| As I do every November, I am presenting safe Thanksgiving conversation starters that might help avoid more controversial subjects: Tasty Morsels – Pound cake was invented in medieval times. Since most people were illiterate in those days, pound cake became popular because the recipe was easy to memorize: one pound of butter, one pound of eggs and one pound of sugar – In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket – The tea bag was not introduced until 1908 when it was accidentally invented by Thomas Sullivan in New York City. Efficiency-minded Americans quickly adopted the teabag, but it did not become popular in Britain until the 1950s. – Mageirocophobia is the fear of cooking – Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables – Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. – If you put a can of Diet Coke in water, it will float but regular Coke will sink. Since the drinks’ formulas are a trade secret, one can only speculate that sugar causes the regular Coke to sink. – Speaking of weight, the most nutritiously dense vegetable is probably not making an appearance at your Thanksgiving dinner. One cup of raw kale has only 33 calories, yet it contains 684% of vitamin K, 134% of vitamin C, 206% of Vitamin A and two grams of protein. – Starbucks’ website proudly claims that there are more than 170,000 ways to customize beverages at their stores. However, Starbucks has created a monster(s). Sales are slumping dramatically- probably because consumers are tired of waiting in line for their $8 beverage while baristas struggle to make everyone’s complex concoctions. – There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples. – There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes. – Two-thirds of the world’s eggplants are grown in New Jersey. – Honey is the only food that will never rot (I would have guessed Twinkies). – While a can of tuna fish usually has a sell- by- date of 3 to 5 years, experts claim it will last much longer. Since the tuna is in a (pretty much) sterile environment, a nine-year-old can shouldn’t go bad or even taste worse than one that is four years old. On the other hand, you should occasionally check the sell-by-date on your mayonnaise jar. – One flute of champagne produces approximately one million bubbles. A half-pint of beer produces roughly two million bubbles. – The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher – George Washington was so strong He was able to crack walnut shells between his knuckles and forefingers (BTW, a great way to impress your relatives on Thanksgiving). After Dinner Non-Food Trivia A “jiffy” is the scientific name for 1/100th of a second. The cigarette lighter was invented in 1823 The match was invented three years later The female lion does ninety percent of the hunting. (I guess the males are too busy combing their manes) The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in court. Interesting observations (IMHO) from Professor Lee You can bring this up over an after-dinner drink with any relatives who are Mensa members. If you shuffle a pack of cards, it’s likely that the exact order has never existed before in the history of the universe. Cassandra Lee at McGill University explains that there are somewhere in the range of 8×1067 ways to sort a deck of cards. That’s an 8 followed by 67 zeros. To put that in perspective, even if someone could rearrange a deck of cards every second of the universe’s total existence, the universe would end before they would get even one billionth of the way to finding a repeat.” If that’s too much math to absorb, Ms. Lee has a more succinct explanation: “There are more ways to arrange a deck of cards than there are atoms on the earth.” I won’t argue with the good professor. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am thankful for the flourishing sales and great reviews of my book “Get Smarter-Be Amazed”. This is the perfect holiday gift for anyone who loves trivia. Please visit www.tedcurtinstories.com for more information and links to online retailers. |
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