Random interesting facts

[queenzelda]

I love Vivian too, she's my favorite even still. 

In the 90's DiC version of Sailor Moon, the English version has Zoisite as a female, when she's really a he in the Japanese version.

[Eremurus]

• Gravity travels at the speed of light.
  
• A Roman Emperor once declared war on Poseidon, and basically won since he encountered no resistance. His troops took shells and coral from the sea as their prize.
  
• All the information on the internet (videos, music, e-mails, etc.) weighs 0.2 millionths of an ounce.
  
• Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke held a worldwide record for fastest beer drinking.
  
• The largest international organization (in terms of numbers of countries it has as members) is FIFA.
  
  
  
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Bumping as we're steadily approaching the 12th hour of inactivity.
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• Until the nineteenth century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia.
  
• Most difficult tongue twister: The sixth sick Sheik's sixth sheep's sick.
  
• The King of Hearts is the only king in a standard deck of cards without a moustache.
  
• There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
  
• Woodpeckers peck an average of 20 times per second.
  

[Eremurus]

• Armadillos get leprosy.
  
•  The loudest burp by a human was 104.9 decibels, about as loud as an airplane during take-off.
  
• Fat cannot be converted to muscle.
  
• A polar bear has black skin. Its fur is actually made of transparent bristles; it appears white due to reflected sunlight.
  
• The average office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet.
  

[Detective Osprey]

• Despite looking completely different, grebes and flamingos are closely related and put into a group called Mirandornithes.
  
• Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird
  
• Colombia has the most species of birds at 1826, Peru is close at 1804, while Brazil has 1753. (source)
  

[Eremurus]

• The tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, is on planet Mars.
  
• Taking aspirin during a heart attack can save your life!
  
• Heroin, the drug, was originally used as cough medicine. It was discovered by Bayer pharmaceutical company.
  
• It is physically impossible for a pig on flat ground to look up at the sky.
  
• The killer whale is a type of dolphin, not whale.
  

[Eremurus]

Bumping. 

• The tentacles of the giant Arctic jellyfish can reach 120 feet (36.6 meters) in length.
  
• The deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet (10,916 meters) deep and occurs in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. At that depth the pressure is 18,000 pounds (9172 kilograms) per square inch.
  
• The only letters not appearing on the Periodic Table are the letters “J” and "Q."
  
• A pigeon's feathers weigh more than its bones. 
  
• One-fourth of the world's population lives on less than $200 a year. 
  

[JHG]

A watermelon can be split by a dull kukri.

[Detective Osprey]

If you spin a ball, it flies.

I mean, it really flies. It's thanks to the Magnus effect, which occurs when the air on the front side of a spinning object is going the same direction as its spin, which means it gets dragged along with the object and deflected back.
Meanwhile, the air on the other side of the ball is moving in the opposite direction, so the air flow separates.
Watch Veritasium explain it better than we ever could:


Source

[JHG]

The zombies in modern fantasy are actually more faithful to the concept of ghouls.

[Eremurus]

• A scorpion can be killed by its own venom.
  
• Woodpeckers have to peck at their trees exactly the right way or they shatter their beaks and die.
  
• The colour 'Alice Blue' is named after Theodore Roosevelt's daughter.
  
• Every town and city in the original Pokemon games were named after colours.
  
• The Hooloovoo, a fictional race in the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' series, is described as a sentient shade of blue.
  
• The fastest badminton smash ever recorded was by Fu Haifeng at 206 mph.
  
• In New York City, it is illegal to own a whale as a pet.