Off the wall, random information can be of great use at parties.
Now there is also the info we'd be better off not knowing.
But we gotta take the good with the bad.
Redditor SoggyCereal12 wanted to hear about information everybody would rather not know, or have no use to know. (So cover your eyes). They asked:
"What's a 'fun fact' that nobody asked for?"
I do love good facts. You never know when you'll end up on 'Jeopardy.'
Come and Knock on Our Door
Confused Threes Company GIF by MOODMANGiphy"Between 1913 and 1914, Sigmund Freud, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Emperor Franz Joseph, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Leon Trotsky lived in Vienna within 4km of each other. Talk about sitcom idea!"
plan3s
Purr...
"Baby kittens and puppies can’t urinate and defecate on their own. Their mothers lick their genitals to prompt them to do so and then also cleans it up. Most people don’t know this if they happen to be taking care of an orphaned young kitten or puppy so this it ends up being a cause of death for a lot of them."
"If you ever take care of an orphaned kitten/puppy or know someone who is you must use a damp paper towel or wash rag to wipe their bottoms until they urinate or defecate. 🌈 The More You Know ⭐️."
DetectiveBennett
Below
"German submarine U-215. Sank during WW2. Didn’t decompress though. It’s still sealed on the bottom of the ocean with 49 people inside. I’ve always wondered what went down in there…"
toigz
"Death by asphyxiation most likely."
Lord_Dreadlow
The Water Buried
"Lake Superior does not give up her dead. The waters of Lake Superior are so cold that the bodies and the majority of stuff from shipwrecks is preserved. The Great Lakes (all of them) are basically just giant ship graveyards."
Pranksterette
"It’s true, in fact people training to dive for sunken ships and other items come from around The world to train in the Great Lakes. I love this about Michigan, I live here and hear about it from time to time. I desperately want to get into one of those programs. But they are $$$$."
Hour_Carpenter8465
H20 Shots
Summer GIF by krima&isaGiphy"Dragonflies suck water up their butts and shoot it out like jets when they get tired."
Killerjebi
Dragonflies are weird. I run from them.
AHHHH!!!
Good Morning GIF by Taco BellGiphy"When a rooster crows it partially pinches shut its ear canals so it won't deafen itself."
KlutzieKelpie
So Many Parts
"Kangaroos have three vaginas. I forgot how I learned that."
DreadHead-Jedi
"And two uteri! They can be perpetually pregnant. That’s why sometimes you might see a mother kangaroo ditch her young Joey when in danger because she’s almost got two more on the way already."
rosie848
"They can also halt pregnancy until the time is right."
NerJaro
Unsinkable Sam
"On 1939, February 14th a German battleship was launched and was sank with only 118 of the 2,200 crew members surviving. Among them was a black and white cat named Oscar which was found floating on a board and was picked up from the water by a British ship."
"On October 27th, 1941, the ship sank to the west of Gibraltar and Oscar was found clinging to a piece of plank and was later brought to the shore establishment in Gibraltar. When British officers learned what happened they named him 'Unsinkable Sam.'"
"After that he was adopted by the crew of the HMS Ark Royal and in 1941, November 14th, a torpedo hit the ship. Sam was AGAIN found clinging to a piece of plank and was described as 'angry but unharmed.' By this time it was enough for the por cat and remained its days on land hunting mice in Gibraltar and then being transferred to the UK where he lived his final days."
"And this was the story of 'Unsinkable Sam.'"
WeeabooButWithASmile
The Binge
"There was a Finnish soldier named Aimo Koivunen who got separated from his unit. He had no food or weapons, and to avoid dying, took enough methamphetamine for 30 men. During his insane drug binge, he skied about 250 miles, passed over a landmine and survived, and caught and ate a bird raw. That's just a few details, I recommend actually reading about this absolute legend yourself."
AbsentLabRat
Good Ole Abe
abraham lincoln animation GIF by weinventyouGiphy"Before he became president, Abraham Lincoln was an elite wrestling champion. In 300 matches, he only lost one. Bonus fun fact: He was also a licensed bartender."
thatirishguy0
Well those aren't so bad. Good Abe sounds cool.
Some facts are fun. Some are obscure and historical, humanizing a once alienating and distant past. Other facts, however, or totally unnerving.
