If I am reading the calendar correctly (and I concede it’s pretty hard not to), this is the last column before Christmas. It’s far too late to get any updated wish lists to Santa, as he and his incredible staff of elves are working overtime to make sure everything is loaded into the sleigh for Friday night’s run.
So, instead of an additional letter to Mr. Claus, I’ll use this space to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. May the joy of the holiday season be yours now and throughout the new year of 2022. I hope all of your dreams come true and your wishes are all fulfilled in their entirety.
If that doesn’t sound like a p.s. to a letter to Santa, I don’t know what does. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good trivia column!
Did you know …
… a famous author was fired from a newspaper job because of his writing? Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was, for a time, a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. His dismissal letter from the paper stated: “I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language. This isn’t a kindergarten for amateur writers.” Kipling went on to write some of the classic novels of English literature, including “Captains Courageous”, “The Jungle Book”, “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, “The Man Who Would Be King” and many more. (That editor who fired Kipling sounds like the guy who advised Elvis Presley to go back to driving a truck.)
… a yo-yo museum can be found in Burlington, Wisconsin? (Attendance has its ups and downs.)
… you may have had an attack of borborygmus recently? If you don’t know, borborygmus is the “technical” term for the gurgling noise made in your stomach. (Not to be confused with a capella singing, of course.)
… automobiles were once seen as an alternative to pollution? During the early years of the 20th Century, as transportation changed from horses to cars, horse excrement was seen as a massive pollution problem – one which the saw new “horseless carriage” as a viable green alternative. (How’d that work out, anyway?)
… polar bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras? The bears, which live in the Arctic, are so good at conserving their body heat that they often go unnoticed by infrared cameras, which use heat signatures to provide images of things. (Polar bears, it seems, are pretty hot at keeping their cool.)
… adhesive bandages were invented because a man’s wife hurt herself doing housework? Now known colloquially as Band-Aids™, the adhesive bandage was created in 1921 by inventor Earle Dickson (1893-1961). He developed the adhesive bandage after noticing his new wife seemed to be constantly cutting her fingers doing housework, and the big bandages he was using were too large and clumsy. (So she was the first to be “stuck on Band-Aids ‘cause Band-Aids were stuck on her,” eh?)
… one of the most iconic roles in movie history went to the second-choice actor? When producer David O. Selznick (1902-1965) was preparing to film, “Gone With the Wind” in 1938, he wanted to cast actor Gary Cooper (1901-1961) in the role of Rhett Butler. Cooper was unavailable for the part, however, because he had just signed a contract with Goldwyn Studios, and the Goldwyn group did not want to lend him to MGM for their film. Selznick then went with his second choice, Clark Gable (1901-1960). Additional trivia note: Both Cooper and Gable were known for not really wanting to play the role of Rhett Butler. Cooper said “Gone With the Wind” was “going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history,” while Gable refused to read the book on which the movie was based. And neither man was the choice of the novel’s author, Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949). Asked who she thought should play Rhett, Mitchell suggested Groucho Marx (1890-1977). (Now that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.)
… the Wright Brothers only flew together once? Recognized as the inventors of heavier-than-air flying craft, Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) flew together one time, on May 25, 1910. Orville piloted and Wilbur was the passenger. According to legend, the brothers had promised their parents that they would never fly together. (They had the Wright stuff, it seems.)
… the “G” on the helmets of the Green Bay Packers football team probably does not mean what you think it does? Most people assume that the letter stands for Green Bay, but according to the team it actually stands for “Greatness.” (If you’re a football fan, I guess it does.)
… it is illegal for a chicken to cross the road in the nation of Georgia? (So, how does the chicken get to the other side?)
… the Internal Revenue Service admits to making mistakes? Yes, I’m shocked too. But they have admitted that on average, one in five people who call their help line get the wrong answer to their question. (Oh, the temptation!)
… mice really do not like cheese? They much prefer sweeter foods such as fruits, or even peanut butter. The idea that mice like cheese probably arose during the Middle Ages, when cheese was stored in the open in cellars. It was more accessible to mice than most other food items were. (Another childhood belief shot to heck.)
… teeth are the only parts of the human body that cannot heal themselves? Teeth are coated in an enamel, which is not living tissue and cannot heal itself. (Thus keeping the dentists of the world in business!)
Now … you know!
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