I love trivia. Don't you?
Here's a fact that will do your head in. Did you know that Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza? That really messes with your perception of time, doesn't it?
But that's not the only weird or interesting fact the internet has up its sleeve, as we discovered after Redditor baconburner123 asked the online community, “What is the weirdest fact you know?"
“During the interim...”
The Chicago Cubs didn't win the World Series between 1908 and 2016.
During the interim, Arizona became a state, got a baseball team, and that baseball team won the World Series.
“For the U.K. folk...”
For the UK folk out there: Jaffa Cakes are legally cakes. It was ruled that they are cakes as biscuits go soft when stale, and cakes go hard. Jaffa Cakes go hard when stale, so are legally cakes and so enjoy a lower rate of tax.
“The American National Anthem...”
The American National Anthem is a poem about a battle in the revolutionary war sung to the tune of a British drinking song.
“Jumping spiders...”
Jumping spiders can lift 170 times their own weight, while tarantulas can only lift 16 times their weight.
“They only have...”
Spiders have hydraulic legs. They only have flexor muscles, and thus rely on pumping blood through their leg to extend it. This is also why the death curl is a thing.
“This name was used...”
Velociraptors (Velociraptor Mongoliensis) were actually about half a meter tall and two meters long. What most people think of when they're hear "Velociraptor" is actually the Deinonychus Antirrhopus, which was once incorrectly called Velociraptor Antirrhopus. This name was used in Jurassic Park because the author thought Velociraptor ("Speedy Thief") sounded cooler than Deinonychus ("Terrible Claw").
“The two from the Jurassic...”
5/7 of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are from the Cretaceous, not the Jurassic. The two from the Jurassic were the Brachiosaurus and Dilophosaurus.
“The flattest state...”
The flattest state in the United States is Florida. It's highest point is under 500ft above sea level.
"Alaska..."
Alaska is the most northern, western, AND eastern state in America. The Aleutian Islands just barely cross over the latitude line into the eastern hemisphere.
"Vikings..."
Vikings used the bones of slain animals when smithing new weapons believing this would enchant the weapon with the animals spirit. This actually made the weapons stronger because the carbon in the bones coupled with the iron made a primitive version of steel.
"This gives China..."
Mainland China has a population in excess of one billion people... while less than one million are foreigners. This gives China the lowest score in the world for migrant percentage of total population - less than North Korea.
"There is a species of mushroom..."
There is a species of mushroom that grows in the northern hemisphere that can get people high, but some other chemicals in the mushroom also make you very ill. However, if a reindeer eats the mushrooms, the illness producing toxins are filtered out... but the hallucinogen survives in the reindeer urine! Long story short, some cultures historically got high off of reindeer pee.
"If it were brighter..."
If it were brighter, the Andromeda Galaxy would appear six times bigger than a full moon.
"The inside of the cheek..."
The inside of the cheek and the inside of a vagina are made of the same tissue.
"From when it was discovered..."
From when it was discovered to when it was declassified as a planet, Pluto did not make a full orbit around the sun.
"Kale..."
Kale, collard greens, Chinese broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, brussels sprouts and broccoli are all the same plant; brassica oleracea. They are just different cultivars.
"The smell that people associate..."
Natural gas has no smell. The smell that people associate with natural gas (mercaptan) is added to the gas lines to allow people to detect it before an accident occurs.
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