50 amazing facts about everyday items
Do you want to have your mind blown? Just look around you.
If you have already doubted the cliché ", everything has a story," we would like to direct your eyes on anything around you. This is true: all the simple and daily items you do not think twice, but who populate your very existence.
The tools you use daily, the things you have situated around the house, and even the clothes you wear on the daily have all unexpected stories, strange backsto-backstoord or strange facts about them that you do not have Probably no idea. Here we come back the curtain on all. You will never look at the world again around you the same thing!
1 High heels were at the origin of men's shoes
Sometimes around the 10eCentury, an enterprising soul in a riding culture understood that your foot would stay more firmly in the stirrups if your shoe had a little elevated heel. Innovation has spread rapidly and soon entire armies-men-mounted in the battle wearing pumps.
By the 17thecentury, theseShoes have become a trend of fashionin Europe; Since a horse was a high status symbol, wearing a high-heeled shoe meant that you had the medieval equivalent of a Mercedes-Benz. The men and women of the means wore heels until they finally fallen from fashion for men.
2 Playing cards have historical meaning
Does the legend have the four suites ofA play of playing cardsCome from the four pillars of the medieval economy: church hearts, shovels for military, diamonds for merchants and clubs for farmers. Each king is also known to represent a true historical sovereign: the king of hearts is Charles or Charlemagne, the King of Spades is the Biblical King David, the King of Diamonds is Julius Caesar and the King of Clubs is Alexander the Great. Whether what the bridge manufacturers have been intended or whether it was a tale added over time, it is undoubtedly true that the king of hearts is the only one without mustache!
3 More people have mobile phones than toilets
According to a 2015 UN report,2.5 billion 7 billion people in the worldLack of access to a toilet, particularly in the areas of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Given another report put the number of mobile phone users at 6 billion, it means that more than twice as many people have phones than the appropriate plumbing. This does not mean that there are too many cell phones, but say we still have a long way to go when it comes to providing sanitation to everyone. And for more insight in this invention globe covering, check20 amazing facts that you have never known about your smartphone.
4 Portable glasses have been around since 1284
Imagine that every time you need to read something, you had to lift a piece of glass the size of a mirror to your face. It was the best solution that humanity had come for vision problems before 13eCentury, when some enterprising people in Italy pushed glass and heavy frames sufficiently enough to finally be worn on the nose. A little later, SpanishglassesHas come with the idea of fixing ribbons to the frame so that the glasses can stay on the face of the wearer. Finally, in the 1700s, these ribbons have been replaced by the "arms" that today's glasses allow them to rest comfortably on the nose and ears.
5 The toothpaste blob on a toothbrush is called fueled
This little clearly corrugated toothpaste that seats to toothbrushes in advertisements has its own name ("feeding") and its own trial. In 2010,Palmolive colgate pursuedIts largest toothpaste rival, GlaxoSmithKline, to assert that it has exclusive rights to use an infant image on its packaging. Glaxo, Aquafresh's manufacturers, designed, and the question was settled confidentially outside the court.
6 The interior plants are good for you
As it stands out, the greatest greenery inside your home is not only nice to watch; It's also good for your physical and mental health. Studies have shown that interior chambers with plants have up to 60% fewer molds and bacteria suspended in the air.
Français Ivy, the peace lilies, the ferns of Boston and the palm trees of reeds and dwarves are particularly good for cleaning the air and the regulation of moisture. More than that,A Swedish researcherFound that the indoor plants tend to make people more contemplative and self-declative, because they often remind people of their loved ones (when they are given as a gift) and the beauty of nature. But to make sure you only get good greenery, read on the30 plants that you should never bring to your home.
7 The salt has been used as currency
Salt has been vital for human historyAnd exploration, from other things, it allows people to preserve food and take them with long journeys. The salt was so important that the ancient Romans used it as money, paying their soldiers in salt rations. In fact, that's where we get the English word "salary". It was also where we get the English word "salad" which has been named not for green green, but for those same Romans who liked to sprinkle their greens with salt to improve the flavor.
