1Rage Against the Machine
In the United Kingdom in 2009, the #1 Christmas song was "Killing in the name of" by Rage Against the Machine.
2. Chili peppers are spicy as a strategy to ensure that birds (which can't taste capsaicin) will spread their seeds far and wide and mammals will avoid eating them.
3. Popcorn became popular during the Great Depression because it was fairly inexpensive.
4. The quote claiming that Neil Armstrong doesn't exercise because he believes that every human has a finite number of heartbeats is false. Neil did not subscribe to its thesis and only quoted the claim to disagree with it.
5. Rob McElhenney of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" originally wanted the entire cast to get fat for a single season. When nobody else agreed, McElhenney decided to do it on his own - gaining 1/3 of his body weight and then losing it again just for a season.
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6Nice, Nice, Very Nice
The 70s progressive rockers Ambrosia took the lyrics from the 1976 track, “Nice, Nice, Very Nice,” from a Kurt Vonnegut novel. When Vonnegut heard the song on the radio, he wrote the band a letter that said, “Music is the only art that’s really worth a damn. I envy you guys.”
7. China built a massive solar farm shaped like a giant panda.
8. The town of Wellsville, New York was named after a man named Gardiner Wells, who was, according to local history, the one person who didn't show up for the meeting when the residents were naming the town.
9. Flamingos can live in lakes that are so toxic that the water would strip away the human skin.
10. Siamese cats get their color points due to a temperature sensitive gene. The colder the body part the darker the fur will become in that area.
11Digitigrade
Most animals are digitigrade, i.e., they walk on their digits or toes. Birds, cats, dogs etc are examples and what most people think are knees are actually their ankles. Humans are plantigrades, i.e., they walk on the flats of their feet.
12. A week after the Kent State massacre in 1970, a Gallup poll revealed nearly 60% placed total blame on the students, while only 10% blamed the guardsmen.
13. Dinner was once the main meal of the day, served around one or two in the afternoon, while 'supper' was a much lighter meal, or even just a snack, eaten around sundown.
14. The Horn shark lays conical shaped eggs with a spiral flange running around the outside, which enables the female to wedge it into a crevice, making it difficult for predators to access.
15. The bug known as the walking stick doesn't need to mate. Unfertilized eggs will turn into exact copies/clones of the mother.
16Royalty
You are likely descended from royalty, but that doesn’t make you special. Everyone of European descent alive today can claim ancestry from medieval kings and queens based on statistical analysis of their ancestry.
17. The neutron star 'PSR J1748-2446ad' rotates on its axis 716 times per second and is the fastest known spinning neutron star. At its equator, it spins at 24% of the speed of light.
18. The Omaha zoo had a prairie dog exhibit and when they got out, the zoo lets them roam free. Omaha actually has a perfect natural climate for the prairie dogs and they interact with visitors, often taking their food.
19. In The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger wore a prosthetic covering his lower lip, which often became unglued while filming, which is how his famous mouth-licking tick was born.
20. For the 1999 Disney film "Tarzan", English actor Phil Collins sang all his own songs for the Spanish, French, Italian, and German translations of the soundtrack.
21Elton John
In 1968, Elton John tried to commit suicide because of relationship problems with a woman. He later ran into lyricist Bernie Taupin, who tried to make John more comfortable with his sexuality. The situation inspired Taupin and John to create the song, 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight.'
22. Wallace and Gromit saved Wensleydale Cheese. The company was on the brink of closing down, before a chance mention in an animated short. Sales increased shortly afterward, saving the company.
23. Dunkin Donuts used to have a handle on them to dunk the donuts.
24. Magic Johnson retired before the 1991-1992 NBA Season after announcing he was HIV positive, but fans voted him into the 1992 All-Star Game anyway, for which he returned and won Most Valuable Player.
25. On July 7, 2017, a flight (Air Canada Flight 759) landing in San Francisco descended to an altitude of 25 meters and as close as 9 meters laterally to four planes waiting below before aborting. 1,000 passengers were at imminent risk and with only seconds to spare, narrowly avoided "the greatest aviation disaster in history."
