Welcome to the inaugural column all about trivia! As a competitive team trivia player, I’m always on the lookout for knowledge I don’t possess. When I find a breadcrumb of an idea that piques my curiosity, I write the idea down and follow its trail later. That’s how I came to know about the devastating Lisbon earthquake of 1755, and what the Eddington number is, and that the northernmost point in the continental U.S. is located in Minnesota.

Why, you might ask, is trivia so important to me and the million other people who play team trivia across the U.S.? Maybe knowing Bogotá is the capital of Columbia won’t change your life or make you rich, but it might catapult your trivia team to first place in the weekly winner’s trifecta. Plus, there’s pleasure in knowing an answer no one else knows, and also pleasure in bonding over common knowledge. For lifelong learners, discovering an unknown unknown adds actual territory to the hermeneutic map. They say the more we know, the more we know we don’t know. IYKYK, a perpetual quest for knowledge can be one’s purpose in life.     

Without further ado, here are a few breadcrumbs for this month. Trivia questions appear first, and answers are at the end of the column.

1. What term refers to the fat pads located in the cheeks that contribute to facial shape?

2. Who does a person talk to on a wind phone?

3. Why is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s verse novel, Aurora Leigh, composed of nine books?

4. In what year did Mackelmore and Ryan Louis’s popular song, “Thrift Store,” hits 2 billion views on YouTube?

5. Cruelty Free International and its partners certify companies around the globe that do not test their products on animals. What animal is featured on the Cruelty Free International logo?

6. What mass market cosmetics brand, owned by L’Oreal, has specialized in hair care products since 1904, and currently markets a shampoo called “Fructis Hair Filler Fullness Repair Shampoo, Volumizing Shampoo with Polypeptides”?

7. How many phases make up the moon cycle?

8. DISEASES OF 2026. What causes hantavirus? What causes alpha-gal syndrome? What causes cyclosporiasis?

9. What real life celebrity supposedly inspired the central character of Rachel Cusk’s latest novel, Life of M?

10. Eight presidents have died in office. Which presidents dies of natural causes, and which presidents were assassinated?

ANSWERS:

1. The fat pads in the face are known as buccal fat. The topic came up when a friend mentioned the loss of buccal fat due to GLP-1s, which leads to facial fat loss that changes some people’s appearance, AKA Ozempic face.
2. The wind phone is used to talk to the deceased. The wind phone is an unconnected telephone book in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, where visitors can hold one-way conversations with deceased loved ones. The wind phone has since received over 30,000 visitors. A number of replicas have been constructed around the world.
3. Nine is the woman’s number, attributed to the fact that nine is the number of books produced by the Hellespontine Sibyl and preserved in the temple of Apollo. The Sibylline books were a sacred collection believed to contain divine prophecies, of which Browning was aware. 
4. “Thrift Store” reached two billion views in 2026! Art can drive social change, and Mackelmore’s song is considered influential in increased popularity of thrift stores and used clothing.
5. It’s a bunny! Companies producing beauty and household products that do not test their products on animals for any market can request membership in The Leaping Bunny Program, which allows that company to print the Leaping Bunny logo on their products.
6. Garnier! The brand was founded in Francis in 1904 by Alfred Amour Garnier. And Garnier is certified by Cruelty Free International and bears the Leaping Bunny logo. Bonus trivia: which childhood star who also appeared in the first Charlie’s Angels movie is currently a spokesperson for Garnier? For those of you who don’t know, it’s Drew Barrymore.
7. There are 8 moon phases, including new Moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full Moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent.  
8. Hantavirus is caused by infected rodents, especially through their droppings, urine, or saliva. Alpha-gal syndrome, an allergy to red meat and other mammal products, is caused by a bite from the lone star tick. Cyclosporiasis is caused by feces-contaminated fruits and vegetable.
9. Natalie Portman, who is a personal friend of Rachel Cusk. The novel is a fictitious biography that negates the concept of character.
10.  Four former presidents died of natural causes, including: William Henry Harrison (likely died of septic shock due to typhoid or paratyphoid fever), Warren G. Harding (cardiac arrest), Zachary Taylor (acute gastroenteritis)*, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (intracerebral hemorrhage). Four former presidents were assassinated, including: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. All four were progressives who advocated civil rights for all.  *Zachary Taylor was the last president chronologically to own slaves while in office.

That’s it for this month’s trivia! How did you do? Signing off until October.