Redditor Own_Championship7862 wanted everyone to share some off-the-wall facts, so they asked:
"What’s an unusual fact that most people don’t know?"
I have no odd and fabulous facts to share.
So teach me. I am a sponge.
Keep them All!!
Friends Infomercial GIFGiphy"When someone gets a kidney transplant they generally just cram the new one in and don't take out the old ones. So the person ends up with three kidneys."
Optimal_Towel
"They continue this with multiple kidney transplants too. Had a patient recently on her third transplant and yep, there are five kidneys crammed into her abdomen. Too risky to take any of the other ones out."
baconboy73
Body Works
"When going to surgery for a gunshot, we don't typically search for bullets. The body will encapsulate it to protect itself."
New-Inspector-9628
"As I remember Rene Pretre a worldwide famous surgeon talking about this: There's a lot more about the decision to either leave the bullet or do get it out. It depends on a lot of factors. In the old times, as medicine was not that good, it was a thing that they could not get the bullets out when it was in a difficult position inside the bodies. Today, it's different."
"Also, it depends on the bullet itself, not every bullet stays solid - a bullet can be halfway shattered without having the effect of a dumdum bullet, later in the process of healing it could still be that fragments get off and make problems. Today, it's also easier to prevent and treat infections, this was a big killer in the old times."
Diacetyl-Morphin
Growing and Growing
"I have recently learned that Lobsters don't display senescence which is the deterioration of the body as it ages. Their bodies are continuously growing and their exoskeletons get heavier and heavier, hence when they molt into a new exoskeleton it takes more and more energy to take off the old one."
"Eventually they die because one day they just go, 'Yeeeeeaaaah sooo like this exoskeleton is too heavy so imma just go meet Lobster God and head out from the mortal world.'"
"Now a thought... If a group of people helped a lobster shed it's exo- skeleton... And if said lobster kept growing... Technically, a giant lobster could be brought into existence should the lobster not die from old age."
FunnyComedian8290
Get Out
"More eels swim out of the Bermuda Triangle than swim into it."
Optimal_Towel
"Most eel species breed in the Sargasso Sea - aka the Bermuda Triangle. There’s a type of seaweed that lives on the top of the ocean called Sargassum that turtles, eels, and a bunch of animals use as a breeding ground. Eels go there, lay their eggs, little silver eels babies pop out and go back home."
roseygrl98
Revolutions
Venus GIF by The TelegraphGiphy"A day on Venus (one complete rotation around its axis) is longer than a year (a complete revolution around the sun) on Venus."
GRL_1151
The galaxy is too cool.
We'll never know enough.
Head Butt Time
giraffes fighting GIFGiphy"The male giraffe will continuously headbutt the female in the bladder until she urinates. The male then tastes the pee and that helps it determine whether the female is ovulating. If she is, it’s business time."
hornypandey
Go Vanillla
"Wearing white wedding dresses only came into fashion after Queen Victoria started the trend. White isn’t meant to have any other meaning or represent purity as many people think. Before this trend, most brides just wore their best dress of any color as it was expensive to buy a dress just for the occasion."
week7
Active Ingredients
"I love when this question comes up because I get to talk about the thunder clappers."
"When the Lewis and Clark expedition was exploring the west of North America, their diet of dried meat left them constipated. They were all taking these pills called thunder clappers to make themselves sh*t. The active ingredient in thunder clappers is mercury, and historians can track the expedition because they left increased deposits of mercury in the soil."
KerchBridgeSmoker
Color Schemes
"Pink used to be a masculine color."
"During the height of the British Empire, the soldiers in the far reaches of the world donned their red coats in battle and patrol. The newer recruits would look especially sharp with a bold red color. The rugged war heroes though? Their coats were faded and worn into more of a pink color."
"If you saw a guy wearing a pink coat, odds are they have stories to tell with a thousand-yard stare. This became a desirable thing to show off your experience and grit. Hence pink was associated with combat prowess and ruggedness and became a masculine color during that time."
ChristIsLordAlmighty
War Incentives?
Ice Cream Elmo GIF by SésamoGiphy"In WWII, the American navy had barges with ice cream bars on them to visit soldiers in the Pacific after battles as a way of boosting morale."
Not-sure-wtf-I-am
Yuck!
