Canadians say “sorry” so much that a law was passed in 2009 declaring that an apology can’t be used as evidence of admission to guilt.
100 Mind-Blowing Be Facts
Back when dinosaurs existed, there used to be volcanoes that were erupting on the moon.
If you cut down a saguaro cactus in Arizona, you can be charged with a class-4 felony and penalized with jail time.
There is a company in Japan that has schools that teach you how to be funny. The first one opened in 1982. About 1,000 students take the course each year.
There is a boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 that can be defeated by not playing the game for a week or by changing the date.
In 2009, Stephen Hawking held a reception for time travellers but didn’t publicize it until after. This way, only those who could time travel would be able to attend. Nobody else attended.
The human eye is so sensitive that if the Earth were flat and it was a night, a candle’s flame could be seen from 30 miles away.
A wildlife technician, Richard Thomas, took the famous tongue-twister “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” and calculated a rough estimate of what the answer would be. It came out to be around 700 pounds.
Llamas can be used as guards against coyote attacks on sheep herds. Studies have proven that just one guard llama is an effective protector and can even kill the attacking coyotes.
Small as they may be, ladybugs have a unique smell that humans are incredibly sensitive to.
Nobody knows how the Academy Awards came to be referred to as the Oscars. The earliest mention was in 1932 and was made official in 1939.
One of the World Trade Centres was built to be 1,776 feet tall on purpose to reference the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Norway has a 25-year statute of limitation on murder. This means if the murder happened more than 25 years ago, they cannot be charged.
It’s not just humans who are right or left-handed. Most female cats prefer using their right paw, and males are more likely to be left-pawed.
Samsung means “three stars” in Korean. This was chosen by the founder because he wanted the company to be powerful and everlasting, like stars in the sky.
There is a Scottish tartan designed for Mars exploration. It was officially registered in 2016 to be worn during Mars science, exploration, and outreach activities.
Disappointment Island is an uninhabited island in New Zealand. Over 65,000 pairs of white-capped albatross live there. In 1868, a steel tanker crashed on the island, killing 68 people, and leaving the 15 survivors waiting 18 months to be rescued. In 1907, another ship ended up crashing there, and 12 men drowned.
In Toy Story 2, in the scene where Buzz gives a speech in front of the American flag, the flag was edited to be a globe for release in non-American countries.
A study from Harvard University finds that having no friends can be just as deadly as smoking. Both affect levels of a blood clotting protein.
The 1831 London Bridge was sold in 1962 when it needed to be replaced. It was bought by Lake Havasu City, Arizona, to help tourism.
Scrappy-Doo, widely considered to be one of the most hated characters in fiction, has not appeared in an animated Scooby-Doo production since 1988 due to audience backlash.
Bubble wrap was originally invented to be wallpaper. The creators tried to make plastic wallpaper with paper backing, but it came out with plastic backing.
Cats which have blue eyes for the duration of their lives are likely to be deaf.
There is a liquid that you can breathe in called perfluorohexane. Animals can be submerged in a bath of perfluorohexane without drowning.
Originally, the Pokémon Vulpix was going to be called “FoxFire.”
Because snow is composed of ice, it can be classified as a mineral. Water, however, does not fall under the same classification and is not a mineral.
Of the 9,000 Blockbuster stores that existed in the early 1990s, only one remains. The last Blockbuster on Earth can be found in Bend, Oregon, USA.
The Vatican had music that was forbidden to be copied and was only played twice per year. It was secret for almost 150 years until a 14-year-old Mozart heard it and transcribed it from memory.
Any prime number higher than three, when squared and subtracted by one, will always turn out to be a multiple of 24.
The money for the Statue of Liberty came from fundraising from auctions, a lottery, and boxing matches in Europe and the U.S. The Statue cost the French about $250,000, which today would be over 5.5 million dollars.
Before Apple bought Siri, it was originally going to be released as an app for Android & Blackberry.
A mason in 1700s Jerusalem left his wooden ladder behind after doing some work on a church, and now it can’t be moved without the agreement & permission of six different Christian leaders.
December 3rd is known as “Roof Over Your Head Day” – a day to be grateful for what we have in life!
Alaska is the only state in America that can be typed on one row of a traditional English QWERTY keyboard.
The first game to be played in space was Starcraft – Daniel Barry took it with him in 1999 on the Space Shuttle mission STS-96.
As a child, Jet Li performed with the Chinese National Wushu Team for President Nixon. Nixon asked him to be his bodyguard, but he declined.
In Svalbard, a remote Norwegian island, it is illegal to die. This is because bodies are unable to be buried safely due to the permafrost on the ground. If you are about to die, they fly you back to mainland Norway to pass on there.
When cellophane was invented in 1908, it was originally intended to be used to protect tablecloths from wine spills.
In the 1980s, the founder of Pringles, Fredric Baur, requested to be buried in a Pringles can. His children honoured the request.
In 18th Century England, having a pineapple was a symbol of wealth because of high import fees. They would be used as displays instead of being eaten.
