Fact Extractor: News You’ll Never Need to Know

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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 Pepper
6. Miscellaneous Stuff

Hucksters, Humbugs, Hoodwinks & Hogwash: Harebrained Hoaxes & Hullabaloo

A man named Jim Moran one day walked into a party at the Beverly Hills Hotel dressed to the nines - including a piece of string. It ran around his right ear, down his cheek, and into the corner of his mouth. He made the rounds at the party, shaking hands, having a drink, making small talk, and completely ignoring the strange string. Everybody else ignored it too. He knew people were whispering about it, asking each other about it, and wondering about it— but everyone was too polite to ask him about it. All eyes were on him as he endeavored to eat a canapé without removing the string. But he left the party without a single person mentioning the string. Intrigued, he began wearing the string at other gatherings, with the same result. He even took to wearing it when he flew on airplanes. Then one day on a plane he noticed he was getting quite a lot more attention than normal. A football team was on board and they were abuzz with curiosity. They drew straws to see which one of them would approach Mr. Moran to ask the fateful question. Jim Moran explained it all to the stammering young athlete: "You see," he declared, "I'm a doctor at Johns Hopkins and we are studying the digestive system, so this string is attached to a little bucket in my stomach and every four hours I pull it up and collect the stomach juices, which I then send to the hospital to have analyzed." The football player went back to explain it all to his team.

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Fact or Fable?

An Olympic gold medal is made of 97% pure gold. FACT OR FABLE? Answer below.

Quick Quirk Quiz Question:

According to the story, in 1493 in the town of Galway, Ireland, the Mayor was invited to visit a Spanish merchant named Gomez. They got along so well that the Mayor invited Gomez's son to come visit with him and his son Walter in Ireland. Gomez's son had much in common with Walter, and they became good friends. Unfortunately, they both fell in love with a girl named Ahnes, and in a fit of jealousy, Walter killed Gomez's son. Overcome with remorse, he confessed and gave himself up to the town's judge - who also happened to be the town's mayor. The Mayor found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to sentence his own son. In those days the accepted penalty for murder was death, and the Mayor accordingly was forced to sentence his son to death. However, Walter was a very popular young man, and the townfolk refused to see him hanged. They broke into the Mayor's home to free Walter. The mayor grabbed Walter, bolted the door, and in full view of the crowd, hung his son in his own bedroom. The crowd watched in silence, and seeing that there was nothing to be done, withdrew in silence, leaving the Mayor alone. The Mayor's deed eventually came to be admired by the Irish, and his name has lived on ever since, becoming a common term for hanging. What was the Mayor's name?

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 greedy king’s name was GARGANTUA.

Nothing You Need to Know about PEPPER

Popular Pepper

• Americans consume 37 million pounds of pepper per year altogether, which includes pepper used in prepared food.

• Worldwide consumption totals 130 million pounds annually, and pepper accounts for a quarter of the world's total trade in spices.

• The average American will shake seven ounces of ground pepper onto their food at the table each year.

• Studies have shown that pepper stimulates the digestive tract, increases the appetite, and aids digestion.

• Pepper starts losing its flavor as soon as it's ground, becoming completely flat in taste as the volatile oils evaporate. Whole peppercorns, on the other hand, will keep their flavor forever.

• Ground pepper will not dissolve in water, but when dissolved in alcohol, it quadruples in pepper power.

• Pepper should not be added before cooking because it reacts to heat and turns bitter. Instead, sprinkle it on as a garnish.

• It's been estimated that an ounce of pepper is enough to season nearly 1,500 eggs.

• Piperine is a natural insecticide and can be used in the garden. Mix a teaspoon full of ground pepper with a quart of warm water and spray.

Space Age Pepper

During the filming of the original Star Trek TV show, a prop person was sent to find futuristic looking salt and pepper shakers that would be suitable for use on the Star Ship Enterprise. He came back carrying the weirdest and most bizarre salt and pepper shakers he could find. It was decided that they were so strange that no one watching the show would realize what they were. So, standard glass shakers from the studio's cafeteria were used instead. The ultra-modern salt and pepper shakers didn't go to waste, however. They became Dr. McCoy's medical instruments that he waved over his patients' bodies to diagnose what was wrong with them.

Flagrant Advertising

Wanna know why pepper makes you sneeze? How did pepper build Yale? What’s the difference between black pepper, white pepper, green pepper, and red pepper? Why are pepper shakers so darn long, anyway? If you want to know the answers to any of these questions, tune into the Two Bit News at this link:

Fact or Fable:

FABLE. Only three percent of an Olympic gold medal is actually gold.

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Next week, we’ll be hearing all about SALT so stay tuned to the Fact Extractor!

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Janet Spencer, Trivia Queen of the Universe
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