The Trivia Page

Here, at last, is a page for all manner of trivia. I hope you like it. Here are links to all my Trivialities, along with the next couple trivia planned. I will have a random fact of the day, along with other things you might find interesting. If you ever have something you want to contribute, comment and it shall be done. Enjoy!

TRIVIALITIES
Every subject. Every detail. (Mostly) every Tuesday. 

(subjects with an asterisk * imply that the subject featured my index-card drawings to explain the topic)

Triviality I: Maps and Geography (January 13)
Triviality II: Wordplay (January 22)
Triviality III: Dante Alighieri/Bohemians (February 19)
Triviality IV: The French Revolution (March 12)
Triviality V: Gematria (March 19)
Triviality VI: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (March 26)
Triviality VII: Dr Samuel Johnson* (April 9)
Triviality VIII: Alien Hand Syndrome (June 11)
Triviality IX: Word Etymologies* (June 23)
Triviality X: Ten Separate Yet Related Topics (July 2)
Triviality XI: The Hat and Window Taxes (July 9)
Triviality XII: Nikola Tesla (July 10)
Triviality XIII: The Algonquin Round Table (July 16)
Triviality XIV: The Askesian Society (July 30)
Triviality XV: Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos (August 6)
Triviality XVI: The Amber Room (August 13)
Triviality XVII: Alchemy* (August 24)
Triviality XVIII: "The Blind Traveler" (August 27)
Triviality XIX: Bossa nova (September 10)
Triviality XX: The Ourang Medan ghost ship (October 8)

Next Week's Topic: ?

Random Facts:
All random facts have been verified by me.

• There is in fact an immortal creature, the immortal jellyfish. It has the ability to revert to its polyp stages when already full grown and start growing all over again.
• The reason we get so many cases of allergies, asthma, diabetes, and arthritis in this modern age is because our immune systems overreact, having nothing to do since most of the germs and bacteria we've struggled with historically has been eradicated.
• Primates, guinea pigs, and capybaras are the only mammals that cannot synthesize their own Vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
• The Civil War has had such a profound effect on Americans, that on average, one book about it is published every day.
• Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.
• The 20th century was the most bloody and destructive century ever. Over 1 billion people died in the 2 world wars, numerous civil wars and conflicts, and battles.
• All 7 billion people standing shoulder to shoulder would fill the city of LA.
• In 2008 for the first time, more people lived in urban areas than rural.
• Of any 200 atoms in your body, 126 are Hydrogen, 51 are oxygen, 19 are Carbon, 3 are Nitrogen, and the remaining one is divided among the other rare elements that make up your body.
• Drinking small amounts of beer reduces insulin resistance, which means that it's less likely for you to get diabetes.
• Coffee was once worshipped as very rare and mystical, so the Catholic Church banned it for 300 years.
• The Catholic Church excommunicated all Freemasons in the 1800s.
• It took 3 years for the iPod to sell 50 million units. In contrast TV took 13 years and radio 37.
• Only four galaxies are visible from Earth (two in each hemisphere): Milky Way and Andromeda from the North, and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds from the South.
• The Greeks saw the sky as bronze in Ancient Greece. They classified objects not by color, but by brightness and characteristics. So all fruits and trees were green, the color of "life", and the sky, being bright, was bronze, the color of all things bright.
• There are an estimated 10^78 atoms in the observable universe, with an upper bound of 10^80. Of course, this is only the observable universe...
• America was not named after Americo Vespucci. It was more likely named after Richard Ameryk, a rich trading merchant who financed an extensive trip to what's now the Eastern Seaboard.
• The city of Honolulu is actually the world's largest city, because due to Hawaiian state law, the county and city of Honolulu are equal. The county is over 1,600 miles big, so 72% of the city is underwater.
• Uluru (Ayers Rock) is not the largest rock in the world. Mount Augustus is, in Western Australia. It's older than Uluru, and almost 3,000 feet high.
• We evolved from monkeys, which evolved from a missing link that we don't know, which evolved from hedgehogs, which in turn evolved from jellyfish.
• The speed of light on Earth is not 186,000 miles per second. That's only in a vacuum. The slowest speed light has gone is through frozen rubidium at about 14 yards per second.
• There are no land snakes in New Zealand due to the country's law to keep all snakes out and if a person is aware of a snake, by law it must be reported.

Trivia Books/Useful Knowledge Books
Some of the books I use to find info for Trivialities and other columns, prove stuff to friends, or just learn stuff. Links to Amazon if you wish to buy.

The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge
The Book of General Ignorance
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
Encyclopedia Britannica's Quizmaster
Schott's Original Miscellany
World Trivia

Other Trivia/Useful Websites:

Sporcle (Trivia quizzes on everything)
Listverse (Lists on everything)
Jim Loy's Pages (mass of information on most subjects)
Polite Dissent (medicine, comics, TV shows)
Cordial Deconstruction (TV show debunking)
J! Archive (Jeopardy clues and trivia)