I Honestly Did Not Need to Know That -- Useless Facts

[Phaesaris]

Did you know that a duck's quack doesn't echo? Or that a dime has 118 ridges around the edges? Or that Sherlock never actually said, "Elementary, my dear Watson."?

Useless facts are just that -- useless. But they're sure as hell fun to learn and share! What's some stupid facts that make you go, "I did not need to know that."?

[mdk]

Did you know that the current US $20 bill has a wrong eagle?

Eagles on currency and seals and that sort of thing are supposed to face to their right. This position (of looking to one's right, despite being seen from such a direction that they're looking to the viewer's left) is called looking 'Dexter,' which comes from the latin word meaning right. The alternative -- looking to one's left -- is called 'Sinister.' The large eagle watermark on the current US $20 bill is looking sinister, which is a national symbol faux pas by the treasury department, who could not be reached for comment.

[Keyguyperson]

The USA was designing a gigantic space battleship propelled by blowing up nukes behind it. It would be constructed by shipbuilders, and launched on a rocket where just the booster is twice the size of the Saturn V. It would have carried enough nuclear missiles to obliterate a continent, as well as five-inch naval guns, six hypersonic landing boats, and several hundred Casaba howitzers (you know, the weapons that shoot NUCLEAR FLAME). A scale model was built and shown to President Kennedy. When he saw how powerful it was, he ordered that the model be destroyed and the project closed because he was horrified by it.

[January]

Armadillos can transmit leprosy to humans.

[Natsume Honnaji]

Black cats are considered lucky in Japan

[The Nexerus]

In the time you've been reading this sentence, eleven people have died.

[Vilageidiotx]

Movie theaters were one of the first places to adopt air conditioning in the United States, bringing in customers who wanted to avoid the summer heat and increasing their revenue.

[Hyakurin9]

A flock of Crows is called a Murder.

Breakfast beer is and was, a real thing. In ancient times and before coffee and tea, beer that was very low in ABV and very high in carbs, proteins, vitamins and minerals was consumed at breakfast.

[tsukune]

Ancient Chinese people have much longer lifespan than us modern rats. There are records of some who can live up to 800 years old.

[Darcs]

Humans don't posses a sense for detecting wetness, what we feel as wetness is actually just several of our senses of touch working together, primarily superficial pressure and temperature.

[Fillet]

Ancient Chinese people have much longer lifespan than us modern rats. There are records of some who can live up to 800 years old.

@tsukune

Source?

[Yin]

Mexico and Japan are best friends and have been for awhile which is interesting considering how many similarities they have.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Mugabe, the 91 year old president of Zimbabwe is an energetic fan of exercise, though he doesn't use the gym equipment his wife has installed in his presidential residences. He's also an avid fan of cricket, calling it the sport of gentlemen and he wants Zimbabwe to be a nation of gentlemen. He also does not like Bob Marley nor Jamaica and can therefore be described as your typical violent black grandpa who happens to have run an African nation since its independence.

[Keyguyperson]

You know the Ghouls from Fallout? There are accounts of versions of them in real life. But they're more horrifying and sad.

(Unconfirmed) accounts say that some victims of the atmoic bombings had their skin burnt to a crisp and turned into hide that looked like reptilian scales from far away, while the only thing that remained of their face was a constantly open mouth-like hole. They just roamed around on the outskirts of the blast radius until they dropped dead, as they couldn't eat or drink. They didn't even seem self-aware after what had happened.

[Vilageidiotx]

You know the Ghouls from Fallout? There are accounts of versions of them in real life. But they're more horrifying and sad.

(Unconfirmed) accounts say that some victims of the atmoic bombings had their skin burnt to a crisp and turned into hide that looked like reptilian scales from far away, while the only thing that remained of their face was a constantly open mouth-like hole. They just roamed around on the outskirts of the blast radius until they dropped dead, as they couldn't eat or drink. They didn't even seem self-aware after what had happened.

@Keyguyperson

Woah, I need a source for that one just because, if it is true, i'd like to read more.

[Keyguyperson]

<Snipped quote by Keyguyperson>

Woah, I need a source for that one just because, if it is true, i'd like to read more.

@Vilageidiotx

It's from The Last Train From Hiroshima, a book that was pulled off shelves because some of the people whom were interviewed were found to be frauds. A revised version was released with only the accounts from people who really survived the blasts, as well as multiple new interviewees. It's called To Hell And Back: The Last Train From Hiroshima. I haven't read it, so I can't say if the accounts are still in there. Still, I can't imagine it not being a good read.

[Billsomething]

Male bees can't have father because a male be can only be born from an unfertilized egg

In Frozen Elsa was originally supposed to be the villain of the movie She was going to be a hammy villain, voiced by Megan Mullally and her personality was going to be based on Bette Midler, and Amy Winehouse. but thanks to a single song this was changed into what we see in the movie

[LadyTale]

Once the Lichtenstein army went to Italy with 80 men and came back with 81.

The English government exhumed Oliver Cromwell three years after his death so they could put him on trial for treason and then execute his corpse.

In the scene in Lord of the Rings where Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli find the burning pile of orc corpses, the actor who played Aragorn actually broke his toe kicking an orc helmet.

The Nazgul scream is actually the director's wife screaming with a sore throat, combined with the sounds of various farm animals.

[Tulpa]

[Raxacoricofallapatorius]

If you give Coca-cola to a Raccoon it will die because the carbonation will cause its stomach to explode.

Horses can't vomit.

In a woman's lifetime she will lose about ten gallons of blood through menstruation. That is enough blood loss to die twenty times over.