Here are little known facts no one talks about!
6 - Russia’s Contributions to WWII
Russia has a pretty bad reputation.
First there were the czars.
Then there were the Bolshevik revolution, the reign of Lenin, Stalin’s tyrannical
atrocities, and the whole cold war not so long ago.
So in many ways, they’ve earned their reputation.
But it’s worth noting that without their efforts during WWII, Western civilization
as we know it might not exist.
In school, most Americans were taught that America won WWII.
The efforts of our allies, aside from maybe England and Winston Churchill are rarely mentioned,
and the fact that war had been raging in Europe for a good two years before America joined
the effort isn’t usually front and center in the narrative.
And it’s almost never acknowledged that without the help of The Soviet Union, Europe
might have fallen to the Nazis.
But the fact is Russia bore the biggest burden of any of the Allied countries, accounting
for about 95 percent of all the Allied casualties!
Think about this one; Russia suffered more than all of the Allied countries combined.
The US who did indeed play a big role in altering the trajectory of the war, lost about 400,000
soldiers but virtually no civilians.
Russia, on the other hand, lost at least 11 million soldiers, and anywhere between 7 and
20 million civilians based on a few different estimates.
In the Battle of Moscow alone more than half a million Soviet troops were killed, while
the battle itself proved to be a huge setback for Hitler.
The Soviet’s relentless defense of the city wore the Nazis down and resulted in a domino
effect of strategic failures for Hitler and his demented plans.
When Hitler tried to invade Russia he was initially successful.
But it was the Battle of Moscow and the Soviet’s heroic efforts that stalled his advances.
For a man who supposedly studied Napoleon and STILL tried to invade Russia during the
winter, part of Hitler’s undoing was his own blind ambition and his unfettered thirst
for conquest.
But the Russian counter offensive forced Germany back, and led to the failure of Hitler’s
small scale offenses in Russia as well as Operation Barbarossa, the code name for Hitler’s
large scale invasion.
Without a doubt, that helped shift the war in the Allie’s favor.
So while Russia has had less than a charming relationship with the rest of the world, we’d
be foolish to forget how they helped save the very same world they’ve been menacing.
Kind of ironic, don’t ya think?
5 - Ants weigh more than what?!
Ants can be really annoying.
They crawl all over everything at picnics and some ants, such as fire ants, can inflict
some pretty painful bites.
Oh yeah, don’t forget Bullet ants, whose bite is said to be one of the most painful
things known to man.
It’s almost like the world would just be better without them.
Right?
Wrong.
Here, I’ll prove it.
Say for example that ants all just died tomorrow, or they said “screw it” and packed up
and went to another planet.
Either way, let’s just say they’re all gone.
That would cause a sh*t storm of consequences like you couldn’t imagine.
The ecological imbalance that would create would ultimately cause many species to go
extinct because Ants actually prey on insects that spread diseases.
They also enrich the soil, which helps us grow food, and they protect vital plants in
our ecosystem.
Of course, other creatures such as birds and spiders will be on the prowl for new food
sources, because one of their favorite meals is now gone.
Just ask Alfred Hitchcock what happens when birds start to invade human towns.
Remember my point about the soil?
With bad soil comes bad farming and a lack of food supply...meaning widespread famine
and probably war.
Of course the whole ecosystem would be seriously disrupted and by some estimations, it would
take less than five years for people to become extinct or at least drastically reduced.
Less alarmist trajectories suggest that while human life could sustain itself without ants,
the ecosystem would still be badly compromised and many other species would still go extinct.
Supposedly, the weight of all the ants in the world outweighs the weight of all humans
in the world.
I’m still trying to wrap that one around my head.
Anyone wanna do the math on that one?!
I guess Ant-Man doesn’t seem like such a lame superhero anymore, huh?
The good news is that roughly 10 trillion ants populate the earth, so we should be good
for a while.
4 - Antarctica is a…..?!
In many ways Antarctica is the most unique continent on the planet.
For example, it’s the only one not owned by any country.
It’s also the most icy place on earth.
All of that ice, even with the ice caps melting, accounts for something like 70 percent of
the world’s freshwater and ninety percent of its ice.
Not surprisingly, it’s got the coldest climate on earth.
Temperatures as low as -128 degrees have been recorded, just to give you an idea of what
I mean by “cold.”
But here’s the crazy part.
By definition Antarctica is a desert.
Yes...a desert.
On average the whole continent receives a whopping 6.5 inches of rain each year.
This means even though there is ice galore, it’s the driest place on earth.
Ross Island, which is a volcanic island right off the coast of Antarctica reportedly hasn’t
had any rain for 2 million years….give or take a bit.
In Antarctica, the absolute humidity is actually lower than all of those super hot deserts
like the Gobi, and scientists have often complained that the really dry air causes their skin
to dry and their lips to chap.
