PowerPoint PresentationKnow Overview There's a reason people say that truth is stranger than fiction. Between impressive inventions and natural oddities, the world can be a pretty incredible place. Just when you think you're too jaded and you know it all, people and things can surprise you in delightful ways. Wondering how long it would take to drive to space? Or where a quarter of the bones on your body are located? Or what you call a rainbow that happens at night? You'll find out all that and more when you read through these trivia tidbits from around the world. Flamingos bend their legs at the ankle, not the knee knees are closer to the body and are covered by feathers. This is just the first of many weird facts to blow our minds! Roller coasters were invented to distract Americans from sin In the 1880s, hosiery businessman LaMarcus Thompson hated that Americans were tempted by hedonistic places like saloons and brothels. So he set out to straighten up one of the most immoral places he could think of: Coney Island in New York. There, he built America’s first roller coaster to give New Yorkers some good, clean fun – away from seedier pastimes. In 1905, an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson left soda powder and water outside overnight with its wooden stirrer still in the cup. The mixture had frozen in the chilly nighttime weather, and so the Epsicle was born. He sold the treat around his neighbourhood and a nearby amusement park and even patented the recipe. Years later, he changed the name to Popsicle because that’s what his kids called their pop’s concoction. longer than dolphins can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes. Dolphins need to come up for air after about ten minutes. year old the way you eat. Those fresh apples aren’t all that fresh, per say. They’re often picked, covered in wax, hot-air dried, and sent into cold storage. After six to twelve months, they finally land on your grocery store shelves. It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose You just tested it, didn’t you? Normally, when you hum, the air is able to escape through your nose to create the sound, and of course, it can’t do that when you’re holding it shut. This is one of the weird facts you can test out for yourself. Go ahead, try it. Octopuses have three hearts whole systems, and two are dedicated just to the gills. wasabi actually milder than what you’ve been getting with your sushi. serves spaghetti tomato sauce and a piece of “McDo” fried chicken. intelligence help spread knowledge from the tip to the brain, and his “Dunsmen” followers wore them as a badge of honour. 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. 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. Before toilet paper was invented, Americans used to the Farmers Almanac, which was designed with a hole so it could hang in outhouses. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. according to botanists. True berries stem from one single-ovary flower and have two or more seeds. Strawberries don’t fit that bill, but bananas, kiwis and watermelon do. The world’s smallest wasp is smaller than an amoeba The Megaphragma mymaripenne wasp smaller than most amoebas, which are made of just one cell. “OK” most likely stands for fake words In the 1830s, people jokingly spelled abbreviations incorrectly. One of the most famous: “All correct” turned into “orl korrekt,” and then of course into OK. Historians think it stuck because Martin Van Buren – known as Old Kinderhook, after his hometown in New York – supporters called themselves the OK Club when he was campaigning for reelection. Researchers once turned a live cat into a telephone Charles Bray took out a cat’s skull and most of its brain to connect the animal to electricity. When they spoke into the cat’s ear, the sound could be heard through a phone receiver in another room. The twisted experiment paved the way for cochlear implant developments. smokers quit after the German word for peppermint (Pffefferminz). When they were introduced in 1927, they were round mints sold in tins, so you probably wouldn’t see a former chain smoker with a Mickey Mouse dispenser. The name "bonobo" resulted from a misspelling "Bonobo," the common name for apes, may sound like some sort of translation of a meaningful term, but in fact, it was the result of a typo. Researchers reputedly first found the animals in the town of Bolobo, Zaire, in the '20s, but the name of the place was misspelled "Bonobo" on the shipping crate in which the animal was placed, leading others to refer to the animal by the name, which stuck. There is an annual Coffee Break Festival For millions of people, the coffee break is a key but often under-appreciated part of each day. To stop and give the break its proper due, the town of Stoughton, Wisconsin, hosts an annual Coffee Break Festival. The gathering includes coffee tastings, "brew-offs," and bean-spitting contests. Why Stoughton? According to city officials, the coffee break was "born" in the city in the late 1800s, as women working at the local Gunderson Tobacco Warehouse began the ritual of pausing during the workday to brew up some coffee and have a chat. The fuller the fridge, the more energy-efficient it is An empty fridge not only makes it more difficult to decide what to snack on, it also wastes valuable energy. It works like this: the more empty space in the fridge, the more cold air is displaced by warm when you open the door, requiring the appliance to generate cool air to replace it. If the fridge is packed, less cool air escapes and less energy is required to replenish it. The writers at The Kitchn go so far as to advise fridge owners to fill empty bottles with water in order to displace the empty air. pretty much everyone living in rainy places, for centuries they were seen as something only to be used by women—associated with the fashionable parasols women would carry during nicer days to keep the sun from their skin. But in the mid-18th century, the barriers started to fall, with public figures like philanthropist Jonas Hanway carrying umbrellas during public events. Soon others took notice of the accessory's practicality and it wasn't long before men were using them as often as women. Sunglasses were originally designed for Chinese judges to hide their facial expressions in court effectively preventing bright sunlight from causing discomfort or damage to our eyes. Of course, they're also a fashion accessory. But sunglasses were originally made out of smoky quartz in 12th century China, where they were used by judges to mask their emotions when they were questioning witnesses. Cotton candy was invented cotton candy in 1897. It was first introduced at the 1904 World's Fair as "Fairy Floss." Then, another dentist, Josef Lascaux, reinvented the machine in 1921. He came up with the name "cotton candy," which replaced "fairy floss." appear. In fact, researchers have found that a single cloud weighs about 1.1 million pounds. How do they know? Well, that number is calculated by taking the water density of a cloud and multiplying it by its volume. Fortunately, the cloud can still "float" at that weight because the air below it is even heavier. Crying makes you feel happier They don't call it a "good cry" for nothing. Studies suggest that crying stimulates the production of endorphins, our body's natural painkiller, and feel-good hormones, like oxytocin. In short, crying more will ultimately lead to smiling more. Paper bags can be worse for the environment than plastic ones It's become a common notion that paper is always a better choice than plastic. In fact, bans on plastic bags are regularly being enacted. drawbacks. According to research, paper bag production emits 70 percent more pollution, uses four times as much energy, and takes more time to break down, when compared to plastic bags. Guess the best option is to carry reusable bags with you. Conclusion We could all use a little more knowledge—if just to impress the usuals at your local trivia night. From bizarre true stories to weird science to unbelievable tales from the annals of history, here’s a huge trove of weird facts that most people don’t know. Sources