Category: Trivia

Did you know…

On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Secret Service realized they did not have a have a bulletproof car to transport President Roosevelt safely to Congress to deliver his Infamy Speech. A quick thinking Secret Service agent realized that the U.S. Treasury had seized the bulletproof limo of Al Capone in 1931.

The car was still in working condition and safely transported the president to Congress. President Roosevelt reportedly quipped, “I hope Mr. Capone won’t mind.”

That’s just one of the interesting facts in Brian Galindo’s 10 Interesting Facts About World War II That You May Not Know posted at Buzzfeed.

And a “sure you can borrow my car” to Bill Crider.

How often do you meet someone who has the same birthday as you?  Not often, right?

At first glance, you’d probably think the odds were 1 in 365.  In actuality, the odds are better or worse depending on the day you were born.

My birthday, October 22nd, is according to the chart, pretty common.

Yet, I can only remember meeting one person who shared “my” birthday.  We went to elementary and junior high together.  Her name was, and I kid you not, Becky Beavers.  She was a sweet kid despite the time we got into a spitting contest in second grade.  What were we thinking (definitely not about our shared birthday)?

That’s a photo of some pages from a Houdini scrapbook that belonged to Quincy Kilby, who was a friend to Harry Houdini.  

The scrapbook has personal items that belonged to Houdini such as his show requirements (nothing like bowls of just green M&Ms, but still very interesting), an escape challenge letter (which Houdini accepted and was successful in) plus a lot more.

The Houdini Scrapbook is now owned by The Boston Public Library, but you can see more pages and read about it over at Buzzfeed.

Thanks and a tip o’ the magician’s top hat to Bill Crider.

I was happy getting 13 out of 16 questions right on the Buzzfeed Presidential Trivia Quiz. If you want to see how well you’d do, then give it a try.

Thanks and a 21 gun salute to Neatorama for the original link.

I was never one to buy into the conspiracy theory that we never went to the moon.  (Although I must admit that I did enjoy the movie Capricorn One.)  Today we have a really well-done video that explains Why a Moon Hoax Would Have Been Impossible.

Thanks and a tip o’ the Space Helmet to Gizmodo for the link.

If you met a woman and she told you that her dad fought in the war, what war would come to mind?  

Depending on her age, you might think Viet Nam, Korea, or World War II.  If she was really old, you might even think that perhaps her dad fought in World War I.  Of course that would be pushing it a bit since World War I started nearly 99 years ago.

But what if she told you that her dad fought in the Civil War?  The American Civil War.  You know, North vs South, Grant vs Lee, Abraham Lincoln ending slavery.  THAT Civil War.

No way, you’d think.  You wouldn’t even need to do the math to figure out that the Civil War started over 150 years ago.  There’s no way that her dad could have fought in the Civil War, right?

Wrong.

If the woman is Juanita Tudor Lowery, her dad did fight in the American Civil War.  Once you get over that mind-blowing fact, consider this: there are a few others like her.  I found that pretty hard to believe until I read this.

It’s crazy to think that this is a “ride.”  

I can remember a time not to long ago when the only folks who would attempt jumps like these were stunt men or suicidal.

The video featuring 10 Bets You Will Always Win was so popular that they came out with the follow-up… Another 10 Bets You Will Always Win … unless, of course, you’re betting against someone who reads my blog or Neatorama.com.