Internet Geniuses Share Bizarre 'Fun Facts' That None Of Us Knew
Sometimes, facts can blow your mind when you really stop to think about them. We know that sort of deep introspection is usually reserved for #StonerThoughts, but there are some facts that really just... mess with you. For example, did you know there are plenty of places on earth where the closest other living human being would be in outer space? How isolated must that place be? Or is space just really close?
See what we mean? So many questions!
We opted to go down the rabbit hole with Reddit when someone asked: What's a "Let that sink in" fun fact?
Brace yourselves, you're about to enter a world full of stuff you never thought to consider. There will be drug hippos, some deaf babies, graffiti on other planets, and Betty White? If that's not a party, we don't know what is.
Bar Codes
The bar code scans the white lines, not the black lines. The black ones are there to create the negative space that is scanned. That turned my universe upside down.
America's 50th Birthday Sucked
John Adams died on July 4th, 1826, America's 50th birthday.
John Adam's final words were:
**"Thomas Jefferson lives" **
He was wrong; Jefferson had died the same day, hours prior, in Virginia. Both founding fathers died on America's 50th birthday.
Oh. That's Not That Far.
Space is only a little over 60 miles away. We like to think of space as so far away, but I drive 60 miles every day to go to work and back. Of all the things that are so huge, this one is one surprisingly small number.
Deaf People...
Deaf people don't hear voices when they're schizophrenic or have any mental illness with auditory hallucinations. Occasionally they'll see disembodied hands signing to them. Along similar lines, deaf babies/babies raised by parents who use sign language "babble" with their hands.
Zipf's Law
For any given language, the most common word will occur 2x as often as the second most common word, 3x as often as the third most common word, and so on. It's called Zipf's Law and it works.
I'm a PhD candidate studying policy. We use Zipf's Law to ascribe value to what politicians and policy writers say. Those things they say less often are more important (generally). Once you filter out all the junk you can find some really important stuff, and Zipf's Law lets you do that.
Skin Deep
If earth was the size of the apple, the deepest hole ever dug by humans wouldn't even break past its skin.
Everyone Else Is Dead
The oldest person in the world has seen an entire world of humans die and an entire other world replace them.
Why Are We Still Arguing About This?
People knew the earth was round before mammoths went extinct.
Pablo's Hippos
There is now a thriving population of hippopotamuses in Colombia because of drug lord Pablo Escobar. He had exotic animals like zebras and hippos brought into his ranch so he could have a sort of zoo. Some escaped and they ended up reproducing in the area. They are an invasive species and they're really aggressive and dangerous. They don't really have predators in Colombia. The government will now have to try and humanely control a population of sea-faring murdercows for at least the next hundred years or so, because of one really rich dude.
Thanks, Brain!
Your eye always sees your nose, but your brain decides it's unimportant and kind of cancels it out of your view and your memories. This constant nose perception created a problem with virtual reality. What's weirder still, adding a simulated "nose" in VR actually helps to minimize VR sickness. So your brain needs it for vision stability or something, but then it blocks it out.
This is harder for your brain to do when you only have one eye. A 15th century Italian nobleman lost an eye, and had surgery to remove part of his nose so it wouldn't obstruct his vision.
Betty White
Betty White is older than sliced bread. Sliced bread is the best thing since Betty White.
Top One Percent
If you make $34,000 a year or more, you are in the top 1% of the world.
Ye (Very) Old Oxford
Oxford university is older than the Aztec Empire
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was alive at the same time as John Wayne.
The Moon
The moon is really far away. Every other planet in the solar system could fit in the space between the Earth and the moon.
9/11
In my high school speech class, we have to give a presentation on a major event that happened in our lifetime. None of the current freshmen will be able to do their presentation on 9/11 because none of them were alive at the time.
The Biggest
Every day someone unknowingly has the biggest sh*t of the day.
Super Strong Hair
Human hair is incredibly strong. One strand of healthy hair could lift 100g before breaking. If you could use the strength of all the hair on your head, you could lift about eleven tons.
That's a few elephants worth of weight.
Space Egg
The furthest point on the Earth's surface from the core is not Mount Everest like you might think. It makes sense because Mount Everest is the highest elevation; but it is Chimborazo in Ecuador. This is due to the Earth not being a perfect sphere. It's an "oblate spheroid" and bulges around the equator. We're a bit more like a space egg.
Extraterrestrial Graffiti
NASA invited people to sign their autographs, which were etched into rocks on Mars by the rovers. One person was a Simpsons director/animator. He drew Homer rather than an autograph. There is a rock somewhere on Mars with Homer Simpson etched on it. We graffiti'd another planet.
H/T: Reddit