"McDonald's engineered bubblegum flavored broccoli in an attempt to get kids to eat more vegetables.
"They still didn't want to eat it."
cmad182
I love broccoli.
I love gum.
I would not eat them as one.
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.
My brain is too full. I have information falling out of my ears.
Shapes of things...
90S Snacks GIFGiphy"The shape of a Pringle is called a hyperbolic paraboloid. Learned it when I was 16/17 in a technical drawing class and it just won't leave my brain." ~ sublime_mime
Lost "A"
"That no number from 1-999 contains the 'a' in its word form." ~ pokemonmaster778
"I've heard this a few times and still check various numbers every time I hear it again. It sounds so impossibly wrong." ~ Hrnghekth
Seeds
"Strawberries are the only fruit with the seeds on the outside." ~ 1clovett
"It's an aggregate accessory fruit. The fleshy bit we eat is the structure that supports the ovaries. The 'seeds' on the outside are the ovaries with seeds inside. So technically, the strawberry 'seeds' are the fruit since a fruit is a mature ovary, and the seed contained within." ~ Lumber_Tycoon
Backload
"A butt load is a real measurement. The butt is a specific size of wine barrel. A pretty big one, as it happens. They're hyperbolic rather than factual. A butt actually is a measurement. 491 liters for ale or 573 for wine. Or in American/Idiotic units, about 126 gallons of wine, or a little over two standard barrels' worth." ~ shaodyn
Its Me Stop GIF by joonasjoonasWell that is fascinating, and I'm researching as I write. I never even thought to name that dot anything but dot.
The Traveler
glow red blood cells GIF by Erica AndersonGiphy"It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to travel around the body." ~ Fishcake_K9
PI
"The first 20 digits of PI." ~ WillsWei22
"Hey, I beat you by two digits! Memorized them in a stupid competition against my sister to see who can memorize the most digits of Pi in a day when we were kids. My sister got to 40 after an hour, I gave up at 22." ~ rockaether
"For me it's the square root of Pi. 1.77245385091." ~ AgentCarmichael20
Which cam first?
"The Lighter was invited in 1823, the Match wasn't invented until 1826." ~ N00dleLoop
"You think that's crazy? What if I told you that the can opener was invented 50 years after cans? 50 years!! Imagine opening cans with hammers and chisels for 50 freaking years! Literally the manufacturer recommended way of opening cans was with a hammer and chisel. Tin snips wouldn't work because the early cans were made with thicker metal." ~ Ziff7
The Return
"People often refer to the money they get back after filing their taxes as their "return." It's not a return, it's a refund. You file a tax return and receive a refund if you're overpaid. Also paid is not spelled payed. Get your crap together Reddit. "Consider the two phrases synonymous, although your reference, you've, sounds better for what I wrote."
"Form 2210 is the form used to calculate underpayment penalties. If you owe them money, you're underpaid and may need to pay penalties depending on your specific situation. If the IRS owes you money, you're overpaid and will get a refund, or can apply the overpayment to the subsequent year."~ BrundleflyftwI
Look Closer
See Season 16 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy"You can't really see The Great Wall of China from space." ~ Sea-Horror-814
A lot of Diamond...
"A Minecraft diamond block would be worth $11.2 trillion US dollars." aventador7716
"Minecraft is a video game with a world made from kubes (you might know this, but just in case). Each Cube is 1 meter, by one meter, by one meter. The average weight of 1 m3 is equal to 3500 kg. So that's a lot of diamond. Then he probably multiply's it with the weight per gram or kilograms for diamond." ~ Mathematical_Screwup
These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...recitals...
