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Fun facts thread

Give us your fun facts
I think we all enjoy a random fact don't we? Sometimes I find myself browsing the internet or going about my day and I'll read a fact that just makes my jaw drop.So, what random fun facts do you have? I'll start off:
- bananas share about 60% of the same DNA as humans
- the two M letters in M&Ms stand for "Mars" and "Murrie"
- the longest time between two twins being born is 87 days
Looking forward to hearing yours

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Replies
Scope
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That makes me quite glad I don't drive, so interesting.
@Adrian_Scope
How strange, if I ever live there I'll get two, wouldn't want the one to get lonely.
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Pregnant women can legally urinate anywhere they want including in a police officer’s hat
Oliver Cromwell made it illegal to eat mince pies on Christmas Day and the law has still not been taken down
Thanks for those, they're great
I wouldn't mind mince pies being illegal, I don't like them at all
I have another - some fruit flies are genetically resistant to getting drunk. (I wouldn't mind having a few of those genes).
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Stay safe guys!
Scope
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Assuming it's a conventional petrol car it needs 14.7 times as much air than fuel. Let's say the average 2.0 petrol engine does 35mpg while cruising at 60mph. That's 7.8 litres of petrol over the 60 miles. Multiplied by 14.7 = 114 litres of air. Air is only 20% oxygen, so 20% of 114 = 23 litres of oxygen used for 60 miles at 60mph.
Now, what is really interesting, is that the average human breathes about 550 litres of oxygen per day...divided by 24 hours, that makes 23 litres per hour! So if you're driving your 2.0 petrol car at 60mph for 60 miles, it will take an hour to reach your destination and you will have used up the same amount of oxygen as the engine has! Now there's a fun fact!
And that's why I don't take selfies
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That 550 litres has already been adjusted to take that into account. We breathe out about 75% of the oxygen we inhale, only 'burning' around 25% of it...the inhale figure is roughly 2200 litres per day! That's around 11,000 litres of combined air!!
McDonald’s once made bubblegum-flavored broccoli
This interesting fact will have your taste buds crawling. Unsurprisingly, the attempt to get kids to eat healthier didn’t go over well with the child testers, who were “confused by the taste.”
Mmmm yumm!
Scope
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Scope
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Scope
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heart attacks are more likely to happen on a Monday
Bin Laden's and Hitler's death were both announced on a Monday
(sorry did someone say "fun"?)
Armadillo shells are bulletproof!
In fact, one Texas man was hospitalised when a bullet he shot at an armadillo ricocheted off the animal and hit him in the jaw. Apparently.
Another Swiss one to add to the list: I remember reading that every Swiss man in Switzerland has to own a firearm and bullets by law. I believe it is to do with the possibility of being called upon to form a militia. I heard they have more guns per head there than America but may be wrong.
Mind. blown.
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what about hair? I hear you ask, yes okay,
so the three things which never stop growing on a human are ears, nose and hair.
what about nails? I suspect I’ll hear you ask.
true, the four things which never stop growing on a human being are ears, nose, hair and nails. That’s it as far as I’m concerned. 😅
(What did the romans ever do for us?)
Kleenex tissues were originally intended for gas masks
There was a cotton shortage during World War I so Kimberly-Clark developed a thin, flat cotton substitute for the army to use as a filter in gas masks. The war ended before the material was perfected so the company redeveloped it to be smoother and softer, and called it Kleenex facial tissue instead.
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Blue whales eat half a million calories in one mouthful
Thats 470,000 calories which is over 240 times the energy the whale uses to scoop the krill into its mouth, but whose counting!
🐳
Same
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I've absolutely loved reading all these facts, there's some gems here.
The budgie with the largest vocabulary could speak 1,728 words.
That's more than me I think
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The man with the world’s deepest voice can make sounds humans can’t hear
The man, Tim Storms, can’t hear the note, which is eight octaves below the lowest G - but elephants can!
What is the coldest place on Earth?
It is a high ridge in Antarctica on the East Antarctic Plateau where temperatures in several hollows can dip below minus 133.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 92 degrees Celsius) on a clear winter night.
Certainly wouldn't want to go there on my holidays!
There are no bridges across the entire width of the Amazon river
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A few more I can think of, but may have gotten muddled in my mind, so check them before you use them in your essays...
- The watch company Rolex is majority-owned by a charitable trust. When the founder died he left a small percentage of his company to his family but the majority was put into a charitable trust. This means when you buy a Rolex (or Tudor) watch you are actually doing some good. However the company still sell watches as a private firm and not a charity which means unfortunately you cannot get tax relief to buy a Rolex!!!
- A bit dark this one, and it's said tongue in cheek - I'm not saying it is a good thing - it is just a fact that was on QI: Genghis Khan is possibly the single person to have done the most to slow down climate change out of any person who has ever existed. He is responsible for millions of deaths, but he did so several centuries ago, so those people have not reproduced through the generations and it means today the population is over a hundred million lower than it would have been if those people lived. People like certain WW2 leaders have not yet had the same long term impact as their actions were only committed a couple of generations ago.
Interesting fact, apparently WWE Legend The Undertaker is scared of Cucumbers!
Thanks for sharing both of them.
Snickers wasn't originally called Marathon, it was called Snickers, except in this country we didn't adopt that name until later and decided Marathon would be used here instead
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