holes, and the edges showed signs of healing.  (There’s room for a line here about having holes in your head, but I’m not going to do it.)

… you may have spuddled at one point in your life?  Don’t fret, though; we all have, I’m certain.  Spuddle is a 17th-Century word meaning to work ineffectively, or to seem very busy while achieving nothing at all.  (That explains that line on my last job evaluation.)

Now … you know!