8 A gallon of gasoline contains 31,000 calories
Disclaimer: donot Drink gasoline. Okay, now that we have covered, if youcoulddrink gasoline, it would provide you31,000 energy calories, the equivalent of 15 to 20 days of food. Scientists understood this when they tried to compare the efficiency of a car to that of a bicycle human peddlery. By calculating the number of bicycle calories for a mile at 15 km / h, they discovered that a person could ride about 912 miles on a single gallon of gas.
9 Your smartphone could send astronauts to the moon
You probably know that the phone you carry in your pocket is light-years of technology five decades ago. However, it is difficult to grasp how advanced. In terms of treatment capacity, your phone is millions of times more powerful than the APOLLO guidance computer (AGC) that NASA sent astronauts to the moon in 1969. AGC cost $ 3.5 million each and a. been the size of a car, but even just the clock function of an iPhone 6 is comparable to sending120 000 000 Spacecraft Apollo-Era simultaneousat the moon and back.
10 Rice is the oldest food we still eat today
Humans have beenCultivate rice plants-which are in fact species of grass-for somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 years. All our modern domesticated rice can be found to a single harvest in the Pearl River Valley of China Ancienne. The only other food that could be so old is corn, which was domesticated in Mexico between 7,500 and 12,000 years.
11 The dog is not actually colored
Although you have been able to hear the myth that dogs do not see the colors, the truth is that they do, but in a more limited spectrum than humans. They can seeYellow, Blues and ViolettesVery good, but has trouble distinguishing red, oranges and greens. However, a reduced color vision allows dogs to have more receptors that have allowed them to see in low and track light movements. If you plan to redecorate your dog dog, stick to blue and purple.
12 Pen caps have holes to prevent choking
The next time you look at ground-based ballpoint pen, the Crystal BIC, in particular, with its light barrel and its ink color cap inside - take a closer look at the top of the cap. There is a hole. While some the theorists of the plot thoughtBIC did that expressDrying the ink, so you must buy more pens, the truth is much more thoughtful. In case a small child had to swallow the small shiny color cap, the hole guarantees that the cap does not completely block the respiratory tract, thus preventing choking.
13 The mother of a singer "Monkees" invented the white
Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, a pop quartet on television in the late 1960s and one of the "original boy bands" was the son of an unknown inventor. Although Betty Nesmith worked as executive secretary in a bank in 1951, she started using white temple painting to cover typing errors. After perfecting the formula and name it "Liquid paper"," she offered to sell his invention to IBM, but they passed, then she started Markeer herself. It was not until the mid-1960s she started to bring The substantial money of the latter; then, when she sold rights to the corporation in 1979, she received a pay check of $ 47.5 million, as well as royalties on future sales.
14 The first webcam was created to check a coffee maker
Nowadays, people use FaceTime and Skype to see and chat with friends around the world. However, webcam technology is native to a slightly less ambitious goal. In 1993, the researchers of the IT department at Cambridge University have just hated their chair to check the pot of coffee to see that it was empty. They wired a system that would broadcast images-three per minute - from the Trojan Horse Room where the pot was maintained on the internal computer network. At the end of the year, the flow went to the new World Wide Web and theTrojan room coffee potreaches briefly international fame.
15 The berries are not what you think they are
Botanists provide us with a very specific definition of a bay. It must have three layers: a protective outer layer, a fleshy medium and an inner portion that keeps the seeds. He must also have two or more seeds and come from a flower with one ovary. By this definition, the blueberries and cranberries are berries, but strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries are not. Things that are bays?Banana, Kiwis, watermelons, peppers, tomatoes and aubergines. But do not stress it about it - the scientific classification came after the word course as "strawberry". Plus, no one wants aubergine on the top of their pancakes!
