Facts So Weird You Won't Believe They're True Part 1
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1. There's a company that turns dead bodies into an ocean reef.
For those who romanticize a burial at sea, the company Eternal Reefs offers an innovative solution. It mixes the cremated remains of a person with concrete to create a "pearl" onto which loved ones can etch personal messages, handprints or (environmentally friendly) mementos. The pearl is then encased in a "reef ball" that is dropped into the sea, where it provides a new habitat for fish and other sea life, helping encourage a vibrant ecosystem. The circle of life at work!
2. The name "bonobo" resulted from a misspelling.
"Bonobo," the common name for apes, may sound like some sort of translation of a meaningful term, but in fact, it was the result of a typo. Researchers reputedly first found the animals in the town of Bolobo, Zaire, in the '20s, but the name of the place was misspelled "Bonobo" on the shipping crate in which the animal was placed, leading others to refer to the animal by the name, which stuck.
3. There is an annual Coffee Break Festival.
For millions of people, the coffee break is a key but often under-appreciated part of each day. To stop and give the break its proper due, the town of Stoughton, Wisconsin, hosts an annual Coffee Break Festival. The gathering includes coffee tastings, "brew-offs," and bean-spitting contests. Why Stoughton? According to city officials, the coffee break was "born" in the city in the late 1800s, as women working at the local Gunderson Tobacco Warehouse began the ritual of pausing during the workday to brew up some coffee and have a chat.
4. You can buy a flying bicycle.
It sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel, but British inventors John Foden and Yannick Read have come up with a bicycle that actually flies. The XploreAir Paravelo is composed of a folding bicycle and a lightweight trailer that contains a biofuel-powered fan motor. The motor turns the fan, and with enough of a runway, it can reach up to 25 mph in the air and 4,000 feet in altitude. While the inventors were unable to reach their funding goal to produce enough XploreAirs for wide availability, they are offering their inventive services through "bespoke production."
5. Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
Dolphins are known to be one of the smartest animals on the planet—possibly because they can conserve their brain power. Because they must be constantly on the lookout for predators, the marine mammals have developed a neat trick of maintaining partial consciousness even as part of their brain sleeps. Researchers have tested whether this "half sleep" negatively impacts the animals' alertness during the day, but have found that even after five days of having their nocturnal alertness constantly tested, they've remained as alert and perceptive as ever.
6. Vacuum cleaners were originally horse-drawn.
One of the earliest known vacuum cleaners was so large that it had to be hauled from house to house via a horse-drawn carriage. Its giant hoses were popped through the windows of customers, and a gas-powered motor generated the suction that pulled the dirt and debris into a glass container where onlookers could gawk at the volume of filth coming from their neighbors' homes.
7. The largest padlock in the world weighs 916 pounds.
Created by a team of students and teachers at the Pavlovo Arts College in Russia, the largest padlock in the world (according to Guinness World Records) measures 56.8 inches tall, 41.3 inches wide, and 10.2 inches deep. Altogether this hefty lock, including key, weighs 916 pounds. Whatever it's protecting presumably weighs a whole lot more!
8. Pandas poop most of what they eat.
Pandas basically only eat bamboo, which also happens to be incredibly hard to digest. That means that these adorable animals must eat about 30 pounds of the stuff each day to get enough nutrients—defecating about four-fifths of what they eat (and even what they do digest is not especially easy on their gastrointestinal system). These guys should really consider a change in diet.
9. McDonald's introduced drive-through service due to the military.
The first McDonald's Drive Thru was installed in a restaurant based in Sierra Vista, Arizona, located near the Fort Huachuca military installation. Military rules forbade the soldiers from wearing their military uniforms in public, and they weren't about to change into civilian clothes just to grab a burger and run back to base, so restaurant manager David Rich came up with a solution: cut a hole into the wall and allow members of the military to pick up their orders without stepping out of their car. The convenience and simplicity of the idea quickly caught on.
10. Alfred Hitchcock was frightened of eggs.
The master of suspense, who terrified audiences with movies like Psycho and The Birds, considered himself an ovophobe—someone frightened of eggs. Alfred Hitchcock explained to an interviewer in 1963: "I'm frightened of eggs, worse than frightened; they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes, and when you break it, inside there's that yellow thing, round, without any holes…Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I've never tasted it."
11. Pigs don't sweat.
If someone tells you they're "sweating like a pig" you might want to point out to them (if you're that sort of person) that if they were being biologically accurate, that would mean they were not sweating at all. Swine are born without sweat glands, so when they need to cool off, their only option tends to be to find a cool puddle of mud in which they can roll around.
12. The fuller the fridge, the more energy-efficient it is.
An empty fridge not only makes it more difficult to decide what to snack on, it also wastes valuable energy. It works like this: the more empty space in the fridge, the more cold air is displaced by warm when you open the door, requiring the appliance to generate cool air to replace it. If the fridge is packed, less cool air escapes and less energy is required to replenish it. The writers at The Kitchn go so far as to advise fridge owners to fill empty bottles with water in order to displace the empty air.
