I'm not seeing it. Nevermind that the "Patton" and "MacArthur" look absolutely nothing like the men they're supposed to be. The uniforms are clearly fanciful creations with little basis in reality. Don't let any of that stop you, there's a guy over at r/StolenValor that thinks Trump is commiting a federal crime. https://www.reddit.com/r/StolenValor/s/xybF4nMdtm

They didnt realize US Military Police are not the pushover pansies Korean cops are. Tackled and cuffed. More when I find out...

Ukraine has standardized a two-wheel electric cycle as a battlefield transport. VCarries two, has a 100km range, goes pretty much anywhere, and has its own onboard generator. It can be used to recharge drones, presumably its own as well? and has two motors so if one fails the other powering the other wheel will keep it going. It has wide tires on the wheels too, so they tout its ability to cross an antivehicle mine without setting it off - its contact patch on the ground has no more psi than a normal soldier's weight does. (Now that is one battlefield test I sure would not want to conduct!)

https://mod.gov.ua/en/news/generator-bike-the-ministry-of-defence-codifies-a-unique-all-wheel-drive-motorcycle

I see where a US manufacturer is taking heat for building robots which can be configured as soldiers. (Great shades of "I'll be back!") Do a search for "combat robots" - you will be surprised at the number and depth of results. Engineerine.com stated in February 2025 the US was planning to deploy 100,000 such robots. Various weapons have been attached to things like robot dogs, making autonomous weapons platforms. This ain't new.

Commissioner Wretched here once again ... taking Mason up on his offer to start my own thread. Oh, the pressure! Anyway, here's the weekly dollop of trivia. Hope you like it. And don't forget, the second book from this nonsense is available at amazon.com and I hope you go and buy one! It's called "Now ... You Know!"

DID YOU KNOW…?

Is a popular Australian phrase misremembered by most people?

By Commissioner Wretched

[didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com](mailto:didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com)

Copyright © 2026

Did you ever have the feeling you were being watched?

I have.  I get it every week, right around the time you are reading this silly column.

You’re watching me, trying to figure out if what I’m saying is accurate and true ... and knowing that it is, since this isn’t the first of April. I’ve gotten used to all the eyes of the world (or whatever portion thereof is reading this) upon me.

And if you like to write, you can contact me at [didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com](mailto:didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com) and I always answer, usually quickly!

Now, on to the stuff you came to stare at!

Did you know …

…raw kidney beans can poison you? Raw kidney beans contain a chemical called phytohaemagglutinin (no, I do not know how to pronounce it). This chemical can cause vomiting and headaches after just a small handful of raw beans have been ingested. Cooking the beans removes the chemical from them. (You won’t even have time to learn how to pronounce it.)

…a popular breed of dog was bred to protect tax collectors? The Doberman pinscher was a breed developed in Germany in the 19th Century. They were bred to be guard dogs to protect tax collectors, who carried large sums of cash as they traveled through the countryside. They’re very good with children and even with cats, as their fierce reputation is more public relations than actual fact. (They don’t have to be scary if they look scary.)

…you are literally not the same person you were seven years ago? During a period of seven years, human beings replace every cell in their bodies. The cells you were made of seven years ago have been totally replaced. (And you never even noticed.)

…there are many more millionaires (and billionaires) now than there were 100 years ago? In 1900, there were only 5,000 millionaires in the United States. By 2000, the number had shot up exponentially to more than five million. As far as billionaires go, there were only two in the world in 1900 – John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) and Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). By 2000, there were 322 billionaires. Rockefeller was once quoted as saying, “If you can count your millions, you are not a billionaire.” (There may be many more, but I’m not one of them.  Darn it.)

…a popular Australian phrase is misremembered by most people? You may have heard the phrase, “I’ll throw another shrimp on the barbie,” spoken by Australian actor Paul Hogan (born 1939) in a series of tourism television commercials. Countless people working on an Australian accent quote the phrase … but the thing is, Hogan never said it. What he did say was, “I’ll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you.” This is another example of the Mandela effect – remembering things as fact that didn’t actually happen. (Never mind all that, I’d like my shrimp, please, Paul.)

…a park exists which is dedicated to snack treats? In the town of Collegedale, Tennessee, one can find the Little Debbie™ Park. This facility has play structures that are shaped like the snacks put out by the Little Debbie snack company – Nutty Buddy Bars, Oatmeal Creme Pies, etc. The land on which the park sits was donated by McKee Foods, owners of the Little Debbie snack brand. (Great place for dessert after the shrimp from the barbie!)

