Here are some fun facts to help get you through the day and look like the most informed person at the water cooler…
Fun (or not-so-fun) Facts:
- Beyoncé’s career total of 88 Grammy nominations is tied with Jay-Z, her husband, for the most received by any artist in the history of the awards. (Beyoncé won four Grammys last night, which was enough to break the record for the most Grammy WINS of all time.)
- Jenga means “to build” in Swahili. The woman who invented the game was born in Ghana and came up with it when she lived there . . . and she wouldn’t let Hasbro change the name when they bought it from her.
- The guy who created Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was friends with Harry Houdini. But they wound up hating each other after a fight over whether Houdini had magical powers. Houdini swore he DIDN’T . . . Doyle was sure that he DID.
- There are eight Hawaiian Islands, but you can’t visit two of them. One is a nature reserve that used to be a military test site, and one is privately owned by a family that rarely allows visitors. (Their names are Kahoolawe and Niihau.)
- Pizza Hut uses 3% of all the cheese produced in the U.S.
(Wikipedia / Kotaku / LitHub / Mental Floss / Mashed)
Strange and trending news:
- The U.S. military shot down that Chinese spy balloon on Saturday as soon as it was over the Atlantic Ocean. Navy divers have been working to recover the wreckage, and China is not happy. Cops in South Carolina had to tell people not to shoot at it as it passed overhead.
- It turns out there are more too: Another balloon was just spotted over Latin America . . . three more reportedly passed over the U.S. during the Trump administration . . . and one crashed near Hawaii a few months ago. (Full Story)
- It’s National Frozen Yogurt Day, and a few places have deals. TCBY is giving away free six-ounce frozen yogurts all day. (Full Story)
- The national windchill record was broken in New Hampshire Friday night. At the top of Mt. Washington, it was minus-46 with 127-mile-per-hour winds. So it felt like 108 below zero. (Full Story)
- For Valentine’s Day, an animal shelter in Ohio is letting people name litter boxes after their exes for a $5 donation. (Full Story)
- Men think they’re better than women at saving money, according to a new poll. (Full Story)
- When you factor in average salaries, a study found the most expensive cities for coffee are Las Vegas, Memphis, and New Orleans. (Full Story)
- A bank robber in New Jersey wore dirty socks on his hands, possibly to make sure he didn’t leave any fingerprints. But as he was leaving, he dropped the money . . . leaned down to pick it up . . . and an empty Corona bottle fell out of his pocket. He left it behind, and cops found his DNA on it. (Full Story)
- A guy at a Walmart in Pennsylvania wasn’t happy about waiting in line. So, he poured bleach, motor oil, dish soap, and syrup all over the floor. Then he came back a few days later and did it again with pickles and hot sauce. (Full Story)
- A car elevator malfunctioned at a high-end dealership in Florida and destroyed a Ferrari. (Full Story)
- Cops in Massachusetts are looking for whoever stole a 200-pound Shrek statue from someone’s yard. (Full Story)
- Customs officers in Detroit found an abandoned bag with a dolphin skull inside. (Full Story)
- A beer truck crashed in Santiago, Chile, and people immediately started stealing the 20 tons of Budweiser it was hauling. (Full Story)
- A 72-year-old janitor was cleaning a holding cell at a courthouse in Orlando . . . got locked inside . . . and was stuck there for three days. (Full Story)
- A guy with prostate cancer developed an Irish accent. (???) It’s the first case of prostate cancer being linked to “foreign accent syndrome.” (Full Story)
