Did the license plate of a historic vehicle predict the day World War I would end?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I’m already hearing the usual warnings about hiding from hunters.

I’ve been getting that kind of guff most of my life. In fact, my ex-wife once said that our time together made every day feel like Thanksgiving.

“That’s what I get for marrying a turkey,” she said.

I get it. You can stop now.

One thing that won’t stop, of course, is the trivia. And to add to your holiday preparations, here’s today’s sampling, designed to make any recipe a smile inducer. Enjoy!

Did you know …

… you can have a great time finding unusually-named places in North Dakota? Check out a good map of the state some time, and you’ll discover: Antler, Buttzville, Cannon Ball, Concrete, Flasher, Medicine Hole, On-a-Slant Village, Ops, Three V Crossing, and Zap. (North Dakota sounds like a fun place to live. Cold, but fun.)

… a holiday for aliens exists? It’s unofficial and kind of complicated, so bear with me. April 26 is considered “Alien Day” in many circles, based on the classic 1979 movie Alien. Famous for its tag line, “In space, no one can hear you scream,” the sci-fi horror movie directed by Ridley Scott (born 1937) takes place in part on an extraterrestrial moon called LV-426 (4/26, get it?). The xenomorph creatures created for the movie have appeared in many more films, including all the sequels to the original as well as the Alien vs. Predator series. (At last, a day for people like me!)

… the average U.S. taxpayer spends a lot of time on taxes? According to the Internal Revenue Service, that average taxpayer (whoever it is) will spend about eleven hours in record-keeping, planning, submitting forms, and all the other fun and frolic we do every April. That’s the bad news. The good news is, for all that work that same taxpayer gets about $3,000 back as their refund each year. (That last figure proves it – I am very much a below-average taxpayer.)

… children celebrating birthdays in Russia don’t always get cake? Rather, in many cases they get a birthday pie. (Sticking the candles in is something of a challenge.)

… you cannot see a rainbow if you are facing the Sun? Rainbows are sunlight scattered through drops of water in the atmosphere, and you have to have the Sun behind you in order to see one. (Check for leprechauns while you’re at it, okay?)

… until the 1990s, appliances in Britain were more likely than not sold without electrical plugs? It was not required, as the purchaser was expected to also buy the plug and wire it in. (I probably shouldn’t give people over on this side of the pond any ideas.)

… the license plate of a vehicle in which an assassination took place may have foretold the end of a war the murders started? On June 28, 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) and his wife Sophie (1868-1914) were assassinated as they were being driven through the streets of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The murders touched off World War I, which raged for a little over four years. In an astonishing coincidence, however, the license plate of the auto in which the couple was shot may have predicted the day that war would end. The auto plate read “A III 11 18” and some have interpreted that to be “AI II 11 18.” Looking at it that way, the last three parts could also read 11/11/18. The war ended on November 11, 1918 – or 11/11/18. The possible coincidence was not noted until a historian visiting the Vienna, Austria museum in which the car is kept noticed the plate and verified that it was, indeed, being used on the day of the assassinations. (Maybe it’s a stretch, but then, if you believe in coincidences, all of them are something of a stretch.)

… a Major League Baseball player got one over on an umpire in a classic way? During the 1991 season, Andre Dawson (born 1954) was playing for the Chicago Cubs and in one game, he was ejected by umpire Joe West (born 1952). Dawson was fined $500 by the National League for the ejection, and he paid the fine with a check – and on the memo line, Dawson wrote, “Donation for the blind.”

… one U.S. state actually grows each year? That state is Louisiana. The state gets bigger due to alluvial deposits from the Mississippi River, the delta of which is in the state. (In about ten gazillion years, it’ll be bigger than Alaska!)

… two similarly-named embassies get a lot of each other’s mail? The embassies of the nations of Slovakia and Slovenia in Washington, D.C., receive a lot of mail intended for the other, and each month staff members of the two meet to exchange the misdelivered messages. (Changing the names never occurred to anyone, I take it.)

… a group of flamingoes is called a flamboyance? (And rightly so!)

… an actor had his teeth broken for a movie role? Brad Pitt (born 1963) went to a dentist voluntarily and his his front teeth chipped for his role in the 1999 film, Fight Club. Following completion of the filming, Pitt returned to the dentist and had his teeth repaired. (I’ve heard of method acting, but that’s ridiculous.)

… the first Apple computer did not have a keyboard? The Apple I was created in 1976, and was basically nothing more than an assembled circuit board. It had no keyboard, no monitor, and no case. The first Apple computer sold to the public was an Apple II, which was introduced on April 16, 1977, and began the home computer revolution. (So what exactly did that first Apple computer do, anyway? I know – it sold the product.)

Now … you know!

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