Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for March 12, 2021

Then in 1895 they switched to pork.

Katrín Guðjónsdottir’s surname — like most Icelandic people — isn’t really her surname; just her patronymic: Katrín, daughter of whose father is named Guðjón. Also, the letter Ðð is called eth which sounds like in English “then”; the letter thorn (Þþ) sounds like in English “thing.” Both eth and thorn are pretty common in the Icelandic alphabet.

It’s a little weird to invent a thing, then not even know how the heck it works for a whole month! (I got one just because I thought it looked cute, then I bought a book on how to solve it. Then I solved it and forgot the whole foolishness.)

I am curious as how the goldfish was delivered it to them. Could it have been by Amazon per chance?

45 years ago, at a school carnival, I won a goldfish the easy way. By tossing a ball into its bowl.

Ha! I didn’t invent that cube and it’s been several years since I got one, but I still hasn’t been ables to solves it. I beats his record for the longest time taken.

How many of those goldfish were tossed into local waters to become an invasive species?

Iceland babies.. chilling thought.

Take care, may Danish baker Ironicus Pastryuness Dorkford be with you, and gesundheit.

I believe DC didn’t have a rep in Congress during those years.

I solved Ernö Rubik’s cube in less time than he did. I cheated.

The goldfish give-a-way was halted because the newly introduced water closets were over flowing.

With a population of about 375,000 each birth could have happened in February and June.

There used to be a very personable bartender in Louisville, KY back in the 50’s by the name of Kenneth who collected donations from his patrons all year in a Mason jar. The money was to go to the parents of the first baby born the following January 1st if they named it after him! Kenneth if it’s a boy and Kennethia if it’s a girl! The results were usually published in the local newspaper The Courier Journal!

Rubik’s cube was originally a tool used for teaching his students about relationships in 3D. Becoming a commercially produced puzzle was not the original intention.

And now I’ve seen the cube solved in about 30 seconds.

Sounds very similar to Illinois politicians – tax, tax, tax and if you’re lucky you might get a goldfish out of the whole deal.

I too was curious about the goldfish program. The most substantial thing I can find about it is from a 2012 article in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/the-great-goldfish-invasion-how-an-exotic-carp-took-over-america/264420/

Apparently the Commission on Fisheries (now the National Marine Fisheries Service), established in 1871, began it as a publicity project for Washington, DC, residents. This after getting the first official import of goldfishes from Japan, in 1878. Fish were bred in ponds in Washington and Baltimore and, says The Atlantic, ``anyone who sent a request through a member of Congress would receive one, along with a glass bowl to keep it in’’.

(By the way, glass bowls are awful awful awful awful awful awful awful things to keep goldfish in. You want a lot of volume and as deep as possible. When we take our goldfish in from the outdoor pond, for winter, we keep them in 150-gallon watering stock tanks, enormous heavy plastic bins, and change about 20 gallons a week. Treat them well and goldfish will live for decades and be gorgeous.)

Rubik looked like Alan Alda?

There was no congressman from Washington DC from 1884 to 1894. There was one from 1871 to 1875 and then the office was eliminated, and not restored until 1970.

During that period Iceland did extreme out-sourcing…

Goldfish were cheap. Then they were renamed Koi and are expensive.

Just imagine if he had created a multifaceted parallelogram. Oh, wait …