101 Fun Facts You Never Knew
Guaranteed to Totally Blow Your Mind
When it comes to site picks, we’re kind of picky. Trying to find sites that will appeal to most of our readers is not as easy as you would think. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln… You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time… and he was a pretty intelligent man. If he lived today he might even say you can never please some of the people even some of the time. I wonder if he would have been a Facebooker – or a Tweeter –or even an Instagrampa?
I’m well off-point now, and I have no slick segues, so here goes.
Our dual site picks today will appeal to everyone who loves to learn new things, who has an inquisitive mind, or loves trivia. If you know everything like our politicians, then you might not care about our site picks this week. But if you, like me, yearn to learn new things, you’ll love these dual Cloudeight Site Picks!
Did you know any of the following?
Three presidents, all Founding Fathers—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe—died on July 4. Presidents Adams and Jefferson also died the same year, 1826; President Monroe died in 1831. Coincidence?
The tallest man ever recorded was American giant Robert Wadlow (1918–1940), who stood 8 feet 11 inches. Wadlow’s size was the result of abnormally enlarged pituitary gland
Experiments in universities have actually been carried out to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, both with machine and human lickers (because this is important scientific knowledge!). The results ranged from 252 to 411.
The oldest-known living land animal is a tortoise named Jonathan, who is 187 years old. He was born in 1832 and has lived on the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean since 1882.
All of an adult human’s blood vessels, if laid out end to end, would be about 100,000 miles, so they could encircle the earth four times.
The longest fingernails ever were over 28 feet in total. American Lee Redmond started growing them in 1979 and set the record in 2008. Sadly, she lost her nails in a car crash in 2009.
A mash-up of two words to make a new word (such as breakfast and lunch into brunch, or motel from motor and hotel) is called a portmanteau. In case you’re wondering, the word “portmanteau” itself is not a portmanteau; it’s a compound word that refers to a duel-sided suitcase.
The longest place name in the word, at 85 letters, is “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu,” New Zealand. Locals just call it Taumata Hill.
Visitors are not allowed to scatter loved ones’ ashes at Disney World or Disneyland. This is apparently a problem, particularly around the Haunted Mansion attraction.
OK. Enough samples. If you’re not curious to see more by now then I’ve failed. On the other hand, if you are curious then you’ll want to see all 101 Fun Facts. So, my friends, it’s time to set sail and visit our Site Pick “101 Fun Facts You Never Knew, Guaranteed to Totally Blow Your Mind”
Wait, there’s more!
125 Mind-Blowing Historic Facts & Trivia That Are Almost Too Weird to Be True
If you’re a history buff yearning to learn some amazing facts and weird historic facts and trivia, such as…
Alexander the Great was accidentally buried alive. Scientists believe Alexander suffered from a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barré Syndrome. They believe that when he died he was actually just paralyzed and mentally aware!
The world’s most successful pirate in history was a lady named Ching Shih. She was a prostitute in China until the Commander of the Red Flag Fleet bought and married her. But, her husband considered her his equal and she became an active pirate commander in the fleet.
Famous conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, was once attacked by a horde of bunnies! He had requested that a rabbit hunt be arranged for himself and his men. When the rabbits were released from their cages, the bunnies charged toward Bonaparte and his men in an unstoppable onslaught.
Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine. In 1834, it was sold as a cure for an upset stomach by an Ohio physician named John Cook. It wasn’t popularized as a condiment until the late 19th century!
Andrew Jackson had a pet parrot. And he taught his parrot, Polly, to curse like a sailor. There is even one legend that the parrot had to be taken out of Jackson’s funeral for its proclivity for profanity!
During the Victorian period, it was normal to photograph loved ones after they died. People would dress their newly-deceased relatives in their best clothing, and then put them in lifelike poses and photograph them. They did this to preserve one last image of their dead loved one!
Our second site pick today will be of great interest to you. The above excerpts from our second site pick should be enough to whet your appetite for more bizarre historic facts and trivia. If your appetite is “whetted”, visit our second site pick, which is aptly called “125 Mind-Blowing Historic Facts & Trivia That Are Almost Too Weird to Be True” now.
Not bad, eh? Two for the price of none!