1Birth of Grapefruit
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.
2. 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.
3. Babies have about 30,000 taste buds, while adults have only about 10,000.
4. Following the D-Day invasion, the USS Texas intentionally flooded part of itself to allow the ship's guns to fire further inland.
5. 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.
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6Jabberwocky Poem
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.
7. 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.
8. Dogs intentionally try to make humans laugh. They understand that laughter means play, and play is positive.
9. A cup of grape juice contains 33% more sugar than a cup of grape soda.
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.
11Gargoyles
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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16Bill Garrett
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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. It costs about $100,000 a day to operate a blimp. Of the 25 blimps existing around the world, only half are in use. They are primarily used for advertising and aerial photography.
21Ligers
Ligers (the offspring of a male lion and female tiger) are the largest big cats because, unlike lionesses, female tigers do not possess growth-limiting genes to counter the growth-maximizing genes of male lions.
22. To finish writing "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" within an impossible deadline of 6 months, Victor Hugo locked his clothes away, making him unable to go outside and procrastinate, which forced him to do nothing but finish writing his book.
23. Depleted uranium is used to create projectiles capable of puncturing tank shells and armor. It is done not only because it is extremely dense but also because, upon impact, a depleted uranium shell will continually sharpen itself and retain its shape.
24. Badge engineering is the practice of marketing a vehicle under two or more brand names. A good example of this is the 2010 Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, and Mazda Tribute, which are the same model sold under different brands.
25. Willie O'Ree, the first black man to play in the NHL, was blind in one eye. He kept it a secret for his entire 21-year career after a ricocheting puck hit him in the face when he was 18 years old.
