The 'I didnt know that' Thread

[MUSC4EVER]

So this thread will be full of interesting and random facts that maybe you didn't know, ill start off..


Bananas have more trade regulations than AK-47s.

Albert Einstein's last words were spoken in German to a nurse who didn't speak German and are lost forever.

Mozart kept a fart diary.

By 2019 there will be more Lego figures than people.

There are 177,147 different ways to tie a tie.

If you earn £20,250 a year you are in the richest one per cent.

If everyone washed their hands properly with soap, it would save 600,000 lives a year.

More people in the World recognise the McDonalds symbol than the Christian cross.

Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton lookalike competition to a drag artist.



Lets keep this going with more facts and trivia

 

[Downhill Dino]

 

[Slash]

Today I learned @Katiegan was a fan of Slashtrucks.

Aka 70-80s Dodges/Chevys/Fords

 

[Liquid]

I didn't know that we could post facts without references.

Also: www.snopes.com

 

[W3H5]

Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton lookalike competition to a drag artist.

Charley Chaplin once came second in a Charley Chaplin look-a-like contest, according to many sources.
I have a feeling this one is an urban legend.

 

[cmbeal317]

- Nine American crewmen survived when their war plane crashed during World War 2. Eight of them were captured by the Japanese and eaten. Only one survived because he was picked up by a passing submarine. That survivor is George H.W. Bush. Source: Flyboys: A True Story of Courage.

- The notion of gremlins was first conceptualized during WW2, when mechanical failures in aircraft were jokingly blamed on the small monsters. Source: http://tinyurl.com/phgphu4

- During WW2, American pilot, Alan Magee fell 20,000 feet without a parachute before smashing through the glass roof of a train station. He survived and lived to 82. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Magee

And here is a sampling from a very large list - http://ncwwii.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/facts.htm

- A German World War II submarine was sunk due to a malfunction of the toliet.

- Amongst the methods of transport used by the 2nd Polish Corps fighting the battle of Monte Cassino was a brown bear called Wojtek who helped to move boxes of ammunition.

- During the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Hawaiian DC-3 airliner, coming in to land, was hit by a Japanese tracer bullet and set on fire. A minute later, the plane was hit by another bullet which hit the valve of a fire extinguisher, thus putting out the fire!

 

[Omnis]

TIL TIL isn't enough.

 

[polysmut]

There are 177,147 different ways to tie a tie.

Any idea why this is a finite number?
I would have thought it was infinite?
Maybe there is a definition of what counts as a legitimate "way"?
I'm not trying to spoil your fact, I'm just interested in finding things out.
Hence, I like the idea for the thread.

I'm reading GTPlanet pretty much in my sleep right now, otherwise I'd think of a fact to share. That's a fact, I think.

 

[W3H5]

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_1218_23-amazing-people-who-were-screwed-out-history-books_p23/

Seem appropriate here. Slideshows btw.

 

[maxi25]

Apparently sex can relieve up to six hours of arthritis. Read that on one of those calender factoids.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

I have been thinking about starting a thread like this for a while and was inspired by some facts put in the paper in the week from the new QI book (out now!), which is where I got my facts from on the OP, I also follow an account on Twiiter called What The **** Facts, which post about five or six facts daily

@Liquid I was not aware of whether or not we had to put the references up either...

 

[JMoney]

Jeremy Mayfield, former NASCAR driver who happens to also be from Kentucky, was suspended for violating NASCAR's drug policy for using meth in 2009. In 2011, five dogs owned by Mayfield attacked a mail carrier, and were later euthanized. After receiving a tip that Mayfield and four accomplices had been staging burglaries to fund Mayfield's drug addiction, police searched his home and found $100,000 worth of stolen goods, including audiovisual equipment stolen from the former NASCAR team, Red Bull Racing's headquarters in Mooresville, North Carolina.

And I still have a model this guy's car, which I bought when I was a fan in 2006.

 

[polysmut]

The City of London is the least populated city in England & the 3rd least populated in the UK.

This won't be news to many UK residents but may be a surprise to others around the world.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

[W3H5]

A few facts I learnt about the Coty if London from a tour guide as a kid:

The City of London is one square mile and contains no roads. All passageways are named street, lane or something similar but none are roads.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Some facts from me, got these from @WhatTheFFacts twitter feed, they tweeted these today....

The Saudi King has/had 21 wives and 33 sons and daughters.