16 It takes a lot of bees to make honey
"Busy like a bee", it is a saying for a reason of bee colonies that work tirelessly to convert the nectar honey to eat when the flowers are not floral. However, each bee can certainly not do it alone. An individual bee will only makeone-twelfth of the honey teaspoonin all his life. Fortunately, a single colony usually contains between 20,000 and 60,000 bees and honey is a very energy food. It contains natural preservatives, which means that Honey is one of the few foods that, if they are stored properly, never go wrong.
17 Albert Einstein co-invented refrigerator
Although the first refrigerators were manufactured by General Electric in 1911, the cooling liquids they used the frosted interior were very toxic. In fact, the fridge cooler leaks a sleeping family in Berlin in the 1920s. No other than Albert Einstein watched this tragedy in the newspaper and settling on the design of a solution. With his former Leo Szilar student, he created aRefrigerator design without moving partsSo there was no seal with the potential to flee. Although their design has been abandoned in the 1950s for more recent technological developments, Stanford's scientists come back today as a way to refrigerate areas without electricity.
18 Trailers used to run after the movie
These short outcomes of attractions were around 1913, but they played after the feature film, hence the name "trailer". However, it was obviously harder to drag the audience after the end of the film, so they were moved at the beginning, but the name stuck. Incidentally, this deep male voice that you probably think when you think aboutTrailersbelonged to Don Lafontaine, who expressed more than 5,000 movie trailers before his death in 2008.
19 Chocolate has been used as a medicine
Originally from Mesoamerica, chocolate-or cocoa bean from which it was not discovered by the Europeans until the end of the 1500s. Explorer Francisco Hernandez observed the Aztecs using cocoa as a medicine . When chocolate came to Western Europe shortly thereafter, the church is wary of its stimulating properties, but that it could be used for medical applications, it was considered acceptable.European doctorsPrescribes for everything, from fever to indigestion to melancholy. Although these cocoa mixtures are very different from today's chocolate, chocolate could have been forbidden to be forbidden not to be used as a medicine.
20 You can cool a beer in two minutes
In fact, you can cool a canned drink from the ambient temperature with justWater, ice and salt. Pour water into a medium-sized bowl and add as much ice as possible - two complete trays, if possible. Add two spoonfuls of salt and mix well. Niche canned drink in the mix and let yourself be rest for two minutes, stirring gently halfway. Of course, you could always simply pour the drink on the ice, but this method prevents a diluted beverage.
21 There is a reason for this hole in a spaghetti spoon
If you have aspaghetti spoon-It is one with the big teeth to separate pasta strands - take a look at it. Does he have a single circular hole in the middle? You could assume that it is to drain water when you lift the cooked spaghetti from the pot, but it's even more specific than that. The amount of dry spaghetti that is suitable for this hole is a single portion. No need to guess on the number of noodles you need!
22 The circles are safer than regular intersections
In the United States, roundabouts are quite rare that drivers often become confused or frustrated when they meet. However, they are more common in Europe because they promote security. A four-lane intersection offers 56 points of potential conflict - that is, you are likely to hit a pedestrian car or another car. A roundabout reduces this number to 16. They require drivers to slow down, but as a traffic light requires a halt on a large part of the time,The circles actually allow to travel more quickly, also.
23 The full name of Barbie is Barbara Millicent Roberts
Barbie was around since March 9, 1959, when she was unveiled at the New York Toy Fair. His creator, Ruth Handler, based his image on a German doll who was a favorite game of his daughter, Barbara.Barbie is the very first lookIt was a striped swimsuit in black and white, with hair pulled in a fashionable horse tail and since then it was inspiring for many fashion artists and designers around the world.
24 M & M'S'S'S STANDS for March and Murie
Forest Mars, son of the founder of the candy company, has developed a method of making chocolate drops in a hard candy shell and set up in New Jersey in 1941. He then approached a Friend to go to business together: Bruce Murie ... son of the founder of Hershey's. For the first years,M & M's contained Hershey's chocolateBut alas, the two men dropped in 1949 and March bought his share of society. The partnership may not have lasted eight years, but the two barons of candies are immortalized together in this ever popular snack name.