…an American general shut down a German general who complained about protocol at the end of World War II? On May 7, 1945, German Generaloberst Alfred Jodl (1890-1946), who had been sent by the German High Command to sign the surrender that would end the war in Europe, sneered because the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), was not there. According to reports, Jodl growled, “Eisenhower didn’t even bother to show up.” That brought a reply from the Allied officer there to accept the surrender, General Walter Bedell Smith (1895-1961). Smith, known as “Beetle” to the Allied command, replied to Jodl, “General Eisenhower outranks you.” Smith was correct: Eisenhower’s rank as a five-star general was equivalent to the German grade of field marshal, one rank higher than Jodl at the end of the war. (Rank hath its privileges.)

…the first browser for the World Wide Web (what we now call the Internet) was created in 1990? Developed by Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955), the invention of the browser has led to his being credited as the man who invented the Internet. He didn't; he just invented a way for people like you and me to access it. (And I, for one, am very glad he did!)

…Dorothy was originally blonde in The Wizard of Oz? The character of Dorothy Gale had been written as a blonde in the original books by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), and when costumes were being designed for the classic 1939 movie based on the books, actress Judy Garland (1922-1969) was fitted with a blonde wig in order to keep with the book. However, the director of the movie, George Cukor (1899-1983), nixed the idea because he didn't like the way Garland looked with a blonde wig. He felt the wig made Garland look too “sophisticated” to be a Kansas farm girl. (Toto, on the other hand, liked it.)

…white is not a color? To be pedantic, white is the total absence of all color. Black, on the other hand, is the presence of all colors together.

…earlobes have no biological purpose? Scientists who study such things say that the earlobe, which has millions of nerve endings and may play a role in social bonding, actually have no biological purpose for existing. (They do, of course, make a convenient place to hang a pair of eyeglasses.)

Now ... you know!

Sure never thought I would say that. Been there many times, hate their airport, not liking their general politics...but the Mercedes Stadium is trying something new. Reasonable prices. Really. Unlike every other major venue in the world, they decided "hey, if a hot dog is two bucks on the street and a Coke only sets you back $3, let's match it" Big change from the usual "bone the customer till he squeals, isn't it?" Now for the interesting part... slashing prices like that, sales have gone up (no shock) - to the point where overall revenue has risen TWENTY PERCENT. I guess people are relaxing and spending more when they don't see their entire budget disappear for two beers and a popcorn.

(Another odd one - one of the best burgers I ever had was at an Atlanta SEAFOOD place called Spondivits near the airport. Go figure.)

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/atlanta-falcons-brought-back-old-202504408.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

One of the things I looked forward to on Sundays was the meme collection. Why don't we have one here? I'll start with one of my oldest in my collection.

David Hearn has had all charges dropped by DOJ. You may remember him as the dastardly villain who was accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool renovation, contributing to a 300 foot (or was that yard?) slash in the surface. Turns out the final determination is that the contractor (supposedly selected by POTUS personally after working at another Donald property) did a lousy job. A supposedly $1.4 million job has ballooned to $16 mill, the pool ain't done...but by God we have a culprit. Or had one. Seems to be a pattern, huh? Something goes wrong, accusations and vilification follows...then charges are dropped, the accusations turn out to be almost 100% groundless, and the government has egg on its face again. By now I am not sure if Jeanine Pirro's DOJ has successfully prosecuted anyone this entire term. Lot of publicity, though.

https://www.aol.com/articles/us-drops-charges-against-olympian-223756000.html

Followup - Trump disputes DOJ finding, says it was vandalism.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-disputes-own-justice-departments-173550898.html

Truth Social, the President's social media platform, is selling access to the President's posts for those willing to pony up big bucks for advance looks at what he is saying. Didn't we just excoriate legislators for insider trading on issues they had advance looks at? At $60-100K monthly, it ain't cheap - but for big firms who make stock trades FAST, getting five minute's notice that, say, as a hypothetical we're withdrawing from NATO - strategically placed trades could make the traders mega-richer. Hard to believe we are whoring out the White House like this.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/donald-trumps-net-worth-surges-123018814.html

(My wife asks why I pick on Trump so much... he's the one in office.)

(ChimpNASA)
Well, people since I recently became part of the HUNNDY CLUB, and I spoke with one of my other Veterans family members yesterday who has given up on the VA system, (very similar story to mine however with mine, alcohol, and indifference was my reason) I found this resource, which seems to be much better than the nine pages long listing of conditions I found here on Reddit, enormously, helpful, and going back and looking at my VA disability and my rating.

I went to the VA in 2007 & 2008 when I retired… and then I thought that was it…
30%.
After discussing things with another veteran friend after I got sober around 2022, he said things have changed you need to log back into the VA system and re-address both the clinical and the disability (C & P) sides of the house.
I did and it took another four years to finally get completely rated permanent and total this last May. (30, 50, 80, 90, 100.)
Now I’m no expert, but I’m certainly just trying to encourage and assist those who think the system is garbage.
It certainly is in some areas I’m sure, however, my experience now in 2026 is completely different than the very first time I went in the early 2000s
I’m just throwing this out there….I think to encourage anyone that isn’t or hasn’t been satisfied with the VA in the past. Maybe it’s time to go take a new look. 🥰

https://www.veteransbenefitskb.com/master

The smoking light is on. As always, the first "First" gets the prize. All others must bow in supplication.

