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Facts are fun, right? They make us feel more in the know, they help us win trivia games (always important!), and, like my great-grandfather said, you should try to learn something new every day.
We’d like to help you out today, so check out these 14 interesting facts!
14. Abraham Lincoln was a certified bartender.
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His liquor license was discovered in 1930.
13. A Pixar employee accidentally deleted part of Toy Story 2 during production.
It would have taken up to a year to recreate what was deleted, but fortunately another employee had a backup of the entire film on their home laptop.
12. Your brain synapses shrink while you sleep.
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A 2003 study on mice confirmed that the size of brain synapses shrink around 18% after a few hours of sleep.
11. Umpires used to call baseball games from rocking chairs.
They were located about 20 feet behind home plate – not a bad gig, since starting in 1878, they were paid $5 a game.
10. The first commercial passenger flight lasted only 23 minutes.
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In 1914, Abram Pheil paid $400 (about $8500 today) to fly between St. Petersburg and Tampa (both in Florida). Pheil was the former mayor of St. Petersburg, and the short flight revolutionized our lives.
9. Pigeon poop belongs to the royals.
In the 18th century, bird poop was used to make gunpowder, so King George I declared all droppings property of the crown.
8. Beethoven basically couldn’t do math.
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He could add, but one of the greatest composers in history couldn’t multiply or divide.
7. Apple, Inc. was created on April Fool’s Day.
The documents to form the Apple Computer Company were signed on April 1, 1976. Thirty years later, Apple became the country’s first trillion-dollar company – it is obviously not a joke.
6. A waffle maker inspired the design of Nikes.
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Bill Bowerman was a track and field coach in the 1950s when he decided he wanted to design a better shoe for running. Inspiration struck during a waffle breakfast with his wife, when of course he thought to try the waffle design on the sole of a shoe.
5. The world’s first novel ends mid-sentence.
The Tale of Genji was written in the 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu. The work stops abruptly in the 55th chapter, and most believe the work was once complete. Some scholars do think he meant to end the story there, though.
4. The Ancient Egyptians replaced the eyes of the dead with small onions.
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The rings and layers of onions were thought to represent eternal life, so sending the Pharaohs off with the onions in place of easily decomposed eyes makes sense.
3. In Latin, “aquarium” means “watering place for cattle.”
The first modern aquarium (for viewing sea creatures) opened in England in 1924. Presumably by someone who failed Latin in school.
2. Queen Victoria was one of the first people to own a tricycle.
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She was on a tour on the Isle of Wight in 1881 when a woman on a tricycle passed her horse and carriage. Victoria stopped the woman and asked her to demonstrate the tricycle to the Queen, who ordered two and asked that they be delivered by their creator.
1. Boars wash their food before eating it.
At the Basel Zoo in Switzerland, zookeepers have observed both adult and juvenile wild boars wash sandy apples in a creek before eating them.
I definitely did today’s learning from this list – so many fun facts!
Did you learn something? Did you love one of these in particular? Share which in the comments!
