random fact

WTF Fun Fact 12401 – World’s Tallest Fork

In what we hope is a mere formality, Fireview, Oregon is trying to confirm that the 37-foot-tall fork they’ve erected on the site of their new food truck plaza is the world’s largest. Their goal is to earn a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records with the decidedly non-utilitarian utensil.

The Fairview government’s official website reads:

“Tuesday, February 15, the World’s Tallest Fork, to be determined by Guinness Book of Work Record, will be arriving in Fairview to be erected in its new home between 9 AM and 11 AM. This 37-foot tall stainless steel “Fork” will be the art piece placed in the public plaza at the entrance to the new Fairview Food Plaza at the corner of Halsey Street and NE 223rd Ave. The “Fork” will be traveling from McMinnville, where it was created.

The Fairview Food Plaza is a public-private partnership between the Fairview Urban Renewal Agency, property owner Denise Arndt and Plaza operator Justin Hwang.  The Plaza is planning to open in April 2022 with 16 food carts featuring a vast variety of foods.  The dining hall courtyard and public plaza will be a destination for the community and cultural events for years to come. The development will include a farmers market anticipated to start at the end of June 2022.”

By way of explanation, Mayor Brian Cooper told KATU-TV: “So, the fork came about because we wanted something on the corner, whether it was a water tower or a windmill or some sort of piece that’s going to be on the corner, and then one of the design teams said, let’s just put a fork here and we’ll come back to it. And over the course of a couple months, it just kind of stuck in the brain…And you can come up with an entire marketing scheme of ‘Take a left at the fork,’ ‘The Fork in Fairview.”

The current record holder for the world’s tallest fork is Missouri, with a utensil that stands 35 feet tall. So, fingers crossed that no one has secretly erected a larger fork in the meantime! – WTF Fun Facts

Source: The Fork is Coming! — Fairview Oregon government homepage

WTF Fun Fact 12400 – Hacker Snack Attack

On January 26, 2022, North Korea News reported that a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack took down its Internet. It was the second time in a month the country lost access to the internet.

Junade Ali, a cybersecurity researcher, told Reuters: “It’s common for one server to go offline for some periods of time, but these incidents have seen all web properties go offline concurrently. It isn’t common to see their entire internet dropped offline.”

Earlier in the day, North Korea had conducted military tests, and many assumed the cyberattack was perpetrated by another country as a punishment. But the hacker responsible, known only as P4x, came forward to Wired with proof that he did the deed. And he added some crucial details to the story – he conducted the hack from his home in the US while watching Aliens in his pajama pants and eating spicy corn snacks. 

“It felt like the right thing to do here. If they don’t see we have teeth, it’s just going to keep coming. I want them to understand that if you come at us, it means some of your infrastructure is going down for a while,” he told Wired.

P4x has no plans to stop there. He plans to get another hacker involved to try it all again – and this time he wants to steal information.

During the attack, any sites housed on the North Korean internet went dark, as did most email. However, North Korean citizens were still able to access websites hosted in other countries. – WTF Fun Facts

Source: Single Hacker Takes Down North Korean Internet While In Pajama Pants And Eating Corn Snacks — IFL Science

WTF Fun Fact 12399 – The Conviction of Susan B. Anthony

In 1872, voting rights activist Susan B. Anthony demanded that the staff of a voter registration office in Rochester, New York add her to their list of eligible voters.

“I made the remark that I didn’t think we could register her name,” recalled Beverly W. Jones, one of the election officials. “She asked me upon what grounds. I told her that the constitution of the State of New York only gave the right of franchise to male citizens. She asked me if I was acquainted with the 14th [A]mendment to the Constitution of the U.S. I told her I was.”

The three election officials present at the time eventually accepted her registration and she and 14 other women went to the polls on November 5, 1872, to vote in the presidential race between Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley. Of course, at the time, her actions were still technically illegal. Anthony was the only one arrested and she was found guilty in a trial that took place the following June.

After her two-day trial, Anthony was given a $100 fine (equivalent to over $2k today). Instead of paying, she told the judge, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.” And she never did.

Anthony died at age 86, 14 years before the 19th amendment was ratified, giving some U.S. women the right to vote.

Despite what some may think, Anthony wore her arrest and refusal to pay the fine as a badge of honor. Yet, on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, then-President Donald Trump posthumously pardoned her.

– WTF Fun Facts

Source: In 1872, Susan B. Anthony Was Arrested for Voting ‘Unlawfully’ — Smithsonian Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12397 – Beer Mustache

Men with mustaches and beards are losing an estimated 162,719 pints of beer in their facial hair every year, according to Guinness.

The brewery commissioned a scientific study and researchers found that quite a bit of beer was being wasted each year in the UK (and presumably around the world) – about £4.58 a year, they estimate. It has been humorously titled the “mustache tax.”

There are an estimated 92,370 drinkers with facial hair in the UK. Those men drink an average of 180 pints each a year. That makes the total cost of wasted suds around £423,070, or around $572K in US dollars.

According to The Guardian, “As the data was based on the average mustache surface area. Scientists were able to work out the amount of wastage depending on size, shape, and density.” – WTF Fun Facts

Source: Hairy topers ‘wasting Guinness’? — The Guardian

WTF Fun Fact 12395 – Cat Allergies

Three main types of allergies plague our feline friends – food allergies, skin allergies (from flea bites, for example), and environmental allergies.

Environmental allergies can refer to anything in a cat’s environment, such as dust, pollen, or humans. Dogs can be allergic to humans as well.

According to Raelynn Farnsworth of Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, “It’s rare, but dogs can be allergic to cat dander and people dander and vice versa. For everything.”

In cats, the allergy shows up as miliary dermatitis, which results in tiny scabs, usually around their head and neck. It can also result in missing spots of hair.

Cats can also develop asthma if exposed to allergens for too long. So if your cat is sneezing or coughing, it’s essential to see a vet. And you probably shouldn’t worry too much since they’re likely allergic to something else in their environment besides you.

People don’t have as much dander as animals since we frequently bathe. Our pets are more likely to be allergic to something like perfume or beauty/skincare products we use, especially if they contain preservatives (as most do).

– WTF Fun Facts

Source: Can Your Pet Be Allergic to Humans? — Understanding Animal Research

WTF Fun Fact #12391 – A Desert Marathon Disaster

A 39-year-old former Italian police officer Mauro Prosperi decided to run in the 1994 Marathon des Sables. The 6-day race requires a 155-mile run through the Sahara Desert, but the former Olympic pentathlete felt up to the challenge.

However, a sandstorm hit the runners, and Prosperi got lost in the desert for 10 days. He survived by eating small animals such as lizards, drinking bat blood and his own urine, and covering himself in the sand at night to stay warm.

Fearing he would be declared missing and his wife wouldn’t be able to claim his life insurance for 10 years unless his body was found, he tried to cut his wrists. However, he was so dehydrated that his blood clotted immediately and he lived.

Telling his story to BBC News in 2014, he said: “My wife, Cinzia, thought I was insane – the race is so risky that you have to sign a form to say where you want your body to be sent in case you die. We had three children under the age of eight, so she was worried. I tried to reassure her. “The worst that can happen is that I get a bit sunburned.”

The race has changed since the debacle.

“These days the Marathon des Sables is a very different experience, with up to 1,300 participants it’s like a giant snake – you couldn’t get lost if you tried. But back in 1994, there were only 80 of us, and very few who were actually running, so most of the time I was on my own,” Prosperi said.

– WTF Fun Facts

Source: How I drank urine and bat blood to survive — BBC News