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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📽️ Love old-timey horror movies? Then you might want to pack a trip this summer to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania to attend "Blobfest" - a yearly festival/convention centered entirely around the 1958 cult horror movie "The Blob"!

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🍖 Do you ever find yourself craving spam (the meat variety, that is)? Then you might want to grab a ticket for the SPAM JAM, a festival/convention dedicated entirely to the luncheon mainstay that’s held yearly in Honolulu. (Suspicious phone calls and emails need not apply!)

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🚽 Toilets: a great tool for getting rid of stools, a most excellent throne for scrolling on your phone…and the focus of an entire convention: the World Toilet Summit! Founded in 2001, this annual con is dedicated to tackling “the world's most urgent sanitation challenges.”

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

#ThrowbackThursday 🦕 Did the Stegosaurus have long, shaggy hair like a golden retriever? Scientists are divided:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🍻 The oldest still-functional brewery in the world is Bavaria’s Weihenstephan brewery, which has been making beer (per most sources) since 1040. Its original beer-brewers were Benedictine Monks, which had established a monastery at its location 300 years prior:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📖 The first short story ever published by Stephen King was "The Glass Floor," which debuted in the autumn 1967 issue of Startling Mystery Stories magazine. King (who was a 19-year-old sophomore at the time) earned $35 for its publication - $338 in today's money!

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🧲 The Guinness World Record for the world’s largest collection of fridge magnets is held by Louise. J. Greenfarb - also known as “The Magnet Lady” - from Henderson, Nevada, who was recorded in 2013 as owning over 35,000 non-duplicated fridge magnets!

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

#ThrowbackThursday 🔎 Are magnifying glasses secretly OP?! Max is on the case:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🪀 The single largest gachapon machine on record was constructed at Singapore’s Marina Square shopping mall for a pop-up event in late 2022. It measured nearly 5 meters tall(!) and was only available to costumers that spent at least $180 at the mall.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🪀 Why are gachapon machines called "gachapon," anyway? It's actually an onomatopoeia: the "gacha" part is meant to evoke the sound made by the machine when spinning its crank, and the "pon" is the sound of an item plopping out of it.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🪀 The first Gachapon machine was invented in 1965 by entrepreneur Ryuzo Shigeta. Shigeta wanted to improve upon the haphazard way American vending machines dispensed their contents, and so he set up a machine in his Tokyo-based shop that dispensed items inside plastic balls.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

#ThrowbackThursday 🤖 The question of a generation: can the Liquid Terminator turn into a dog?

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

#ThrowbackThursday 💈 Are longer haircuts better? Critics are divided:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

FYI: Max Scoville will be taking part in "Answer For It" - the LIVE all-star trivia showdown from James Willems - on Saturday, March 21st at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco! Learn more (and grab your tickets) here: cafedunord.com/tm-event/ans...

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

#ThrowbackThursday 🏊‍♂️ You never know what those water animals will do to you when you go for a sweeeeem

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🍪 The world record for the single biggest cookie of all time was achieved in May of 2003 by North Carolina's Immaculate Baking Company, which baked a monster-sized, 101 foot-diameter chocolate chip cookie that weighed in at over 40,000 pounds (18 tonnes)!

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 👟 New Balance was originally founded by William J. Riley in 1906 as the "New balance Arch Support Company." Its first product featured an insole with three support points, a then-innovative concept that Riley came up with after studying chickens' three-pronged feet.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🌾 The lawnmower was invented in 1830 by Edwin Beard Budding, a mechanic from Stroud, England. 19 inches wide and encased in a wrought iron frame, it originally required two people to operate - one to push it from its back, and another to pull it from its front:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🚙 A 2023 study by OpenPoll found the most popular road trip snack among adults to be chips, with 47% of those polled expressing they'd pack a bag of that crisp, salty goodness. Cookies came in second place with 44%, while candy came in third with 42%.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🚙 The current record for driving through every contiguous US state as fast as possible is 86 hours - a blazing-fast feat that was accomplished in 2021 by a trio of tech executives in a Mercedes-Benz, who used their computer science know-how to plan the shortest-possible route.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Bertha's trek saw her travel between the cities of Mannheim and Pforzheim, and took just over twelve hours to complete; the route she drove is now a designated scenic route called the Bertha Benz Memorial Route.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🚙 The first-ever long-distance road trip in a combustion engine vehicle was undertaken in 1888 by Bertha Benz (wife of automobile pioneer Karl Benz), who traveled 106 kilometers in Germany using one of Karl's early "Motorwagens" as a publicity stunt to promote said vehicle.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

#ThrowbackThursday 🐊 There's nothing cooler than hanging out with alligators - so long as they're not hungry!

