Fun Facts That’ll Actually Make Your Life Better

[01dragonslayer]

The Battle of Hastings didn’t take place in Hastings.​

The famous Battle of Hastings actually took place 7 miles from Hastings in a town that is today known as Battle. Fitting, right?

 

[01dragonslayer]

While trying to find a cure for AIDS, the Mayo Clinic made glow in the dark cats.​

This is due to their use a specific protein that was fluorescent green.

They used this protein to find out if their tests worked: if the animal glowed, the outcome was successful.

 

[01dragonslayer]

A swarm of 20,000 bees followed a car for two days because their queen was stuck inside.​

When the car parked, the thousands of bees swarmed onto the car and had to be taken off by beekeepers.

The next day, the bees were back on the car because the queen was still inside and the swarm had to be taken off again.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Eating carrots can turn your skin orange.​

Called carotenemia, this can happen if you eat three large carrots or more every day for a long period of time.

This is because the carrots give the body too much beta-carotene, which causes the changing color of your skin.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Bob Dylan’s real name is Robert Zimmerman.​

Yep, his full name is Robert Allen Zimmerman – he started going by Bob Dylan early on in his career for no real reason. Simply because he wanted to!

 

[01dragonslayer]

A crocodile can’t poke its tongue out.​

Because their tongues are attached to the roof of their mouths, crocodiles cannot stick their tongues out – although their very similar counterparts, alligators, can.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don’t drift away from each other.​

This is a method mostly used by a mother and her pup to prevent them from separating.

Other than holding hands, they may also wrap themselves in kelp to keep from drifting away!

 

[01dragonslayer]

A small child could swim through the veins of a blue whale.​

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If you consider how large a blue whale’s heart is the size of a small car, it’s no surprise that a small child, around 3-4 years old, could swim through the massive veins of a blue whale.

 

[01dragonslayer]

J.K. Rowling chose the unusual name “Hermione” so young girls wouldn’t be teased for being nerdy.​

The name Hermione came from Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale.”

Rowling says when she chose the name, she “didn’t want a lot of fairly hard-working little girls to be teased if ever the book was published.”

 

[01dragonslayer]

Hewlett-Packard’s (also known as HP) name was decided in a coin toss in 1939.​

The name was always going to be a hyphenation of the two founders last names, so in order to decide between Hewlett-Packard and Packard-Hewlett, they flipped a coin.

 

[01dragonslayer]

There is a total of 1,710 steps in the Eiffel Tower.​

Standing 108 stories tall, there are 1,710 steps to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

However, guests are only allowed to climb the stairs until the first platform.

From there, they must take a lift to the top.

 

[01dragonslayer]

The Pokémon Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan are based off of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.​

The third Pokemon of the Hitmons is also named after a martial artist.

Hitmontop is named after a lesser known martial artist, Larry Top.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Pigs are very smart animals.​

They are smarter than dogs, they can solve puzzles better than chimpanzees and they have some of the best long-term memories known in animals.

In fact, pigs are considered as the world’s fifth-smartest animal.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Pirates wore earrings because they believed it improved their eyesight.​

Along with many other reasons! Due to superstitions, they thought it protected them from bad eyesight (or even blindness), seasickness, and drowning.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Pirates wore earrings because they believed it improved their eyesight.​

[COLOR=rgba(26,25,25,var(--text-opacity))][COLOR=rgba(26,25,25,var(--text-opacity))]Los Angeles’s full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.”[/COLOR][/COLOR]​

Along with many other reasons! Due to superstitions, they thought it protected them from bad eyesight (or even blindness), seasickness, and drowning.

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Los Angeles’s full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.”

The original name was quite a mouthful. It translates to “town of our lady the Queen of Angels of the River Porciuncula.”

Now, Los Angeles is just “The Angels.”​

 

[01dragonslayer]

The Twitter bird actually has a name – Larry.​

The name comes from Larry Bird, who is a famous Hall of Fame basketball player.

The species of Larry the Bird still remains a secret!

 

[01dragonslayer]

Octopuses have four pairs of arms.​

The six of an octopus’ tentacles serve as arms, while the other two are their “legs.”

They use six tentacles just to eat!

 

[01dragonslayer]

In the popular sitcom, Parks and Recreation, the writers had no idea Nick Offerman was a talented saxophone player when they wrote the Duke Silver plot line.​

Nick Offerman has played the saxophone his whole life, so when the writer wrote about his character being a secret jazz musician, the coincidence was perfect.

 

[01dragonslayer]

It snowed in the Sahara desert for 30 minutes on the 18th February 1979.​

So far, this is the only known time in history that it snowed in the Sahara!

Unsurprisingly, the snow melted away very quickly.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Mike Tyson once offered a zoo attendant 10,000 dollars to let him fight a gorilla.​

As it is, Tyson bribed a worker to open the zoo for just he and his wife to see the animals.

While on this romantic stroll, he tried to also bribe a zookeeper to let him fight a gorilla.

The zoo attendant said no.