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Forrest Mars (son of the Mars Company founder) first spotted the British confection Smarties during the Spanish Civil War and noticed the candy shell prevented the chocolate from melting. He teamed up with Bruce Murrie (son of Hershey Chocolate's president) and the company later trademarked the "Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand" slogan.
Did you know there was a prehistoric dragonfly that's wings spanned more than two feet?
Wikimedia Commons/Dodoni
More than 300 million years ago, the Meganeura established itself as the largest known flying insect to ever exist on Earth. The dragonfly-like creature had a wingspan that stretched around 2.5 feet. The bugs were also big enough to hunt prey like frogs and newts which it could eat with its teeth-like mandibles.
Did you know your body loses up to 8 percent of water in a flight?
Water is our body’s mechanical oil—without it, it can’t function. You lose about 8 percentof your body water while on a flight. This is because the humidity in the climate-controlled environment can be as low as 10 to 15 percent. Here’s more about what happens to your body on an airplane.
Did you know Queen Elizabeth II keeps track of when she wore each outfit?
It’s rumored that Queen Elizabeth never wears the same hat twice. If she did, she waits years to wear them again, and evidently, there’s a spreadsheet recording her exact outfit per day. So, what does she do with all of those hats? A one-time-only exhibit showcased the many hats and handbags she wore during public engagements. If you couldn’t make it to that exhibit, this epic timeline of Queen Elizabeth’s wackiest hats will fill you in.
History did you knows
- Did you knowCoca-Cola originally contained cocaine
- Did you know the Internet was originally called ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) designed by the US department of defense
- Did you knowthe first Burger King was opened in Florida Miami in 1954
- Did you knowAustralia was originally called New Holland
- Did you knowin 1878 the first telephone book made contained only 50 names
- Did you knowCoca Cola launched its 3rd product Sprite in 1961
- Did you knowpaper originated from China
- Did you knowinstant coffee was invented in 1901
- Did you knowthe word 'testify' derived from a time when men were required to swear on their testicles
- Did you knowtennis was originally played with bare hands
- Did you knowthe Olympic flag was designed in 1913
- Did you knowthe electric toothbrush was invented in 1939
- Did you knowIsaac Newton invented the cat door
- Did you knowthe Titanic was built in Belfast
- Did you knowHawaii was originally called the Sandwich Islands
- Did you knowthe doorbell was invented in 1831
- Did you knowThe first English dictionary was written in 1755
- Did you knowTokyo was once known as Edo
- Did you knowthe tea bag was invented in 1908
- Did you knowplastic bottles were first used for soft drinks in 1970
"Nope! But thanks fer tellin' me!"
Did you know that there is a little-known fruit that tastes like peanut M&Ms? 
That fruit is known as the....Hackberry.
Hackberries are native to North America and were used extensively by Native Americans as a source of food and medicine. They are high in calories, protein, and sugars, so they make a great trail snack that can be gathered directly from the tree during a hike. The only catch is that these trees can be quite tall. To access the berries, you’ll have to hope some branches are low enough to be in reach or knock them off with a stick.
The texture of the fruits is similar to a peanut M&M. They have a sweet, dry pulp and a crispy shell enclosing a hard, edible seed at their center. They don’t melt in your hand or your mouth, but each bite offers a delicious, candy-like taste along with a satisfying crunch. The pulp is very sweet, with a flavor similar to dates and black tea.
The main drawback is that the seeds can be very hard. Native Americans got around this problem by pounding the berries into a paste or powder that they then stirred into porridge or used to season meat.
Need to Know
Hackberries are not sold commercially, so you'll need to forage them. To safely identify the trees and their fruit, you should thoroughly research their appearance. The hackberry tree has a distinct warty, gray-brown bark. Fruits ripen in the fall and do not generally rot on the tree, so you can collect them even during the winter.
10 Fascinating Facts About Butterflies
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Steven Allen/The Image Bank/Getty Images
How can that be? We know butterflies as perhaps the most colorful, vibrant insects around! A butterfly's wings are covered by thousands of tiny scales, and these scales reflect light in different colors. But underneath all of those scales, a butterfly wing is actually formed by layers of chitin, the same protein that makes up an insect's exoskeleton. These layers are so thin you can see right through them. As a butterfly ages, scales fall off the wings, leaving spots of transparency where the chitin layer is exposed.
