Useless Facts

[01dragonslayer]

The average person spends 2 years using their phone.​

We’ve heard it from adults billions of times: “You spend way too much time on that phone!” However, they may not be exaggerating. So far, the average person spends an entire 2 years on their phones throughout their lifetime.

 

[01dragonslayer]

"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.​

“I am,” is a complete sentence because it has a subject (I) and a predicate (am).

 

[01dragonslayer]

Edgar Allan Poe married his thirteen-year-old cousin.​

Edgar Allan Poe was 27 when he got married to his 13 year-old cousin. Now that’s one of the useless facts that are a lot to unpack.

 

[01dragonslayer]

J.D. Salinger drank his own urine.​

Most known for his classic novel, Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger had a reputation for being strange. However, you wouldn’t think it was this bad: According to his daughter, Margaret Salinger, her father would drink his own urine and speak in tongues.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Lego bricks can be combined in nearly a billion ways.​

Six pieces of the standard eight-studded Lego bricks can be combined in 915,103,765 ways.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Play-Doh was invented as wallpaper cleaner.​

Play-Doh was initially invented to remove soot and dirt from wallpaper. In fact, antique restorers still use it for refurbishing antique pieces. However, Play-Doh was officially recognized as a toy in 1954.

 

[01dragonslayer]

The Play-Doh scent is patented.​

In 2017, Hasbro filed a trademark for Play-Doh’s distinct smell of “sweet, slightly musky vanilla fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, mixed with the smell of salted, wheat-based dough.” Soon after, the trademark was approved.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Marvel action figures helped ToyBiz save money.​

In the U.S., dolls based on human figures are taxed more heavily than other toys. Owning the rights to several Marvel Comics characters, ToyBiz successfully convinced the court that X-Men and Fantastic Four action figures should be taxed less. Their argument? The action figures were based on mutants, not humans. Following their appeal, the toy company won a reimbursement on the year’s taxes and cut their rate in half.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Junk food is as addictive as drugs.​

The struggle to quit and the tendency to lose control may sound like a drug problem, but it’s a similar problem for junk food. According to as study, eating junk food has a similar effect on brain activity as narcotics do. This phenomenon is more common with highly-processed food such as fast food and instant food. Isn’t that one of the useless facts you wish you didn’t know?

 

[01dragonslayer]

The longest time without sleep is 11 days.​

The longest time recorded of a person without sleep is approximately 264 hours. Within 3 to 4 days without sleep, you may start having hallucinations. Sleep is a biological function for a reason – it is not advisable to pull all-nighters all the time.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Salt used to be a currency.​

For ancient civilizations, salt was so valuable that the Romans used it as money. They even paid their soldiers in salt rations instead of money.

 

[01dragonslayer]

4 out of 5 children recognize the Mcdonald's logo at 3 years old.​

These kids can recognize the golden arches before they even know their own names.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Mr. Potato head used to be made of actual potato.​

When Mr. Potato Head was first released in 1952, the toy only included eyes, noses, and mouths. For the potato body, kids were expected to provide their own. However, due to the possible safety hazards of the sharp pieces, the plastic body was provided in 1964.

 

[01dragonslayer]

The Super Soaker was designed and invented by a NASA engineer.​

Lonnie Johnson used the royalties from his 1989 invention to fund research on solar power.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Chicken meat is not a main ingredient of chicken nuggets.​

The main ingredients for a typical chicken nugget is fat, epithelium, bone, and connective tissue. Sounds appetizing!

 

[01dragonslayer]

Barbie and Ken broke up in 2004.​

However, Mattel announced that they were getting back together on Valentine’s Day 2011.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Toy Story helped sell the Etch-a-Sketch.​

The Etch-a-Sketch made a 12-second appearance in the 1995 feature film, Toy Story. Apparently, that 12-second cameo was enough to boost Etch-a-Sketch sales, thus saving the Ohio Art Company from bankruptcy.

 

[01dragonslayer]

The Rubik’s cube is the best-selling toy of all time.​

Since it was introduced in 1980, over 350 million Rubik’s cubes have been sold.

 

[01dragonslayer]

You can see an owl’s eyeball through its ear.​

One of the useless facts you’ll want to unsee: The unusually large ear opening of a northern saw-whet owl lets you have a disturbing view of its eyeball.

 

[01dragonslayer]

The sperm of a mouse is longer than elephant sperm.​

However, the fruit fly produces the longest sperm known to science at 6cm. How’s that for useless facts?