42% of all games are women and women over 18 years of age are one of the industry's fastest growing demographics.

Due to his cameos in the Marvel movies, Stan Lee is the 4th highest grossing actor of all time.

Leo Fender, founder of the Fender Guitar Company, couldn't play guitar and had no desire to learn.

Kevin Hart starred in a TV show where he played a rich LA kid who was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in west Philadelphia.

George Washington was worth $525 million in today's money.

Guardians of the Galaxy's Chris Pratt was discovered waiting tables in Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant in Hawaii by Tommy Chong's daughter.

 

[daan]

There is only one lake in the Lake District.

While there are loads of bodies of water, they are all called mere, water or tarn, apart from Bassenthwaite Lake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_in_the_Lake_District

 

[ImaRobot]

Today I learned @Katiegan was a fan of Slashtrucks.

Aka 70-80s Dodges/Chevys/Fords

Today I learned @Slash made up his own name for trucks.

 

[Slash]

Today I learned @Slash made up his own name for trucks.

You guys gave me that name

 

[SomePlayaDude]

Pineapples are called '(a)nanas' in about every other major language aside from English.

 

[R5]

There is no such think as "a nickname". The original phrasing was "An ickname". The same is true of "an orange." These were "A norange"

In olden times, capital letters were used to highlight words in a sentence. Nowadays we have bold and italic type faces which, although they were possible, were massively expensive. Hence why capitals were used instead.

Stanley Kubrick was one of the few people who knew Arthur C. Clarke (who wrote the Space Odyssey series whilst Kubrick worked on the movies) was gay.

Conspiracists believe props from 2001 a space odyssey were used to fake the moon landings.

 

[wvmgmidget]

Jingle Bells is a drinking song

There's a university in Canada that offers a class on Batman

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Nancy Sinatra had a #1 hit about LSD in 1966....but her record label didn't know it.

The Happy Birthday son is copyrighted.

J.R.R Tolkien wrote 13 pages of a sequel to Lord of the Rings called The New Shadow, but abandoned it.

The University of Victoria offers a course on Beyoncé.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

More facts from me

The original script to Back to the Future was rejected by every major studio 40 times.

Netflix employees get unlimited vacation days.

The school from Silent Hill was based off the school from Kindergarten Cop.

Einstein designed and patented a blouse.

Human Beings are the only primates whose numbers are not in decline.

There are fridges full of free beer scattered throughout Europe that will only open for Canadians.

 

[wvmgmidget]

More facts from me

The original script to Back to the Future was rejected by every major studio 40 times.

Netflix employees get unlimited vacation days.

The school from Silent Hill was based off the school from Kindergarten Cop.

Einstein designed and patented a blouse.

Human Beings are the only primates whose numbers are not in decline.

There are fridges full of free beer scattered throughout Europe that will only open for Canadians.

I take it you (and probably everyone else on this thread) follow what the f facts on twitter? Anyways back on topic here; Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian

 

[polysmut]

Richard Nixon won $6,000 in his first 2 months of playing poker while in the US Navy in World War II.
He used the money to fund his 1st campaign for congress, which he won.

 

[R5]

The court case of Apple vs Samsung was rejected after Samsung argued the iPad was a copy of the design of tablets from 2001 a space odyssey.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

The acid in your stomach is so powerful it can dissolve a razor blade.

The 'Alphabet Song', 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and 'Baa Baa Black Sheep have the exact same melody.

 

[SVX]

Found out somethings regarding Nissan's 1991 victory at the 24hr of Daytona event:

-The Daytona beach nearly did cost Nissan the victory. Sand had clogged up the radiator and the engine was overheating. Washing off the sand did not do it. Nissan had so much of a lead time that someone could be dispatched to the store, detergent was bought, and the sand was removed.

-When the checkered flag came down, Nissan No.23 was nine laps ahead of the Jaguar XJR-12, it had done a record 762 laps at an average speed of nearly 113 miles per hour and over 2,700 miles. Never again in the history of the Rolex 24 had a winning team completed as many laps.

Source.

 

[R5]

The greatest British GP racer you didn't even know about

 

[Lucas]

Jimmy Thorpe was an association footballer who played for Sunderland. His death, attributed to injuries he suffered during a match against Chelsea 4 days earlier, prompted the creation of the rule where footballers cannot kick the ball out of a goalkeeper's hands once he is in possession of the ball.