Butterflies have taste receptors on their feet to help them find their host plants and locate food. A female butterfly lands on different plants, drumming the leaves with her feet until the plant releases its juices. Spines on the back of her legs have chemoreceptors that detect the right match of plant chemicals. When she identified the right plant, she lays her eggs. A butterfly will also step on its food, using organs that sense dissolved sugars to taste food sources like fermenting fruit.
Speaking of butterflies eating, adult butterflies can only feed on liquids, usually nectar. Their mouthparts are modified to enable them to drink, but they can't chew solids. A proboscis, which functions as a drinking straw, stays curled up under the butterfly's chin until it finds a source of nectar or other liquid nutrition. It then unfurls the long, tubular structure and sips up a meal. A few butterflies feed on sap, and some even resort to sipping from decaying carrion. No matter the meal, they suck it up a straw.
A butterfly that can't drink nectar is doomed. One of its first jobs as an adult butterfly is to assemble its mouthparts. When a new adult emerges from the pupal case or chrysalis, its mouth is in two pieces. Using palpi located adjacent to the proboscis, the butterfly begins working the two parts together to form a single, tubular proboscis. You may see a newly emerged butterfly curling and uncurling the proboscis over and over, testing it out.
A butterfly cannot live on sugar alone; it needs minerals, too. To supplement its diet of nectar, a butterfly will occasionally sip from mud puddles, which are rich in minerals and salts. This behavior, called puddling, occurs more often in male butterflies, which incorporate the minerals into their sperm. These nutrients are then transferred to the female during mating, and help improve the viability of her eggs.
Butterflies can't fly if they're coldButterflies need an ideal body temperature of about 85ºF to fly. Since they're cold-blooded animals, they can't regulate their own body temperatures. The surrounding air temperature has a big impact on their ability to function. If the air temperature falls below 55ºF, butterflies are rendered immobile, unable to flee from predators or feed. When air temperatures range between 82º-100ºF, butterflies can fly with ease. Cooler days require a butterfly to warm up its flight muscles, either by shivering or basking in the sun. Even sun-loving butterflies can get overheated when temperatures soar above 100° F and may seek shade to cool down.
Inside the chrysalis, a developing butterfly waits to emerge with its wings collapsed around its body. When it finally breaks free of the pupal case, it greets the world with tiny, shriveled wings. The butterfly must immediately pump body fluid through its wing veins to expand them. Once its wings reach full-size, the butterfly must rest for a few hours to allow its body to dry and harden before it can take its first flight.
Once it emerges from its chrysalis as an adult, a butterfly has only 2-4 short weeks to live, in most cases. During that time, it focuses all its energy on two tasks – eating and mating. Some of the smallest butterflies, the blues, may only survive a few days. Butterflies that overwinter as adults, like monarchs and mourning cloaks, can live as long as 9 months.
Within about 10-12 feet, butterfly eyesight is quite good. Anything beyond that distance gets a little blurry to a butterfly, though. Butterflies rely on their eyesight for vital tasks, like finding mates of the same species and finding flowers on which to feed. In addition to seeing some of the colors we can see, butterflies can see a range of ultraviolet colors invisible to the human eye. The butterflies themselves may have ultraviolet markings on their wings to help them identify one another and locate potential mates. Flowers, too, display ultraviolet markings that act as traffic signals to incoming pollinators like butterflies – "pollinate me!"
Butterflies employ all kinds of tricks to keep from being eaten
Butterflies rank pretty low on the food chain, with lots of hungry predators happy to make a meal of them. Some butterflies fold their wings to blend into the background, using camouflage to render themselves all but invisible to predators. Others try the opposite strategy, wearing vibrant colors and patterns that boldly announce their presence. Bright colored insects often pack a toxic punch if eaten, so predators learn to avoid them. Some butterflies aren't toxic at all, but pattern themselves after other species known for their toxicity. By mimicking their foul-tasting cousins, they repel predators.
Oldest professional club DJ
The oldest professional club DJ is Sumiko Iwamuro aka DJ Sumirock (Japan, b. 27 January 1935) aged 83 years and 118 days, who plays monthly at a club in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, as of 25 May 2018
30 Odd Historical Facts
- The world's youngest parents were age 8 and 9. They lived in China and had their child in 1910.
- Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during WWI.