Creepy facts remind us that in this world there are natural occurrences and/or particular kinds of people capable of truly horrifying things. Knowing about a strange disease, a grotesque animal, or the motives behind some infamously villainous behavior can make you think twice about walking out the front door.
But we do. We have to live our lives. Though with some unsettling new information on our minds-- thanks to a recent Reddit post--we'll likely do so with a bit more humility and self-preservation.
Vacancier1807 asked, "What are some VERY creepy facts?"
Bone Prison
"There is a genetic disease called fibrodisplaysia ossificans progresiva. When tissue is damaged, it is replaced with bone."
"Growths form underneath their skin and their joints lock solid. So over time those affected slowly become encased in a prison of bone just beneath their own skin."
"They usually have to choose between sitting or standing up for the rest of their life. By the end of their life they have to drink every meal through a straw and can barely move."
-- Sythosz
Hiding in Plain Sight
"Your eyes have a separate immune system from the rest of your body. If they get damaged in such a way that it affects anything other than your eyes, your regular immune system can attack the damage and will not recognise them, meaning your own body can permanently blind you."
"What's worse, your body cannot tell the difference between either eye. If one of them gets infected or damaged, your immune system can attack your healthy eye and take away your sight entirely."
-- TBroomey
Off the Hook
"The Colombian serial killer Pedro Alonso Lopez, who is known as the Monster of the Andes, murdered over 300 girls from Ecuador, Peru and Colombia."
"However, after he was caught and imprisoned for 18 years, he was put in a psychiatric hospital. There he was reviewed, declared to be sane and was set free, in spite of his blatant avowal that he fully intends to kill again."
"Since he was released in 1998, nobody knows where he is or what he's doing. ( He is supposed to be 71 years old at present). He is known for being the most prolific killer ever."
-- ridhan3912
Fate Finds a Way
"The men of the ship Essex (the true event that inspires the story "Moby Dick") avoided islands after being shipwrecked for fear of cannibals. The islands were settled and landing there would have brought salvation to the survivors."
"Ironically because of this bypass, the men ran out of food and were forced to eat each other for survival."
The Bath Salt Myth
"Remember that bath salts cannibal guy from a couple years back?"
"He wasn't high on bath salts when he did that. That was just media speculation and bullsh**. They only found pot in his system during the autopsy."
"We still have no idea why he flipped out."
-- peezle69
Pragmatic Little Buggers
"One reason that crows and ravens are associated with death is because they would often follow armies as they marched to battle."
"Being both carrion birds and extremely intelligent, they realized that a large group of armed men marching on one direction meant that there would be a tasty meal of corpses to eat soon afterwards."
Conscious CPR
"Imagine being totally aware of someone preforming CPR but you physically can't move or respond. Well that's what happens when you get bitten by a blue ringed octopus, you have approx 6 minutes between being bitten and someone starting CPR to keep your heart and lungs functioning to ensure you survive, all whilst being totally aware of what is happening to you."
"Neurotoxins are fun!"
Way Too Late to Realize That
"It wasn't until 1987 that the American Academy of Pediatrics declared it unethical to operate on newborns without anesthesia. Until surprisingly recently, the medical community felt it would be dangerous to give infants anesthesia and/or believed that they didn't feel pain." -- allothernamestaken
"Thank god I was born in 1987" -- pandemchik
"I don't think it was because they thought infants didn't feel pain, but rather they just wouldn't remember the pain. Similar reason why circumcisions are given at such a young age, because infants don't remember it" -- DreamedJewel58
Gendered Mummification
"Female mummies in Ancient Egypt were always more decomposed than their male counterparts. They discovered that this was because male bodies were embalmed a lot sooner than female bodies."
"Female bodies were kept at the family home until they started to decompose in order to avoid necrophilia at the embalmers."
Whirling Fire
"A Fire Whirl can go as big as an EF3 tornado."
"In 1923, such happened in Japan during an earthquake. The son of a bi*** killed 38,000 people in less than 15 minutes." -- MissSara101
"they got hit by a tornado THAT WAS ON, F***ING, FIRE!"
"IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EARTHQUAKE!THAT CAUSED A TSUNAMI!ALL WHILE SURROUNDED BY FIRE STORMS!"
