1Giraffes
Giraffes have a natural blood pressure of about 280/180 and have a complex series of mechanisms in their circulatory system to prevent brain hemorrhage as their heads rapidly change elevation, such as when standing up from taking a drink.
2. In 1896, the coroner who oversaw the death of the first person (Bridget Driscoll) by automobile stated in court "I hope that this never happens again." It's estimated that over 7 million automobile deaths have happened since then.
3. The 2011 Earthquake in Japan moved so much mass towards the Earth's center that every day since then has been 0.0000018 seconds shorter.
4. During one particular surgery, surgeons were able to drain all the blood from a patient in order to remove a clot from his artery and keep him alive for 20 minutes by reducing his temperature to 20 degrees Celsius.
5. Dysthanasia is the opposite of Euthanasia and happens when a person is kept alive artificially despite being terminally ill without regard to their quality of life.
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6Crowds
There are companies who openly provide clients with hired actors to pose as fans, paparazzi, security guards, and professional paid protesters.
7. A pedestrian scramble is a type of traffic signal movement that stops all vehicular traffic, allowing pedestrians to cross an intersection in every direction, including diagonally, at the same time. Research has shown that it can reduce pedestrian casualties by 38%.
8. Splenda, the common household sweetener, was first discovered in 1976 when a scientist at a British college accidentally misheard directions. He tasted a substance instead of testing it, and from then on the sweet taste of Splenda was discovered.
9. Singapore was forcibly expelled from Malaysia becoming an independent country against its wish.
10. 97% of French Cognac is exported to the USA, where the majority of consumers are African-American. World War 2 soldiers stationed in France returned to America with a taste for it and by the 50s, Cognac companies marketed it directly to the Black middle and upper classes through Jet and Ebony magazines.
11Tank man
The camera film for the famous "Tank man of Tiananmen square" photo was hidden in a toilet while Chinese police searched the photographer's hotel room.
12. The first line in the first feature-length film (The Jazz Singer) with sound was, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet."
13. Male otters will sometimes hold pups for ransom to force their mothers to give up some of their food.
14. Former MLB player Larry Walker was obsessed with the number 3. He set his alarm for 33 minutes past the hour, took practice swings in multiples of 3, wore the number 3, married on November 3 at 3:33 pm, and once bought 33 tickets for disadvantaged kids to sit in section 333 of the ballpark.
15. When The Simpsons portrayed Mr. Burns as a Casino owner slowly losing his mind, they did not just include random "crazy" behaviors. They were all based off a real person, business magnate Howard Hughes.
16Jeff Pescetto
The theme songs to DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck, all have the same lead singer named Jeff Pescetto.
17. Over a dozen restaurants in Time Square, New York were sued for adding gratuity to everyone's bill including parties that didn’t have 8 or more guest. Applebees, Red Lobster, and Olive Garden are a few of the places that were sued.
18. If you've ever worked for the CIA you are forbidden from ever working for the Peace Corps. There's only a 10-year ban if you worked for any of the other U.S. intelligence departments.
19. Petting a dog can lower your blood pressure.
20. An author named Ken Ilgunas lived in a van for two years while obtaining his graduate degree at Duke to avoid debt. This is also known as “vandwelling”. His advice for “vandwellers” is don’t drink any liquid before going to bed, come to terms with celibacy, look normal, ensure stealth, and bring essentials.
21Box jellyfish
The box jellyfish has 24 eyes, two of which are capable of seeing color, and four parallel information processing areas that act in the competition. This makes it one of the few creatures to have a 360-degree view of its environment.
22. A species of wasp is named Ampulex dementor after the Dementors in Harry Potter. This name was chosen to reflect the fact that the wasp uses a toxin to neutralize the neural behavior of cockroaches and make them docile as if their souls had been sucked out.
23. In 1997, the FDA rules governing pharmaceutical advertising changed, allowing companies to name their drug and what it's for, while only naming the most significant potential side effects. Nielsen estimates there's an average of 80 drug ads every hour on American television, up from 3 in 1996.
24. The sky in the famous painting "The Scream" is red probably because of the worldwide effects of Krakatoa's eruption in 1883, which launched particles in the air that changed the sky color for about 5 months.
25. The Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea is 330 meters (1,080 feet) tall and was intended to be world's tallest hotel but these days it is the tallest unoccupied building in the world.
