What is it with the human brain and its propensity to remember the useless and shun the actually useful info? Is it because weird facts are seemingly that much more interesting than something related to your work? Or is it because brains are their own sentient being and like to make fun of us sometimes? Who knows, but we bet you’ll definitely remember some of these weird facts we’ve gathered here after you’re done reading them!
Some of these pieces of info can absolutely be categorized as useless facts. You really don’t need to know how fast ketchup squirts out of a bottle or that there’s a place on the Earth that hasn’t had any rain in 400 years. Yet, although totally random and seemingly worthless facts, they somehow find a place in your memory, only to be stuck there forever. And, of course, remembered in the most awkward situations. Maybe that is the real charm of these random facts.
Anyhoo, it seems to us that it is interesting facts o’clock already, isn’t it? If your clock is on the same spot as ours, you should probably head down and read the cool facts! After you are done with them, show these funny weird facts some love by upvoting the most useless ones to the top of this list. And lastly, share this article with your friends!
#1
The tea bag was an accidental invention. A New York tea merchant sent samples of tea to his customers in small silken bags. Some recipients mistakenly placed the silken bags directly into a teapot instead of emptying out the contents.
Image source: divinitea.com, pasja1000
#2
Crying makes you feel better. It releases oxytocin and endorphins, which can help ease both physical and emotional pain.
Image source: Asmir Gračanin, Lauren M. Bylsma and Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets, Karolina Grabowska
#3
There’s a company based in Florida that turns dead bodies into an ocean reef. The permanent memorials placed on the ocean floor create new marine habitats for fish and other forms of sea life.
Image source: eternalreefs.com, Francesco Ungaro
#4
McDonald’s introduced drive-through service due to the military, because some soldiers were not permitted to get out of their cars off-post.
Image source: wikipedia.org, andreas160578
#5
The King owns all unclaimed swans in England and Wales.
Image source: rspb.org.uk, Yevgen Buzuk
#6
Alpine bumble-bees can fly higher than Mount Everest.
Image source: Michael E. Dillon and Robert Dudley, kristina001
#7
In 2006 a man in Australia tried to sell New Zealand on eBay. The auction jumped to $3,000 before eBay pulled the plug on the auction.
Image source: smh.com.au, veryinformed
#8
Roller coasters were invented to distract Americans from Satan’s temptations.
Image source: smithsonianmag.com, josepons28
#9
British military tanks are equipped to make tea.
Image source: wikipedia.org, rehiw
#10
Stubbs was a cat that served as mayor of an Alaskan town for 20 years, until his death.
Image source: wikipedia.org, Jenni Konrad CC BY-SA 2.0
#11
Blood donors in Sweden receive a text when their blood is used. The initiative was meant to emphasize donors’ importance and, presumably, encourage them to come back and give more.
Image source: everplans.com, Nguyễn Hiệp
#12
A woman with two uteruses gave birth to twins less than a month after having a baby.
Image source: bbc.com, MART PRODUCTION
#13
A full-size human could swim through a blue whale’s arteries.
Image source: whalefacts.org, Abigail Lynn
#14
The children of two pairs of identical twins are legally cousins, but genetically more similar to siblings.
Image source: today.com, Peggychoucair
#15
There is a town called Calama that once went without a single drop of rain for 400 years.
Image source: cntraveler.com, Luis Andrés Villalón Vega
#16
Michelangelo wrote a poem about how much he hated painting the Sistine Chapel.
Image source: slate.com, markus53
#17
The five colors on the Olympic flag were carefully selected. They were selected blue, yellow, black, green, and red, because at least one of those five colors occurred in each of the participating nations’ flags.
Image source: nmsu.edu, EarthTrip
#18
There is a garden in England filled exclusively with around 100 toxic, intoxicating, and narcotic plants.
Image source: alnwickgarden.com, suesun
#19
Usain Bolt has scoliosis. It curved his spine to the right and made his right leg half an inch shorter than his left.
Image source: scolicare.com
#20
Shakesphere’s grave does not bear his name, merely this warning rhyme: “Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.”
Image source: reuters.com, Ellie Burgin
#21
A “moonbow” is a rainbow that happens at night. It is produced by moonlight rather than direct sunlight.
Image source: wikipedia.org, Andrew Sterling
#22
A pineapple plant can only produce one pineapple a year. Then it dies. But before it dies it also produces offspring.
Image source: gardeningknowhow.com, Erik_Karits
#23
Ashes of man who designed Pringles packaging is now buried in one of the cans.
Image source: theguardian.com, O’NEIL GONZALES
#24
Humans did not come from monkeys. But we do share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees. It lived between 8 and 6 million years ago.
