16 Incredible "Did You Know" Facts That Will Suprise You

     

  16 Incredible "Did You Know" Facts That Will Suprise You

By DARAMOLA
OLAOLUWA JOSHUA  APRIL 21, 2020

1. Did you know chewing gym is banished in Singapore?

Along with having laws against spitting and urinating anywhere but in a toilet (which you're then legally obligated to flush if it's a public washroom), Singapore has also banned chewing gum in an effort to keep the city clean and orderly. The ban was established in 1992. In 2004, exceptions were made for therapeutic, dental, or nicotine gums. 

2. Did you know the 1939 novel Gadsby is the longest book ever published that doesn't contain the letter 'e'?

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Back in 1939, American author Ernest Vincent Wright published Gadsby, a 50,000-word novel that doesn't use the letter 'e' once. What's more, it's not the only novel that ditched the letter. Author Georges Perec also wrote the French-language book La Disparition without the letter 'e' in 1969. That's even more astounding when you consider that the letter 'e' is the most commonly used letter in the English (and French!) language. 

3. Did you know Japan is suffering from a ninja shortage?

If you ever dreamed of being a ninja, now might be the time to make it a reality. The Japanese city of Iga, which has a rich history of martial arts masters and claims to be the birthplace of the ninja, is suffering from a ninja shortage, despite the fact that they're willing to pay salaries as high as $85,000 for the performative ninjas willing to take on the job of staffing their annual ninja festival.

4. Did you know the longest place name in the world is  85 letters long?

Wikimedia Commons/Eyreland

Unfortunately, this is one of the did you know facts you probably can't repeat to your friends—and that's because it's nearly impossible to pronounce. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is in New Zealand and is 85 letters long. And when it comes to other super long place names, it's followed by Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales, Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg in the U.S.,  Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein in South Africa, and Azpilicuetagaraycosaroyarenberecolarre in Spain.

5. Did you know Shakespeare invented more than 1,700 words?

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Shakespeare wrote some of the most beloved and revered pieces of literature the world has ever known, but in order to craft his plays and poems, he sometimes resorted to making up his own words. In fact, the Bard is said to have come up with more than 1,700 words including moonbeam, laughable, eyeball, bump, puking, champion, bedroom, excitement, and zany. 

6. Did you know Einstein's brain was stolen when he died?

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When Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein passed away on April 18, 1955, he left behind specific instructions when it came to the disposal of his body, according to one National Geographic investigation. Einstein didn't want his corpse to be worshiped or his brain to be studied, so he instructed those who were responsible for his remains to "cremate them, and scatter the ashes secretly in order to discourage idolaters."

However, Thomas Harvey, the pathologist on call when Einstein died at New Jersey's Princeton Hospital, didn't quite follow those instructions. Instead, he stole Einstein's brain. From there, things got even weirder. When Einstein's family found out, his son apparently didn't object to the theft and Harvey was able to keep the brain in two jars in his basement before moving it to "a cider box stashed under a beer cooler."

7. Did you know Antarctica is covered in a sheet of ice that's 7,000 feet thick?

For reference, that's about 19 football fields. The U.S. Antarctic Program also notes that if the ice sheet ever suddenly melted, it would raise the sea level worldwide an estimated 200 feet and submerge much of the Gulf and Atlantic coastal areas of the U.S.

8. Did you know "arachibutyrophobia" is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth?

It's pretty common to be afraid of heights and scared of spiders, but if you have arachibutyrophobia, you're among the smaller group of people that suffer from a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of their mouths. This phobia is often connected to a fear of choking or a fear of sticky textures, but it can also be its own isolated fear.

9. Did you know crowds at one Louisiana State University football game once cheered so loudly that it registered as an earthquake on a local seismograph?

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The game, which took place between LSU and Auburn University, took place in front of a crowd of 79,431 fans at LSU's Tiger Stadium. The crowd's reaction to the game's final pass registered as an earthquake by a seismograph located around 1,000 feet from the stadium. A seismologist noticed the reading the next day and the game went down in LSU history as the "Earthquake Game."

10. Did you know scientists once gave mice superhero-like night vision using nanoparticles?

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Fictional Marvel characters aren't the only beings with superhero-like powers. A few lucky mice were given the ability to see in perfectly in the dark when scientists utilized nanoparticles that convert infrared light to visible light. The same method could be used to give humans the same night-vision superpower sometime in the future. We'll just have to wait and see.

11. Did you know a lifeboat drill was canceled the morning of the Titanic tragedy?

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Other than the fact that it hit an iceberg and sank, a lot went wrong during the Titanic tragedy. But one of the most jaw-dropping facts about the incident is that, according to passenger Arthur Godfrey Peuchen, who later recalled what had happened during his testimony at congressional hearings in Washington, a routine lifeboat drill was supposed to take place the morning of the disaster, but the crew never assembled and the drill didn't take place. 

12. Did you know cheesemakers are studying if music can change the taste of cheese?

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Beat Wampfler, a Swiss cheesemaker, plays songs from bands like Led Zeppelin and A Tribe Called Quest during his cheese-producing process and, with the help of students from the University of the Arts in Bern, he's studying to see if and how music can change the flavor of his Emmental cheese. Wampfler told AFP, "I am convinced that humidity, temperature, or nutrients are not the only things that influence taste… Sounds, ultrasounds or music can also have physical effects." 

13. Did you know "strengths" Is the Longest Word in the English Language With One Vowel

According to the Guinness World Records, with nine letters and eight of them being consonants, "strengths" is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel. Which, on reflection, makes it a really weird looking word.

14. Did you know it would cost $18.3 million to make a replica Darth Vader suit?

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There's no doubt that Darth Vader's getup is pretty snazzy in Star Wars, but according to Time, it's probably out of your budget. That's because it would cost $18.3 million to make a real-life replica of the suit that features a voice modifier, breathing apparatus, prosthetic limbs, and an augmented-reality filter.

15. Did you know three U.S. presidents—Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter—have won Grammys?

Jimmy Carter won three Grammy Awards in the Best Spoken Word Album category for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis in 2007, A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety in 2016, and finally Faith: A Journey For All in 2019.

In 2004, Bill Clinton won Best Spoken Word Album for My Life, just a year after he earned the Best Spoken Word Album for Children thanks to Prokofiev: Peter And The Wolf/Beintus: Wolf Tracks.

Barack Obama has won two Grammys, including Best Spoken Word Album in 2006 for the Dreams from My Father audiobook and another in 2008 when he took home the Best Spoken Word Album Grammy for the audiobook version of The Audacity of Hope.

16. Did you know there's a toilet museum?

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The Sulabh International Museum Of Toilets in New Delhi, India features a rare collection of objects "detailing the historic evolution of toilets" from 2500 BC to right up until today. Learn about the toilet systems of ancient societies, the elaborately decorated toilets of 18th and 19th century Europe, and even a toilet from Austria that's shaped like a lion so that you can feel like you're riding the wild beast while doing your business. 

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