OK, “extreme mind-blowing” is a bit dramatic. But you’ll probably enjoy these extreme mind-blowing facts and likely consider mentioning them to your friends.
Did you know that the smallest penguin on the planet is only 16 inches tall? Or that Mammoths roamed the Earth when the Great Pyramids were being constructed?
Satiate your curiosity for the world around you with these fascinating, hilarious, and downright interesting facts:
We live in times that are replete with information. Whether it comes from news agencies, radio, social media, books or even our peers, we’re always up for it.
And yet, we find that we don’t know a lot about the interesting things that the world has to offer.
It’s quite possible that you don’t have any more room left for information of any kind. But we suggest you make some room because these 21 interesting facts are worth knowing.
Mind-blowing facts … octopuses have three hearts
Squids do too. One pumps blood to their whole systems, and two are dedicated just to the gills.
Learn the truth behind 12 science trivia questions people always get wrong.
Mind-blowing facts … there was a third Apple founder
Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake for $800 in 1976. WOW!
People used to say “prunes” instead of “cheese” when having their pictures taken
In the 1840s, a big—dare we say, cheesy—grin was seen as childish, so one London photographer told people to say “prunes” to keep their mouths taut.
And that look predated today’s “fish face” selfie by, oh, about 180 years. Incidentally, the first selfie was invented in 1839 by this guy.
According to Amazon, the most highlighted Kindle books are the Bible, the Steve Jobs biography, and The Hunger Games.
Mind-blowing facts … Michelangelo wrote a poem about how much he hated painting the Sistine Chapel
One translation of the poem he sent to his friend begins:
I’ve already grown a goiter from this torture,
hunched up here like a cat in Lombardy
(or anywhere else where the stagnant water’s poison).
Doesn’t sound like he was too thrilled with his task. These are the secret messages you can find in the world’s most famous paintings.
Wilford Brimley was Howard Hughes’s bodyguard.
Dunce caps used to be signs of intelligence
Thirteenth-century philosopher John Duns Scotus believed that a pointed cap would help spread knowledge from the tip to the brain, and his “Dunsmen” followers wore them as a badge of honor.
In the 1500s, though, his ideas became less popular, and the meaning of the Duns cap was turned on its head, becoming something of a joke. Here are 14 more words you didn’t know were inspired by real-life people.
Adolf Hitler was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize
Don’t worry, the Swedish politician who sent the letter of nomination in 1939meant it ironically and withdrew his nomination.
In an even more ironic twist, Hitler had banned Germans from accepting the awards four years before his name was thrown in the ring.
Mind-blowing facts … in the Philippines, McDonald’s serves spaghetti
The pasta comes with a beef tomato sauce and a piece of “McDo” fried chicken.
Mind-blowing facts … Froot Loops loops are all the same flavor
No point in eating around the purple ones—all Froot Loops taste like, um, froot. Other than the Wild Berry Froot Loops, of course.
Google’s founders were willing to sell to Excite for under $1 million in 1999—but Excite turned them down.
Mind-blowing facts … lobsters taste with their feet
Tiny bristles inside a lobster’s little pincers are their equivalent to human taste buds.
Meanwhile, lobsters’ teeth are in one of their three stomachs.
The inventor of the Internet regrets the URL setup
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the main software of the World Wide Web, admitted he regrets one thing: Adding “//” after “https:” in a web address.
It was standard for programming but didn’t serve any real purpose, and when looking back in 2009, he said leaving it out would have saved time and space.
We guess we can forgive him. Don’t miss these 11 keyboard shortcuts that make web browsing ten times easier.
3 Musketeers candy bars got their name because they used to come with three flavors
The original 3 Musketeers bars of the 1930s came in three-packs, with a different nougat flavor in each: vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry.
World War II rations made that triple threat expensive, so the company cut down to one. These vintage candy ads will make your sweet tooth long for the past.
The Empire State Building has its ZIP code
It’s home to 10118. And finally, we’ve found out what zip code stands for.
The British royal family is named after Windsor
You’d think Windsor Castle was named after the House of Windsor, but it’s the other way around.
The royal family changed its name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1917, so it would sound less German and chose Windsor because they had ties with the English town.
The shortest war in history lasted 38 minutes
When the sultan of British-protected Zanzibar died, and a new one took over without British approval in 1896, the Brits were not happy.
Tension escalated when Sultan Khalid bin Barghash refused to step down, but the British warships spent less than 40 minutes bombarding the palace before Khalid fled, marking the (very quick) end of the Anglo-Zanzibar War.
In a 2008 survey, 58% of British teens thought Sherlock Holmes was a real guy, while 20% thought Winston Churchill was not.
Here is one that I enjoyed.
A teenager whose father passed away when he was just six had pulled out an old Xbox game that he and his dad used to play together, only to discover a part of his father lived on in the game, as a ghost car. Strange and intriguing, isn’t it?
This is less strange than that sentence sounds. In racing video games, a ghost car is a representation of a previous player’s inputs and actions as they drove the track previously.
In many of this type of game, the fastest laps are stored as ghost cars and then used by players to help them find the best line around a track. Or used as a competitor when there is only one player (as in a time-shifted way).
Here’s what the son said about the experience in the comments section of a YouTube video about gaming and spirituality:
Well, when I was 4, my dad bought a trusty Xbox. You know, the first, ruggedly, blocky one from 2001. We had tons and tons and tons of fun playing all kinds of games together – until he died when I was just 6.
I couldn’t touch that console for ten years.
But once I did, I noticed something.
We used to play a racing game, Rally Sports Challenge. Pretty awesome for the time it came.
And once I started meddling around… I found a GHOST.
Literally.
You know, when a time race happens, that the fastest lap so far gets recorded as a ghost driver? Yep, you guessed it – his ghost still rolls around the track today.
And so I played and played, and played until I was almost able to beat the ghost. Until one day I got ahead of it, I surpassed it, and…
I stopped right in front of the finish line, to ensure I wouldn’t delete it.
Bliss.
So, in a surprisingly realistic way, this young man was able to play this rally game with his dad once again.
As a father and grandfather myself now, I can imagine how powerful that feeling must be, that tantalizing mirage of closeness, a record of his father’s actions for those few moments, now preserved.
It’s not much different than finding a handwritten letter — both would be direct results of thoughts and actions at a particular moment — just a little more active and fun.
There’s an awesome beauty within this little story — the dad’s still gone, the kid still has that loss, but a little remembrance like this ghost car is probably a bittersweet and valuable reminder of his father’s love and the good times long gone.
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More leadership material from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Build an Effective Team by Being a Talent Hound
Success Enablers of Highly Creative Leaders
Secrets to Becoming a Remarkably Mindful Leader
Leadership Characteristics That Improve Influence |
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.