I was impressed early on with my young son’s insatiable curiosity for facts. He was interested in learning about anything anyone would tell him: magnets, fishing, guitars, but he never cared much about hearing about people’s lives, which is a complete disparity to me, who is fascinated by humanity and its drama.
When this school year began, I asked my newly freshman son about some of his peripheral friends, inquiring about their summers. “I dunno,” was all I got as an answer.
“Didn’t you talk to anyone?” I asked, imagining him buried in a device in the corner somewhere.
“Of course I did,” he said rattling off a list of names and telling me about some game they were playing online, while together. [Fuck you, technology, for digitizing socialization.]
Now that he’s ventured into the theater world, I wonder if his inquisitiveness will be piqued. With his study of characters, together with the scrutiny of intentions and motivations behind the words and actions, I question whether he’ll develop more interest in the life clubs fellow humans have entered before his interaction with them.
I, on the other hand, don’t give a shit about a fake world, or any shooting, fighting, or dungeons and dragons type games. I’m captivated by narratives. I am the precise target market for The Instagram account, Humans of NY.
This morning I was drawn to an article on Mental Floss about how Sweden is giving a tax break for repairing goods rather than tossing them. While there, I “cracked out” (as the millennials say) on the “Amazing Fact Generator,” which tempted me with the “HIT ME AGAIN!” button more times than I care to admit, but I learned crucial facts (I may or may not ever need again).
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- “The poinsettia, the red-and-green flower commonly seen in Christmas arrangements, isn’t snow-friendly; it’s native to sunny Mexico.”
- “Al Capone’s brother was a cop.”
- “George de Mestral, the inventor of Velcro, also received a patent for a toy plane at age 12.”
- “Frank Sinatra was the producer’s first choice to play the role of Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry.”
- “Symbols such as “!#@%” that are used to indicate swearing in comic strips are called grawlix.”
- “In 1980, Detroit presented Saddam Hussein with a key to the city.”
- “Cleopatra had a special lipstick made for her, consisting of crushed ants and deep red carmine beetles.
- “Pandas are notoriously reluctant to mate in captivity. This has led breeders to create “panda porn”—videos of pandas copulating.”
- Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell is also responsible for starting up the Chuck E. Cheese’s franchise.”
Interested in some good procrastination? Enjoy the Amazing Fact Generator!
These are awesome! Never even knew about any of these!
I love facts! Great post.
I could have done it all day and will neither confirm nor deny if I did.
Thanks! Love you. That’s a fact!