"Avogadro’s Number. Can still recite it, haven’t found a use for it outside of school." ~ slider728
"The 'mole number?' I'm sure you will use it all the time if you are a chemist, biologist, chemical engineer, bioengineer, pharmacist, or whoever work in the related field. It's like all those other technical knowledge that's useless to most of the 'commoners.'" ~ rockaether
Insignificant
"Any useless piece of information I share here would instantly be promoted to 'useful in answering this thread,' and therefore would be more useful than all the other insignificant information that I will never share here or anywhere else." ~ OddScentedDoorknob
"Thanx, your input is very useful to know that you are not planning on sharing information here or anywhere else that can be deemed useful. Thanx again, it's a time saver. I will seek my answer elsewhere." ~ UnfilteredPerception
Extreme Weather
"Extremophiles are organisms that survive under extreme temperatures. Thermophiles are organisms that live in extreme heats, whilst psychrophiles are organisms that survive in extreme colds. Mesophiles are organisms that survive at moderate temperatures." ~ r_e_c_e_d_i_n_g
"Extremophiles also include organisms that survive in other extreme conditions besides temperatures! For example, halophiles that live in super salty areas, acidophiles that live in areas below pH 3.0, and piezophiles that live in areas of high hydrostatic pressure! Life, uh, finds a way." ~ rabbiskittles
Top Students
3/14 pi GIF by NjorgGiphy"3.14159265358979323846264389790- My 5th Grade Math teacher dared me 'To know whether or not you're better than the 'top students,' recite the most digits of pi,' And now Idk what I'm supposed to do with this information." ~ Trip_koLng
Men at Sea
"The myth of the Kraken was likely started by men at sea observing a whale orgy. Several male whales will often take turns with a female, and will cool off their whale sized penises (called dorks) by swimming upside down with their giant dorks flapping around in the air. It's thought that men saw this and assumed that all the different penises were the many tentacles of a massive octopus like creature. The myth of the Kraken was born." ~ skewed-perceptions
I hate Math
“'Y equals negative B plus or minus the square root of B squared minus four A C all over two A.' Sung in a deep slow funeral baritone by my high school Algebra teacher. I’m literally a scientist and regularly do so much math but have never needed to solve a quadratic equation. I’m ready though." ~ jaaaamesbaaxter
You rang?
"Originally Lurch the butler in The Addams Family TV show was going to be silent. But when he made his entrance during rehearsal of the first episode he improvised, 'You rang?' in his deep rumbling voice, and everybody cracked up so they decided to have him speak." ~ refried_pancakes
Maturity
"I posted this somewhere yesterday and got like 500 upvotes so let’s try again, armadillos have four baby’s at one time (quadruplets) and all baby’s will be off the same gender as this prevents inbreeding as they stay as a family past sexual maturity." ~ Party_Comfortable406
Sweet Spot
seth meyers fries GIF by Late Night with Seth MeyersGiphy"Ketchup from a traditional glass bottle travels at approximately 27 miles per year, and tapping the ‘57’ on the neck is the sweet spot to get it to flow." ~ Early_Government198
I feel educated. Not ready for 'Jeopardy,' but I could throw out some intriguing tidbits at a party. And now you can too.
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I'm afraid to learn more about humanity. Also, I don't want to read about end of life stuff. Statistically, I want to believe there is a way to live forever.
Shark Week Candy GIF by TrolliPick a Hand
"My favorite statistic, as a left-handed person myself, is that southpaws die, on average, 13 years younger than right-handed people. I had always heard this attributed to the fact that power tools are generally designed for right-handed users, making many of them awkward and dangerous for left-handed people. But the real explanation is far more interesting."
"See, until the middle of the 20th century, being left-handed was heavily stigmatized, and often viewed as a sign of the devil. Teachers would not allow their left-handed students to actually use their dominant hand. This actually proved to be somewhat effective."
"So as left-handedness became more accepted, lefty children were no longer forced to use their right hand, but older people who were naturally left-handed but forced to use their right hand continued to identify as right-handed."
"Because of this, the average age of self-described left-handed people was significantly lower than it would be if not for the previous generation being forced into right-handedness. And when the average age of a group of people is lower, the average age of death tends to follow suit."
Woof
"One fact that I always love sharing is that ravens and wolves will work together to find food, the ravens act as scouts for the wolf pack and when they find an animal, dead or alive, they will use a special call to alert the pack of the direction of the food, really interesting stuff."
Angles...
"The bond angle between the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in a water molecule is exactly 104.5 degrees. This peculiar angle allows water to be less dense when solid than when liquid, which is why ice floats. If ice didn't float, it's unlikely that life would be possible, at least in the sense that we know it."
Give me a Calendar
Dog Gif GIFGiphy"People born in the springtime have a 15% higher chance of having anorexia, people born in October have a 10% less likely chance of any other month to have one."
