Footle and Grok

Welcome to Day 13 of my July trivia posts.*

Trivia: A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

This is true, but why does a dime have ridges at all? Mental Floss has a great article about this question. When American coins were first minted, they were made with real silver and other precious metals. The ridges were added to prevent counterfeit and fraud. Various treasury mints created their own number of ridges, making the coins hard to recreate.

Fraud was a bigger issue. When coins were made with silver, coin clippers would snip a bit off of coins. The collected shavings could be sold for a profit, and so little was taken from each coin that it wasn’t noticeable at first. However, a coin with ridges couldn’t be clipped. Clever.

Nowadays, coins are not made with silver, and coin clipping is not a thing. However, the mint has not changed how they press the coins, so the ridges are still there. Over the years, dimes have had between 89 and 113 ridges. Today they all have 118.

I give this trivia a 10 out of 10. The trivia is true, and now we know why dimes have ridges.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.

Welcome to Day 12 of my July trivia posts.*

Trivia: The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

Have you ever been to Niagara Falls? It is a remarkable natural feature. What we call Niagara Falls is actually three waterfalls that fall sixteen feet along the Niagara River. American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are on the American side, and Horseshoe Falls straddles the border between Canada and the United States.

The flow rate for these falls is higher than any other waterfall in North America. That means it is almost impossible for the falls to freeze. Almost, but not quite. However, the creator of the above trivia should have checked their dates, because this rare event did not happen in 1932.

On March 29, 1848, there was an ice jam on the river that lowered the flow of the falls, allowing all three falls to freeze. This is the only time this has happened. Over the years, the falls have partially frozen several times, including in 1932.

The pictures of ice forming around the falls are really beautiful. However, in all of them, water still flowed. Nowadays, they have machines that break up ice on the Niagara River, so the falls should not freeze completely again.

I give this trivia a 7 out of 10. It is correct except for the date.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.

Welcome to Day 11 of my July trivia posts.*

Trivia: Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

This is true, but as always, there is more to this simple fact since other animals also have skin that is colored.

Zebras have black skin, but it is not striped. Polar bears also have black skin, but their fur has no color. (Did you think it was white?)

Cheetahs (considered a small cat and related to house cats) have spotted skin, but the spots may not match their fur pattern exactly.  

Tigers and snow leopards are large cats, and not only do they have striped skin, but the stripes on their fur match the pattern on their skin.  I guess beautiful stripes are skin deep.

I give this trivia a 10 out of 10. The trivia is true, and I love learning about animals.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.

Welcome to Day 10 of my July trivia posts.*

Trivia: The sentence: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter of the alphabet.

This is true. But it barely scratches the surface.

A sentence that uses all twenty-six letters is a pangram. The holy grail of pangrams is a sentence that uses each letter only once. These are difficult to do.

People create new pangrams all the time, so you can use any number of sentences to practice your typing skills. Here are some examples:

• Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
• Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz.
• The five boxing wizards jump quickly.
• Sympathizing would fix Quaker objectives.
• A wizard’s job is to vex chumps quickly in fog.
• Watch “Jeopardy!”, Alex Trebek’s fun TV quiz game.
• By Jove, my quick study of lexicography won a prize!

Here is a perfect pangram (each letter only used once.) These sentences tend to be awkward.

Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD., bags few lynx.

Why not create some pangrams yourself? This could be a fun game for kids and for adults who like words.

I give this trivia a 10 out of 10. The trivia was true, and the background was fun.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.

Welcome to Day 9 of my July trivia posts.*

Trivia: Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

Google can not answer all questions. I researched how many vocal sounds dogs and cats make, and all the websites listed were sites that got this fact from other factoid sites. None of them explained how scientists know this.

I’ve had cats and dogs, and I agree with this trivia. However, I can’t prove that the numbers are correct. Cats may only have 89, or they may have 243. Dogs probably have less, but different dogs might have different amounts. I couldn’t find a definite answer.

(Hubby found a research paper that disproves this trivia. I felt the research was lacking some data, so I am not using it, but it wouldn’t be fair not to acknowledge that a study on pet vocal sounds was done.)

I would share this factoid as more of an anecdote than a fact. My cat, Chewie, talks more than any cat I’ve ever met, and he has a large range of sounds. For him, this trivia is true. That’s all I can say.

I give this trivia a 5 out of 10. It might be true, but I can’t prove it.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.

Welcome to Day 8 of my July Trivia posts.*

Trivia: Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

This is NOT TRUE. I should end the post there. If you google “Who invented scissors?” the first answer is Leonardo Da Vinci. But if you click on the link, it says scissors were invented in Rome in AD 1. Come on, Google, it can’t be both.

And it isn’t. While Da Vinci used scissors and promoted their use, this tool had been around a long time. In fact, they had been around a lot longer than AD 1. The ancient Egyptians used a scissor-like tool in 1,500 BC, and other similar devices have been dated back to 3,000 BC in the Middle East.