25 Wrap bubble was supposed to be wallpaper
In 1957, two engineers had the idea of glueing two shower curtains, trapping tiny air bubbles between them. They were trying to find a textured screen type, but it did not take off. Then they marketed their creation as a greenhouse insulation, but again, that went anywhere. Finally, in 1960, IBM had to ship delicate data processors and a phenomenon was born. The beloved tradition of bringing the individual bubbles appear could even have advantages for mental health - a recent study showed thatA minute of bubble envelope appearswas also relaxing as a 30-minute massage.
26 Your keyboard has been designed to slow you down
Have you ever examined the keyboard of your computer and you are asked why the letters seemed to be randomly scattered on the keys? In reality, it is not random at all. This QWERTY design (named for the top row of letters on the left) was invented in 1872 for the machines to write at the time. Typestylographs become faster than the machines they used, which would result in the jam of the writing machines, then slow down the long-term saved time. There is no need for the same result now, but everyone is so used toQWERTY keyboardsthat they even made the jump to smartphones.
27 Croissants are not French
Although many think of them as the good of the French cooked par excellence, the crescent created in Vienna, Austria, from the 13thecentury. At the time, it was a denser pastry known as Kipherl, but it was made in adistinctive crescent form. There are many apocryphal stories of how the crescent went to France, but the first documented appearance of the modern croissant - now made of puff pastry and fluffy butter - did not occur before the early 1800s When a Viennese baker started selling his crescent creations in Paris.
28 There are thousands of ways to shout a tie
A Swedish mathematician has recently calculated theNumber of different ways to link a tieto more than 175,000 people. This is particularly shocking given an earlier study sets the number firmly at 85 times a difference. The recent study took into consideration many variations that the previous one did not do it, including exposed nodes, packaging and windings. They even created a nodes generator to show you a variation (and how to attach it to random. Nevertheless, despite this discovery of Sartorial, if you take us,There is really only a good way to tie a tie.
29 A dollar ticket lasts only 18 months
Many countries use parts for their equivalent of a dollar because the money of the paper wears so quickly.Invoices of an American dollar-The most distributed denomination of the invoiceonly one last average of one and a half year Before having to get out of traffic and replaced. In fact, although the US currency prints approximately $ 696 million (or 37 million bills) per day, 95% of which are simply off to replace faded, torn, dirty or unresponsible invoices to be distributed.
30 The tip of your Shoelace has a name
These plastic or metal tips at both ends of your laces are called aglets, and they are more important than you think. Just try to lacrate a shoe without them. In fact, the aglets are around from the ancient Rome, although they are generally made of stone or glass at that time. The word "aglet" comes from the old FrenchhandletteWhich means needle. Who knew so much thought and the story went upyour topoelacesto unravel?
31 Coffee makes the world
Coffee could be incredibly important for your morning routine, but it's even more important for the global economy. Produced 25 million farmers in 50 countries around the world, coffee is second only to oil when it comes to the most negotiated products. Forty percent of the total produced each year comes from Brazil. Although New Yorkers drink theCaffeinated infusionat a rate seven timeshigher than the American national average, Finland is the country with the highest consumption of coffee per capita.
32 The computer mouse was originally a turtle
It's not hard to imagine how the computer's mouse got his name - it's small and fast, and the cord that connects it to the computer looks like a tail. However, early versions manufacturers have referred it as a turtle, with its hull hard on upper and moving parts below. Although early computer experts were not sure to catch,computer mouse(or Mouses-The Oxford English Dictionary accepts the two plots) are there to stay.
33 A SLINKY has been space
A popular toy since its invention in 1946, the humble Slinky has been delighted with girls and boys of all ages for more than 70 years. Made of flattened wire (originally) or plastic (for security reasons), an unregistered Slinky would be 87 feet long. It's not just a toy; The metal version was used by engineers and soldiers as a fortune antenna. In 1985,A SLINKY even brought into spaceaboard the discovery of the spatial shuttle. However, astronaut Dr. Seddon pointed out that the Slinky refused to blame themselves in zero gravity: "It's missing."
