35 Things I Learned in 2024 (and 30 new words!)

In keeping with a tradition I started several years ago, I wrote down interesting facts (or at least interesting to me) that I learned in the past year.

Also, for the first time, I started keeping track of words I read that I had never run across before and collected 30 words.

I cite to my source for several of these facts, but some others, I read in random articles or posts, so consider these more as “facts” than facts, and take all with a grain of salt.

(1) Russia has two words for spy. A bad ‘spy’ translates as a betrayer of secrets. Whereas a good spy translates more closely to the English word ‘scout.’ -Gordon Corera, Russians Among Us

(2) Hoover dam (which used enough concrete to build a two lane road from LA to Boston) was poured in five square foot blocks because the civil engineers had estimated if they tried to pour it in one humongous block it would take 125 years to cool and harden. PBS American Experiences Hoover Dam

(3) On December 20th, 1935 a worker on the Hoover Dam named Patrick Tierney died when he fell from an intake tower. He was the 134th man to die on the project and died 13 years to the day after the first man died- J.G Tierney, his father. PBS American Experiences Hoover Dam

(4) the actor Daniel Bengali was fired from the tv show Murder One in the 1990s when he refused to come in on time because he insisted he had to take his morning crap in his own house. Link.

(5) The show In Living Color is responsible for Super Bowl Halftime Show becoming an event in its own right.

(6) a person from Cairo is called a Cariene.

(7) Just as the British and Americans drive on opposite sides of the road, when they conducted hangings they would each put the noose knot on a different side. Just like driving- the British on the left where the knot would rotate forward and knock the head back, causing more likely breakage of the neck. For the Americans on the right where the knot would rotate to the back of the head and cause more strangulations. The Fifth Field, death of Private David Cobb

(8) While hydrogen is considered a clean fuel, it was thought that it had to be split from other atoms as it combines easily and is so small it can slip out of rock formations. Yet, researchers have now discovered deposits of hydrogen that may be big enough one day to drill.

(9) Nobody can seem to agree on what a species is. Scientists can’t even agree if there are four giraffe species or one.

(10) When a goose and a swan mate, the offspring is called a swoose

(11) The Native American tribe that lives at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the Havasupai, view Bob Marley as a demi-God and some even worship him.

(12) 5 percent of deaths in the Netherlands are from euthanasia.

(13) it wasn’t until tv channels started showing golf that the inside of the cup was painted white. That was so it would show up better for the cameras and then the golfers found it made the cup a more visible target as well. Carl Hiassen. The Downhill Lie

(14) while scientists know that decompression sickness aka the bends happens from having too much nitrogen in your blood, the bubbles that from are not actually made from nitrogen, are not the direct cause of the pain in the bends, and in fact, we still don’t know where the bubbles come from. In fact there is no correlation between how many bubbles form in a person’s body and how badly they will suffer the bends. Fresh Air Episode with Rachel Lance, Chamber Divers

(15) Alabama, not Michigan is the leading state of auto exports in the US and it’s not even close.

(16) The Pentagon conducted one of its largest war games ever In 1964 before deciding to ramp up involvement in Vietnam though air strikes and Soldier increases. The game turned out to be a failure for the Blue (US) team and almost exactly predicted what would happen in the actual war itself with the Red (Vietcong) team just going to ground during air strikes and then building new supply routes to disrupt the Americans. The games went so bad for the Americans, the White House decided to throw them out and make a second war game with less realistic conditions. David Halberstam, Best and Brightest, Chapter 20.

(17) Following the deadly 2011 Joplin tornado, a small portion of people affected by the tornado acquired a flesh-eating bacteria and scientists are still unsure why.

(18) Stalin knew about America’s atomic bomb before Truman, the vice president, did.

(19) The Silk Road was only named as such — the Seidenstrasse — in the late 19th century by a German geographer, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen.

(20) when workers at a Frito Lay plant in Kansas went on strike because they said they were forced to continue working after a coworker died on the job, Frito Lay responded that only two workers had died at the plant in the past 5 years.

(21) Marlon Brando had a deep hatred for Burt Reynolds. According to Reynolds, they never worked together or met, and it was apparently just due to the fact people said they look alike.

(22) Both Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were banned from baseball by the then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn not for betting on baseball, but simply doing promotional work for a casino.