Image source: humanorigins.si.edu, KMBurke
#25
A Canadian woman who lost her wedding ring found it 13 years later on a carrot in her garden. Also, the same thing happened to a Swedish woman, but she found her ring 16 years after losing it.
Image source: bbc.com, bbc.com
#26
Sunglasses were originally designed for Chinese judges to hide their facial expressions in court.
Image source: glasseshistory.com, lalesh aldarwish
#27
The Russian shooting team was 12 days late to the 1908 Olympics because they were still using an old calendar.
#28
Squirrels are behind most power outages in the U.S.
Image source: entergynewsroom.com
#29
Lightning strikes the earth 100 times each second. Each bolt contains up to one billion volts of electricity.
Image source: nationalgeographic.com, eyeonicimages
#30
The longest recorded tennis match lasted for 11 hours and 5 minutes. It was contested over three days between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at 2010 Wimbledon.
Image source: olympics.com, Pexels
#31
All international astronauts (the ones going to the International Space Station) must be able to speak Russian.
Image source: space.com, lucasbeckphotography
#32
Your heart beats about 100,000 times per day, and sends over 2,000 gallons of blood throughout your body daily.
Image source: prnewswire.com, Kenny Eliason
#33
Recycling glass jars saves energy. It takes 40% more energy to make glass from scratch compared to recycling it.
Image source: truthpaste.co.uk, Nordseher
#34
39.4% of world’s plants are threatened with extinction.
#35
The world’s largest waterfall is underwater. It lies beneath the Denmark Strait, which separates Iceland and Greenland.
Image source: oceanservice.noaa.gov
#36
Clouds hold a lot of weight. A 1 cubic kilometer cloud weighs about 1.1 million pounds (about 551 tons).
Image source: usgs.gov, Pixabay
#37
A lottery winning combination was once foretold in a fortune cookie. A record 110 players were claiming second prizes of either $100,000 or $500,000, and they selected the winning combination because it had been the set of “lucky numbers” given to them in their fortune cookies.
Image source: nytimes.com, PabloJimeno
#38
Shadows are darker on the Moon because there is no air, no Rayleigh scattering. So shadows are very dark and, where sunlight hits, very bright.
Image source: universetoday.com, Ann H
#39
Most lipsticks contain fish scales. To be exact, the byproduct of fish scales, called pearl essence. It’s the stuff that makes one’s lips shiny.
Image source: beautyanswered.com, pineapplesplash
#40
Driving to space would only take an hour. But you would have to drive in a straight line upwards into the atmosphere at a speed of 60 mph.
Image source: sciencefocus.com, juskteez
#41
The Apollo 11 crew pre-made autographs for insurance. They signed hundreds of postal covers before they left, on the presumption that they would become highly valuable in the event of their death.
Image source: wikipedia.org, signaturepro
#42
Spider webs were used as bandages in ancient Greece and Rome. They supposedly have natural antiseptic and anti-fungal properties, which can help keep wounds clean and prevent infection.
Image source: loredohands.com
#43
In the Philippines, McDonald’s serves spaghetti. Its called, obviously, McSpaghetti.
Image source: mcdonalds.com.ph
#44
Lobsters taste with their feet and chew with their stomachs.
Image source: isequalto.com, Roger Brown
#45
The world’s smallest wasp is smaller than an amoeba. At a mere 200 micrometers in length is one of the world’s smallest animals
Image source: science.org, Petr Ganaj
#46
A giant tortoise that was believed to be extinct was found in the Galapagos.
#47
You can sell almost anything on the internet nowadays, including specifically shaped cornflakes. A cornflake in the shape of Illinois was once sold on eBay for a total of $1,350.
Image source: nbcnews.com, Calum Lewis
#48
In 1916, four years before the 1920 Nineteenth Amendment guaranteed the right of women to vote, Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to the United States Congress. “I may be the first woman member of Congress,” Rankin observed in 1917. “But I won’t be the last.”
Image source: history.house.gov
#49
Despite its name, the strawberry isn’t a true berry. Neither is the raspberry or the blackberry. But the banana is a berry, scientifically speaking, as are eggplants, grapes and oranges.
Image source: livescience.com
#50
The moon is moving away from the Earth at the rate of 3.78cm (1.48in) per year, at about the same speed at which our fingernails grow.
Image source: bbc.com, PollyDot
#51
A couple of British inventors made a flying bicycle. It can travel at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour on the road and 25 miles per hour in the air, reaching altitudes of up to 4,000 feet.
Image source: xploreair.com, eta.co.uk
#52
Froot Loops loops are all the same flavor. It’s an orange-lemon-cherry-raspberry-apple-blueberry-lime flavor throughout. Same flavor, different colors.
