Raindrops form in a round shape, but as they fall, the speed causes the raindrop to morph into a hamburger shape, with a rounded top and flattened bottom.
3."American serial killer Edmund Kemper recorded over 5,000 hours of audiobook narration between 1977–87. If you're into audiobooks, you might've been read to by a 6'9" self-described 'bumblebutt' who killed eight people, including his mother." —u/SnowMiser26
4."Boanthropy is a psychological disorder in which a person believes they are a cow and try to live their life as one. Medical explanations suggest late-stage syphilis as one of the causes." —u/j451k4
5."The Dutch national color is orange, but the flag is red, white and blue striped, because the dye they used for orange faded fast at sea, while red did not." —u/3xTheSchwarm
6."Hans Zimmer was the keyboard player on 'Video Killed The Radio Star.'" —u/Kryodamus
7."Before being born, two of the four chambers of a baby's heart are not used, they're actually bypassed! There's no need to pump deoxygenated blood to the lungs when in the womb because the lungs aren't breathing air yet, and so are not supplying oxygen." —u/whomp1970
8."The sound used for a dolphin in nearly every single TV [show] and movie is actually the same Kookaburra bird recording." —u/HFXmer
In the 1963 movie, Flipper, which follows a young boy who befriends an injured dolphin, sound effect specialists used a sped-up kookaburra laugh to replicate a dolphin noise. It's now been used in thousands of shows and is frequently heard in SpongeBob SquarePants as a censoring effect.
9."The Jews were expelled from Spain in the 1400s. No Jewish children were born again in Spain until 1966." —u/RifleShower
10."Since 1969, there have been more Popes (five) than head coaches of the Pittsburgh Steelers (three)." — u/Marco_Escuandola
11."Of all the US States, Maine is the closest to Africa. Seriously look at a globe, not just that flat oval map you saw in every classroom growing up. Africa is further north than you think, and Maine is further east than you think." — u/slytherinprolly
12."The 'dog days of summer' refers to the time of the year when the dog star, Sirius, is brightest in the sky." — u/Personal_Return4940
This term has origins in both Greek and Roman mythology. Sirius, known as the dog star, is brightest in the sky around late July in the Northern Hemisphere, rising alongside the sun. They believed that the combination of the two stars together is what made the days the hottest of the year, and called them the "dog days" to honor Sirius.
13."Acronyms are things that you can pronounce like a word, like POTUS, NASA, [and] PETA. Initialisms include things like CIA, DEA, [and] ASPCA." —u/Gavman04
14."1.7 billion years before modern humans evolved, a natural nuclear fission reactor was active underneath what is modern Africa." —u/ProbablyABore
15."The Eiffel Tower can be 15 centimeters taller during the summer due to thermal expansion meaning the iron heats up, the particles gain kinetic energy, and take up more space." — u/_quinn_06
16."[It] takes 1,200 pounds of pressure to break a healthy femur." —u/diet_pepsi_lover
17."Carrots don’t improve your eyesight. That myth has its roots in a World War II propaganda campaign." —u/bookiebakermusic
18."The original red velvet cake didn’t use food coloring. The red color was a result of a chemical reaction between vinegar and dutch cocoa powder." —u/Dense_Calligrapher36
19."None of the Founding Fathers of America knew what the fuck a dinosaur was." —u/AmerisaurausRex
20."'Third World Countries' is a term taken from Cold War propaganda. The first world is America and her allies. The second world is the Soviets and their allies. The third world is everybody else. Over time it has been appropriated to mean 'poor countries,' but that’s not its original usage." — u/wheresmychin
Historians credit French demographer, Alfred Sauvy, with coining the term "third world countries" in a 1952 article. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the first and second world terms largely disappeared, although the United States and other countries with powerful economies are occasionally still referred to as "first world." Today, academics recommend using terms like “developing countries” and “low and lower-middle-income countries” in place of "third world."
21."It actually used to be called Duck Tape because the polyurethane coating was waterproof like a duck's feathers." —u/Judoka229
22."The British trained seagulls to poo on the periscopes of enemy submarines." —u/swallowyoursadness
The seagull plan began in 1915 when the British military tried to train seagulls to associate spotting a submarine with eating by feeding them through a fake submarine periscope. When this didn't work as intended, they tried to pivot by teaching the seagulls to poop on the periscopes, blinding the enemies. This plan was quickly abandoned as new developments in sonar research were made.
23."The chainsaw was originally invented to cut open the pelvis to assist in childbirth if there was a breech." —u/SaintCaspian
24."There are more Subway restaurants than there are McDonald’s." —u/According-Pool3427
25."Sauerkraut wasn’t invented in Germany. It was a primary source of food by the Chinese while building the Great Wall of China." — u/Dovahkiing12
26."In Victorian England, they would clean chimneys by throwing a goose down it." —u/jordymills
27."The cigarette lighter was invented before the match." — u/golu_281105
The first lighter was invented in 1823 by German chemist Johann Dobereiner, while English chemist John Walker developed the match three years later in 1826. The match was actually invented by accident: Walker was attempting to create a paste that could be used in guns when the wooden instrument he was using to mix the materials scraped against something and caught on fire.
28."The sun is actually white. At about 5,000K, it's brilliantly white, not yellow or red. The yellow sun is a product of atmospheric diffraction of light off of oxygen molecules, which also gives us a blue sky." —u/free_from_choice
Do you have any little-known facts that you wish more people knew? Share them in the comments!
Affluent Americans may want to double-check how much of their bank deposits are protected by government-backed insurance. The rules governing trust accounts just changed.
Former NBA guard Darius Morris has died at the age of 33. He played for five teams during his four NBA seasons. Morris played college basketball at Michigan.
Teams have made their big splashes in free agency and made their draft picks, it's time for you to do the same. It's fantasy football mock draft time. Some call this time of year best ball season, others know it's an opportunity to get a leg up on your competition for when you have to draft in August. The staff at Yahoo Fantasy did their first mock draft of the 2024 season to help you with the latter. Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens are here to break it all down by each round and crush some staff members in the process.
With free agency and the draft behind us, what 32 teams look like today will likely be what they look like Week 1 and beyond for the 2024 season. Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski reveal the post-draft fantasy power rankings. The duo break down the rankings in six tiers: Elite offensive ecosystems, teams on the cusp of being complete mixed bag ecosystems, offensive ecosystems with something to prove, offenses that could go either way, and offenses that are best to stay away from in fantasy.
It’s key to note that we’re not saying the “best team” or “best roster.” Instead, we’re talking about the best confluence of factors that can outline a path for survival and then success.