Strange but True Trivia

Do you accuse other people of taking your keys? Research suggests there is a marked difference between how younger and older people interpret misplacing their car keys. A young person usually blames it on someone else. “Who the $%## took my &#$%**# keys?” Senior citizens typically blame it on themselves. “I must be getting old. I misplaced my keys again.” Never use your age as an excuse for anything like this, and see if you don’t remain younger longer. It’s an effective mental trick.

Lou the mule is being hailed as a hero for saving the life of his owner in McMinnville, Tennessee. Jolene Solomon, 63, says she stepped outside her home on New Year's Day to see why Lou was braying so loudly and saw that her house was on fire. It burned to the ground, but she and Lou are safe. Forget a watch dog. Get a mule.

Weird Animal Trivia
What is unusual about a raccoon's penis? It contains a bone. I refuse to make a comment on this one.

After sex what does the female marine bristle worm do? She bites off the male’s penis and eats it. Too bad he isn’t built more like the raccoon.

If you like reading about weird animals on our planet, see my new Hubpages on the Komondor, the Axolotl, the Aye-Aye, the Dung Beetle, the Blobfish and the Star-Nosed Mole. http://hubpages.com/profile/drbj

Celebrity Trivia - Before They Were Stars
Donald Trump was a rent collector. Some things never change.
Matthew McConaughey cleaned out chicken coops. The only direction he could go from there is up.
Marlon Brando dug ditches. Same comment as above.
Cyndi Lauper emptied dog kennels  Same comment as Matthew's and Marlon's.

Not so Trivial Trivia

If you think someone is having a stroke, ask the person three questions: “Smile for me. Raise both your arms. Say this simple sentence: ‘The sun is shining.’” If the person has trouble doing these three tasks, call 911 immediately.

“I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking something up and finding something else on the way.” - Franklin P. Adams. Me, too.

Health Trivia
Doctors say that cheerful people resist disease better than grumpy ones. Guess it’s the surly bird that catches the germ.

Heart attack? Don’t just call 911 and chew an aspirin. While you’re waiting for help to arrive, squeeze the little finger on your left hand HARD! This acupressure procedure has been said to save lives.

Didja know almonds contain salicylates? That’s the pain-relieving ingredient in aspirin. And they don’t have any dangerous side effects.

Some 79% of women know what they weighed in high school, but just 32% know their current cholesterol levels.

Saving Money Trivia
Need a hotel room? Look up the number and call the hotel at 4 pm on a Sunday to reserve a room for any time within the next 2 to 3 weeks. You will have a better chance of getting a low rate from a hotel manager who understands that an unsold room is lost revenue. Do not call the hotel’s 800 number where you are apt to reach a national reservation agent with little negotiating power.

Celebrity Trivia - Before They Were Stars
Michael Douglas was a gas station attendant. Remember them? They were the guys who checked your oil and your tires?
Warren Beatty was a rat catcher. Guess he had the charisma of the Pied Piper, even then.
Christopher Walken was a lion tamer in the circus.
Rod Stewart was a grave digger. The only job I know where you can start at the top!

Trivia to Live By

Yes, I’m a collector of trivia, tips, strategies, tactics, pointers and bits of information – stuff that makes me mutter, “Gee, I didn’t know that.” Or sometimes, “Gee, I knew that but I forgot it.” As I get older, often it’s the latter statement I utter the most. Sometimes I think I’m a victim of C.R.S. (Can’t Remember Shit). Or suffering from Somesheimers (a precursor of Alzheimers). And always I’m amazed at how much stuff I do remember. So this will be a compilation of more items I’ve re-discovered lately that I find useful, interesting, valuable and I must admit, sometimes even stupid.
Trivia to Make Your Day
If you accidentally lock your keys in the car and your spare keys are at home, call someone at home on your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the other person at your home press the unlock button of your key fob (clicker), holding it near the phone on their end. Your car doors will unlock. Distance is no object. You could be many miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" key for your car, you can unlock the doors or the trunk.

Really Trivial Quotes
“I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year.” - Editor of business books, Prentice Hall, 1957
“But what ... is it good for?” - Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981
“So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary; we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'" - Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs commenting on numerous attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer. (You all know Steve Jobs of Apple and Steve Wozniak - of ballroom dancing fame.)

Trivia is good for you

Research! I've done it all my life - at school, at work, at home - for my books, for the articles, and the blog posts, and the speeches I now present. I am constantly researching and collecting varied and sometimes trivial, but always useful information. How about you? And because of the constant stream of minutiae that I collect, I've realized a brutal truth. My name is BJ and I'm a fact-aholic. I confess. I'm a trivia junkie. So I started this blog to share trivia and irresistible stories that I find forever fascinating and never trivial. Let me know your favorite trivia tidbits, too.

Health Trivia
This is really important. When using a public restroom, go to the first stall. After analyzing 51 public restrooms, researchers found that the stall closest to the restroom door consistently had the lowest bacteria levels. As well as the most toilet paper. The first stall probably sees less traffic because it’s near the door and most people think it's used the most so it would harbor the most bacteria and thus avoid it. When you’re finished, if you are seated, stand before you flush. A fine mist of water containing contagious bacteria sprays upward when a toilet is flushed. You could catch a number of intestinal bugs or hepatitis.

Did you know that honey has powerful antibacterial properties? Before you put a bandaid on that cut, dab a little honey on the wound to disinfect it. A recent study found that honey is capable of destroying almost all strains of common wound-infecting bacteria. Speaking of bees, did you know that aerodynamically, the little wings of the bee are much too tiny to support its heavier body. But the bee doesn't know this and flies anyway.

Food Trivia
You might think that farm-raised salmon are healthier for you but forego the rural fish. They are pumped bull of antibiotics and lower in nutritional value than their wild relatives, and get their beautiful color from dye. Wild salmon get their beautiful color from an antioxidant in krill, their natural food source.

You already know that it's best to take your vitamin supplement with food because food releases digestive enzymes necessary for complete vitamin absorption. Caution: Do not include iron with meals. Take it separately because food interferes with its absorption. Is that where the motto arose? Easy come, easy go? Sorry - I got carried away.

Just Trivia
Worms produce their body weight in waste every 24 hours. OMG! Can you imagine the sorry shape of this planet if humans did that?

Favorite very short anecdote department: George Bernard Shaw sent this note to his very good friend, Winston Churchill: "Here are two tickets to my new play. Bring a friend - if you have one." Winston returned the tickets with his own note: "Sorry, I'm unable to attend opening night. Please send me tickets for the second performance - if there is one."