13. There's a LEGO bridge in Germany that you can walk across.
The German town of Wupperttal is home to Lego-Brücke, also known as LEGO Bridge—a bridge that looks like it's made of candy-colored LEGO bricks, providing a foot- and bikeway for those looking to cross over the street below. Despite appearances, the bridge is not made of giant plastic bricks however, but concrete, and it was painted to look like the popular building toys by street artist Martin Heuwold.
14. Umbrellas were once only used by women.
While umbrellas are used and appreciated by pretty much everyone living in rainy places, for centuries they were seen as something only to be used by women—associated with the fashionable parasols women would carry during nicer days to keep the sun from their skin. But in the mid-18th century, the barriers started to fall, with public figures like philanthropist Jonas Hanway carrying umbrellas during public events. Soon others took notice of the accessory's practicality and it wasn't long before men were using them as often as women.
15. For 20 years, a cat served as mayor of an Alaskan town.
In 1997, an orange cat names Stubbs became honorary mayor of the Alaskan town of Talkeetna. With a population of 772 in 2000, it would not have taken too many votes to earn the position (and the small town did not actually have a real, human mayor. anyway), but Stubbs proved adept at the role, gaining fans from around the world and "serving" in the position for years, greeting tourists and becoming a beloved symbol of the town until his death in 2017.
16. Squirrels are behind most power outages in the U.S.
The American Public Power Association (APPA) says that squirrels are the most frequent cause of power outages in the U.S. The APPA even developed a data tracker called "The Squirrel Index" that analyzes the patterns and timing of squirrels' impact on electrical power systems. Turns out, the peak times of the year for squirrel attacks are from May to June and October to November.
Typically, the squirrels cause problems by tunneling, chewing through electrical insulation, or becoming a current path between electrical conductors. "Frankly, the number one threat experienced to date by the U.S. electrical grid is squirrels," said John C. Inglis, the former deputy director of the National Security Agency, in 2015.
17. Spider webs were used as bandages in ancient times.
In ancient Greece and Rome, doctors used spider webs to make bandages for their patients. Spider webs supposedly have natural antiseptic and anti-fungal properties, which can help keep wounds clean and prevent infection. It's also said that spider webs are rich in vitamin K, which helps promote clotting. So, next time you're out of Band-Aids, just head to your attic and grab some "webicillin."
18. A woman who lost her wedding ring found it 16 years later on a carrot in her garden.
A woman in Sweden lost her wedding ring while cooking for Christmas in 1995. She looked everywhere for it, and even had her kitchen floor pulled up hoping she could find it. But she wouldn't see it again until 2012.
While gardening 16 years later, the woman found the ring around a carrot that was sprouting in the middle of it. The only explanation was that the ring must have been lost in vegetable peelings that were turned into compost. Clearly, composting isn't just good for the environment.
19. One quarter of all your bones are located in your feet.
There are 26 bones in each foot. That's 52 bones in both feet, out of 206 total bones in your whole body, which is more than 25 percent. It may sound crazy at first, but think about it: Your feet support your weight and allow you to jump, run, and climb. Those bones and joints also allow your feet to absorb and release energy efficiently. It's one of the reasons humans can outrun any other animal in an endurance race.
20. Blood donors in Sweden receive a text when their blood is used.
To encourage more young people to donate blood, Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, sends a text to donors when their blood has been dispensed to someone in need. A common issue with blood donation—along with other types of charitable donations—is that if a donor doesn't know the recipient, it's harder to convince them that donating is worth it. But with this system, which started in 2012, potential donors in Sweden have proof that their contribution is going to good use.
21. You're more likely to get a computer virus from visiting religious sites than porn sites.
According to research from security firm Symantec, religious websites carry three times more malware threats than pornography sites. Symantec found that the average number of security threats on religious sites was around 115, compared to adult content sites which carried around 25. In fact, only 2.4 percent of adult sites were infected with malware. The researchers hypothesized that's because porn sites need to generate a profit, so there's a financial incentive to keeping them virus-free to encourage repeat business.
22. The inventor of the Pringles can is now buried in one.
In 1966, Fredric Baur developed the ingenious idea for Procter & Gamble to uniformly stack chips inside a can instead of tossing them in a bag. Baur was so proud of his invention that he wanted to take it to the grave—literally.
He communicated his burial wishes to his family, and when he died at age 89, his children stopped at Walgreens on the way to the funeral home to buy his burial Pringles can. They did have one decision to make, though. "My siblings and I briefly debated what flavor to use," Baur's eldest son, Larry, told Time. "But I said, 'Look, we need to use the original.'" Fredric Baur, an American classic.