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🥕 During World War II, the British Ministry of Food used "Doctor Carrot" and "Potato Pete" to promote eating their respective vegetables; the former even headlined a carrot cake recipe, called "Dr. Carrot's Healthy Cake," that was published by the government.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

And finally, over in Singapore, chai tow kway - a savory Chinese dish made by stir-frying radish cake, eggs and preserved vegetables - is often colloquially called "Carrot Cake." A bit different from some of its sweet cousins above, but still undoubtedly tasty:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Over in Switzerland, children and grown-ups alike enjoy Rüeblitorte, a lighter carrot cake variant that's typically made with almond flour (or some other combination of nut flours) and topped with a thin icing flavored with kirsch brandy:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🥕 Let's learn about some international carrot cake variations! Since the 1960s, folks over in Brazil have been chowing down on Bolo de Cenoura, a fluffy-and-moist carrot cake variant with a bright, yellow interior and a chocolate ganache topping:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🥕 The Guinness record for the world’s largest carrot cake was achieved in November of 2016 by a team of bakers from Surrey, British Columbia. The cake had a total area of 36 square meters (118 sq feet), and contained nearly 500 kilograms (1102 lbs) of shredded carrots:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

#ThrowbackThursday 🍹 Jonesing for a Bloody Mary? Just be careful you don't have too many~

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🫧 Many elements of the original Bubble Bobble were directly inspired by Chack'n Pop, a 1984 arcade game in which players traverse maze-like levels, shoot grenades, and avoid villainous Monstas and Maitas (which would both become recurring enemies in the Bubble Bobble series).

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🚇 The longest road tunnel in the world is the Lærdal Tunnel in Norway, which stretches over 24,500 meters long. Completed in November of 2000, the tunnel was built to better facilitate travel between the cities of Oslo and Bergen, and features pretty funky interior lighting:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🦎 During the creation of King Kong (1933), director Merian C. Cooper originally wanted Kong to fight an actual, real-life komodo dragon. While this never came to pass, this desire to see monke fight lizard would ultimately inspire the scene in which Kong defeats a T-Rex:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

#ThrowbackThursday 🌭 What's the weirdest thing that you do to hot dogs? Because chances are Max has you beat:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📽️ A screening of 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was attended by two real-life chimpanzees. The chimps, Vali and Sugriva, were reportedly well-behaved and even "paid" for their own tickets and snacks:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📽️ The first 3D movie screened for a commercial audience was The Power of Love, a 1922 silent drama. Its 3D effect was achieved using red-and-green anaglyph glasses, and peering through only the red or green lens during its last reel would show either a happy or tragic ending.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📽️ The oldest continually operating movie theater in the world is the State Theatre in Washington, Iowa. Originally established as an opera house, the venue first began screening movies in 1897, making it nearly 129 years old. Its earliest tickets cost as little as 15 cents!

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Quaker Oats also wanted to have a proper "Wonka Bar" on shelves on day one, but their first attempts at the bar melted too easily, and were quickly pulled from stores; it would only be in 1975 that they finally managed to bring stable Wonka bars to market:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🍫 The 1971 Willy Wonka movie was actually financed by Quaker Oats, which wanted to use the film as a launchpad for selling chocolates. The first Wonka-branded treats they sold on store shelves were Peanut Butter Oompas (pictured below), and Super Skrunch bars.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🍫 The chocolate river in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was made of a combination of water and chocolate ice cream powder; a mix of salt conditioner and chemicals were also added when it was discovered that it would begin to smell horribly after a few hours.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🎄 Before the crew of the Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969, the Apollo 8 space mission made history on Christmas Eve of 1968 when it became the first crewed mission to reach and orbit the moon, doing so ten times before returning to Earth:

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🎄 In Icelandic folklore, people that don't receive new clothes before Christmas Eve are devoured by the Yule cat (also known as Jólakötturinn), a giant feline with a voracious appetite. Better put on those crummy new socks, stat!

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 💇 The haircutting scene at the beginning of Full Metal Jacket was actually the last scene shot during the making of the movie; all the actors got called in to film it months after production had “wrapped,” and were none too happy to get buzzed once more.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 💇 Are you afraid of your hair being secretly cut? Then you should watch out for the Kamikiri! This Japanese Yokai is said to sneak into people’s houses and covertly cut their hair, causing confusion and strife when its handiwork is later noticed.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 💇 The world’s single most expensive haircut of all time was performed by celebrity hairstylist Stuart Phillips in London in 2007, and cost over $16,000; the appointment included a first-class flight and hotel stay, a champagne lunch, and head massages.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 💇 The barber pole originated in the Middle Ages, and is popularly believed to have represented the main medical services that barbers provided at the time: blood-related surgeries (the red stripes), tooth-and-bone operations (white stripes), and haircutting (blue stripes).

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📆 The first Freaky Friday movie is actually an adaptation of a novel - also called Freaky Friday - written in 1972 by author Mary Rodgers… …but the honors for the earliest body-swap novel go to the 1882 novel “Vice Versa,” which depicts a father-son body-swap.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📆 TGI Fridays was first casual American dining restaurant to open in Moscow, Russia, doing so in 1997. (A company spokesperson declined to comment when asked if international versions of the chain stand for “Thank Globalization It’s Fridays!”)

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📆 The term “Black Friday” was coined in the 1960s by the Philadelphia police to describe the massive crowds of shoppers that swelled right after Thanksgiving. The city actually tried early on to rebrand it to the more positive-sounding “Big Friday” - but it didn’t stick.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 📆 Most of us look forward to Friday’s sweet release - but do you get a little fearful when that Friday is also the 13th day of the month? If so, you might have 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗮 - the fear of Friday the 13th.

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This Thing Rules @thisthingrules.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

#ThisThingRulesTrivia 🍂 For the past few years, the record for the world's heaviest pumpkin was a 2,749-pound 'kin grown in Minnesota - however, this record was beaten *just* last week by brothers Ian and Stuart Paton from Lymington, England, who managed to grow a 2,819-pound gourd:

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