Image source: kltv.com, Sascha Bosshard
#53
Supermarket apples in the US can be over a year old.
Image source: foodrenegade.com, Asad Nazir
#54
Most wasabi served in sushi restaurants is fake. When you grate real wasabi, the volatile compounds that give it its distinguished taste begin to break down within minutes. Wasabi is also considered difficult to grow and that makes it an expensive plant. The fake wasabi paste on the other hand is cheap and has a long expiration date.
Image source: makesushi.com
#55
NASA uses countdowns because of a sci-fi film. They got the idea from the 1929 German science fiction movie Frau im Mond (English: Woman in the Moon), directed by Fritz Lang.
Image source: atlasobscura.com
#56
Alfred Hitchcock was frightened of eggs. Especially the egg yolk.
Image source: businessinsider.in, Klaus Nielsen
#57
James Cameron sold the rights to “The Terminator” back in the ’80s for $1 — and it’s one of his biggest regrets.
Image source: businessinsider.com
#58
There is an annual baby crying festival held in Japan. Student sumo wrestlers hold the babies in their arms. When the babies begin to cry, the student sumos raise the babies higher in the air, which is believed to strengthen the blessing endowed on each crying child.
Image source: wikipedia.org
#59
Grooves in the road on Route 66 play “America the Beautiful” as you drive on the side.
Image source: popularmechanics.com
#60
The shortest war in history lasted between 38 and 45 minutes. It was the Anglo-Zanzibar War fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate on 27 August 1896.
Image source: wikipedia.org, ha11ok
#61
Ketchup was once used as medicine. It was even made into an extract of tomato pills.
Image source: ripleys.com
#62
A meteor exploded over Earth in 2018 with the force of 10 times the energy released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb and everyone missed it.
Image source: bbc.com
#63
A 155-year-old Victorian mousetrap successfully caught a mouse in 2016.
Image source: bbc.com
#64
Elvis Presley’s manager sold “I Hate Elvis” badges.
Image source: vintagenewsdaily.com, hbieser
#65
Bubble wrap was originally intended to be 3D wallpaper.
Image source: thepackagingcompany.us
#66
Flamingos bend their legs at the ankle, not the knee.
Image source: theweek.com, Alejandro Contreras
#67
The Empire State Building has its own ZIP code. It’s 10118.
Image source: esbnyc.com
#68
The inventor of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee, regrets the URL setup. The “//” after “https:” in a web address didn’t serve any real purpose.
Image source: theprodigious.com
#69
Fancy riding on bikes is illegal in Illinois. “No rider of a bicycle shall remove both hands from the handlebars, or feet from the pedals, or practice any acrobatic or fancy riding on any street.”
Image source: bikeradar.com
#70
The egg came before the chicken.
Image source: science.org.au
#71
The average American spends $1,097 on coffee each year.
Image source: renolon.com
#72
Coast redwoods are the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 115.9 m (380.1 ft) in height (without the roots) and up to 8.9 m (29 ft) in diameter.
Image source: wikipedia.org
#73
Umbrellas were once only used by women. Roman women are believed to be the ones who came up with the notion of oiling their parasols so they would be waterproof.
Image source: forsythnews.com
#74
There are bubblegum pink color lakes in Australia. Red and purple microbes give the lake its hue.
Image source: newscientist.com
#75
Guinness drinkers with moustaches are unknowingly wasting almost 163,000 pints every year by trapping it in their facial hair.
Image source: theguardian.com
#76
Paper bags may be worse for the environment than plastic ones. Manufacturing a paper bag takes about four times as much energy as it takes to produce a plastic bag, plus the chemicals and fertilizers used in producing paper bags create additional harm to the environment.
Image source: nationalgeographic.org
#77
It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose. It is because when you hum, you are actually exhaling, so if both your mouth and your nose is closed, the air can’t escape.
Image source: diamondwellness.com
#78
Opossums don’t actually play dead. Instead, they involuntarily enter a catatonic state.
Image source: ripleys.com
#79
The Goodyear Blimp (one of a fleet of airships) is the official bird of Redondo Beach.
Image source: wikipedia.org
#80
Peas are one of the oldest vegetables.
Image source: encyclopedia.com
#81
The skin of the potato can have up to 12 times more antioxidants than its core. Also, the more color in the potato, the more antioxidants it contains.
Image source: webmd.com
#82
Ice pops were invented by an 11-year-old by accident. He had mixed some sugary soda powder with water and left it out overnight. It was a cold night, and the mixture froze.
