15 Sweet Servings of Trivia We Learned This Week

The Titanic carried a bunch of sacks of mail. As it sank, five postal clerks resolved to save as much mail as possible. All five clerks died.

10. The Washington Mooonument

Construction on the Washington Monument paused for 20 years. They ran out of money, then the Civil War kicked in. During the pause, it stood half-finished, and cattle grazed around it.

11. Who Are You?

For the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, the organizers thought maybe they could get Keith Moon from The Who to perform. They reached out to the band’s publicists and learned that Moon had died in 1978.

12. Hind Legs His Weapons

Central Park Zoo had a rabbit named Bunch in 1917. It fought dogs, bit people’s ankles, then got into the ape enclosure and fought an orangutan — and won.

13. Palmaris Longus

Do you have a big tendon visible in your forearm, in the wrist right under the palm? Most people do, but around a tenth of people don’t. It’s redundant in modern humans, and we appear to be evolving to lose it.

14. Data-VHS

In 1998, a new type of VHS tape debuted. It could store 50 gigabytes, vastly more than DVDs and as much as a Blu-Ray disc. It didn’t take off.

15. A Gram Is Easier

Brave New World warned of the dangers of people taking drugs to escape their worries. But as the years went by, Aldous Huxley chilled out a little about that. He even requested LSD on his deathbed, bathing him in happiness in his final moments.