Fact Extractor
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In this issue of Fact Extractor: 1. Hucksters, Humbugs,
Hoodwinks & Hogwash: Harebrained Hoaxes & Hullabaloo
2. Fact or Fable? 3. The Quick Quirk Quiz Question 4.
Shameless Self-Promotion & Flagrant Advertising 5. Two
Cents About Apes
Hucksters, Humbugs, Hoodwinks & Hogwash: Harebrained
Hoaxes & Hullabaloo Prankster Alan Abel once started a
campaign for the American debut of the (imaginary) French
Topless String Quartet. It was composed of four
"French" women, under the direction of pianist
Jacques Goldetsky, who was also topless. Abel sent out fake
press releases, publicity photos, interviews, and reviews.
For the publicity photos, he hired four models and an actor
to pose topless as the quartet and their conductor.
Violinist Michele Andre said in an "interview"
that she preferred to play with breast bared "because I
feel closer to Bach, my favorite, when I play partially
undressed." The reviews claimed that "thousands of
people who once hated chamber music now love it." The
quartet was billed as Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Bosoms.
All concerts were private to avoid clashes with police.
People from all over called up wanting photos and tickets to
their upcoming concert. Frank Sinatra wrote to say he was
interested in recording the girls. The "San Francisco
Chronicle" was the only publication that ran the photo.
"Life" ran a story but no pictures. Steve Allen
offered to put the girls on his show, but Abel replied they
would only do it if Steve appeared nude with them. Steve
Allen declined. Send YOUR schemes & screams to: HHHHHHH@TriviaQueen.com
Fact or Fable? The blue whale has the highest blood
pressure of any animal. FACT OR FABLE? Answer below.
Quick Quirk Quiz Question: A Handy By-Product The first
U.S. oil well was drilled near Titusville, Pa. in 1859. At
that time, a man named Robert Chesebrough was the owner of a
kerosene business which had boomed after the invention of
the kerosene lamp five years earlier. With the sudden oil
boom, he traveled to Pennsylvania to buy into the petroleum
business. While questioning the drill workers, he found that
they were annoyed by problems with a waxy residue that stuck
to their drilling rods, gumming them up. They scraped it off
and threw it away. Chesebrough returned home to Brooklyn
with some of the stuff and spent months experimenting with
it: extracting, purifying and testing. Soon he had a
colorless, odorless oily substance, in a day and age when
the only oils available were animal and vegetable oils that
spoiled easily and smelled terrible. He went on the road
with this product, selling it for a penny an ounce. Doctors
used it to hasten healing. Housewives used it to remove
stains from furniture. Farm hands used it to revitalize
dried leather goods. Farmers used it to prevent rust on
machinery. Painters used it to prevent paint splatters from
sticking to floors. Druggists used it as a base for creams
and cosmetics. Soon Chesebrough had transformed a gummy
waste product into a million-dollar industry that is still
found in every drug store and supermarket today. Chesebrough
named the product after the Greek words for
"water" and "oil". What is the product
called? What is the product called?
To find out, go to http://www.triviaqueen.com/enewsletters.htm
and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for the
answer. While you're scrolling, be sure to take a look at
the trivia you could be reading while you're there! Read our
current issues of the Two Bit News for free, or check out
our back issues for only 25 cents each! We've got trivial
trifles, treasures, and treats for every appetite so cough
up your quarters and learn a lot of news you never needed to
know!
Answer to Last Week's Quick Quirk Quiz Question: The
hangman's name was DERIK, now spelled derrick.
Nothing You Need to Know about APES Ape Escapes o In a
Texas zoo, an orangutan foiled the electric fence and
managed to escape by grabbing clumps of grass in order to
create an insulating mitten, then climbing over the
electrified wires without being shocked. o When a worker at
the Washington National Zoo mistakenly left several large
barrels in the enclosure housing several orangutans, one of
the ingenious animals named Bonnie simply stacked the
barrels up, climbed over the fence (followed by her
companions) and then liberated a picnic basket from a
shocked tourist. When zookeepers found her, she was calmly
munching on some fried chicken and drinking orange juice. o
Jonathan, an orangutan at the Los Angeles Zoo, was an escape
artist. Keepers designed a nice new outdoor area for him
then proudly invited media and other dignitaries to watch
while Jonathan was released into the area to explore it.
Jonathon, on entering the new play area, took one look
around, uprooted a nice tree that had been planted for his
pleasure, leaned it against the wall, and climbed over the
wall as keepers, dignitaries, and visitors watched. Later
while being held in an escape-proof exhibit, he entertained
himself by taking burlap bags he'd been given to play with
and whipping them through the bars of his cage, snagging
steam pipes along the wall and pulling them loose. When
keepers removed the burlap bags and gave him a cardboard box
instead, Jonathan ripped the box up, made spikes out of the
cardboard, and used them to break the lights in the ceiling.
o Fu Manchu was an orangutan in the Omaha Zoo. One day in
1968, a zoo worker ran to the head curator to report that Fu
Manchu and all the other orangutans had escaped from their
outdoor enclosure and were hanging out in the trees nearby.
After coaxing the animals back into their cage, the curator
investigated, and found an access door had evidently been
left unlocked. He chewed out the staff and locked the door.
Several days later, the orangs escaped again, and again the
curator found the access door unlocked. "I was getting
ready to fire someone," he reported. Several days
later, a breathless keeper came running up to the curator
insisting he had to come quick and witness what Fu Manchu
was doing. The curator watched as Fu Manchu produced a piece
of stiff wire, slid it between the access door and the
casing, slipped the latch, and popped the door open. He
escaped, followed by the rest of the orangutan clan. Now
that they knew how the escapes were happening, the question
was where the wire was coming from. Investigation revealed
something shiny in Fu Manchu's mouth. The wire, bent into
the shape of his jaw, was hidden between his lip and gum.
After this story got considerable publicity in the papers,
the American Association of Locksmiths made Fu Manchu an
honorary member.
FLAGRANT ADVERTISING If you would like to read the true
story of how the author of this newsletter cured herself of
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Cause and Cure By Janet Spencer
Would you pay a dollar if it would cure your disease?
This essay costs a buck because the author needs to pay her
electric bill-but the cure described here is absolutely free
for anybody and works the same way for any illness. Download
a dollar's worth of discovery today. (For a printed copy,
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Fact or Fable: FABLE. The giraffe has the highest blood
pressure of any animal.
DID WE MAKE YOU LAUGH? DID WE MAKE YOU LEARN? Then please
forward this to someone else who could use a little trivial
drivel in their life!
Remember our motto, stated in the immortal words of Max
Beerbohm, "Good sense about trivialities is better than
nonsense about things that matter."
Janet Spencer, Trivia Queen of the Universe Royal Ruler
of Useless Information Master of Arcane Knowledge and
Extraneous Lore Keeper of Forgotten Facts and Startling
Statistics Freelance Hysterics - Creative Profanities -
Quantum Perplexities Question, comments, feedback, requests:
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