So please don’t spread this false trivia that Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors. I’m embarrassed for whoever put it on this trivia list.

I give this trivia a 0 out of 10. Even though it allowed me to learn the truth, it gets a zero for being pure fiction.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.

Welcome to Day 7 of my July Trivia posts.*

Trivia: “Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt.”

This is true. All the words that end in “mt” are a variation of dreamt, such as undreamt and daydreamt. Dreamt is a British English word that, while seen occasionally in the American lexicon, is not common on this side of the pond.

I don’t know why this is trivia. It isn’t that interesting unless you are playing Scrabble and have an “m” and “t” tile that you don’t know what to do with. Grammarly tried to change “daydreamt” into “daydream,” which made sense to me.

I give this trivia a 5 out of 10. It may be true, but it seems a useless thing to know.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.

Welcome to Day 6 of my July Trivia posts.*

Trivia: A snail can sleep for three years.

This trivia is true, but the details are more interesting than just the fact. First of all, mattress websites really care how long snails sleep. Apparently, they are encouraging humans to sleep like a snail (and possibly cure insomnia.)

Today’s facts came from a vet; I guess people who have snails for pets care how long they sleep.

Sleepy Snail Facts:

• Snails can hibernate or estivate for up to three or four years.
• Estivation means “to sleep during the summertime,” while hibernation is long-term sleep in the wintertime.
• Snails don’t sleep because they want to; they need moisture to survive, and if conditions become too dry, they go to sleep.
• To prevent themselves from drying out as they sleep, snails secrete mucus all over their bodies.
• So when you see an immobile gastropod in the wild, don’t assume it is dead, it just might be sleeping (and dreaming of mattresses.)

I give this trivia a 10 out of 10. Not only is it true, but I learned a new word (estivation.)

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.

Welcome to Day 5 of my July Trivia posts.*

Trivia: There are more chickens than people in the world.

Obviously, this is true (at least I hope so.) The question is, how many people and how many chickens are there.

There are approximately 7,789,140,550 people on the planet (that number has gone up since I typed it and you read it.)

As of 2018, there were 23.7 billion chickens in the world. So chickens could easily take over the world if they had the brains to do so. Lucky for us, they don’t.

Here are some other interesting chicken numbers:

• There are two types of chicken raised globally, egg-laying hens and broiler chickens.
• China is number one in egg production at 529 billion in 2017
• The United States is second in egg production at 106.7 billion in 2019
• Iowa (3.1 million people) has the largest chicken population in the United States, with 56 million layer hens.
• The United States grows the most broiler chickens.
• The top 5 broiler chicken states are Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Mississippi.
• Brazil comes in second for broiler chickens, and the EU comes in third.

I like eggs, and I like boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so I contribute to the need to raise all these chickens.

I give this trivia a 10 out of 10. Not only is it true, but I learned some big numbers, which I love.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks, and on with the post.

Welcome to Day 4 of my July trivia posts.*

Trivia: All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

Happy Independence Day! I’d like to have independence from blatantly wrong trivia. I didn’t even have to google this one (but I did.) I looked at the back of a five-dollar bill with a magnifying glass. There are twenty-six states listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial, not fifty.

And even weirder, there wasn’t space for all the states listed on the front of the actual memorial. So, it says Carolina for both North and South Carolina, and Hampshire for New Hampshire on the bill (look for yourself!)

I even looked at the rest of the back to make sure they hadn’t hidden other states. There were none.

This trivia is even less accurate than most trivia since there aren’t even fifty states on the top of the actual Lincoln Memorial. There are only forty-eight because it was built before Hawaii and Alaska were states. There is a plaque at the base that lists those two states.

The states are on all four sides of the memorial in two rows. The bottom row lists the states that were in the United States when Lincoln was president. The top row shows all forty-eight states. That means that some states are duplicated, but not on the same side. Since only the front is printed on the back of a five-dollar bill, it makes sense that only the states found on that side would be listed, thus twenty-six.

As I often ask, why print trivia that is so wrong and so easily disproved? Things like this can create chaos. Facts are important and accuracy should be spread. I hope you are sharing my corrections with your friends and family. It’s a patriotic thing to do.

I give this trivia a 0 out of 10. If I could give it negative points, I would, just because I didn’t even need the internet to disprove it.

*I’m doing something hard (for me) in July that I don’t want to talk about until August (in case I fail.) This something takes a lot of time, so I’m simplifying my July posts. I’m using a list of trivia that Aunt Patti emailed me. Each day, I will explore a trivia fact and bring you the truth, not just the clickbait. I might even rate the trivia. I think this will be fun because I love exploring new topics and sharing them with you. I hope you learn something too. If you do, why not share it with a friend. One of my goals is to get more readers, and word of mouth is a great way to do that. Many thanks.