"thats some scifi super storm sh**. Jesus christ." -- EJX-a
Cast Away
"Rosemary Kennedy was JFK's sister. She suffered from oxygen deprivation at birth and that unfortunately stunted her mental growth. She had a pretty decent childhood, but as she grew older she began to act out."
"Afraid that her behavior would risk his political career, her father, Joseph, agreed to have her lobotomized. Her mother, Rose, was against it and forbade him from doing it. So he did it behind her back when she went on a trip."
"After the operation, Rosemary's already low IQ was lowered even further, to the point she could no longer walk or communicate. Her family had her locked up in an institution and basically disowned her. They never visited and never publicly acknowledged her anymore. Rosemary died at the age of 86."
"Her mother never for gave her husband for what he had done."
Complex Approaches to Fertilization
"There is a fungus, Cordyceps, that can actually brain-control insects, forcing them to move to a higher location where they will eventually die and release more Cordyceps spores." -- BreakinMyBallz
"I've heard of these things. When they grow out of the ant, other ants will identify it and bring it far from the colony. The ants that bring it out are very likely to be infected, so the fungus covered ant and the other sacrifices will wait there for the rest of their lives to die."
"This keeps the rest of the colony from getting infected." -- NoodlesInPudding
It's All About Taste
"Cannibals find the palm of the hand the tastiest" -- Greymattergone
"is that why whenever you have a scratch on your hand you feel like biting it instead of scratching it like a normal person" -- takis_fuego
Picture It!
"Crocodiles can gallop. Like a horse. I don't like knowing this so I am cursing you people with this knowledge as well. Fortunately alligators cannot." -- SaltyPeanut69
"So THAT'S how you tell them apart" -- zezozose_zadfrack
"Yeah but now I'm confused how to tell a horse and crocodile apart" -- toamke
Various Bears
"I once read that you should play dead if a bear attacks you, unless they start licking your wounds because that means they plan to eat you. That still haunts me to this day." -- xenopants
"If it's black fight back, if it's brown (grizzly) lie down!" -- YogaMom07
"And if it's white, say goodnight!" -- pixiegurly
What a Way to Go
"There's a spider that gives you a 3h long boner, before you die from its bite"
"Edit: the boner it gives you is very painful." -- alien__unknown
"Die hard" -- eatsleepcars
"If it bites you you might as well dick slap it into next week." -- TheSoviet-Union
Sleep You and Awake You
"Most people smell different when they're awake" -- RealSirRoyal
"That's my favorite thing to whisper" -- b_a_b_a_r
"When I started this thread I was waiting for a baby to fall asleep. Said baby is now asleep. I mean, I guess she smells different, but I also want it to be true, so maybe not."
"Also, I woke her with my sniffing, so maybe it went back. I don't get this one." -- NotMyMainName96
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Some myths are so strongly internalized by cultures, and even passed on to future generations, that a revelation of the actual truth somewhere along the line went completely ignored.
After all, myths are often ore colorful than facts. They appeal to intuition, and they usually have a seductive cause and effect set up.
Often, they center around health--how to preserve good health or, in some cases, how to avoid catastrophe. And remedies like that often come from parents, grandparents, or kids at school, all of whom are so influential for some kid wrapping his head around the world throughout childhood.
And let's face it, the urging, wise words of grandma are far more compelling than a newspaper article about a debunking study that just came out.
But now, as adults, we're ready for the truth. And Reddit brought it in spades with a recent thread.
Mutating_Mammal asked, "What are some common 'facts' that people believe to be true even if the existing evidence states the contrary?
Reality is Less Charming
"Camels don't use their humps to store water. They use them to store fat reserves., Because storing fat reserves around the body like humans would keep them too warm, so they have it all in one spot."
-- Cielbird
Portions Gone Awry
"Myth: 'The pool is definitely clean, it has such a strong chlorine smell!' "
"Fact: A strong chlorine-like smell, like the kind you associate with public pools, is actually an indication that the water is not chemically balanced. It might even be a sign that the pool needs more chlorine."
-- theTinderess
Relevant!
"If the police arrest you and do not read your rights, the case will automatically be thrown out."
"That only invalidates any interrogation they conduct."
In Case You Were Feeling Old
"That 30 used to be considered 'ancient' back when the average life span was 25 or whatever. The average is offset by a huge number of child deaths. 30 was never ancient."