34 White eggs are as healthy as brown eggs
You may think that since brown eggs tend to cost more, they surely have more nutrients, less fat or something to do with health. After all, brown and whole wheat bread is better for you than white bread. In reality,The color of the shellDoes not say anything about the nutrition, quality or flavor of nutrition. Brown eggs are more expensive because the hens that lay them are larger and require more food, thus costing more. The cost is transmitted to the consumer.
35 IKEA product names follow a pattern
Statistically speaking, it is likely that you have at least one IKEA piece of furniture, and if you bought it and assemble it yourself, you will know that their products all have names, not numbers.The founder of IKEA is dyslexicAnd wanted people to easily identify various models of things, beds named by places of Norway, sofas named after Sweden, kitchen tables are places of interest to Finland, chairs receive male first names , etc. In this way, you will always remember your first rönnskär.
36 McDonald's sells the best Coca-Cola
Certainly, this "done" is a little subjective, but it is true that there is a tangible difference when it comes to the version of the Soda Mickey D fountain. Founder Ray Kroc sought Coca-Cola in 1955 and collaborated since. As a result, theCoca-Cola Syrup OwnerThis is shipped to plastic bags for other retailers rechain in stainless steel containers at McDonald's. Many people think it makes a cooker cooler and tastier.
37 Snapple's "real facts" are verified:
... but they are always sometimes false or absurdly ambiguous. In 2002, Snapple manufacturers started printing what they call "real facts" (quotation marks in the original) on the inside of their bottle caps. Although theirPresident of marketingsays that these factoides are "vigorously" checked and retired when they are no longer true (the average American certainly does not bother 18,000 marches a day, for example), the errors slide. Incidentally, the word "facturoid" itself does not refer to a small fact, but rather a hypothesis that repeats so many times that people assume it's true, just like "the actual facts" of Snapple.
38 Electric fans do not cool air
You can set a thermometer in front of an electric fan on the Turbo mode and the temperature would not fall. In fact, if you left the thermometer next to the operating parts, the temperature could actually increase thanks to the electric current. However, although the fan does not cool the air, it cooled you ... or something else with water. In addition to improving the circulation of air in a closed space, the fanacceleratedEvaporation, making liquids, such as sweat on your skin skin.
39 The pencils are yellow because of Chinese royalty
The pencils come in all kinds of colors, of course, but if you had to choose a "standard" pencil color, you would probably think of a yellow-gold color. It's not an accident. When pencils started entering mass production in the 1890s, the best available graphite (not lead) to fill them came from China. The pencil manufacturers wanted everyone to know that they only used the best Chinese graphite, so they painted theiryellow pencils, the traditional Chinese color of royalty.
40 The remote control predicts television
Although the first electric television came into 1927, the remote control is nearly three decades. Nikola Tesla invented a "TeleaTomaton" which could control some mechanical devices remotely with radio waves and started in 1898 with aremote control boat. Although technology is not caught at the time, the laziness caused by the invention of television has changed. The first TV remote, marketed as "lazy bos", was linked to the TV located through a long wire, but so many people stumbled as the wireless remote, manufactured in 1956, was an even greater success.
41 All standard CDs are 74 minutes long
Although they have been largely replaced by digital downloads for new music, you surely have some hanging CDs at your home. Compact discs have been the first largely available digital recordings of music and have been jointly produced by Phillips and Sony companies working together in the early 1980s. The first CDs were supposed to be 11.5 cm in diameter, but Sony A insisted on the fact that they are 12 cm, big enough to hold74 minutes of music. So-called, Sony Vice President's wife was a huge fan of Beethoven. The demand was therefore based on the fact that the ninth legendary symphony is exactly 74 minutes long.