(23) The US has both the largest Navy (US Navy) and the 12th largest Navy (Coast Guard) in the world.

(24) even though Roger Federer won 80% of his matches, he only won 54% of his points.

(25) The founder of Atari also founded Chuckie Cheese.

(26) The reason airlines make you open your window shades on landing and take off is so if something goes wrong, your eyes don’t have to adjust to the light, and landing and take off are the times things most likely can go wrong.

(26) the Michelin man’s name is Bibendum, which comes from a Latin phrase meaning “now is the time to drink.” The name was to chosen to let drivers know if they were drunk and swerved off the road, the tires wouldn’t puncture.

(27) the national gallery in London has a trustee key program where if you are a trustee, you can come at any time any day and just walk around the gallery by yourself. It used to be on call until Lucien Freud abused it by continually bringing in Partners in the middle of the night for dalliances. Waldy & Bendy Podcast

(28) Tipping as an entrenched part of culture came after the Civil War in large part so employers would not have to pay formerly enslaved people for their services.

(29) The White Sox have been “cursed” since the 70s when they had a uniform with black socks that had a picture of white socks embroidered on them.

(30) The opposite of the Stockholm effect is known as the Lima effect where terrorists became close to their hostages. Ben Macintyre, The Siege.

(31) Rare earth metals aren’t actually rare but named rare since they are expensive and hard to extract. Four of them are named after a single town in Sweden, Ytterby, and an additional three more were discovered in the same town.

(32) June Carter, not Johnny Cash, wrote Ring of Fire.**According to Morgan, apparently a lot of people already knew this because of the movie Walk the Line. Well, I’ve never seen it, and I just learned it this year, so it stays a fact!!

(33) Qatar Airways has a limit of six uncaged falcons per economy Cabin- as long as hooded and chained

(34) In the NYC metro area, McDonald’s doesn’t offer mustard on their burgers, even if you ask. They just don’t have it.

(34) Chesteron’s Fence is a parable about changing things without thinking them through first, named for a man who removed a fence from a road

(35) per the legal trademark, a single unit of this item is referred to as “a Pop Tarts,” not a Pop Tart.

30 NEW WORDS FOR 2024

A * below means Microsoft Word does not recognize this as a word, so who knows if it actually is a word, or will continue to be a word. Also, I’ve never used any of these out loud and do not know how any of them are pronounced. I’m pompous, but not that pompous.

(1) Rabelaisian: Displaying earthly humor.

(2) Voleur*: Think this may just be French for thief. Doesn’t show up in Oxford Dictionary but was used in the Shadow of the Wind.

(3) Sibylline: Mysterious or prophetic.

(4) Lacunae: Missing portion of a text or manuscript.

(5) Tumescent: Swollen, especially as related to physical arousal.

(6) Micturition: Act of urinating.

(7) Amanuensis: An assistant who dictates for an author.

(8) Foeman: Armed opponent.

(9) Jejune: Uninteresting and superficial.

(10) Sabkha: Salt flats in the middle of a desert.

(11) Empennage: A part of an aircraft’s tail.

(12) Specie: Coined money, as opposed to notes.

(13) Funicular: A fancy name for a cable-rail car that goes up a mountain.

(14) Soutane: A garment worn by Catholic priests.

(15) Ordinand: One getting ready for ordination, used informally to describe a person groomed or selected for a higher position.

(16) Scansion: The rhythm of a verse.

(17) Déclassé: Fallen in rank or social status.

(18) Syndicalism: A movement to transfer power from company owners to company unions.

(19) Ambergris: Waxy substance from whale internals use in a variety of products.

(20) Galette*: A small round French pastry, usually filled with some type of sugared fruit.

(21) Secondment: An employee who does work for an external organization while still being paid by their original organization.

(22) Thole: A pin in the oar of a boat.

(23) Narked*: To be irritated or annoyed to a great degree.

(24) Abstemiously: Avoiding rich foods or drink.

(25) Equipoise: A balance between two objects.

(26) Retrobate*: A damned or unapologetically depraved person.

(27) Mashugana*: Yiddish for silliness or nonsense.

(28) Cavils: To filibuster or object, especially to petty things.

(29) Baksheesh: Arab for a small tip or bribe.

(30) Avaniastic*: Extort for money.