"Even hunter gatherer societies had people routinely living into their 60s."
-- ben_abuyah
A Much Quieter Killer Than We Thought
"A person drowning is not likely to be flailing wildly and yelling like in the movies. Drowning can often happen with mostly silence, especially with kids."
"Read up on the signs, it might save a life. I was drowning and lost consciousness when I was 5, I was told I barely made a sound. I went under, sucked in lungs full of water when I tried to cry out in surprise and blacked out. If it wasn't for my dad's instincts and quick action I'd be dead."
-- Guitar3544
Crunches are not Lasers
"A lot of people think they can burn belly fat by doing crunches or slim their arms down by doing push-ups, but targeted fat loss isn't possible & there's no evidence to suggest it is." -- TokoyamiTreadwell
"True. One analogy for this I heard involves a pool of water and a bucket. If you take water out of the pool with the bucket (burning calories to burn fat), even if you scoop in one place it will remove water evenly across the pool. Some people's genetics store fat more in certain parts of the body and you can't spot reduce body fat." -- xiGoose
A Well-Intentioned Myth
"That if you touch a baby animal, like a bird or rabbit, it's mother will neglect it and it will die. That is a myth. It was just a way for parents to get their kids to leave baby animals alone." -- Marius314
"Can confirm. Grew up in the 80's and my parents drilled this into me." -- NicolasSequeiraSucks
A Relieving Truth
"Cracking your knuckles too often will give you arthritis. Nope, no conclusive study has ever backed this up. It just releases the gas from the synovial fluid in your joints, which is neither good nor bad."
Rules are Rules, Haters
"You can tap a block to see if it is loose in Jenga which is stated quite explicitly in the rules and f*** you everyone who said i couldn't." -- benj_1029
"It's not out until it's free of the system or it falls. I remember you can even try to put it back before it's out to try a different one! Maybe that's house rules, though." -- rotaryrose00
A Sore Subject
"Cutting your facial hair makes it grow in thicker. I had a full on argument with an individual who firmly believed that genetics played no possible role in hair growth whatsoever. I have never been more perplexed or angry in my entire life."
"Sincerely,"
"bald at 25"
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.
The "Fun" in "Fun Fact" denotes that there is some kind of pleasant excitement in learning such minute information about a niche subject.
But minute information can be the very opposite of pleasant.
Statistics and facts often serve to put things into perspective. A bite-size tidbit of info is useful insofar as it allows people to grasp the seriousness, complexity, or general essence of a topic.
Redditors on one particular thread wasted no time at all offering that enlightenment.
But this was a sadistic form of education. The facts were shared with a presumed wry grin just behind the computer screen.
"Unfun Facts," as the original question called them, are as horrifying or gross as they are fascinating.
MC_gnome asked, "What's an unfun fact?"
"I Knew I Left That Somewhere"
"In 2014 the CDC once found a smallpox sample that they had lost and didn't even know it. It was just laying around in some random storeroom." -- Wespiratory
"This week in Storage wars." -- Rohit_BFire
"I am happy I am not a scientist working in one of those labs. I often leave work with random things in my pockets that I meant to put leave on my desk. I'd probably infect my family with Super- virus or something. I guess that's why they wear lab coats too." -- Hey_I_Work_Here
An Ongoing Problem
"Around 1.5 million people die from TB annually, which is a disease consistently treatable by antibiotics in almost all cases." -- Chocolate_Jesus_
"I didn't enjoy Tampa Bay, but I had no idea it was that bad." -- Shradersofthelostark
"Hey, so I'm from India which is why this number isn't extremely shocking for me.. but what is also happening here is that a lot of poor people who have it stop their treatments mid way and this is given rise to stronger strains of it. I'm led to believe out of the three the strongest one isn't curable with antibiotics...." -- ascent_of_himanity
Everything's Better the Second Time Around
"Brush tail opossums are coprophagic (eat their own sh**). They need their food to go through their digestive system twice to get all the nutrients."
"They're nocturnal, so spend the night eating eucalyptus and other plant leaves and flowers."
"During the day, they curl up into a little ball with their mouths close to their bums, and eat the soft poo as it comes out in. Then while they're out at night, they poo out hard, long pellets of poo, having absorbed all the nutrients."