42 Candy Cotton was invented by a dentist
Made of liquid sugar spun in tiny strands, Cotton Candy was invented in 1895 by John C. Wharton, a candy manufacturer and William Morrison, a dentist. They called for their creation "Fairy Floss" and sold thousands of portions to the Fair of Saint-Louis in the world in 1904. It was not renamed "Cotton Candy" until 1920 from Josef Lascaux ... Another Dentist ... who sold saccharin to his patients. A wonder if theseDentists of sugar coloringNot being tempted to hunt more business for themselves.
43 There is less gold than you think
We all know that gold is precious because it is rare. It is difficult to obtain an exact value forHow much gold we have underminedIn all human history, but some estimates put it to 10 billion ounces - or a cube about one-third of the size of the Washington Monument. And we will only do the equivalent of a 14-foot cube - on the size of a unique new gold room every year. Ironically, we only undermined about 1% of the gold of the earth ... because the rest is in the molten core of the planet.
44 Play-doh was originally a wallpaper cleaner
In the great tradition of toys invented by mistake, the substance similar to the clay we know now, because Play-Doh was sold for the first time in order to lift the soot of wallpaper. At the time, he had just broken white color, but when it was sold like a toy, it was produced in red, blue and yellow. Today, it is available in more than 50 colors and the current owner hasbro has marked this signature.Scent Play-DohYou have always had on your fingers as a child.
45 Amazon Box's sizes are not random
Most of us have probably had the experience oforder something small from Amazon-One book, CD or even pen and had arrived in a box that seems too big. If wasted. However, it has been reported that it results fromAmazon complex shipping algorithmThis takes into account the size of the shipping vehicle and the size of other parcels going to the same place. The small item is assigned a box size that will suit other packages and keep everything from slippery, saving fuel costs and be finally more environmentally friendly.
46 The launch of the rain boot is an international sport
While referring to rain boots like "Wellies" is less common in the United States, the British honor on 19eCentury Duc de Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, for the waterproof shoe he has ordered and put in place fashion. Nowadays, Wellies are popular around the world - to wear, of course, but also for sport. Some parts of the world have a traditional "Wellie Wangeing"Competition where candidates get up to see how far they can launch one of these rain boots. The recording is 44.97 meters, or 147.5 feet.
47 Makeup artists prevent plagiarism with false cities
As useful as Google Maps can be, paper cards always have their place in the world and makeup artists have a long tradition of placing copyright traps in their work to prevent others from stealing it. It often takes the form of "paper cities" orGhost colonies-places that appear on cards but do not actually exist. However, there is at least one case of a paper city becoming real. Agloe, New York, was just such a ghost regulation, but when a general store was built in the corresponding place, the owner read the card and named Agloe General Store, assuming the name of the region.
48 Microwaves were discovered by accident
More specifically, the discovery that microwaves could cook food was an accident. In the 1940s, Percy Spencer engineer built a magnetron for radar equipment when he noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket had begun to melt. Inspired by conducting additional tests, he directed microwaves to Popcorn (who jumped) and eggs (who exploded). Incidentally, scientists do not agree on how exactly,Microwave Heat foodBut they agree that they use much less energy than conventional ovens.
49 We can print food
Who among us did not get hungry but too lazy to get off the sofa when a shopping center tempting comes to television? Why can not you download and print your dinner in the same way as you could a photo? Well, we are not there yet, but in recent years, enterprising people have used3D Printer Technologyand specialized ingredient "ink" to print entire meals. Sugar sculptures and elaborate chocolate creations are possible, but pizzas, pasta, quiches and brownies are therefore.
50 You should not use adhesive tape on your ducts
Adhesive tape is a wonderful product, used as a solution to many domestic problems. However, the problem you should not use it is a leakage duct. Auniversity laboratoryTested many types of adhesive tape and sealing on different duct materials, and only the duct strip failed repeatedly and catastrophically. In many places, have adhesive tape on your ducts is actually a violation of the construction code. Keep your wallet, shoes, handbags, frame frames and hammocks, but get an aluminum strip or aerosol sealant for your ducts.