What I learned this week: Continental breakfasts and Wyoming escalators

Guess how many escalators are in the whole state of Wyoming?

Welcome back to the second edition of my new little series where I share some random things I learned over the past week (or past couple weeks). It’s a random selection of facts but that’s what keeps things lively. Anyway, here’s what I learned this past week.

Latin ATM

Conclave fever is in the air, meaning Conclave fever is also in the air, meaning I watched Conclave for a third time. I saw it first in theaters, then a month or two later with my parents, and then a few weeks ago when my friend Danielle was in town and hadn't seen it. To be fair the movie is even more thrilling when a real-life conclave is happening. ("isn't she Jewish?" you ask yourself).

I was reading about Vatican City after this viewing and while I knew it's its own country, I didn't know the population is 882. Because Latin used to be the official language of the Vatican, it is home to the world's only ATM in Latin. (Wikipedia says "possibly the only" Latin ATM in the world, as if there could be others). Whoever made the ATM obviously just did in for fun, since there are not even latin words for "credit card," kind of like how Facebook used to let you set your language to "pirate."

Continental breakfast

We all know that the name "continental breakfast" sounds way fancier than the reality. I stayed at an inn this weekend that had a pretty sad continental breakfast (though not the saddest I've seen). There were two chafing dishes of scrambled eggs and sausage circles, and some sorry baked goods. They didn't even have those single-serve cereal bowls.

The term was coined in the 19th century as a way for hotels to cater to European travelers, who were used to light, dainty breakfasts and not the heavy hog slop of an American breakfast. Now I think it's just "here's some stuff we bought from the restaurant supply store."

He’s loving his Bluetooth!

Danish king Harald Bluetooth

I use Bluetooth every day but I don't really know what it is. Like I know it sends data through the air or whatever, but Bluetooth is a proper noun, however it's not like Bluetooth is the name of a corporation that makes every wireless headphone set. It's kind of like how bubble wrap and thermos started out as trademarked names but now just have generic meaning.

Bluetooth got its name in 1997, and it comes from a 10th-century Danish king named Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson. Historians believe he got the nickname Bluetooth because he had a nasty rotten tooth that looked blue. According to Bluetooth's website, the name was just supposed to be a placeholder until they picked a real one but they ran out of time and just went with it, the name derived from a rotten stinky tooth.

This conversation came up on a road trip due to the lack of Bluetooth in my 2009 Honda, which is still using the same fraying aux cord — hanging on for its dear life — that's been in use since I was in high school.

Costco doesn’t take Mastercard

Not much to add here except that I was in Costco recently and learned they don't take Mastercard which is insane to me. I've heard of places not taking American Express, sure, but this shocked me.

Rare Wyoming escalators (photo from Cowboy State Daily)

There are only two escalators Wyoming

They're both in a bank and both the escalators were built before the 80s. No new escalator has been built in Wyoming for decades because Wyoming is so sparsely populated; as this Cowboy State Daily article puts it, "If every Wyoming resident gave up a dollar, they might still not have enough to build a single escalator."