Was an additional U.S. rocket test the reason the Soviet Union was able to put the first man into space?

Another week or so and we’ll have the annual parade of kids dressed in wild, weird outfits, extorting candy from households behind the seemingly-innocent statement, “Trick or treat!”

Since everyone gets the treat, what exactly would the “trick” be if one did not comply?

The mind boggles.

What follows is not a trick of any kind, it’s a treat – and you don’t even have to dress up in a strange costume or ask for it.  It’s just … here.  Enjoy!

Did you know …

… a popular candy was originally manufactured with war machines?  Smarties™, the cute little sweet-and-sour pill-like candy that comes in wrapped rolls, were created in 1949 by Edward Dee (1924-2019) at his Ce De Candy Company in Bloomfield, New Jersey.  Dee purchased surplus pellet machines, which were used to create gunpowder pellets for the Army in World War II, and repurposed them to make a pill-like tablet candy.  Additional trivia note:  Smarties are peanut-free, gluten-free, fat-free and dairy-free, and are vegan.  In Canada they are called Rockets™, to avoid confusion with a British chocolate candy sold there called already Smarties (which are more like M&Ms™).  (Thanks to Ed for the tip!)

… great white sharks fear one creature in the water?  The only thing that strikes terror into a great white shark’s heart is a killer whale, or orca.  In a 2019 study published in Nature, scientists said the great white is so afraid of the orca that the sharks will avoid an entire area of the ocean for up to a year if the shark encounters an orca, even just passing by.  (Good to know even sharks have enemies.)

… only one European nation is larger than the state of Texas?  The Lone Star State is bigger than every European nation except Russia.  (Well, everything’s big in Texas.)

… only one ATM in the world conducts its transactions in Latin?  The Automatic Teller Machine at the Vatican Bank in Vatican City uses Latin for its transactions.  (So Latin isn’t dead after all!)

… had it not been for an additional rocket test, an American would have been the first man in space?  On January 31, 1961, NASA sent a chimpanzee named Ham (1957-1983) up atop a Redstone rocket in a suborbital test of the Mercury spacecraft.  The rocket did not perform optimally, as they say in the space agency, and the capsule splashed down off target and too hard.  Ham survived, but wasn’t too happy about the flight, and neither were NASA brass.  Director Dr. Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) insisted on another test flight of the Redstone.  The test, called MRBD (Mercury-Redstone Booster Development), was conducted March 24, 1961, and was flawless – so much so that Alan Shepard (1923-1998), the astronaut selected to be first in space for the U.S., was very upset, as he felt that should have been his flight.  It would take about a month to put his Redstone rocket onto the launch pad, and during that time the Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) into orbit and achieved the first human spaceflight.  Shepard’s suborbital Mercury flight took place a month after Gagarin’s.  (You can’t blame Shepard for feeling that way.  And thanks to Amy at The Vintage Space for providing the tip!)

… a popular character on a television series was never referred to by his name?  During the run of That ‘70s Show on Fox, from 1998 to 2006, the popular character of Fes was played by actor Wilmer Valderrama (born 1980).  But “Fes” was not the character’s name.  The other characters called him that from his status – Foreign Exchange Student.  The character’s real name was never used and was said to be unpronounceable.  One of the show’s longest-running gags was Fes’ country of origin – it was never explained, always handled in funny roundabout ways.  (I always wondered about that.)

… the Explorers Club still meets in New York?  Founded in 1904, the Explorers Club was created by some of the world’s most distinguished polar explorers such as Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), the first man to reach the South Pole; Robert E. Peary (1856-1920), first man to reach the North Pole; and Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), one of the pre-eminent Antarctic explorers of the day.  The Club meets in a Jacobean mansion known as the Lowell Thomas Building, and it contains many artifacts from various expeditions.  The mansion is also open to the public.  (Gotta visit that one day.)

… one of India’s most popular tourist attractions was supposed to have been torn down?  The Taj Mahal, built between 1632 and 1653 in Agra, India, was constructed as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal (1593-1631), the young wife of Shah Jahan (1592-1666), ruler of the Mughal Empire.  Today people come from all over the world to view the beautiful building and its grounds, but in the late 1800s, after decades of neglect, some officials voiced support for tearing down the structure.  It was saved by a decision of the British Viceroy in India, Lord Curzon (1859-1925), who ordered a sweeping restoration of the entire area.  The restoration was not completed until 1908.  (Thank goodness!)

… music tempo in a shopping mall affects how you shop?  Check it out for yourself:  if the background music in a store or mall is bright and peppy, people tend to shop faster.  Slower-tempo music, however, causes people to walk through more slowly and take their time purchasing.

… Scandinavian nations publish everyone’s tax returns?  In Sweden, Finland, and Norway, the tax returns of all citizens are published each year, meaning you can find out what anybody earns and pays in taxes.  The tradition is called jantelag, which roughly translates as, “nobody is better than anybody else.”  (Well, they aren’t.)

Now … you know!