Was one of Hitler’s top advisors half American?

April moves along at it usual pace, and we are getting deeper into spring.

Ah, isn’t it wonderful?

Yes, actually, it is.

I hope your April is going as well as it can possibly go, and that the rest of the year is even better for you!  

How about some trivia?  Got some fresh stuff right here!

Did you know …

… it’s not hazardous to live near a nuclear power plant?  Scientists estimate that you get five times as much radiation from sitting in front of your television that you would get if you lived next door to a nuclear power station.  (Sitting in front of the power station would provide better entertainment than television.)

… almost 88% of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere? (Which makes me wonder if the other 12% know something we don’t.)

… a feat exists which has never been accomplished by a Major League Baseball player?  I refer to the home run cycle.  You may be familiar with a player hitting for the cycle – a single, double, triple and home run in one game.  It’s been done 350 times in MLB history.  A natural cycle, hitting those four in order, is much rarer, having only taken place 14 times.  But the one that’s never been done is the home run cycle – a solo homer, a two-run shot, a three-run shot, and a grand slam, all in the same game.  In fact, it’s only happened twice in professional baseball, both in the minor leagues.  (Batter up!)

… the first collegiate all-female baseball team was fielded in 1866?  It was at Vassar College, an all-women’s school at the time.  (If they were the first, who did they play?)

… the first commercial product manufactured in North America was exported in 1608?  It was a glass bottle blown in the Jamestown settlement.  (Did it come with a deposit?)

… good ideas don’t always pay off?  Take, for instance, the White Bicycle Plan set forth in the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1965.  The idea was to provide free public bicycles for anyone to use going from place to place.  Within just one month, most of the bikes had either been stolen or dumped into canals.  (They expected something different?)

… one of Hitler’s top advisors was part American?  Baldur von Schirach (1907-1974) served the Third Reich as leader of the Hitler Youth and later as Gauleiter (party leader) of Vienna.  Von Schirach’s background was very strange for a German leader – his father was a dual German-American citizen and his mother was fully American.  In fact, von Schirach was a descendant on his mother’s side of Arthur Middleton (1742-1787), a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Born in Berlin, von Schirach did not learn German until he was five years old, English being his first language. He first fell into the orbit of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) in the mid-1920s.  Hitler made him Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader) in 1931, placing him at the head of the Hitler Youth organization.  After he was drafted into the Wehrmact in 1939, he served as an officer for two years, winning the Iron Cross 2nd Class.  Following service, von Schirach was named Gauleiter of Vienna and oversaw the deportation of Jews from the city for the remainder of the war.  Tried at Nuremburg on charges of crimes against humanity following the conflict, he was sentenced to 20 years in Spandau prison, and served every day of his sentence.

… jurors have unrealistic expectations of modern forensic science?  That’s because of television programs like CSI and NCIS.  The shows, which are built around forensic science, often use convoluted explanations and somewhat dodgy technology not currently available to wrap up the cases in an hour … which does not happen in the real world.  (Duh.)

… Russia has its own version of an American situation comedy?  A spinoff of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the show is set in a Moscow bar named Philadelphia, and it’s called “В Москве всегда солнечно” (It’s Always Sunny in Moscow).  (Well, maybe it is, I don’t know.)

… the inventor of the motion picture camera is implicated in the disappearance of another inventor?  Some of the earliest-ever motion picture scenes were filmed by Louis LePrince (1841-1890), a French artist who created and built his own movie camera.  But LePrince mysteriously vanished in 1890, and credit for inventing the movie camera was claimed by Thomas Edison (1847-1931).  Two years after LePrince’s son Adolphe (1872-1901) appeared in a court case challenging Edison’s claim, the younger LePrince was found dead.  Modern historians give LePrince credit for taking the world’s first motion picture footage.  (Film at 11.)

… the longest average lifespan in the world can be found in a small European country?  In the nation of Andorra, a tiny enclave between Spain and France, the average lifespan of the people is 83.5 years.  (Ah, those lucky Andorrans!)

… two Olympic medalists shared their medals?  In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Japanese pole vaulters Shuhei Nishida (1910-1997) and Sueo Oe (1914-1941) tied for second place, but declined to compete against each other to break the tie.  Olympic officials awarded Nishida the silver medal and Oe the bronze, but when the pair returned to Japan, they had their medals cut in half and joined the two parts together as “friendship” medals.  (Now that’s how you handle such things!)

… ice applied to the back of the neck may stop a nosebleed?  If you find yourself with a nosebleed, and it goes on for more than 15 minutes, try applying an ice pack to the back of your neck.  The cold constricts the blood vessels which lead into the head and may reduce or even stop the bleeding from your nose.  (Worth a try, anyway.)

Now … you know!