- In the 16th and 17th centuries in the country of Turkey, anyone caught drinking coffee was put to death.
- Abraham Lincoln's dog, Fido, was also assassinated.
- In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
- About 3,000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30.
- The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.
- If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
- The youngest pope was 11 years old.
- Richard Versalle, a tenor performing at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, suffered a heart attack and fell 10 feet from a ladder to the stage just after singing the line, "You can only live so long."
- 60.7 percent of eligible voters participated in the 2004 presidential election, the highest percentage in 36 years. However, more than 78 million did not vote. This means President Bush was re-elected by less than 31% of all eligible voters in the United States.
- David Bowie used to think he was being stalked by someone who is dressed like a giant pink rabbit. Bowie noticed the fan at several recent concerts, but became alarmed when he got on a plane and the bunny was also on board.
- Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and whose shame created the expression for ignominy: "His name is Mudd."
- Wayne's World was filmed in two weeks.
- The first Fords had engines made by Dodge.
- In Ancient Egypt , priests plucked every hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
- More than 8,100 US troops are still listed as missing in action from the Korean War.
- As of January 1, 2004, the population of the United States increases by one person every 12 seconds. There is a birth every eight seconds, an immigrant is added every 25 seconds, and a death every 13 seconds.
- Inn the great fire of 1666, half of London was burnt down but only six people were injured.
- Toto was paid $125 per week while filming The Wizard of Oz.
- The only member of the band ZZ Top without a beard has the last name Beard.
- The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
- In Egypt around 1500 B.C., a shaved head was considered the ultimate in feminine beauty. Egyptian women removed every hair from their heads with special gold tweezers and polished their scalps to a high sheen with buffing cloths.
- George Lumley, aged 104, married Mary Dunning, aged 10, in Nortallerton, England on August 25, 1783. She was the great-great granddaughter of the woman who'd broken her engagement to Lumley, eighty years before.
- In Elizabethan England, the spoon was so novel and prized that people carried their own folding spoons to banquets.
- It costs more to buy a new car today in the United States than it cost Christopher Columbus to equip and undertake three voyages to and from the New World.
- Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
- Millie the White House dog earned more than four times as President Bush in 1991.
- A law passed in Nebraska in 1912 set hard rules of the road. Drivers in the country at night were required to stop every 150 yards, send up a skyrocket, then wait eight minutes for the road to clear before proceeding cautiously, all the while blowing their horn and shooting off flares.
- Louis XIV of France really was as unpleasant a fellow as he's been depicted. In 1674, when he was visiting a school at Clermont, he heard from the school's authorities that one of the children, a nine- year-old Irish lad named Francis Seldon, had made a pun about the king's bald head.
Louis was furious. He had a secret warrant drawn up for the child's arrest, and young Seldon was thrown into solitary confinement in the Bastille. His parents, members of one of Europe's richest merchant families, were told simply that the child had disappeared. Days turned to months, months to years, and Louis himself passed away. But Francis spent sixty-nine years "in the hole" for making fun of the king's baldness.
21 Odd Facts About Your Body
- It is physically impossible for you to lick your elbow.
- Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
- Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.
- It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.
- A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.
- Women blink nearly twice as often as men.
- Most of the dust particles in your house are dead skin.
- There is a company that will (for $14,000) take your ashes and compress them into a synthetic diamond to be set in jewelry for a loved one.
- There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth.
- The longest bout of hiccups lasted nearly 69 years.
- Babies is born without kneecaps. They appear between the ages of 2 and 6.
- Men can read smaller print than women. Women can hear better.
- Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
- If you sneeze too hard you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force they can pop out.
- A kiss stimulates 29 muscles and chemicals that cause relaxation. Women seem to like light and frequent kisses while men like them more strenuous.
- Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
- Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
- The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
- Almost everyone who reads this will try to lick their elbow.
- According to Chinese acupuncture, there is a point on the head that you can press to control your appetite. It is located in the hollow just in front of the flap of the ear.
- In a recent survey, Americans revealed that banana was their favorite smell.
21 Odd Facts About Your Body
- It is physically impossible for you to lick your elbow.
- Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
- Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.
- It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.
- A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.
- Women blink nearly twice as often as men.
- Most of the dust particles in your house are dead skin.
- There is a company that will (for $14,000) take your ashes and compress them into a synthetic diamond to be set in jewelry for a loved one.
- There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth.
