Knowledge is power and facts are important. Even the most random pieces of knowledge can land you on " Jeopardy" or "Who Wants to be a Millionaire!"
Statistics is a well of interesting facts. Knowing the numerical facts and odds about so much of life can go a long way.
Redditor u/bab3sia3d3l wanted everyone to share facts and knowledge we could all learn a few things from, by asking:
What is the most interesting statistic or fact you know?
I'm afraid to learn more about humanity. Also, I don't want to read about end of life stuff. Statistically, I want to believe there is a way to live forever.
Shark Week Candy GIF by TrolliPick a Hand
"My favorite statistic, as a left-handed person myself, is that southpaws die, on average, 13 years younger than right-handed people. I had always heard this attributed to the fact that power tools are generally designed for right-handed users, making many of them awkward and dangerous for left-handed people. But the real explanation is far more interesting."
"See, until the middle of the 20th century, being left-handed was heavily stigmatized, and often viewed as a sign of the devil. Teachers would not allow their left-handed students to actually use their dominant hand. This actually proved to be somewhat effective."
"So as left-handedness became more accepted, lefty children were no longer forced to use their right hand, but older people who were naturally left-handed but forced to use their right hand continued to identify as right-handed."
"Because of this, the average age of self-described left-handed people was significantly lower than it would be if not for the previous generation being forced into right-handedness. And when the average age of a group of people is lower, the average age of death tends to follow suit."
Woof
"One fact that I always love sharing is that ravens and wolves will work together to find food, the ravens act as scouts for the wolf pack and when they find an animal, dead or alive, they will use a special call to alert the pack of the direction of the food, really interesting stuff."
Angles...
"The bond angle between the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in a water molecule is exactly 104.5 degrees. This peculiar angle allows water to be less dense when solid than when liquid, which is why ice floats. If ice didn't float, it's unlikely that life would be possible, at least in the sense that we know it."
Give me a Calendar
Dog Gif GIFGiphy"People born in the springtime have a 15% higher chance of having anorexia, people born in October have a 10% less likely chance of any other month to have one."
As a New Yorker... who are y'all biting? And prefer my fabulous fall birthday.
Logistics
Civil War Trailer GIFGiphy"At the battle of Gettysburg, the South came in from the north and the North came in from the south."
"games played"
"If the entire world participated in a single elimination rock-paper-scissor tournament it would be over in 33 rounds."
"I think "rounds" does not imply "games played" but "people facing off and deciding on a winner based on a set of rules, which might require more than one game". The classic is "best of three; ties are repeated". That is more complex, especially as the probability of each choice is not 1/3 for each player to chose one of the possible hands (this game has been examined). but it still does not change the number of "rounds" where two players face off."
People Share The Most Selfless Thing They've Ever Secretly Done | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
A simple gesture from a good samaritan can go a long way. It could even inspire a chain of people paying it forward. But there's a certain rush in knowing yo...Meow
"Polydactyl cats, or cats with more than the typical number of toes, were once considered lucky by sailors and were highly desired to have on ships. When the sailors made port, the cats did too. Because of this the New England coastline has a higher number of polydactyl feral cats than anywhere else in the world."
- Diredoe
"Poison King"
"Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, was one of the Roman Republic's most terrifying enemies after Hannibal Barca. He performing a genocide of Roman colonists in modern-day western Turkey in an event called the Asiatic Vespers. This led to conflict with the Romans in the Mithridatic Wars (yeah, he had a series of wars named after himself), but ultimately lost to the Roman war machine after 20 years of conflict."
"Also was known as the "Poison King", due to the fact he routinely poisoned himself to build up immunity because he was so paranoid about being poisoned by any one of his numerous courtly rivals. Honestly, this whole man's life was just wild. I recommend reading the biography in my source below! Source: https://www.livius.org/articles/person/mithridates/"
Average
The One Where Estelle Dies Episode 15 GIF by FriendsGiphy"The average person believes they are smarter than the average person."
- SmackEh
MEGA/Micro
"Scientist had to come up with a unit of measure to tell people how bad Nuclear death would be. So they came up with MEGADEATH."
The inverse of a megadeath is a micromort, which is a statistical tool used to describe a person's chance of dying in a given period."
"On a more light hearted note, when they had to come up with a unit for every day radiation exposure that are actually not that bad they invented the banana equivalent."
Colors for All...
"The Olympic flag's colors are always red, black, blue, green, and yellow rings on a field of white. This is because at least one of those colors appears on the flag of every nation on the planet."
"Every time I see this I want a country to change their flag to just purple or orange."
"And Green was required only because of Libya until Ghaddafi was removed. It can technically now be removed."
- tnick771
Shut up Wayne!
hockey GIFGiphy"The highest scoring pair of brothers in NHL history are Wayne and Brent Gretzky, with 2,861 points combined. Wayne scored 2,857 of these points. Brent scored 4. Wayne brings this up every year at Christmas."
Fiction
"My friend in high school had this novel that was nothing but a bunch of interesting statistics. She read through the entire thing (had to be 100+ pages) and on one of the last pages it said "70% of the statistics in this book are made up." She was so mad."
- Alethi
Make a Wish
"In a room of 23 people there is a 50% chance two of them have the same birthday. In a room of 72 it's almost certain."
"I have first hand experience of this! I was on a bus coming back from Colonial Williamsburg to my hotel and somehow we got on the topic of birthdays and it turned out me and someone else on the bus had the same birthday!"
flash of light...
"Certain types of lighthouses are identified by the timing between each flash of light. You could have two lighthouses on the same coast, one blinks every 5s, the other every 7s. Sailors can then identify which lighthouse is which, what coast they're on, and what hazard each lighthouse is warning of. This is used in combination with a kinda lighthouse log book, which notes the timings of each lighthouse for a certain area."
"This was more commonly used before advances in location/gps technology, but it's still relevant today. I find the simple logic of this, given it's age, ingenious, and I tell as many people as I can, when I can. Along with a bunch of other useless info. Haha."
And Tea?
"When people are asked What they like in a perfect Cup of coffee, the top three words are bold dark aromatic. When people are given coffee options they pick warm creamy and sweet. People Often say one thing But actually mean another."
- Csj2454
"When I'm asked what I like in a perfect Cup of coffee, I usually say Whiskey."
A-HAAA!!!
Down With Love Omg GIFGiphy"Unlike most phobias, which cause blood pressure to spike, fear of blood makes it drop, hence the fainting."
minus the wrap...
"Saran Wrap can fix a corked bottle of wine- Ever opened a corked bottle of wine? Smells nasty, tastes nasty. If you can't return it, you can pour it into a decanter or pitcher and add a crumbled up piece of saran wrap in it. The TCA molecules that make thawing corked will bond to the saran wrap and then the wine will be drinkable (minus the wrap) after that. It will only ever get to about 80% of what it should taste like, but it's no longer gross."
Ah wisdom, what a gift. And what a burden.
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