(whirring)
- Here are 50 amazing facts to blow your mind.
In 344 BC, at the age of 12 or around 13 years old,
Alexander the Great made a wager with his father
that he could tame a troublesome horse
that no one else could get near.
He ended up not only taming the horse and calming it down
but making it his longtime steed
that he would ride into battle for 30 years.
He named the horse Bucephalus and loved it dearly.
Even though Adolf Hitler admired Benito Mussolini,
the feeling was not mutual.
Mussolini claimed that the Germans
were descendants of those who were illiterate
when Rome had Caesar, Virgil, and Augustus.
The Germans began building fighter planes
mainly out of wood towards the end of World War II
because metals were in short supply.
The Chicago Cubs finished the 2010s with a winning record.
Their win percentage was over .500
for the first time since the 1930s.
Tuesday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck
in Spanish-speaking countries, not Friday the 13th.
In Italian culture, Friday the 17th
is considered a day of bad luck.
Antarctica was discovered on November 17th, 1820,
which was only 39 years
after the planet Uranus was discovered.
The first person to be convicted
based on DNA fingerprint evidence
was a British man named Colin Pitchfork in 1987.
Historical pubs in England have odd names
with words such as fox, hound, or boot in them
because many patrons were illiterate
and could only recognize the symbols on the sign.
Film director Rian Johnson
is actually married to a film critic named Karina Longworth.
When your adult teeth grow in,
the roots of your baby teeth are dissolved
by bone cells called odontoclasts.
Because the 2013 science-fiction film Riddick
was so over-budget,
actor Vin Diesel had to mortgage his house
and obtain loans to finish the production.
Aleksander Doba is a Polish kayaker
who has kayaked across the Atlantic Ocean
on three separate occasions.
He completed his last voyage at the age of 70 years old.
Disney CEO Bob Iger claimed that the company
was originally going to buy Twitter in 2016,
but backed out of the deal because the social media platform
didn't feel Disney to him.
The doctor who discovered country singer Dolly Parton
was paid with a sack of cornmeal
because her family was so poor.
According to statista.com, the MLB team that sells
the most expensive hotdog in the league
are the Washington Nationals at $7 per hotdog.
The team that sells the cheapest hotdog
are the Baltimore Orioles at only $1.50 a dog.
Before the shot clock in the NBA was introduced,
players would literally sit on the basketball
and wait for the time to run out
when their team had the lead.
In 1978, NBA center Clifford Ray used his massive hand
to reach into a dolphin's mouth
and grab a screw that it had swallowed!
A veterinarian gave him the instructions over the phone
and the procedure was a success.
After coffee beans are decaffeinated,
some coffee manufacturers
will sell the caffeine they collected to soda,
as well as pharmaceutical companies.
In 1674, the Women's Petition Against Coffee in Britain
proposed a ban on coffee
for anyone under the age of 60 years old
because it was turning men into "useless people."
Author Jules Verne
is the second-most-translated author ever,
with his writings being available
in approximately 150 languages.
However, some of his translations contain errors
such as measurements incorrectly converted.
William Shakespeare is third on the list
and Agatha Christie is the first, with the world record.
According to a 2017 paper by Science Advances,
only 9% of the plastic
that's produced worldwide is recycled.
Hall of Fame MLB pitcher Nolan Ryan
played from 1966 until 1993.
He debuted when he was 19 years old
and retired at 46 years old.
Desalinating water from the ocean
can cost $1 to $2 for every cubic meter,
while purifying freshwater from a river or aquifer
costs only 10 to 20 cents.
Queen Elizabeth eats one slice
of chocolate biscuit cake every day
and she has it transported with her when she travels.
Former royal chef Darren McGrady
says she'll take a small slice every day
until eventually there's only one tiny piece,
but you have to send that up.
She wants to finish the whole of that cake.
According to 24/7 Wall Street,
the state of Wisconsin is home to nine
of the 20 drunkest cities in the United States of America.
The country of Nigeria
drinks more Guinness beer than Ireland
and is the world's second-biggest Guinness market.
In 2011, two movies were released
six months apart from each other
that had the exact same plot, runtime, and ending.
They were the romantic comedies "No Strings Attached",
starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman,
and "Friends with Benefits",
starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake.
