Who holds the most ‘kills’ in aerial combat in history?

The best part of summer… I was recently asked by a friend what the best part of summer is, and do you know what I think?

It’s the glaring lack of holidays.

Sure, we have Flag Day in June – but that’s not really a holiday, just an observance. Father’s Day is in there too, but it’s on a Sunday, which is pretty much a holiday anyway.

Independence Day this month is, of course, the big one, and properly celebrated.

August doesn’t even have a holiday, and the next one – Labor Day in September – is pretty much the end of summer anyway.

That’s why I like summer. And I also like trivia. So do you, or you wouldn’t be here.

Enjoy this week’s serving!

Did you know…

…though the two planets are almost the same size, gravity is weaker on Venus than it is on Earth? If you weigh 200 pounds on Earth, you’d weigh only 176 pounds on Venus. (Putting up with the heat and poison atmosphere isn’t worth the savings in weight, however.)

…a movie set caused a thief to surrender? During the filming of the 1994 movie Leon: The Professional, a man who had just robbed a nearby liquor store rounded a corner and came upon the set – right into a scene with several prop police cars and extras dressed as police officers. The thief assumed he’d been caught, so he gave up to the extras, who promptly called the real police. (One never assumes those who steal are the smartest people.)

…if you are over 100 years old, there is an 80% chance that you’re a woman? (If you’re over 100 years old, what are you doing wasting your valuable time reading this nonsense?)

…a car’s airbags deploy pretty quickly? If you were wondering how quickly (and admit it, you were), consider: airbags deploy at a rate of 200 miles per hour. (Don’t complain; they keep you from deploying in much worse ways.)

…the last helmetless player in the National Hockey League retired in 1997? Craig McTavish (born 1958) was the last player in the league to be allowed on the ice without a helmet. Helmets became mandatory during the 1979-80 season, but players who had been in the league before that year were “grandfathered” and only had to wear one if they chose to. (Pretty darn silly to chose not to, but hey… you do you.)

…more vending machines can be found in Japan than there are people in New Zealand? You can get just about anything from vending machines in Japan as well, up to – and including – surgical masks, board games, and all kinds of food. (It gives me a “yen” to find out more. Get it?)

…the fighter pilot with the highest confirmed number of kills in combat flew for the Germans in World War II? Erich Hartmann (1922-1993), a Luftwaffe pilot, had 352 confirmed “kills” in aerial combat during the war. Following the war, Hartmann – who had been a major in the Luftwaffe – joined the newly-established Bundeswehr, or German Army, in West Germany and helped form the new air force. He rose to the rank of colonel before retiring. Additional trivia note: Hartmann’s success as a pilot led to him receiving a 25-year prison sentence when he was tried after the war by the Soviet Union. The Soviets had wanted Hartmann to help form the East German air force, but he refused and spent ten years in prison camps before being released in 1955. The Russian government posthumously dropped all charges against him in 1997.

…in Connecticut, it is illegal to perform a pirouette when crossing the street? (If you’re not a ballet dancer, it’s also pretty silly.)

…a popular hangover remedy in the Wild West would make you gag? Believe it or not, a tea made from rabbit droppings was said to bring relief from the worst hangover symptoms. (Yuck!)

…you could fly on one of Saturn’s moons just by attaching wings to your arms? On Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, the gravity is so low and the atmosphere is so thick, you could attach fake wings to your arms and fly just by flapping them. (Of course, getting to Titan to flap your arms is your worry.)

…heart attacks are more likely to happen on a Monday? The overall odds of having a heart attack are 20% higher on Monday than on any other day of the week, and the most common time for them to happen is between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. (I’ll let you figure out why.)

…FedEx aircraft have anti-missile countermeasure systems? They’re the only commercial airplanes to carry them. (Not sure who’d want to shoot down a FedEx jet, but still…)

…the first city to have recorded reaching a population of one million people was Rome? Amazingly, it hit that mark in the year 133 BC. The next time a city would have a population of one million would be when London reached the mark in 1800.

…a species of monkey has a unique way of greeting? When two white-faced capuchin monkeys meet, they greet each other by sticking their fingers into the other monkey’s nose. (Cute, but I don’t think it will catch on with humans… though you never know…)

…you may suffer from sitophobia? If you do, you won’t have it long… sitophobia is the fear of food and of eating. (Obviously, I do not have sitophobia. At all.)

…a tiny bat has a voracious appetite? The pipistrelle bat is only about as long as your little finger and it weighs less than two pennies. But in just one night, this tiny little flying mammal can eat up to 3,000 insects. (Burp!)

Now… you know!

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