1Haumea
There is an egg-shaped dwarf planet called Haumea in our Solar System and it even has two moons. Its shape is due to its incredibly fast rotation.
2. The "official" death of President Zachary Taylor was overconsumption of cherries and milk, but the cause of death has been the subject of conspiracy theories.
3. The first ally soldier to step onto the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion was Leonard Treherne "Max" Schroeder Jr. He made it out alive and was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. He died in 2009 at the age of 90.
4. Study done by the Royal Horticultural Society found that ivy is the most effective plant cover for cooling buildings and reducing humidity. They found that a building covered in ivy stayed 7.2°C cooler than non-covered buildings. The left structure also kept the walls dry, lowering humidity and protecting it from corrosion.
5. A "Chernobyl Necklace" is a horizontal scar at the base of the throat that’s the result of a surgery to remove thyroid cancer caused by fallout from a nuclear accident. It takes its name from the large number of people who suffered from thyroid cancer after the Chernobyl disaster.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Martin Lawrence
In 1999, Martin Lawrence collapsed from heat exhaustion while jogging in heavy clothing and a plastic suit in preparation for Big Momma's House. He recovered in the hospital after entering a three-day near-fatal coma due to a body temperature of 107 °F, his breathing assisted by a ventilator.
7. In 1667, the Dutch traded the island of New Amsterdam in the USA to the British for the island of Banda Run in Indonesia to gain control over the nutmeg spice trade. The British then renamed New Amsterdam as New York.
8. Dolphins actually have names for one another, using a unique whistle to distinguish between different members within their pod.
9. Leonardo Davinci was famed for buying caged birds at markets and setting them free.
10. Since 2004 the residents of La California, a town in Italy, have held farcical ballots for the United States presidential elections. Although votes cast by La California residents do not count, they still send the result of each election to the nearby US consulate in Florence.
11Walking Seeds
Certain species of wild oats can walk. They have a pair of 'legs' called awns which flex and make the seeds crawl around, to find an ideal place to plant themselves.
12. Major League Baseball pitcher Ed Porray is the only player in league history to not be born in a country. He was born on a fishing boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on December 5th, 1888. His birth certificate lists "At sea, on the Atlantic Ocean" as his birthplace.
13. In 1989, scientists at IBM succeeded in arranging 35 individual xenon atoms on a substrate of chilled crystal of nickel to spell out the initials "IBM". It was the first time atoms had been precisely positioned on a flat surface.
14. A woman named Carrie Nation fought against widespread alcohol consumption in the USA before the prohibition, by attacking saloons with a hatchet.
15. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. was so hot it turned one victim’s brain into glass.
16Reinheitsgebot Law
In 1516, Germany passed the Reinheitsgebot Law stating that only water, barley, and hops were to be used to make beer. This was due to sanitation reasons and because unscrupulous brewers sometimes added hallucinogenic plants to their brew.
17. The first Nascar race on the pavement was won by a margin of 9 laps because Johnny Mantz elected to put more durable truck tires on his car instead of racing tires.
18. The reason why Wine Coolers dropped in popularity in the USA after the 80s was because, in 1991, the US excise tax on wine was raised from $0.17 per gallon to $1.07, making it uneconomical for Wine Cooler makers to produce at a palatable price for buyers.
19. John F. Kennedy suffered from chronic back pain. He underwent 4 back operations, including a discectomy, instrumentation, and fusion, and 2 minor surgeries, all of which failed to improve his pain.
20. Using recycled glass to make new glass requires 40% less energy than making it from all new materials. It saves energy because crushed glass melts at a lower temp than the raw materials. Glass is sometimes recycled into "Glassphalt" or is used as a landfill covering over waste materials.
21Onion Caramelization
Onions have sucrose, a natural sugar, trapped in their cells. The longer you cook an onion the more sucrose is released and the heat converts the sucrose into glucose and fructose which are sweeter sugars. This process is called caramelization and it creates very sweet-tasting onions.
22. Measured by its longevity and popularity, Cessna 172 is the most successful aircraft in history. First produced in 1956, more than 44,000 were made as of 2015. It also holds the world record for the longest manned non-stop flight of 65 days, which was set way back in 1959.
23. In ancient Rome, actors had a very low social status and were seen as little better than prostitutes.
24. Socrates wrote nothing. All that is known about him has been inferred from accounts by members of his circle, primarily Plato and Xenophon, as well as by Plato's student Aristotle, who acquired his knowledge of Socrates through his teacher.
25. The average Mexican is genetically 50% indigenous with evidence of native ancestry being significantly higher on the X chromosome.
