When did the last Old West-style train robbery take place?

Look, there on the horizon!  It’s September!

That month is always special to me.  Fall arrives, as does my birthday – and this year I chalk up 67 trips around the Sun.  I was told not long ago (my high school reunion) that I haven’t changed a bit since I graduated in 1975.

“I looked like this in high school?” I said.  “No wonder I couldn’t get a date.”

Ah, the time flies.  As does trivia … so let’s fly with some right now.  Enjoy!

Did you know …

… sharks find fish by hearing their hearts beating?  (Well, what did you think sharks did … bait hooks?)

… about 33% of the people in the world cannot snap their fingers?  Additional trivia note:  Snapping one’s fingers is known as a filip.  (So one-third of people will never be in The Addams Family.)

… doctors and nurses in some hospitals in North Korea do not use cutting edge medical equipment?  Not because the equipment isn’t there; it is, but the personnel have never been trained in its use.  (Which brings up two questions – why haven’t they been trained, and what do they do with it instead of use it?)

… you can easily tell if you’re looking into a two-way mirror?  To tell, just put the edge of your fingernail on the surface of the glass.  If you can detect a space between the tip of your fingernail and the reflection, it’s a normal mirror.  If the fingernail tip meets its reflection directly … well, don’t do anything silly, because whoever is behind the mirror can see you.  (And you never know who’s watching.)

… bubble wrap was originally wallpaper?  Invented in 1957 by Alfred Fielding (1917-1994) and Marc Chavannes (1896-1994), the ubiquitous protective wrapping stuff was intended to be a form of three-dimensional wallpaper.  Needless to say, it didn’t sell, but the two engineers were not discouraged.  They tried to market it next as a greenhouse insulation, but that fell flat as well.  Finally, hearing that IBM was shipping a new computer model in 1961, the men offered their twice-rejected air-filled wrapping idea as a packaging material.  It worked, and sales through the roof were quick to follow.  (Glad it failed as wallpaper; popping those bubbles would mean re-papering the room over and over again.)

… a video game is on the market that makes you play it twice before you see the ending?  Ghosts ‘n Goblins is a very difficult game to play all by itself, but when you get to the end, you get a message saying that it was all just an illusion, and you have to start all over again.  Once you get to the end a second time – which is much more difficult than the first – you get to see the real ending of the video game.  (One can only hope the real ending is worth what you have to go through to get to it!)

… the writer of Alice in Wonderland created a word game?  Author Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) came up with a word game called Doublets.  In this game, players transform one word into an entirely different one – one letter at a time.  The catch is, each step in the chain must be a legitimate word as well.  (Sounds like a great game show idea!)

… the last Old West-style train robbery in the United States was in 1937?  Henry Loftus (1915-1993) and Harry Donaldson (1910-1986) were passengers on a Southern Pacific railroad train out of El Paso, Texas, on November 24, 1937.  About an hour into the trip, Loftus pulled a gun on the conductor, and Donaldson began collecting valuables from the passengers.  Then things began to go south – one passenger tried to intervene, a nervous Donaldson shot that passenger in the hip, and Loftus was tackled by a brakeman.  During the ensuing struggle, the gun went off and the brakeman was killed, at which time some twenty passengers descended on the two would-be desperados, gave them a rather thorough beating, and tied them to their seats.  When the train stopped in Deming, New Mexico, Loftus and Donaldson were transferred to the authorities.  They were each found guilty of murder and train robbery and sentenced to 50 to 75 years in prison.  Additional trivia note:  Loftus and Donaldson later said they attempted the robbery because they were out of money, and never intended to harm anyone.  (Didn’t quite turn out the way they expected it would, did it?)

… Monaco will cease to be an independent country if the ruling family dies?  The tiny principality of Monaco, on the Mediterranean coast of France, has been ruled by the Grimaldi family since 1297.  Now a constitutional monarchy, the tiny nation is led by Prince Albert II (born 1958).  Under the terms of a 2002 treaty between Monaco and France, if the Grimaldi family should ever be without an heir to the throne – male or female – the principality will become part of France when the last ruling prince or princess dies.  (Job security.)

… a distillery has a unique method of getting around its county’s laws?  Located in Lynchburg, Tennessee, the Jack Daniels Distillery is prohibited by local law from selling alcohol – Moore County in Tennessee is dry.  So, to get around the prohibition, the distillery sells commemorative Jack Daniels™ bottles that just so happen to have whiskey in them.  (Whatever works, I suppose.)

… you may be a sufferer of myrmecophobia?  It’s not uncommon; it’s the fear of ants.  (I’ve never had problems with ants.  Uncles, on the other hand …)

… the acid in your stomach is very powerful?  A solution of hydrochloric acid, it is so strong it can dissolve a razor blade in less than a week.  The only reason it doesn’t dissolve you from the inside out is because of the lining of the stomach, which is strong enough to withstand the acid that it secretes.  (Thank goodness!)

Now … you know!