Trivia

woodcut of a scholar teaching the Trivium

Did you know?

Our words "trivia" and "trivial" come from the Latin Trivium -- the three artes liberales that were the foundation of classical Greek, Roman, and European education. The Trivium included grammar (learning stories about the human condition, about our culture, and about the words and figures of speech used to tell them), logic (the analysis of those stories, unpacking their structure and meaning), and rhetoric (our informed, creative response to the stories, often taking the narrative to concerns of the present). Originally, then, something that was "trivial" was actually quite meaningful -- the basis of a liberal arts education. The notion of trivia being small bits of knowledge is of recent vintage, from the pop culture of the 1960s; the parlor game Trivial Pursuit came out in 1982.




milled edges helped stop cheats

Ever wonder why the edge of many of our coins are milled? In times past, when gold coins circulated, people made a nice living shaving the edges of coins and selling the gold shavings in the marketplace. It was a way to cheat the commonwealth (literally).

Executive Order 6102

Ever wonder why kings and governments occasionally confiscate privately held gold? Since ancient times, it's been a sly way to pay for public works, to get out of debt, or to enrich the ruler at the expense of the nation. Pure gold would be melted down and recast into coins with an alloy that was, say, 90 percent gold, thereby giving the ruler a 10 percent profit.

The last time the U.S. national government confiscated privately held gold occurred in response to the bank panic that swept the nation during the Great Depression. President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102 on April 5, 1933, to prevent citizens from hoarding gold coins, gold bullion, and gold certificates. The order exempted dentists, artists, and manufacturers who used gold professionally, and it allowed citizens to hold special collectors' items as well as up the $100 worth of gold coins. Many wealthy Americans sidestepped the law by shipping their privately held gold to Switzerland.

Antarctica, Dry Valley -- the most barren desert on earth

You think the Sahara is the largest desert in the world? The largest desert in the world, measured by low annual precipitation, is the continent of Antarctica.

Thailand is our oldest ally in Asia. The king offered to send Lincoln elephants to help the North fight the Civil War.

A Report on the Banality of Evil

Hannah Arendt wrote perhaps the only book that is better known by its subtitle than its title: The Banality of Evil (tagged to Eichmann in Jerusalem). This, related by Emory University's Deborah Lipstadt.


The oldest enduring hatred in the world: anti-Semitism.