Weird Facts 35
Dedicated to keeping you informed about all the interesting, strange and cool facts from around the world.
- The cars that were given away by Oprah cost the recipients up to $7,000 due to the fact they were marketed as a prize instead of a gift (the latter is not taxed). Many had to forfeit their prize or sell it if they could not afford their “free car”. Source
- Carbon Monoxide is used in the USA to make meat appear fresher. This practice is banned in Canada, Japan, Singapore, and the European Union. Source
- One ragweed plant can release as many as one billion grains of pollen!
- Ancient Romans used coins with sex scenes – sprintia, to pay prostitutes for their services. Source
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- There is a Native American tribe of ultra-runners known as the Tarahumara. They can run 200 miles non-stop, and play running games that go on for up to 2 days without breaks. They use the toe-strike method of running instead of the traditional heel-strike. And they do it drunk. Source
- There is a haunted island in Mexico covered in dolls. a little girl drowned in the river awhile back, and the owner drowned in the same place in 2001. Natives say the possessed dolls killed him. they also say the dolls open their eyes and move on their own… Source
- 40.8% of children born in the US in 2010 were to unmarried women. Source
- Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing!
- In 2010 an unlucky airline passenger was arrested in Ireland after Slovak security officials placed explosives in his luggage for training, then forgot to remove them before the plane took off. Source
- J.K.RowlingJ.K. Rowling lost her billionaire status because she donated so much of her money to charity. Source
- Smelling bananas and/or green apples (smelling, not eating) can help you lose weight!
- The average ice berg weighs 20,000,000 tons!
- A drilling disaster punctured a salt mine and created a whirlpool so strong that it sucked a drilling platform, 11 barges, and 70 acres of nearby land underground. It also reversed the flow of a 12 mile (19km) long canal, and temporarily created Louisiana’s largest waterfall at 150ft (45.7m). Source
- Sony once sued itself; RIAA (partially controlled by Sony Music) sued Launch.com (owned by Sony’s Tech & Business unit), meaning that the Music Dept. somehow sued it’s Tech Dept. Source
- Garry Kasparov played the world at a game of chess online, where over 50,000 different people from over 75 countries voted on the best move. Kasparov won. Source
- After Israel declared independence in 1948, (not-yet-Dr.) Ruth was trained by the Israeli military as a sniper. Read More
- The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year!
- US Medium (M) shirts are larger than Extra Large (XL) Chinese shirts. Source
- The Earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons!
- A man’s beard will grow faster when he is anticipating sex. Source
- René Laennec invented the stethoscope because he was unable to hear a patient’s heart due to their “great degree of fatness“. Source
- If you fail your driver’s license practical test three times in Switzerland, you have to visit a Psychologist to explain why you failed it. Source
- The only photos taken at the moment Robert Kennedy was shot were seized by the LAPD, ordered sealed for 20 years, and when finally set to be released were stolen from the car of the courier transporting them. Source
- In Wisconsin in 1907 a mother spanked her child who had dynamite cap in his back pocket, exploding him and tearing her fingers off. Source
- In 1861 a slave took over on a confederate ship and delivered it to the Union. He later was given the ship to command during the Civil War. After the war he bought the house he was a slave in, and became a US congressman. Source
Stay tuned for more Fun Facts coming soon!
Weird Facts has been updated daily since 1999.
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