Who would have figured?!
3 - Wizard of Oz Folklore
Every so often a film comes along that changes the industry.
In 1939 such a film graced the silver screens….it was The Wizard of Oz.
Many people remember it for the flying monkeys, the Wicked Witch of the West, a fascinating
cast of characters, and the now overused phrase “We’re not in Kansas Anymore.”
But there are many reasons the film should be remembered.
Yes, it famously was a pioneer in using Technicolor, and there are all kinds of urban legends,
such as the Munchkin’s suicide.
But few people know the backstory to the Wizard of Oz.
Based on a novel called “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” written by L. Frank Baum in 1900,
this children’s fairytale actually has been interpreted as an allegory for late 19th century
American politics.
Baum, an actor turned writer and political activist, makes all kinds of political and
cultural references throughout his novel.
In 1964, Historian Henry Littlefield speculated that the Scarecrow represents the struggling
farmer whose plight worsened during the economic recession of the 1890’s.
The Tin man represents American industrial workers who were often mistreated and dehumanized,
while the Cowardly Lion represents William Jennings Bryan, the leader of the Populist
Movement and three time presidential candidate.
He lost all three times in case you couldn’t figure out he wasn’t a president.
The famous twister represented political upheaval, that would transform the country from a bleak,
dark country, into a land of promise and color...hence, after Dorothy and Toto are swept away by the
twister, and her house lands on and kills the Wicked Witch of the East, they wake up
in the Land of Oz, which is of course, when the film switches from a sepia tone to technicolor.
On her journey to meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, she encounters the Lion, the Tin Man
and the scarecrow, who are in search of courage, a heart and a brain respectively.
Believing the wizard will grant them their wishes, they travel down the yellow brick
road, which represents the gold standard and the path to power, only to find the wizard
is a fraudulent middle aged man posing as a powerful Wizard.
Oz, by the way, is an abbreviation for gold.
As it turns out, the qualities they all sought had been inside of them along, they just had
to find the power from within to harness them.
And then there’s Dorothy...who does she represent?
Well she’s one of us.
An average, everyman; trustful, loyal, and maybe a bit naive on the path to self discovery.
Some people even thinks she represents, Theodore Roosevelt, noticing similarities between her
name “Dorothy” and “Theodore.”
Maybe it’s not any of these things.
Perhaps it’s just a children’s story simply meant to entertain.
Regardless, it’s a story that has captivated the American public for more than a century...and
a film that changed the face of cinema.
But it’s probably a political allegory too.
2 - diet pill ads
You’ve seen the commercials on TV.
Just about every time you log on the computer you see the ads for the fat guy who lost a
bunch of weight using a diet supplement pill pop up on your screen.
It’s usually the the side by side comparison of the guy when he was fat, and later on once
he was skinny.
It almost seems too good to be true.
Losing weight by just taking a pill?
Well, a lot of those ads are actually bogus.
Many companies actually pay super in shape people to get fat for their, and then they
lose the weight on their own.
It’s way easier to find a fitness model in contest shape, and then pay them to get
fat than the other way around.
So for some companies, those ads aren’t truthful at all.
This isn’t to say that all companies do this, nor that a lot of the transformation
pics you see on the internet is fake.
I’m just telling you that not
Since we’re on the subject, the best way to lose weight and change your life is to
actually change your lifestyle.
Exercise and eat right.
And for the love of God, consult some kind of health or fitness expert before taking
diet pills of any kind.
1 - Super Mario Villain
Mario has become perhaps the single most iconic character in the history of videogames.
The short, Italian Plumber has appeared in over 200 games since his inception in 1981.
However, when he was first created, he wasn’t the fun loving, protagonist who jumps over
mushrooms and braves strange Worlds full of lava, flying bullets and the forces of Bowser
to save his beloved Princess Toadstool that we all know and love.
In fact, the character made his debut in the 1981 Arcade game, Donkey Kong, where he played
a carpenter named Jumpman, who mistreated his pet ape, Donkey Kong.
The ape eventually escapes and captures Jumpman’s girlfriend in retaliation.
By 1982 for the arcade game Donkey Kong Jr, Jumpman had become “Mario” and was a full
on bad guy.
Having captured Donkey Kong he punishes him for kidnapping his girlfriend by placing him
in a cage.
Donkey Kong’s son, Donkey Kong Jr. must rescue his dad, but Mario has sent out all
kinds of obstacles to stop him.
In the end, Donkey Kong Jr. rescues his dad and kicks Mario off the screen to an unknown
fate.
It’s not until he reappears in Super Mario Bros for NES a few years later that he takes
on the role of the good guy, and ultimately the face
of Nintendo.
Here’s what’s next!