Barnorama All Fun In The Barn
From surprising historical events to mind-boggling scientific discoveries, this collection invites you to immerse yourself in a world of captivating tidbits.
“Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat to help combat illiteracy. 348 words were identified as being important to first-graders, which he was asked to narrow down to 250. Nine months later, Seuss used 236 of them to complete The Cat in the Hat.”
“Tilly Smith at age 10, helped save her family and hundreds of other tourists in Thailand from the 2004 tsunami by recognizing warning signs of a tsunami that she had learned in her geography class two weeks earlier. ”
” In 2001, Neopets was the fourth most trafficked website on the internet, 8 spots in front of Google. ”
“Orlando, a ginger cat, competed and won against stock-picking professionals at the stock market. The cat picked at random, while the professionals used traditional stock-picking methods. At the end of the year, the cat had £542.60 profit, compared to the professionals’ £176.60 profit.”
“Clint Eastwood sat on the script for “Unforgiven” for almost 20 years because he thought it was so good. It is one of only three westerns to ever win best picture.”
“The website UrbanDictionary.com has been used in court cases to define slang words that are not found in dictionaries.”
“In 2009, a New Jersey woman named Patricia DeMauro rolled a pair of dice 154 times continuously at a craps table without losing. Her 154-roll winning streak broke world records. The probability of this occurring were roughly 1 in 5.6 billion.”
“The Sun is the most perfect sphere ever observed in nature.”
“In the 1500s, British sailors would receive rations of rum as partial payment. To ensure that the rum wasn’t watered down, they would measure the proof by dousing gunpowder with it and then test to see if the gunpowder would ignite. The gunpowder would only ignite if the rum was >57% alcohol by volume.”
“In 1971, someone in Pennsylvania tried to sue Satan for having “threatened him, caused him misery, impeded his course in life, and generally precipitated his downfall.” The case was dismissed, partly because it couldn’t be shown that Satan lived in the court’s jurisdiction.”
“The Crosby, Stills, and Nash song “Just a Song Before I Go” was written on a dare by their limo driver that they couldn’t write a song before getting to the airport. It went on to become one of their biggest hits.”
“Chipotle stopped selling carnitas (pork) in many of its restaurants for a period due to difficulty finding a source for the meat that met their ethical standards.”
“Project COLDFEET was a 1962 operation where two CIA operatives were airdropped onto an abandoned Soviet research station on an ice floe, retrieved information on advanced submarine detection systems, and were extracted via the Fulton Skyhook recovery system to a modified B-17.”
““Ready ‘n’ Steady” is a song by the artist D.A. that appeared on Billboard magazine’s Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart for three weeks in June 1979. The record, along with information about it or the artist, has been notoriously hard to find, leading many collectors to consider it a “phantom record.””
“The video game Tropico 5 is banned by the military junta in Thailand, because it could undermine their “national security.””
“John Cusack once asked his agent to present him with the “craziest, most unproducible script you can find.” His agent presented “Being John Malkovich.” Impressed with the script, Cusack auditioned and won a role in the film.”
“Benjamin Franklin never patented any of his inventions. He reasoned that “we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, ” and that “we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.””
“Seth MacFarlane was originally a writer and animator for classic shows like Johnny Bravo and Dexter’s Lab.”
“Earthworms do NOT surface to avoid drowning when it rains. Instead, they come to the surface to move overland. Since worms breathe through their skin, the skin must stay wet in order for the oxygen to pass through it. Earthworms can actually survive for several weeks under water. ”
“Break-ups are more painful for men: In a study of around 5,705 participants from 96 countries, it was found that whilst women experience intense pain immediately after a break-up, they get over it pretty quickly. Whereas men, on the other hand, move on quickly but remain damaged for longer.”
“Shakespeare invented the names Miranda, Jessica, and Olivia.”
“In 1973, NASA sent two spiders known as Arabella and Anita into space to see if they could spin a web without gravity. It took the spiders a couple days to figure out, but they eventually ended up making webs that were finer and more complex than their earth counterparts.”
“Vegemite is actually the leftover concentrated yeast mixture from the bottom of alcohol barrels. ”
““Public relations” was invented by Freud´s nephew Edward Bernays as a substitute for “Propaganda” due to negative implications surrounding the word because of its use by the Germans.”
“The Chinese Segway rip off, 9Bot, used the money it got from selling the rip off to buy the original Segway company.”
“The “Pinky Promise” originally indicated that the person who breaks the promise, must cut off their pinky finger.”
“In 1990s a man bought a shipping container for $400 and used it as a bridge for 10 years. 10 years later when he opened it he found a $2,000,000 Canadian warship engine inside.”
““Perpetual Stew” was common in mediaeval inns. It was a pot containing whatever they caught or dug up, just cooking and cooking and getting replenished continuously. ”
“So many people died by ringing church bells in storms, due to the belief that it would disperse thunder, that the practice was banned by the Parlement of Paris. ”
“Printers from Canon, Xerox, others add nearly-invisible dots to each printed page containing encoded print date and serial number of the printer. ”
Source: www.reddit.com