-- KatAnansi
Poor Puppers :(
"Parvovirus can infect dogs (and cats) at any particular age and kill them pretty efficiently. It's especially good at doing this with puppies."
"There's no cure and no antiviral, just boosters and hydration IV you can give them."
"When a dog comes home healthy from the recovery from a Parvo infection, they're contagious for 2 weeks and if they pee, poop or vomit anywhere at all (including dog parks) that freakin' virus is able to survive for up to a year. Including in 100+ degree weather."
"Parvovirus sucks."
Waking to Death
"Fatal familial insomnia exists. It's a rare, incurable prionic brain disease that progressively destroys your brain's ability to sleep. Eventually you stop sleeping altogether, go insane, have seizures, and die." -- Fenius_Farsaid
"They ask you if you have a family history of this when you go to donate blood in Australia." -- WeldinMike27
Casting a Shadow on Tans
"When your skin becomes red from spending too much time under the sunlight, it's basically because your skin cells are committing suicide to avoid becoming cancerous."
"The process is called apoptosis, and when cells whose DNA gets messed up by UV radiation doesn't commit suicide, that's when it starts growing out of control and thus becomes skin cancer."
Gotta Survive Somehow
"The female tarantula hawk wasp stings a tarantula between the legs, paralyzes it, then drags the prey to a specially prepared burrow, where a single egg is laid on the spider's abdomen, and the entrance is covered. Sex of the larvae is determined by fertilization; fertilized eggs produce females, while unfertilized eggs produce males."
"When the wasp larva hatches, it creates a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then enters and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep the spider alive. After several weeks, the larva pupates."
"Finally, the wasp becomes an adult and emerges from the spider's abdomen to continue the life cycle."
ROUGH Odds
"Only one in every 1,000 sea turtles born ever make it to adulthood." -- ItsFiin3
"To add to this, saving baby turtles at the beach does less (almost nothing) for conservation compared to protecting adult turtles in the ocean." -- p-oonis-
"The one that did make it was Crush from Nemo." -- Chuck4351
Good Reason to Grind Your Own
"People who handle cockroaches develop allergies to them. This usually prevents them from drinking pre-ground coffee because of the cockroaches that get grounded in with the large batches." -- gkibbe
"This is a viscerally unfun fact." -- PigeonTimeO_o
"Of all of these unfun facts, this is the most unfun." -- floovels
Team Player
"When a male bee (drone) ejaculates, its testicles explode and the drone dies. It is literally a one shot wonder." -- robocommander
"This is also a drone bees only job... The males are literally slaves only used for breeding, and when autumn comes and the hive hibernates all the drones are forced out of the hive to die in the cold." -- Billibon
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.
Genius People Share The Most Mind-Boggling Fact That They Know
[rebelmouse-image 18350284 is_animated_gif=Information flows through the internet at speeds so fast that, if you literally blink, you'll miss it. Outlets like political Twitter timelines, science blogs, and YouTube channels dedicated to world history, have made it their mission to share the most interesting facts on a variety of topics. Even with those sources, you might have missed some things. Don't worry. Reddit's got your back, thanks to a question asked by user, r/Taully12:
Reddit, what is the most 'mind boggling' fact you know?
Look At Things From A Different Point of View
[rebelmouse-image 18350285 is_animated_gif=In World War 2, a Hungarian Mathematician named Abraham Wald developed a counter-intuitive method for armor plate placement while studying damaged aircraft. He observed planes returning home from sorties with large holes in them, and was tasked with figuring out where to put armor plates. His crucial insight was to not put armor plates where the holes were.
The holes in the aircraft that returned represented damage that did not impact the ability of the planes to return home. In other words, he made the critical observation of the bias in the data he was observing: he was only looking at planes that survived. With this knowledge, he instructed armor to be placed in areas that were not damaged, because if these areas were hit, there would be no damage in that component in the planes that returned home.
What Is Written On The One Ring?
[rebelmouse-image 18350286 is_animated_gif=The inscription on the One Ring from Lord Of The Rings is not actually "Elvish" which quite a few people mistake it to be, but an entirely different language that Tolkien created called The Black Speech of Mordor or "Orcish".
Tolkien has stated that he came up with the Black Speech by thinking of the most horrible things in his life. In particular his experiences from WW1, which is why when you hear The Black Speech, such as when Sauron speaks it in LOTR & The Hobbit, it sounds like a dialect sent straight from hell.
