There is an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, about 840 miles from the South Pole. Not surprisingly, this ATM is the most southern ATM in the world. The most northern ATM in the world is in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway, which is about half way between Norway and the North Pole (about 800 miles from the North Pole). The world’s […]
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Japan is located along the Pacific “ring of fire”, on the edges of several continental and oceanic tectonic plates. This is an area of high seismic and volcanic activity from New Zealand, up through Japan, across to Alaska, and down the west coasts of North and South America. Japan’s specific location in this “ring”, causes frequent earthquakes as well as […]
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The word “spell” comes from the Proto-Germanic “spellan”, meaning “to tell”, which in turn gave rise to the Old English “spellian” and then “spell”. The first recorded instance of spell, being used to indicate writing or reciting the individual letters of a word, was in the early 15th century. It would later be given the meanings “incantation” (late 16th century) […]
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Along with Eric Clapton and Jack Nicholson, Ted Bundy was another famous person to have grown up thinking his mother was his sister. His father is unknown. His mother claims that it was a sailor she met named Jack Worthington, but his family suspected that was a cover up story and his real father is his grandfather, Samuel Cowell, who […]
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Due to an injury in college, Mantle almost didn’t have the chance to play professional baseball. During a football game, Mantle was kicked hard in the shin, which, aside from being really painful, resulted in the leg becoming severally infected and doctors initially thought they were going to have to amputate it. Mickey Mantle Facts
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Katy Perry’s real name is Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, but she created the stage name “Katy Perry” so as not to be confused with Kate Hudson. Before she did this, she did release an album under her real name, with the album called “Katy Hudson”. The album flopped. It wasn’t until she signed with Capitol Music Group in 2007 that she […]
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Mr. Rogers was a vegetarian. He didn’t smoke or drink or seem to have any major vices. He also stayed married to the same woman until his death; their marriage lasted 47 years. About the only even slightly “scandalous” thing Mr. Rogers seemed to do, which he revealed in an interview, was that he swam laps completely in the buff […]
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Bart Simpson is voiced by a woman, Nancy Cartwright, who also does the voices for Nelson, Ralph, Todd, and Flanders among others. Simpson Facts
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LEDs are much more efficient than “regular” incandescent light bulbs due to the fact that they give off almost no heat; so a much higher percentage of the electricity used goes towards making light, rather than in incandescent bulbs where a good percentage of it ends up being converted to heat. How an LED Works
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Despite their slightly unhealthy nature (150 calories each; with quite a dose of fat included), Hostess now churns out more than 1000 Twinkies per minute or about 500 million per year. The cakes are each baked for 12 minutes; injected with cream; flipped over so the round bottom is now the top; then packaged for shipping. Twinkie Facts
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TNT is poisonous and skin exposure will generally cause irritation and your skin will turn bright yellow or orange. Further, if you eat TNT, your pee will turn red and look like blood, though it is not. During WWI, munitions workers who handled TNT were called “canary girls” or “canaries” because their skin that was exposed to the TNT turned […]
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Light travels from the Sun to the Earth in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds. While it only takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds for the light from the surface of the sun to reach us, it actually takes about 10,000-170,000 years for a photon to travel from the core of the sun to the surface. Sources and Further Reading
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The Honeyguide is a type of bird that will lead certain animals, most notably the Honey Badger, to beehives. The bird will then wait for the Honey Badger to break open the beehive and to have its fill. Once the Honey Badger has left, the Honeyguide will fly in and eat the leftover larvae and beeswax. Honeyguides are also known […]
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The word “Velcro” is derived from the French “velour” (velvet) and “crochet” (hooks). So essentially, Velcro just means “hooked velvet”. Source
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French toast is traditionally made out of stale bread. Bread has been a staple food for most cultures since food first began being prepared and, up until very recently, the vast majority of humans would have never dreamed of wasting any food; thus, one has to find a way to make stale bread palatable. Soaking it in milk and egg […]
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The ancient Romans once used dolphins to help them fish. The dolphins were trained to drive fish towards fishermen. Once a large enough group of fish was near the fisherman, the dolphins would signal the fishermen to cast their nets. Today, this practice can still be observed in places like Santa Catarina, Brazil. Source
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Peter Jackson didn’t see the completed theatrical version of the Return of the King film from start to finish until watching it at the premiere in New Zealand. This was due to the fact that the final theatrical version of that film wasn’t completed until just five days before that premier. Interestingly, Jackson actually continued to film the Return of […]
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Mr. Rogers famously didn’t mind if people recorded his show with a VCR, arguing for people’s right to do so in a 1979 case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. At the time, it was being argued by the opposition that this constituted a copyright infringement. Mr. Rogers was one of the few involved in television that […]
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