1Gin Pennant
A gin pennant (sometimes referred to as a "gin flag or drinking pennant") is a maritime flag. When flown aboard ship, it indicates an open invitation to other ships' officers to come aboard for drinks.
2. The number of abdominal muscles you have is genetic and varies from person to person. The number of abs you have depends on the number of rings of abdominal tissue that someone is born with, and some people can actually have 10-pack abs.
3. In 2010, when sales were down because of the financial crisis of 2008, Gap decided to redesign their logo, which was 20 years old and would cost about $100 million. The amount of public backlash for the new logo was so great that Gap took the decision to revert back to their old 1990 logo after less than one week.
4. National Geographic editor Bill Garrett was fired from the magazine in 1990 because he wanted to publish more controversial features that raised production costs. Stories about AIDS and the Exxon Valdez oil spill were published under his direction.
5. The USS Indianapolis delivered the enriched uranium and parts for the "Little Boy" atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, but no one onboard knew the contents of this cargo. During the whole trip, a radiologist monitored the uranium in secret to make sure that the sailors wouldn't receive any radiation.
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6Graham Chapman
While filming "Monty Python & The Holy Grail" (1975), Graham Chapman developed delirium tremens (DTs) from the lack of alcohol on set. DTs can be fatal even with treatment and typically only affect habitual drinkers who consume 0.5L of liquor or 7-8 pints of beer daily for 10 years or more.
7. In 1931, during the Great Depression, there were so many news accounts of starving citizens in the USA that colonial-era Cameroon in west Africa raised money for Americans as aid. They collected $3.77, which would be about $70 today.
8. Even though smoking isn't allowed on commercial planes, the lavatories must have ashtrays on the doors so that people who break the rules can get rid of their cigarettes safely.
9. Gargoyles were used in buildings to scare churchgoers, attract pagans, and keep water from damaging stone walls. The use of gargoyles in architecture dates back to ancient Egypt.
10. Robert De Niro paid a dentist $5,000 to have his teeth ground down to look more menacing for Cape Fear. He later paid $20,000 to have his teeth restored once production was complete.
11Grape Juice Vs Grape Soda
A cup of grape juice contains 33% more sugar than a cup of grape soda.
12. Dogs intentionally try to make humans laugh. They understand that laughter means play, and play is positive.
13. Harold Urey was given the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for finding deuterium (also called "heavy hydrogen"), which is a part of "heavy water." However, he didn't go to the award ceremony in Stockholm because he wanted to be there when his daughter was born.
14. Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem "Jabberwocky" requires great creativity on the part of translators, as they need to invent nonsense words that evoke similar feelings to each made-up word in the English original.
15. Because passenger airflights aren't covered by the ADA, wheelchairs can't be brought onboard. They are regularly returned damaged to their users, who depend on staff for everything from boarding to using the bathroom to departing.
16USS Texas Disaster
Following the D-Day invasion, the USS Texas intentionally flooded part of itself to allow the ship's guns to fire further inland.
17. Babies have about 30,000 taste buds, while adults have only about 10,000.
18. Muhammad Ali insulted his British opponent, Henry Cooper, before their 1963 bout. Cooper proceeded to give Ali a punishing fight, knocking him down at one point. Afterwards, Ali conceded that Cooper had given him the fight of his life.
19. Grapefruits were invented in 1693. A man named Captain Shaddock shipped some pomelo seeds to the West Indies, and they were planted next to some orange trees. After some cross-pollination, the grapefruit was born.
20. The most powerful commercial radio station ever was WLW (700 kHz AM), which, during certain times in the 1930s, broadcast at 500 kW of radiated power. At night, it reached half the world, and people who lived near the transmitter could hear it through their pots, pans, and mattresses. A nearby hotel's neon sign never went dark due to the power of the transmitter, and farmers reported hearing the radio through their barbed-wire fences.
21Cow with Twins
When a cow has opposite-sex twins, the female twin is usually born intersex and infertile. This happens because the twins' blood supplies are linked, which exposes the female to male sex hormones.
22. The pajamas that we wear today actually have a story behind them. During the World War I air raids in England, people began donning pyjamas rather than nightgowns so that they would be ready to sprint outside and still look presentable.
23. At the height of her fame, child actress Shirley Temple had to fight rumors that she was really a 30-year-old with dwarfism. This was because she was very physically coordinated and was never seen missing baby teeth. The rumors were so prevalent in Europe that the Vatican sent a priest to investigate.
24. American cars in the 1980s were legally prohibited from showing speeds above 85 mph on the speedometer.
25. The state of Texas keeps a database of over 500 executed inmates' last words going back to the 1980s.
