"When the Romans returned from France and Germany with blonde slaves, some Roman women tried copying their look by dying their hair blond, only for it to fall out. Instead, the women cut off the slave’s hair to use them as wigs."
"Humans are unlikely to sink entirely into quicksand due to the higher density of the fluid. Quicksand has a density of about 2 grams per milliliter, while human density is only about 1 gram per milliliter. A human would descend about up to their waist, but no further. "
"Adolphe Sax (inventor of the saxophone) survived a three story fall, a gunpowder explosion, drinking a bowl of sulfuric water, a near-poisoning due to furniture varnish, and falling into a speeding river, all before the age of nine. His neighbors called him “little Sax, the ghost.”"
"In 2007, Siberia experienced orange snow. This orange snow was ruled to most likely be caused by a heavy sandstorm in neighboring Kazakhstan. Tests on the snow revealed numerous sand and clay dust particles and a high iron-content."
"In the 1850’s the entire city of Chicago was raised 5-10 feet with hydraulic jacks to improve drainage and make room for water and sewer lines, in response to outbreaks of typhoid fever and cholera. "
"Pixar spent three years studying the physics of curly hair in order to correctly render Merida’s hair in “Brave.”"
"A leopon is a hybrid resulting from the crossing of a male leopard with a lioness. The head of the animal is similar to that of a lion while the rest of the body carries similarities to leopards."
"Vampire bats’ saliva contains a protein that prevents their prey’s blood from clotting while the bat is drinking. This protein is called draculin."
"Listerine coined the term “halitosis” in order to boost the sales of their mouthwash by telling people that they had a health condition. This has historically been one of medicalization’s most successful stories. "
"In Japan if someone on trial is filmed while in handcuffs their hands have to be pixelated to be shown on TV. This is because a man named Kazuyoshi Miura brought a successful case to court arguing that the image of him in handcuffs implied guilt and had prejudiced his trial."
"Henry III received a polar bear as a gift from King Haakon of Norway in 1252. The bear lived at the Tower of London and was given a long leash so it could swim in the river Thames and catch fish."
"A company in England accidentally sent letters to some of its wealthy customers that began “Dear Rich Bastard.” One customer who did not receive the letter complained, certain their wealth was enough to warrant the “rich bastard” title."
"Jaywalking was made a law due, in part, to a deliberate effort by promoters of automobiles, such as local auto clubs and dealers, to redefine streets as places where pedestrians do not belong. "
"In a lawsuit where a company called SCO tried to sue IBM for $5 billion over their alleged use of Unix code in Linux, an IBM lawyer was quoted as saying “If you proceed with this horsesh#t the sky over Utah will blacken with lawyers.”"
"The electricity needed to power an iPhone for a year costs only $0.47. "
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#10 a lot of stuff has to be censored in Japan.
#26 this phenomenon can be seen a lot these days.