Which President started the tradition of throwing out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game?

Lately I’ve been dealing with some unsettling feelings about getting older. Yes, I know it’s preferable to the alternative, but hear me out.

In just over a month, I celebrate what is usually referred to as a “milestone” birthday. On September 26, I will turn 65 years old.

I’m not sure if it’s still as big a milestone as it used to be, since it isn’t even the official retirement age any more. Not that I have any intention of retiring, then or when I really can get all my Social Security (which is some time in early 2025). I like what I do too much to give it up.

But the fact that I’m going to be 65 pretty soon is what is unsettling to me. Sixty-five used to be old, at least as far as I saw it. Soon, however, it will be normal. And in too short a span of time, 65 will be in my rear-view mirror, like all the other years have been.

If this is what getting into my dotage is all about, you can have it. I’ll grab a time machine and go back and try it all again.

If only.

Anyway, enough of me blathering. How about a dollop of trivia? I have some right here for you. Enjoy!

Did you know…

…we have about five billion years of sunlight left? Scientists estimate that by then, the Sun will have exhausted its supply of hydrogen and become a red giant and a white dwarf before finally, basically, burning out. (So go ahead and schedule that trip to the beach. The Sun will be there waiting for you.)

…the average human heart beats about 100,000 times a day? If you live to be 72, you will have had more than 2.5 billion heartbeats. (The human heart… it takes a licking, and keeps on ticking.)

…people in Iceland have a strong belief in elves? If you wonder how strong, consider this: in December of 2013, advocates urged the Icelandic Road and Coastal Commission to abandon a highway project that they feared would disturb an elf habitat. They said the habitat includes an elf church.

…pigeons do not forget? If you chase a pigeon away, it will remember you – and avoid you in future encounters. (Unless you’re sitting under a tree limb or statue, that is.)

…drug use will sometimes lead to really unfortunate consequences? Consider the case of three burglars who broke into a home in 2010 and thought they’d found a stash of cocaine. What they ended up inhaling were the cremated ashes of a man and his two dogs. (Woof.)

…some things cannot be eaten by sharks? Sure, they’re pretty much “garbage guts” regarding most things, but a small fish called the Moses sole is a definite no-go for the shark at dinnertime. The Moses sole, when bitten by the shark, releases a chemical in the shark’s mouth that makes the shark spit the fish out. Scientists are trying to isolate and duplicate that chemical so people can be more safe from sharks. (With our luck, it’ll be something that’s just as repulsive to humans.)

…the tradition of Presidents throwing out the first pitch at Major League Baseball games started in 1910? On April 14, 1910, President William H. Taft (1857-1930) threw out the first pitch of the season, to get the game between the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Athletics underway. Since then, most Presidents have continued the tradition. From 1971 to 2005, when there was no Major League team in Washington, the tradition was kept at Baltimore Orioles home games when possible. The only two Presidents who did not observe the tradition at least once were Jimmy Carter (born 1924) and Donald Trump (born 1946). But both men did throw out first pitches – Carter in a game in San Diego in 2004, and Trump at a game in Boston in 2006 – though in neither case while serving as President. (In most cases, the pitch was, to quote Bob Uecker, “just a little bit outside.”)

…peanuts can be used to make dynamite? Once it is extracted, peanut oil can be turned into glycerol. That is a major component of nitroglycerin, the explosive substance used in dynamite. (What an explosive revelation!)

…one of the first chapters in American history occurred because of beer? In 1620, the Pilgrim ship Mayflower landed near what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, though its original destination was the coast of Virginia. Some members of the Pilgrim crew wanted to sail down the coastline to where they intended to go, but Captain Christopher Jones, Jr. (1570-1622) overruled them. In the ship’s log, Jones wrote, “We could not now take time for further search or consideration; our victuals being much spent, especially our Beere.” Yes, a desire to quaff a brewski caused the Pilgrims to land at Plymouth Rock. (Put that in your Thanksgiving celebration this year.)

…speaking of beer, it is one of the oldest recorded recipes in the world? There are records describing how to brew beer that go as far back as the ancient Egyptians, around 5000 BC. (Knowing how to party is essential to any society.)

…the most boring day in recorded history was in 1954? Cambridge University ran a computer algorithm in which over 300 million news articles and events that were noteworthy enough to be reported were scanned. This included interesting people, places, births, deaths, and other events. Once the algorithm ran, the computer at Cambridge proclaimed April 11, 1954, as the single most boring day in recorded history. According to the program, the only notable events were a general election in Belgium, one potentially noteworthy birth (Abdullah Atalar, born 1954, who grew up to be a noted scientist), and one noteworthy death, that of English footballer Jack Shufflebotham (1885-1954). (And you thought the time you spent reading this was boring!)

Now… you know!

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