As a New Yorker... who are y'all biting? And prefer my fabulous fall birthday.
Logistics
Civil War Trailer GIFGiphy"At the battle of Gettysburg, the South came in from the north and the North came in from the south."
"games played"
"If the entire world participated in a single elimination rock-paper-scissor tournament it would be over in 33 rounds."
"I think "rounds" does not imply "games played" but "people facing off and deciding on a winner based on a set of rules, which might require more than one game". The classic is "best of three; ties are repeated". That is more complex, especially as the probability of each choice is not 1/3 for each player to chose one of the possible hands (this game has been examined). but it still does not change the number of "rounds" where two players face off."
People Share The Most Selfless Thing They've Ever Secretly Done | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
A simple gesture from a good samaritan can go a long way. It could even inspire a chain of people paying it forward. But there's a certain rush in knowing yo...Meow
"Polydactyl cats, or cats with more than the typical number of toes, were once considered lucky by sailors and were highly desired to have on ships. When the sailors made port, the cats did too. Because of this the New England coastline has a higher number of polydactyl feral cats than anywhere else in the world."
- Diredoe
"Poison King"
"Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, was one of the Roman Republic's most terrifying enemies after Hannibal Barca. He performing a genocide of Roman colonists in modern-day western Turkey in an event called the Asiatic Vespers. This led to conflict with the Romans in the Mithridatic Wars (yeah, he had a series of wars named after himself), but ultimately lost to the Roman war machine after 20 years of conflict."
"Also was known as the "Poison King", due to the fact he routinely poisoned himself to build up immunity because he was so paranoid about being poisoned by any one of his numerous courtly rivals. Honestly, this whole man's life was just wild. I recommend reading the biography in my source below! Source: https://www.livius.org/articles/person/mithridates/"
Average
The One Where Estelle Dies Episode 15 GIF by FriendsGiphy"The average person believes they are smarter than the average person."
- SmackEh
MEGA/Micro
"Scientist had to come up with a unit of measure to tell people how bad Nuclear death would be. So they came up with MEGADEATH."
The inverse of a megadeath is a micromort, which is a statistical tool used to describe a person's chance of dying in a given period."
"On a more light hearted note, when they had to come up with a unit for every day radiation exposure that are actually not that bad they invented the banana equivalent."
Colors for All...
"The Olympic flag's colors are always red, black, blue, green, and yellow rings on a field of white. This is because at least one of those colors appears on the flag of every nation on the planet."
"Every time I see this I want a country to change their flag to just purple or orange."
"And Green was required only because of Libya until Ghaddafi was removed. It can technically now be removed."
- tnick771
Shut up Wayne!
hockey GIFGiphy"The highest scoring pair of brothers in NHL history are Wayne and Brent Gretzky, with 2,861 points combined. Wayne scored 2,857 of these points. Brent scored 4. Wayne brings this up every year at Christmas."
Fiction
"My friend in high school had this novel that was nothing but a bunch of interesting statistics. She read through the entire thing (had to be 100+ pages) and on one of the last pages it said "70% of the statistics in this book are made up." She was so mad."
- Alethi
Make a Wish
"In a room of 23 people there is a 50% chance two of them have the same birthday. In a room of 72 it's almost certain."
"I have first hand experience of this! I was on a bus coming back from Colonial Williamsburg to my hotel and somehow we got on the topic of birthdays and it turned out me and someone else on the bus had the same birthday!"
flash of light...
"Certain types of lighthouses are identified by the timing between each flash of light. You could have two lighthouses on the same coast, one blinks every 5s, the other every 7s. Sailors can then identify which lighthouse is which, what coast they're on, and what hazard each lighthouse is warning of. This is used in combination with a kinda lighthouse log book, which notes the timings of each lighthouse for a certain area."
"This was more commonly used before advances in location/gps technology, but it's still relevant today. I find the simple logic of this, given it's age, ingenious, and I tell as many people as I can, when I can. Along with a bunch of other useless info. Haha."
And Tea?
"When people are asked What they like in a perfect Cup of coffee, the top three words are bold dark aromatic. When people are given coffee options they pick warm creamy and sweet. People Often say one thing But actually mean another."
- Csj2454
"When I'm asked what I like in a perfect Cup of coffee, I usually say Whiskey."