Image source: npr.org
#83
Octopuses have three hearts. One heart circulates blood around the body, while the other two pump it past the gills, to pick up oxygen.
Image source: sciencefocus.com
#84
The U.S. treasury once made $100,000 bills. Printed in 1934, it was not intended for general use, but instead was used as an accounting device between branches of the Federal Reserve. It was illegal for a private individual to own this banknote.
Image source: americanhistory.si.edu
#85
The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona. But the city rejected Gustave Eiffel’s plans, and he was forced to repitch the project elsewhere. As we all know, Eiffel found a home for his idea in Paris.
Image source: theculturetrip.com
#86
According to Forbes, Michael Jordan already made an estimated $1.3 billion from his Nike deal. It is the richest athlete endorsement deal ever.
Image source: forbes.com
#87
The creator of Comic Sans font has only used it once himself. He “used it to complain about bad service by a company”.
Image source: cbc.ca
#88
Adolf Hitler was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1939.
Image source: nobelpeacecenter.org
#89
A flock of ravens is called an “unkindness”, because back in the 19th century, many people believed that these birds weren’t all that caring when it came to their young.
Image source: birdfact.com
#90
Being left-handed is a particular advantage in interactive sports where time pressures are particularly severe, such as table tennis and cricket.
Image source: Florian Loffing
#91
You can buy a toupee for your dog in Tokyo.
Image source: independent.co.uk
#92
Approximately 25% of the bones in the body are found in our feet.
Image source: sportsmedalabama.com
#93
San Francisco’s cable cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Image source: wikipedia.org
#94
China is the world’s largest silk producer. The country alone produces more than 60 % of world’s silk.
Image source: atlasbig.com
#95
Pigs do not sweat. But they are able to rid themselves of heat in other ways.
Image source: swine.extension.org
#96
Machine-spun cotton candy was invented in 1897 by a dentist.
Image source: wikipedia.org
#97
Ohio DUI offenders must drive with yellow license plates. If you fail to use the plates, you will face a $100 penalty and your restricted driving privileges will be revoked.
Image source: columbuscriminalattorney.com
#98
Researchers once turned a live cat into a telephone. In 1929 Professor Ernest Glen Wever and his research assistant Charles William Bray took an unconscious, but alive, cat and transformed it into a working telephone to test how sound is perceived by the auditory nerve.
Image source: princeton.edu
#99
A baseball has a lifespan. The average lifespan of a baseball in a major league game is seven pitches.
Image source: forbes.com
#100
Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
Image source: egypttoday.com
#101
Before toilet paper was invented, Americans used to use corn cobs, while Romans used a more inventive way of cleaning up.
Image source: cottonelle.com
#102
It is physically impossible for you to lick your elbow. Unless you are a physiological anomaly.
Image source: Simon Lane
#103
There is an annual Coffee Break Festival happening in Wisconsin.
Image source: stoughtonwi.com
#104
Dolphins sleep with one eye open. One side of their brain stays awake and the opposite eye stays open to watch for danger and rise to the surface to breathe. Meanwhile, the other half of brain sleeps and the opposite eye is closed.
Image source: livescience.com
#105
Louisiana’s lake is home to a rare pink bottlenose dolphin.
Image source: theguardian.com
#106
Some sea cucumbers fight with their guts (literally). But don’t worry, they grow them back in a couple of weeks.
Image source: lanecc.edu
#107
A jiffy is an actual unit of time. The term is often used to describe a very short but unspecified period of time, for example: “I’ll have it sorted out in a jiffy!”
Image source: wikipedia.org
#108
Babe Ruth out-homered every American league team. He homered off 35 different pitchers.
Image source: baseballhall.org
#109
Wine is made from grapes, but that does not necessarily make it vegetarian or vegan. Some winemaking methods make surprising use of animal-derived products.
Image source: winemag.com
#110
The largest padlock in the world was created by Russian students and teachers, and it weighs 415.5 kg (916 lb).
Image source: guinnessworldrecords.com
#111
About 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born with a detectable level of hearing loss in one or both ears.
Image source: nidcd.nih.gov
#112
Ketchup leaves the bottle at a measured speed. It exits the glass bottle at 0.028 miles per hour.
Image source: heinz.com.hk
#113
A person is unable to detect smells when they suffer from anosmia.
Image source: nidcd.nih.gov
#114
The name “bonobo” is thought to derive from a misspelling on a shipping crate from the town of Bolobo on the Congo River.
Image source: wikipedia.org
#115
A Costa Rican worker that makes baseballs earns $2,750 annually.
Image source: nytimes.com
#116
Antares is 700 times larger than our Sun, and around 60,000 times more luminous.
Image source: space.blog.gov.uk
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