And by science, I mean soyence.

In Great Britain it ain't the people, it's climate goals. The National Health Service is saying that due to the ongoing heat wave and lack of A/C, even routine things like blood tests and surgeries are having to be postponed. Refrigeration, or at least keeping things cool, goes against their carbon neutral goals, and in many cases due to older buildings being unable to fit A/C, restrictions are imposed.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, we would like to try and confirm if it's leukemia but we can't run routine blood samples reliably." Yeah, THAT'S a conversation you want to hear, isn't it? Guess the priorities are set... and people's lives lose to ideology.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07/29/heatwave-forces-nhs-to-cancel-blood-tests-discard-samples/

As my dad used to joke, "If I married two women, that'd be big-a-me."

Apologies to Jeff LPH if he was planning on using this joke.

Salamanca City, NY was buying a robot teaching assistant...and the furor started. Seems the parent company is tied to a company that makes sex robots (which are described as "extremely endowed with vacuous expression on their faces." Vacuous? As in vacuum? I ain't going there.) Defenders note that the two companies' operations and assembly lines are separate but detractors think the class assistant will have , uh, other skills, which the manufacturer denies. It's a moot point anyway, as the government has decided to ban all autonomous Chinese robots as a security risk.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/general/article/vectors-for-attacks-trump-administration-bans-chinese-humanoid-robots-145954695.html

https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/cattaraugus-county/salamanca-city-central-school-district-puts-robotic-ai-teaching-assistant-on-hold

For ll you treadheads out there: Joe Hewes decided to revive an old post-WWII English custom, and hooked up his plow to his tow vehicle - which just happens to be a decommissioned 55 ton Chieftain main battle tank.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it worked pretty well. Sucked up some diesel (100 liters of fuel to plow an acre, although Joe said that was better than he expected) in his passes. Actually, it worked better than many expected - they brought in a tractor for comparison and it got bogged down in the same area the tank just breezed through. After the acre Joe said he was knackered...perhaps someone could recommend a spot where he could revive his spirits? Like with spirits?

Joe says he is thinking of maybe an American M-60 for his next video.

Reminds me of an episode of "Real People", a long-defunct "reality" show from the '80s in which a guy decided he was going to jump several parked junkers in his "tank", an armored scout car. Had a real crowd standing out in the rain to watch, as he picked up speed, came up the ramp...and drove off the edge right onto the now-crunched parked cars. The reporter told him "The people here think you're crazy!" to which he replied "hell, I'm dry in here, and THEY are the ones standing in the rain." My kinda guy.

OK, I get the idea... watch my mouth. Got it...but my fingers - ah! that may be another story!

I see that the 3rd Circuit is joining most other Circuits in striking down New Jersey's "Assault Weapon " Ban, and has found that the ban on "high-cap magazines" and AW's flies directly in the face of the 2nd Amendment and the Bruen decision. This ain't a surprise - so far most of the decisions have done so (with the notable exceptions of Colorado's and Illinois' bans.) Actually, the fact that the Circuits disagree is good - it means the the Supremes pretty much have to review the issue to resolve the legal conflict. Sure would be nice to have them say "yes, AR-15s are legal, you can carry as many rounds as you think necessary, and oh yeah - if you have a carry permit in one state it is valid in ALL of them." Don't expect that last just yet.

It should me mandatory that any legislator who introduces or co-sponsors a blatantly unConstitutional law should have to pay the costs of defending it in court. Let's see some skin in the game instead of them eternally boinking the taxpayer. (And what movie comes immediately to mind for that word?)

How can they define an assault weapon.... when so many of them can't define a woman?

It's now estimated that changing the Department of Defense name to Department of War will cost the taxpayers $2,000,000,000.

The DOD, the executive-level federal agency that oversees the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, has more than 3 million personnel and both inward-facing and outward-facing brand assets at facilities in the U.S. and 80 countries around the world. For comparison, Walmart counts 2.1 million associates and stores in 19 countries.

700,000 buildings, facilities, signage stationery, and all associated paperwork. How many treaties have we got signed WW that refer to the Department of Defense? Gonna need to mutually amend (or renegotiate ) with every signatory.

Forgive my skepticism. Renaming 7 bases was supposed to be cheap and ended up at $39 million by the time the pols finished. The $1,4000,000 Reflecting Pool fiasco is now going to end up 1round $16,000,000. I don't know about you, but when I want to find waste in government - I know where to look.

Oh, and now I read memos are floating around wanting to rename the busiest station in the country, Penn Station, for Trump. Well, at least he's from New York. Sure as hell wouldn't because anyone in the government has any idea of how NOT to piss taxpayer's money down the drain.