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20 Impeccable Facts That Left Us Shaking Our Heads

June 06, 2022

My name is Jameson Jones. I've lived all of my twenty-four years in the small town of Newbury, Ohio. I was born there, and I will die there if I can help it. My dad died last year, and Mom's getting older, so it's not looking too good for me to be going anywhere. I guess I'll just stay put here and get a job and try to keep up with school as best I can until I can get myself into something that doesn't involve too much work. It'd be nice if it was something I wanted to do, but since that doesn't seem to be the case, I suppose I'd better make do with something that will at least get me some decent money.

That's about the only thing I have going for me.

Well, that, and this one single other thing.

That other thing is a list of odd facts that I can recite on demand, any time, anywhere.

It goes …

20

There is a website that displays the human population in real time.

You can watch the population of the world grow in real time. The current world popula- tion on Worldometers.info runs in real time, so you can watch all 7.9 billion of us en- ter and leave this mortal coil as you sit safe at your com- puter - until you, too, join the tally. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — WorldoMeter

19

African Birds

The most common bird on Earth is the red-billed quelea. Native to sub-Saharan Afri- ca, these little birds are considered agricultural pests because their mas- sive flocks can obliterate entire crops. There are an estimated 1 to 10 billion queleas. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Audubon

18

The average human is a young, right-handed man from China.

The most typical person is a 28-year-old Chinese man. They are right-hand- ed, make less than $12,000 a year, they have a mobile phone, and they do not have a bank account. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Daily Mail

17

Aging

22% of Americans are over the age of 60. This is much higher than the global percentage of 12, but the rest of the world should catch up by 2050. The percent- age of US senators over 60 is 70%. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Washington Post

16

South Sudan

The youngest country in the World is 11 years old. South Sudan in North Africa just gained its in- dependence from Sudan in 2011. 98.83% of the 12 million residents sup- ported independence in January, 2011. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Telegraph

15

Chesapeake Bay oysters were saved.

There are one billion oysters in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. Due to overfishing and dis- ease, the oyster population was dwindling, but thanks to the Army corps and conservators, the state is now home to the world's largest man-made oyster reef. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — MentalFloss

14

Only nine rare coins from 1933 survived.

An American coin that never went into circulation was bought at auction for $7 million. S The 1933 Double Eagle was a $20 U.S. coin made of gold, of which only 9 survived their destruction by being stolen by U.S. Mint workers. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — GWR

13

Almost a tenth of every human to ever walk the Earth is still alive.

7% of every human to ever exist is currently alive on Earth. Since our evolution 50,000 years ago, 108 billion Homo sapiens have been born into the world. Only about 1 to 15 million of us were around during the ad- vent of agriculture in 10,000 В.С. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — PRB

12

The ozone is healing.

The ozone layer should heal itself within 50 years. The recovery is thanks in large part to the Montreal Protocol of 1987, which put a global ban on chlorofluo- rocarbons, which were found in refrigerators, aerosol cans, and dry-cleaning chemicals. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — CNN

11

More whales are in NY now than a decade ago.

Whale sightings near New York City have increased by 540% since 2010. The number of whales (mostly humpbacks) spot- ted in the waters off New York City has risen from just five sightings in 2010 to 272 in 2018 thanks to several environmental poli- cies. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Gotham Whale

10

Fingernails

Your middle finger has the fastest growing nail. You just looked at your fin- gers, didn't you? While nails usually grow about 3.47 millimeters a month, those on your dominant hand grow faster, as do the nails on your longer fin- gers. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Healthline

9

Our favorite children’s book author is Dr. Soice.

Dr. Seuss' name isn't pronounced the way you think. Theodor Seuss Geisel used his mother's maiden name, Suess, and their family pro- nounces it as soice (rhyming with voice). CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Loop Insight

8

Cold

The coldest temperature recorded on Earth would kill you in a few breaths. The -144 degrees Fahren- heit temperature was re- corded in Antarctica during a span of research between 2004 and 2016. At that temperature, breathing would induce hemorrhaging in your lungs and kill you. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — National Geographic

7

The quietest place on Earth is at Microsoft.

The anechoic chamber at Microsoft is so quiet you can hear your neck turning. Located at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, the lab room measures a background noise of -20.35 dBA, which is 20 decibels below the threshold of human hear- ing. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — CNN

6

Live out your ‘Little Mermaid’ fantasy in Florida.

A Florida reef hosts an Underwater Music Festival every year. Held annually for more than three decades, the festival includes a pre-se- lected radio playlist that is streamed live from under- water speakers to an audi- ence of snorkelers and div- ers. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Visit Florida

5

People tweet happier when there is more sun.

Twitter is a happier place in the summer. researchers looked at the tweets of 2.4 million people around the world for two years and found that leading up to the summer solstice, people posted significantly happier tweets than they did going into winter. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Science

4

Look to the stars to see the “dog days of summer.”

Dog days of summer comes from astrology. The dogs are a reference to Sirius the Dog Star, which ris- es in the sky during late July as a part of the Greater Dog constellation. To the Greeks and Romans, the dog days indicated the hottest time of the year. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — National Geographic

3

Frisbees used to be pie tins.

Frisbees started out as empty pie tins. CLASS CHAMPIONS WORLD FRISBEE® WORLD FLYING DISC 165 G. University students in Bridgeport, Connecticut would play with the empty tins from the Frisbie Pie Company in 1871. Walter Frederick Morrison and War- ren Franscioni ran with the idea, creating the Flying Saucer in 1948. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — History

2

The Most Densely Populated Island on Earth

The most densely populated island on Earth is the size of two soccer fields. Santa Cruz del Islote in the Archipelago of San Bernardo off the coast of Colombia is only two acres, but 500 people are packed into 155 houses on the island. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — The Guardian

1

The Dragon’s Breath chili pepper may kill you.

A chili pepper was developed to be so hot it could be used as anesthetic. The Dragon's Breath chili pepper, invented by hob- by-grower Mike Smith, is so hot it could potentially cause a deadly anaphy- lactic shock that closes your airway. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Live Science

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