When was the first photograph of a human being actually taken?

Children today are being slighted by television.

Sure, kids spend hours in front of the tube, but are the programs quality like they used to be?

I’m talking specifically about Saturday mornings.

Cartoons. Nothing but wall-to-wall cartoons on every network.

Ah, the good old days!

Today, of course, cartoons are nowhere to be found on network television any day, and especially on Saturdays. Educational programs abound – I know, I used to co-produce and direct one – but as far as just plain fun, you can’t beat a good old Merrie Melodies or Looney Tunes cartoon.

The closest a person can come these days are the comic strips in the newspaper, or maybe a trivia column.

So come on, pardners … since I don’t have any comic strips, let’s rustle up some trivia!

Did you know …

… the “like” button on Facebook posts originally had another name? The button was called “awesome” at first. (An awesome idea at the time, no doubt.)

… shopping malls and casinos are laid out in a deliberate effort to confuse people? The idea is called the “Gruen transfer,” named for architect Victor Gruen (1903-1980). Gruen described how an intentionally confusing layout of a place can cause consumers to spend more time – and consequently, more money – in the place. Later in his life, Gruen disavowed the idea, but by the it was too late. Designers had already caught hold of the idea and capitalized on it. (Are you confused yet?)

… a well-known tongue twister actually has a solution? The riddle, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?” has an actual numerical answer. A wildlife technician named Richard Thomas (born 1938) figured it out in 1988. According to Thomas’ calculations, in 24 hours, with a good wind at his back, the typical woodchuck would chuck about 700 pounds of wood. (If that woodchuck would … oh, forget it.)

… about 21% of people do not make their beds every morning? (Probably because a good many of them don’t get out of their beds in the morning!)

… elephants think people are cute? (How do they figure these things out, anyway?)

… bears can defeat bear traps? Bears are rather smart animals and can roll rocks into bear traps to trip them, then they’ll eat the bait in safety. (Smarter than the average bear, right, Yogi?)

… Olympic medals are taxable in the United States? Considered earned income by the Internal Revenue Service, medals are taxed at the winner’s tax rate, which can be up to 39%. (The Olympics giveth, the government taketh away.)

… the first photograph to show a human being was taken in 1838? The picture is of a street scene in Paris and was taken by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), one of several people who independently invented the idea of photography. The picture was not supposed to show a person; rather, it was to be a shot of some buildings along the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. The exposure took about 10 minutes, so people walking and horses passing by did not register, as they were moving too fast. In one part of the image, however, a man is standing with his foot on a box and another man is kneeling beside the box. The standing man is having his boots shined by the kneeling man, and they remained in the same relative positions throughout the 10-minute exposure. It was the first time a human being was captured in a photograph. (And not long afterward, the paparazzi were created!)

… scientists in Germany have developed a candy that does not cause cavities? (Now, invent one with no calories!)

… cats can recognize their owner’s voice? (The same study also discovered that cats regularly choose to ignore it.)

… Ohio needed 150 years to join the United States? Ohio applied to Congress to join the Union as the 17th state in 1803, but Congress never acted on the resolution. The oversight was finally caught on August 7, 1953, and Ohio was formally admitted to the Union – making it technically the 48th state, not the 17th.

… eating a banana at night can help you fall asleep? Bananas contain magnesium and potassium, which are natural muscle relaxants. The carbohydrates in the banana also help make you sleepy. (Beats cooking a turkey, doesn’t it?)

… you might be an Otherkin? If you’re not up on all these things, an Otherkin is a person who genuinely believes he is not human, either in a physical or spiritual sense. Otherkin believe they are mystical creatures such as elves or vampires; animals trapped in human bodies; or the living incarnation of a fictional character. (Another instance of the jokes just writing themselves, eh?)

… every day is a holiday somewhere in the world? (Not here, obviously.)

… a group of pandas is called an embarrassment?

… a couple of long-frozen worms were defrosted and found to be alive? Collected in the Siberian permafrost of Russia, the two worms were among 300 that scientists gathered in 2018 for analysis. Amazingly, when thawed out, two started moving and eating. One of the worms is 32,000 years old, and the other is 41,700 years old. (And they don’t look a day over 20,000!)

… banging your head against the wall for one hour will burn about 150 calories? (And it gives you one heck of a headache, too!)

Now … you know!

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