He grew to be disgusted by the language he created so much that when a fan sent him a wine goblet with The One Ring's inscription on it as a gift, he used it as an ashtray.
We’re All Moving, All The Time
[rebelmouse-image 18350287 is_animated_gif=All of the solid objects around me are actually "vibrating".
Thank You Modern Medicine
[rebelmouse-image 18350288 is_animated_gif=43% of all people born prior to 1800 died before the age of 5
Cicadas Do The Math
[rebelmouse-image 18350289 is_animated_gif=Cicadas live underground for several years and emerge only to reproduce. The number of years they take to come above ground is mostly a prime number. Each species has its own prime number of years they stay underground.
The reason to be a prime number is that it reduces drastically the chance of two different species meeting above ground in the same year and crossbreed, weakening the genes of both species.
[EDIT] As several people pointed out, crossbreeding might be actually good for the evolution on the long run. However, each species is already refining their genes for ages. If they crossbreed they have to start over the whole process.
Indiana Legislators Don’t Do The Math
[rebelmouse-image 18350291 is_animated_gif=Indiana legislators tried to legally define pi as 3.2... and almost succeeded
All Minerals Are Totally Worthless
[rebelmouse-image 18350292 is_animated_gif=In the mid-1880s Aluminum was more valuable than gold, now we use it expendably to wrap food.
Massive Mons Mountain
[rebelmouse-image 18350293 is_animated_gif=Olympus Mons on Mars, the tallest known mountain in the solar system, is so large at its base that an observer on its peak wouldn't know he was standing on a mountain because its slope would be obscured by the curvature of the planet itself.
In Space, No One Can Hear You Trim Your Hedges
[rebelmouse-image 18350294 is_animated_gif=that if sound waves could travel through space the sun burning would sound as loud as a chainsaw at about 10 metres...
Sleeping Water Bear Sounds Like A Martial Arts Move
[rebelmouse-image 18350295 is_animated_gif=There is microscopic organism called a tardigrade (also water bear) which can survive extreme environments, including the vacuum of space, by dehydrating its body and basically putting itself into stasis. Then, when conditions improve, it absorbs some water and goes back to doing whatever it does.
Respect The Nipple
[rebelmouse-image 18346830 is_animated_gif=Male Irish mummies are often found with nipple mutilations leading many experts to believe Irish leaders may have wore nipple rings, as kissing a King's nipple was believed to be a sign of respect.
[username deleted]
Someone Warn Trump
[rebelmouse-image 18350296 is_animated_gif=A supernova seen from the distance the Sun is to the Earth will be brighter, in terms of energy delivered to your retina, than a hydrogen bomb pressed against your eyeball...by 9 orders of magnitude
Poor Pitiful Pluto
[rebelmouse-image 18350297 is_animated_gif=From the time that it was discovered (1930), to the time that it was declassified as a planet (2006), Pluto made less than a third of a full revolution around the sun.
Cortés Is A Monster
[rebelmouse-image 18350299 is_animated_gif=Cortés landed in South America or the New World and spread diseases that after 80 years killed 21 million natives. 21 million people in 80 years. That's 262,500 people dying annually, 730 people dying daily and 30 people hourly, for 80 years straight.
Atoms vs. Antarctica
[rebelmouse-image 18350301 is_animated_gif=There are more atoms in a teaspoon of water than there are teaspoons of water in the Atlantic.
Schwarzenegger Couldn’t Have Done It Better
[rebelmouse-image 18350302 is_animated_gif=That in WWII, an American airman by the name of Alan Magee survived a free fall from 22,000 ft without a parachute and becoming a prisoner of war for 2 years.
In 1943 he was in a B-17 making a bombing run over France when plane's wing was shot off by German fighters. As the plane entered a spin he leapt out without a parachute and immediately lost consciousness from the altitude. After falling 4 miles he crashed through the glass ceiling of the St. Nazaire railroad station and onto the floor below where he was captured as a prisoner of war. He suffered almost 30 shrapnel wounds, several broken bones, severe damage to his nose, eyes, lungs, kidneys, and his right arm was nearly severed off. His captors treated him back to health.
He was liberated in 1945 and awarded an Air Medal and a Purple Heart.