Also, both movies earned
about the same amount of money at the box office.
Children of the Moken tribe in Thailand
have the ability to see with total clarity underwater
by constricting their pupils and changing their lens shape.
Money laundering wasn't a crime
in the United States until 1986
after the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986 was passed.
Painter and skiing enthusiast James Niehues.
has hand-painted ski maps
for over 200 ski resorts since 1987.
He's actually planning on releasing a book
that showcases 30 years of his work
thanks to a Kickstarter campaign.
Tiromancy is the act of divining
the past, present, and future
by interpreting omens that are found in cheese.
The shape, number of holes, patterns of the mold
and other features of cheese
were used to predict love, money, or rain.
The term 'lesbian' comes from the Greek poet Sappho,
who was born on the island of Lesbos.
He's considered by many
to be a symbol of female homosexuality.
Astronauts are required to have good teeth
in order to go into space
because the force of the acceleration is so strong.
Humans also lose bone density while they're in space.
Buddy the Elf's loud burp
in the movie "Elf" was actually real
and it was performed by voice actor Maurice LaMarche.
Maurice also played Kif on the animated series "Futurama".
In 2012, an employee at Burger King
anonymously posted an image on 4chan
with him standing on lettuce with the caption,
"This is the lettuce you eat at Burger King."
People immediately tracked him down on the internet
and informed the local news.
He was quickly fired.
When singer Bill Withers wrote the song "Ain't No Sunshine",
he was 31 years old and worked at a factory
that made toilet seats for airplanes.
When the single achieved gold status,
his record company presented him with a golden toilet.
According to Dr. Richard Miller,
professor of pathology at the University of Michigan,
100-year-old people are more common than four-year-old mice.
A four-year-old mouse is the equivalent of a human
who is about 136 years old!
Mariah Carey and collaborator Walter Afanasieff
earn around $3.3 million a year in royalties
for the song "All I Want for Christmas Is You"
26 years after it was released in 1994.
The song remains by far
one of the most popular songs on Spotify, accounting for 20%
of the 13 most popular Christmas songs that are streamed.
Reindeer meat is one of the healthiest meats to eat
in the world and people in Norway love eating it.
It contains less fat than beef, has essential fatty acids,
is loaded with vitamins and minerals, and more.
Norwegians prepare dishes such as smoked reindeer,
grilled reindeer, reindeer pizza, and reindeer tartar.
The voting age in Brazil is 16 years old
and it's mandatory for all literate people
from the ages of 18 to 70.
Brazil introduced required voting in 1932
and lowered the voting age from 18 to 16
in the 1988 constitution.
McDonald's and the US Embassy in Austria have partnered up
to help American tourists who are stranded abroad.
American's can go to any McDonald's in the country
and will be given both a number
and a phone to contact the embassy, if necessary.
Saudi Arabia's royal family is worth $1.4 trillion,
which is 16 times more than the net worth
of the British royal family at $88 billion.
Similar to the British royal family,
they're extremely private about their fortune,
even though it's suggested
that they live envious lifestyles with huge spending.
The artificial Christmas tree was developed in the 1930s
by the Addis Housewares Company,
which were the producers of toilet brushes.
The artificial trees became popular
after real trees were difficult to get after World War II.
According to fatherly.com, more than half of American adults
still have their childhood stuffed animals.
Comedian Nathan Fielder's US green card
has him listed as female.
The white pieces in chess
have a 52% to 56% chance of winning against black pieces
based on the first-move advantage.
Cyclist Thomas Stevens was the first person
to cycle around the globe
from April 1884 until December 1886.
He rode on a penny-farthing
and he only packed socks, a spare shirt,
a raincoat that doubled as a tent,
a bedroll, and a small revolver.
Australia has the highest skin cancer rate in the world.
Two in three Australians will be diagnosed with it
by the time they reach 70 years old,
and 80% of all the cancers diagnosed are skin cancer.
Servants in ancient Egypt were smeared with honey
to attract flies away from the Pharaoh.
Reality television stars Heidi Montague and Spencer Pratt
revealed that they spent
most of their accumulated $10 million in earnings in 2010
because they believed that the world
would actually end in 2012.
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