Weird Facts 40
Dedicated to keeping you informed about all the interesting, strange and cool facts from around the world.
- Sharks kill 12 people per year – people kill 11,417 sharks per hour. Source
- Male puppies purposely let female puppies win while playing. Source
- In 1918, pink was for boys because it is a stronger color, while the delicate blue was reserved for girls. Source
- In Italy, people wear red underwear on New Year’s Day as a symbol of good luck for the upcoming year. Source
- Some spiders build its own lifelike decoys from leaves, debris and dead insects to confuse or distract predators. Source
- According to this survey, 40 to 45 percent of American adults make one or more resolutions each year. The top New Year’s resolutions include weight loss, exercise, quitting smoking and better money management. By the second week of January, 25 percent of people have abandoned their resolutions. Source
- The Playboy Bunny outfit was the first service uniform registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Source
- On December 25th, the ancient Romans would celebrate Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of their sun god. The holiday eventually morphed into Christmas. Source
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- Early American humans hunted car-size armadillos and used their shells for houses. Source
- In the 1830′s the Crow Nation had a female chief who was a hunter, horse-rider and warrior and she took four women as wives. Source
- If you pour cold water into a person’s ear, their eyes will move in direction of the opposite ear, if you pour warm water into their ear, their eyes will move towards that ear. This is used to test for brain damage and is called ‘caloric stimulation’. Source
- When a man asked Xerxes to exempt his eldest son from serving in the army, he had the young man cut in half and ordered his army to march between his two parts. Source
- During Prohibition, the U.S. government poisoned alcohol, killing as many as 10,000 people Source
- The brain can be kept alive outside the body for days. Source
- Hollywood has had a population of feral chickens living under a freeway since the 70s. Nobody knows how they got there and all efforts to remove them have failed. Source
- Idi Amin’s official title was “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular“. Source
- In 1970 the US Postal Service decided on a strike after a Congressional decision to raise the wages of postal workers by only 4%, at the same time as Congress raised its own pay by 41%. Source
- A man in Texas was abducted from his home right in front of his wife by two masked men with guns. He returned two days later unharmed. Turns out he staged his own kidnapping so he could go out and party with friends. Source
- An American woman sent her adopted Russian Orphan back on a plane to Russia with a note saying “I no longer wish to parent this child“. Source
- Back when NYC subways ran on tokens people would jam the slots with paper so they could suck the tokens out with their mouths. This was referred to as "Token Sucking" and some token booth attendants even tried to deter this crime by sprinkling chili powder in the slots. Source
- The Y2K bug (Year 2000 problem) caused incorrect Down syndrome test results being sent to pregnant mothers, resulting in two abortions. Source
- When the Big Bang theory was first presented, most scientists rejected it for sounding too religious. Source
- Since many female insects mate just once in their lives, insect populations can be controlled by releasing swarms of sterile males into the wild; the females mate with them, never have babies, and die. The method has eradicated populations of dangerous insects in several regions. Source
- German monks living off nothing but beer during Lent felt guilty because it tasted so good. So they brought the beer to Rome for the Popes approval of the practice. But on the journey it went bad. Pope tasted it. Pope hated it. Monks were allowed to have it for Lent. Source
- Arthur Guinness was an exceptional individual who used the money he made from brewing to help relief of the poor, abolish dueling, promote literacy, and provide this workers with a higher standard of living. Source
- Students studying crows at the University of Washington wore wigs and masks because the crows would remember their faces and harass them for the remainder of their college career. Source
- In 1980 16 stranded and frozen Danish fishermen were rescued and after being given a warm drink all 16 dropped dead from constricted capillaries reopening almost all at once, causing a sudden drop in blood pressure. Source
- After a flood several years ago, a handful of bull sharks found themselves stranded in a lake on a golf course. Bull sharks are able to survive in fresh water and rather than this lake posing an issue for survival, the six sharks have thrived and even started breeding. Source
- In the UK, a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants. Source
- Apartheid South Africa had a secret weapons program to develop germs that would only kill blacks or lower their birthrate. Source
- A Tennessee Church kicked out a woman who had been a member for 60 years for refusing to publicly condemn her lesbian daughter. Source
- Depression can cause you to dream up to 3-4 times more than normal. Source
- In New Zealand all advertising on TV for Christmas, Easter, Good Friday and ANZAC Day is banned.
- Talking to yourself actually makes you smarter. Source
- The average temperature on the surface of the sun is 5,778 Kelvin.
- Flies like beer because it contains glycerol. They will drink it until they are intoxicated. Source
- When asked what his IQ was, Stephen Hawking said "I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers". Source
- There is a bar in Brooklyn where the allowed drinking age is 25 years old, because "Young people are annoying". Source
- A Seattle man known for his frugality left a $187.6 million trust to charitable causes upon his death. 40% went to pediatric research even though he never had children of his own. Source
- American forces once bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade thinking it was a "Serbian military production facility" –apparently because no one paid enough attention during the PowerPoint presentation to notice. Source
- The idea of left brain (logical) and right brain (creative) has no basis in neuroscience and is in fact a myth. Source
Stay tuned for more Fun Facts coming soon!
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