A-HAAA!!!
Down With Love Omg GIFGiphy"Unlike most phobias, which cause blood pressure to spike, fear of blood makes it drop, hence the fainting."
minus the wrap...
"Saran Wrap can fix a corked bottle of wine- Ever opened a corked bottle of wine? Smells nasty, tastes nasty. If you can't return it, you can pour it into a decanter or pitcher and add a crumbled up piece of saran wrap in it. The TCA molecules that make thawing corked will bond to the saran wrap and then the wine will be drinkable (minus the wrap) after that. It will only ever get to about 80% of what it should taste like, but it's no longer gross."
Ah wisdom, what a gift. And what a burden.
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We all have random thoughts and tidbits ready to be shared, and most of the time we have no idea how we acquired the information. But it all does make for interesting dinner conversation.
Lefties
Happy The Simpsons GIF by FOX International ChannelsGiphy"I used to always notice that Bart Simpson is left-handed, and then someone pointed out that pretty much everyone in Springfield is left-handed. I cant unsee it."
In the Saddle
"One horse is 15 horsepower at a sprint."
"Well a horse power is the measure of the power a horse can output sustained for a whole day."
"EDIT FOR CLARITY: a horse can sustain a specific amount of energy over a 24hr period without dying. 1 horsepower is the power at any given instance (assuming the horse is working consistently).The reason this is power and not energy is because it only measures the rate the horse is working, not the total output of the horse over the whole day."
- Jalibut
The Shutter
"You can't turn off the shutter sound on mobile phones in Japan. The reason for this is because up skirt photography is common and to reduce it they decided to add sound to make it easier to spot the pervert."
"It used to be true on all Samsung phones. That and turning the volume up past halfway for more than a few minutes, would cause a voice to warn about hearing loss, and it would turn back down."
Facts of the Leader
"There has only been one US President arrested while in office, and it was Grant on the charge of speeding and reckless driving in his horse & buggy."
"Since we're spouting presidential facts:"
"If you flip a penny and call heads, you're technically right on either side it lands."
"There's a tiny Lincoln in the memorial on the back. 'Heads'."
In Code
code GIFGiphy"I recently discovered that the word Snafu is actually a military acronym for "situation normal, all f**ked up". I thought it was just a word."
I gotta write all that down. And now I have to start watching "The Simpsons." Which I stopped watching decades ago. We're all a bunch of encyclopedias just roaming around. Tell me more...
Spray Off
Meme Reaction GIF by Salon LineGiphy"If a group of penguins feel threatened, they put the women and children in the middle and form a huge circle around them with the males facing inwards, and they spray their crap out to fend off predators."
The Higher Pitch
"You hate the sound of your recorded voice because it's missing the low frequency you're used to hearing. When you talk, you hear your voice as it goes to the air and back to you ear. It also goes through your skull to your ear, and this bone conduction mechanism transmits the low frequencies better than air does."
"Your recorded voice only has the air transmitted sound. That causes the dissonance between what you think your voice sounds like, and what it really does. It's also why your voice will always be higher pitch than you think."
Sad Facts
"Omaha Nebraska was fire bombed by Japan during WW2. No casualties and residents weren't aware until the next morning."
"Japan launched 9000 balloons with fire bombs attached into the wind. They hit 26 states as well as Canada and Mexico. Nobody was hurt except in Oregon, where an unexploded bomb killed a woman and five children. The whole incident was covered up so that it wouldn't scare the public during the war."
When Mating...
"The cicada mating call is made by males chirping really loudly, which we all know. But you didn't know that the females' positive response is made by clapping her wings together, which sounds almost exactly like snapping your fingers."
"So if there's a tree of horny cicadas in your backyard that won't shut the hell up, walk over to it and start snapping your fingers to catfish them into being quiet and trying to find the dtf female. If you're lucky one might catch on and land on your arm!"
The Fall
Killer Whales Ocean GIF by TJ FullerGiphy"When a whale dies, it falls to the bottom of the ocean. This phenomenon is called a whale fall and an entire small ecosystem can thrive on the carcass for a few years!"
That whale fall is very dramatic. How did we not hear about it sooner? Some facts I could def do without. But I feel one step closer to Jeopardy. You?
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