Mind Reading
[rebelmouse-image 18350304 is_animated_gif=When you speak inside your mind small muscles in your throat mimic the formation of each word.
This is called subvocalisation and a couple people (maybe NASA or us military?) are actually trying to build a machine that would detect the muscle movements and transcribe them to words. I believe they already have a very basic prototype.
So in a few decades maybe we'll be able to "read minds"
Edit: this is not necessarily a bad thing -such a machine could help millions of people.
Flotsam! Jetsam!
[rebelmouse-image 18350305 is_animated_gif=Eels actually have 2 jaws. The first being like a normal jaw, the second being hidden in their throat. The secondary jaw lunges forward when the eel bites down on prey, bites down on the piece within the mouth and bites a chunk out of it, pulling it down the throat. Think about the alien in the movie Alien, the secondary mini-mouth they use is based off an eels anatomy.
WTF France?
[rebelmouse-image 18350306 is_animated_gif=That France was still executing by guillotine during the first Star Wars movie.
Burning Trees Full Of Religious Radiation
[rebelmouse-image 18350307 is_animated_gif=The fact that recently a group of scientists went to investigate a forest of trees that were able to live for thousands of years on their own, and ended up finding traces of massive radiation in the very early rings of the trunks. All of them had this in the same spots.
Around the same time, judging by the average age of the trees and the rings the radiation was located in, there was a battle involving the Crusaders (Deus Vult btw), and one of the soldier's uncovered diaries had described seeing the image of the cross burning like fire in the sky, which had given them extra morale and then they won the battle.
So, using logic, you can guess that this 'cross in the sky' was what caused the radiation. And I can hear you thinking 'How in the f---?'. Well, I can proudly tell you that literally no-one knows.
It Was Probably Banksy
[rebelmouse-image 18350309 is_animated_gif=People have graffitied penises onto the Great Wall of China that have existed for longer than the USA
And The Ultimate Action Hero…
[rebelmouse-image 18350310 is_animated_gif=Senator Daniel Inouye literally lived-out every over-done action movie trope:
Inouye was promoted to sergeant within his first year, and he was assigned as a platoon sergeant. He served in Italy in 1944 during the Rome-Arno Campaign before his regiment was transferred to the Vosges Mountains region of France, where he spent two weeks in the battle to relieve the Lost Battalion, a battalion of the 141st Infantry Regiment that was surrounded by German forces. He was promoted to second lieutenant for his actions there. At one point while he was leading an attack, a shot struck him in the chest directly above his heart, but the bullet was stopped by the two silver dollars he happened to have stacked in his shirt pocket. He continued to carry the coins throughout the war in his shirt pocket as good luck charms, until he lost them shortly before the battle in which he lost his arm.
On April 21, 1945, Inouye was grievously wounded while leading an assault on a heavily defended ridge near San Terenzo in Tuscany, Italy, called the Colle Musatello. The ridge served as a strongpoint of the German fortifications known as the Gothic Line, the last and most unyielding line of German defensive works in Italy. As he led his platoon in a flanking maneuver, three German machine guns opened fire from covered positions 40 yards away, pinning his men to the ground. Inouye stood up to attack and was shot in the stomach. Ignoring his wound, he proceeded to attack and destroy the first machine gun nest with hand grenades and his Thompson submachine gun. When informed of the severity of his wound, he refused treatment and rallied his men for an attack on the second machine gun position, which he successfully destroyed before collapsing from blood loss.
As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, coming within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade, a German soldier inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade, which struck his right elbow, nearly severing most of his arm and leaving his primed grenade reflexively "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore". Inouye's horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. While the German inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. As the enemy soldier aimed his rifle at him, Inouye tossed the grenade into the bunker and destroyed it. He stumbled to his feet and continued forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge. He awoke to see the worried men of his platoon hovering over him. His only comment before being carried away was to order them back to their positions, saying "Nobody called off the war!"
The remainder of Inouye's mutilated right arm was later amputated at a field hospital without proper anesthesia, as he had been given too much morphine at an aid station and it was feared any more would lower his blood pressure enough to kill him.
This all from a first-generation Japanese-American that enlisted into a segregated division only after the US lifted the ban on the Japanese serving in the military.
Hawaii is very proud of him. One of the main highways on my island is named after him.
H/T: Reddit