- The longest bout of hiccups lasted nearly 69 years.
- Babies is born without kneecaps. They appear between the ages of 2 and 6.
- Men can read smaller print than women. Women can hear better.
- Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
- If you sneeze too hard you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force they can pop out.
- A kiss stimulates 29 muscles and chemicals that cause relaxation. Women seem to like light and frequent kisses while men like them more strenuous.
- Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
- Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
- The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
- Almost everyone who reads this will try to lick their elbow.
- According to Chinese acupuncture, there is a point on the head that you can press to control your appetite. It is located in the hollow just in front of the flap of the ear.
- In a recent survey, Americans revealed that banana was their favorite smell.
Did you know grapes light on fire in the microwave?
Back in 2011, a physicist at the University of Sydney went viral after he placed a grape in the microwave and filmed the fiery aftermath. And oddly enough, scientists couldn’t explain the phenomenon until quite recently. A March 2019 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that the fruity fireball occurs as a result of the loose electrons and ions that cluster to form plasma when grapes get hot.
Did you know spaghetto, confetto, and graffito are the singular forms of spaghetti, confetti, and graffiti?
Although it might sound a little strange, the word for an individual piece of spaghetti is spaghetto. The same goes for a single piece of confetti, which is confetto, as well as a single piece of graffiti, which is graffito, according to Merriam-Webster.
Did you know McDonald’s once created bubblegum-flavored broccoli?
McDonald’s is always introducing new items for their loyal customers. And obviously, some are more successful than others. But their bubblegum-flavored broccoli, which the fast-food chain developed in 2014 as a tastier version of the leafy green for children, was a complete failure. McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson admitted that kids were confused by the taste.
Did you know the longest place name in the world is 85 letters long?
Wikimedia Commons/EyrelandUnfortunately, this is one of the did you know facts you probably can’t repeat to your friends—and that’s because it’s nearly impossible to pronounce. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is in New Zealand and is 85 letters long. And when it comes to other super long place names, it’s followed by Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales, Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg in the U.S., Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein in South Africa, and Azpilicuetagaraycosaroyarenberecolarre in Spain.
12 Weird and Fun Facts About Sports
- In 1963, major league baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, an hour after Neil Armstrong set foot on the surface of the moon, Perry hit is first, and only, home run while playing for the San Francisco Giants.
- Retired basketball sensation Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike each year than all the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
- The Olympic flag's colors are always red, black, blue, green, and yellow rings on a field of white. This is because at least one of those colors appears on the flag of every nation on the planet.
- The average lifespan of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
- Dueling is legal is Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
- All major league baseball umpires must wear black underwear while on the job in case their pants split.
- In 1920, Babe Ruth out-homered very American League team.
- Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep his head cool. He changed it every two innings.
- Every year 56,000,000 people attend major league baseball games.
- In 18th century England, gambling dens employed someone whose job was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid.
- A Costa Rican worker who makes baseballs earns about $2,750 annually. The average American pro baseball player earns $2,377,000 per year.
- There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
Did you know that........?
Most lipstick contains fish scales.
That "jiffy" is an actual unit of time: 1/100th of a second.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors.
Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to operate a television for three hours.
The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
There is enough fuel in full jumbo jet tank to drive an average car four times around the world.
Did you know lobsters have clear blood?
Most of us are well aware that lobster shells change color when exposed to heat (like in a pot of boiling water, for example). But the sea creatures’ blood is also intriguing. Lobster blood is initially clear and turns blue when it hits oxygen.
Very interesting list of "weird" facts indeed, Dave. But two facts in particular have me respectively scratching my head and thinking "icky poo" all at the same time. First, #18: How is it that 100 people end up choking to death on ballpoint pens EVERY YEAR? Is this a "thing?" And then second, #6: If all of that yukky stuff is embedded in my mattress (it's well over ten years old right now), then I think I might hafta sleep on the couch tonight!
Did you know the life span of a house fly is generally less than 30 days?
10 interesting facts about flies you never knew
Flies can be a big nuisance to anyone and their constant buzzing around can really get on your nerves. However, flies can be quite fascinating creatures. Their breeding, feeding, and even moving habits are quite different from ours and can actually be quite interesting.
Facts About Flies:
Below is a list of facts about flies you need to know.
