Trivia of the Day for Sunday

 

Why does an opossum sleep hanging upside down by its tail?

The opossum’s tail is prehensile: it is well adapted to grasping and holding on to things.

The opossum’s tail enables it to hang on to tree limbs, hang on to their young, and sometimes they do hang from their tail (along with one or more paws) when they are eating, reaching for something, grooming their young, etc. The fact is, an opossum does not sleep hanging upside down by their tails, and drawings of them doing so are inaccurate. They sleep on top of limbs, in crevices, or in recesses just like other arboreal animals.

Trivia of the Day for Saturday

 

Why is the sky blue?

Well, sunlight, which we see as white light, is in reality a mixture of the colors red, yellow, green, blue, orange, and purple. When sunlight passes through the earth’s atmosphere these colors are deflected and scattered in many different ways by atmospheric molecules and other strange things in the air.

The colors purple and blue are deflected the most, which causes these colors to scatter all over the sky. Because the human eye can detect blue easier than purple, it is blue you see when you look up at the sky.

Trivia of the Day for Friday

Forty percent of the farm-grown catfish in the United States is consumed by Texans.

You would have to drink 100 cups of coffee in four hours to get a lethal dose of caffeine–ten grams.

The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.

Fresca, the soft drink, had problems when it was sold in Mexico. Fresca is slang for lesbian.

Former Texas Governor Ann Richards received a vote for “Best Rap Artist” in The Austin Chronicle’s 1991 Austin Music Poll.

Trivia of the Day for Thursday

The written test for University of Texas at Austin campus police in the 1960’s asked applicants the shape of their excrement to test their ability to be observant. Maybe that’s how they missed Charles Whitman.

The average cat food meal is the equivalent to about five mice.

The drink ‘7UP’ used to contain lithium (an anti-depressant).

Sheep prefer to drink running water.

A seagull drinks salt water because it has special glands that filter out the salt.

Trivia of the Day for Wednesday

 

In Texas, it’s illegal to put graffiti on someone else’s cow.

The average American visits a fast food restaurant six times a month.

After eating, a housefly regurgitates its food and then eats it again.

The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.

For $150 you can become a licensed dead animal hauler in Texas.

The world’s largest oatmeal cake was baked and built in Bertram, Texas during Labor Day weekend 1991. The 33-layer cake stood more than 3 feet tall, weighed 333 pounds, and served 3,333 people. I’ve been to Bertram, and it has to be the worst speed trap in Texas.

Trivia of the Day for Tuesday

 

If a bacterium has enough nutrients to live, it will probably divide into two daughter cells. If not, it will probably form a spore casing that can be revived later on, as in the case of Bacillus or Clostridium. They can live for centuries, as evidenced by the “discovery” of bacteria from the ancient Egyptian tombs.

Bacteria reproduce by binary fission, meaning one cell divides into two. Would you consider both of the cells new? If so, you could say that a bacterium can live forever by dividing itself into infinity.

The largest taxi fleet in the world is found in Mexico City. The city boasts a fleet of over 60,000 taxis.

Early Spanish missionaries in Texas hoped to encourage the spread of European values by offering flannel underwear to Native Americans.

‘I Love Lucy’, a 1950’s sitcom, airs every hour of every day somewhere in the world.

Trivia of the Day for Monday

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, one person is killed annually painting stripes on the state’s highways and roads.

The first drive through window at a restaurant was at the McDonald’s in Sierra Vista, AZ. It was put in so the soldiers from Ft. Huachuca could get food since the base had a regulation prohibiting anyone in uniform from entering a business establishment.

1 out of 3 of all cows in the US used for food purposes (beef) are used by the McDonald’s Corp.

About 80 percent of all bird species in the world inhabit wetlands.

A pound of termites has more nutrients than a pound of beef or pork.

Trivia of the Day for Sunday

 

Why do people say “God Bless You” after you sneeze?

People say “God Bless You” after you sneeze is a phrase dating back to Biblical times. Back then, a sneeze was believed to be a sign of imminent danger to the person who sneezed, most likely because a sneeze, way back then, was a symptom commonly associated with the plague.

Therefore, when someone sneezed it was believed they were in need of immediate help from God. And now you know where the saying “God Bless You” when someone sneezed developed.

Trivia of the Day for Saturday

Why do the Chinese eat with chopsticks?

Legend has it a Chinese emperor feared a public uprising so much he ordered his troops to collect all metal implements that might be used as weapons against him.

This also included the metal eating utensils in use by the Chinese.  Deprived of metal knives and forks, the Chinese people (legend has it), learned to eat with narrow sticks they cut from bamboo trees – giving birth to chopsticks.

Trivia of the Day for Friday

 

What are the origins of the expression “Son of a Gun?”

Today, this expression is used in a joking manner, a term of happiness or wonderment. It had a quite different meaning originally.

Once upon a time when women were allowed to live on naval ships, legend has it various rendezvous would occur between these women and the ship’s crew near the main gun, with a canvas sheet screening alleged activities from view.

Nine months later, if a male child was born of uncertain parentage, he was entered into the ship’s log as a “Son of a Gun.”