1. House flies live on a liquid diet
Yes, that’s correct. Flies tend to live off a diet based on liquids. Why? Well, that’s just how they are built. See, they lack the mouthparts needed to chew food, so instead, they have to drink it.
How do house flies eat?
A house fly will regurgitate digestive juices onto solid foods and these juices break down the food into small pieces, allowing them to use their mouthparts, called proboscis, to drink the meal.
2. They can taste with their feet
Like butterflies, flies can taste food using their feet!
This is all down to taste receptors (chemonsensilla) being located on their lower legs and feet. When a fly lands on a tasty meal, which can be anything from animal feces to your lunch, they will often wander around to give their next meal a good taste before consuming it.
3. House flies defecate… a lot
And they aren’t too worried about where they do it either!
As you know, house flies like to live off a liquid diet. Because of this, their digestive system can move quite quickly, which means they defecate often. It is speculated that house flies defecate every time they land, even if it’s on their next meal!
4. They can spread a range of diseases
Due to their feeding and breeding habits (more on that later) house flies come into contact with a range of harmful bacteria such as Salmonella and E.coli. Because of this, house flies will often aid the spread of these bacteria passing them onto us by contaminating things, such as food and cooking utensils.
5. House flies can walk upside down
Let’s face it, you probably already knew this one.
The anatomy of a house fly enables it to walk and climb on most surfaces no matter if it’s horizontal, vertical, or even upside down.
This is due to each foot containing two fat foot pads (called pulvilli) which contain tiny hairs that produce a glue-like substance made of sugars and oils which provides them with excellent grip, perfect for scaling any surface.
6. Flies are able to see behind them
That’s right, house flies can see behind them and it’s all to do with their amazing eyes.
Unlike human beings, house flies have compound eyes. These intricate eyes provided them with nearly a 360-degree field of view, which allows them to see behind themselves. Unlike ours, the eyes of a house fly don’t move. Being able to see in all directions allows them to navigate while also being on the lookout for danger.
7. The lifespan of a house fly isn’t that long
On average, the life cycle of a house fly only lasts for around 30 days, which means they don’t live for long at all.
However, in their short lifetime, they manage to accomplish quite a lot. House flies can lay up to 500 eggs in their lifetime which are usually in batches of around 75 to 150. So, although they don’t live long, an infestation can quickly arise through new generations.
8. House flies have amazing reaction times
Ever wondered why it’s so difficult to swat a fly? Well, it’s pretty much down to their quick reaction times and their agility.
House flies are able to process what they see and react accordingly at amazing speeds. To put things into perspective, our brains process around 60 images a second, whereas a fly can process around 250 in a single second.
9. They have unhygienic breeding habits
House flies aren’t really fans of rushing to the hospital to give birth. Their chosen method is rather disgusting as well.
House flies will lay their eggs on items such as feces, rotting carcasses, and decaying fruit. Why is this? Well, it’s mainly to provide the larvae (maggots) with something to eat when they hatch.
10. Male house flies are constantly looking for a date
Remember, in Fact 6, when we discussed the compound eyes of a fly? Well, they also play a role in how houseflies find a partner.
Studies show that there’s a specific region within the eyes of a male fly called the "love spot." It is pretty much used for detecting and chasing female flies. This "spot" is located within the dorsofrontal region of their eyes. This is typically used to detect small target motion, however, males also use it to stay “locked onto potential mates during aerial pursuit.”
Did you know the 1939 novel Gadsby is the longest book ever published that doesn’t contain the letter ‘e’?
Wikimedia Commons/Wetzel PublishingBack in 1939, American author Ernest Vincent Wright published Gadsby, a 50,000-word novel that doesn’t use the letter ‘e’ once. What’s more, it’s not the only novel that ditched the letter. Author Georges Perec also wrote the French-language book La Disparition without the letter ‘e’ in 1969. That’s even more astounding when you consider that the letter ‘e’ is the most commonly used letter in the English (and French!) language.
Did you know the smallest bones in the human body are found in your ear?
This illustrates the bones in the inner ear:
And this is how small those bones are:
Did you know lemons contain more sugar than strawberries?
And together they make one great drink!
Did you know the average U.S. household has 300,000 things in it?
Whether you’ve been inspired by Marie Kondo or not, you probably still have close to a third of a million items in your home. One report found that the average U.S. house has around 300,000 things in it. Yeah, we like stuff. Lots of stuff.
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