Movie theatres make roughly 85% of their profit off concession stands. This is because ticket revenues have to be shared with the movie distributors.
By mixing nanoplatelets from carrots and other root vegetables, concrete mixtures can be significantly strengthened, meaning less cement is needed to achieve the same effect.
Honey and items immersed in honey can be preserved for centuries. The long shelf life is due to an enzyme found in the stomachs of bees.
If you ate nothing but rabbit meat, you would die from protein poisoning. This would be a mixture of too much protein and an absence of fat in the diet.
If you keep smelling something that is not there, you may be experiencing the earliest symptoms of schizophrenia.
Even though drugs are officially illegal in the Netherlands, it is legal to be under the influence of any drug to encourage people to seek medical help.
Comedian Mitch Hedberg never passed on a job, having been told “no” so often early in his career that he felt like if he didn’t say “yes,” he might not be allowed to perform again.
Kraft singles cannot be advertised as cheese because U.S. FDA standards state a food can only be identified as cheese if it contains “at least 51% real cheese”.
Both U.S. and Soviet militaries have trained dolphins. They can be used for rescuing lost naval swimmers and locating underwater mines.
October 19th is “Evaluate Your Life Day” – a day to think about your situation in life & wonder how it could be improved. Be sure to weigh the good and bad!
The total population of insects is estimated to be a billion times greater than that of the human population.
Originally, the Eiffel Tower was going to be erected in Barcelona, but the project was rejected because citizens thought it was an eyesore.
An amateur beekeeper and a group of scientists found that wax worms are capable of eating and breaking down plastic bags. The settings of a wax worm’s stomach can be recreated to safely dispose of plastic bags and bottles.
September 25th is known as “World Dream Day” – a day about chasing your dreams, no matter how big or small they may be!
During the Aztec reign, a slave could be bought for 100 cocoa beans.
“Infantry” sounds like “infant,” as typically, in ancient times, an army’s infantry consisted of soldiers too young or too inexperienced to ride a horse and be part of the cavalry.
Using a hands-free device to talk on the phone while driving is shown to be equally or more dangerous than driving drunk.
During the Prohibition era, the U.S. Government allowed Whiskey to be sold through pharmacies. As a result, Walgreens grew from 20 retail stores to almost 400.
When Michael Emerson was cast for the major television show Lost, he was only intended to be on for three episodes. However, the producers were so impressed with him that they promoted him to a series regular.
When tea started being sold in bags, originally, it was intended to be removed from the bags by customers, but they found it easier to brew the tea still in the bag.
A 2017 survey found Paraguay to be the happiest country in the world for the second year in a row.
Neptune was the first planet to be found through mathematical predictions rather than telescopic location.
The least common day to be born is May 22nd.
Due to the paralytics administered, if you wake up during surgery, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell anyone.
The modern salute is believed to be derived from how French Knights would greet each other by lifting the visors of their helmets.
Another term for your nieces or nephews would be “niblings.”
The insurance company backing the payouts for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” sued the show for being too easy.
Rabbits can be literally “scared to death” if approached by a predator when they are unaware.
The age of the Universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years. The oldest stars in the Milky Way, found in globular clusters, are 13.6 billion years old.
There were 19 living men in Austria found to be genetic relatives of Ötzi the Iceman in 2013, determined by blood testing.
Coca-Cola owns all website URLs that can be read as ahh, all the way up to 62 h’s.
Fruit flies were the first living creatures to be sent into space in 1947.
Victoria’s Secret was originally supposed to be a store for men to shop for their female partners without feeling embarrassed.
Mulan has the highest kill count of any Disney character, including villains, and was the first Disney Princess to be shown killing people on-screen.
Leather products like handbags or shoes can be polished with the inside of a banana skin, simply rub it on and wipe it off with a cloth.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, there were 3 sailors trapped in the USS West Virginia who could not be rescued, and it took 16 days for them to die.
Pope Francis used to be a nightclub bouncer.
Temperature affects your attitude towards others. For example, if you hold a warm coffee as opposed to a cold coffee, you are more likely to be more selfless towards others.
The creators of the PNG image file format wanted it to be pronounced as “ping.”
Dogs can be allergic to humans – specifically, their dander. While being treated for this allergy, it can take up to 12 months for a dog to recover.
Although the saltwater crocodile has the highest recorded bite force of any animal, the muscles to open its mouth are weak. Its mouth can be shut with a couple of layers of duct tape.
The only 15-letter word that can be spelt without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
In Texas, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, it is legal to kill Bigfoot if you find it. It would be considered a non-protected nongame animal.
“Led Zeppelin” originally wanted to be called “Lead Zeppelin,” but they felt that “thick Americans” would pronounce the word wrong.
In “Part 1” of the Battlestar Galactica mini-series, there is a scene where Serenity, the ship from Firefly, can be seen flying through the sky.
In Japanese legend, it is said that anyone who folds 1,000 origami cranes will be granted a wish by the Gods.
The largest piece of fossilised dinosaur poo discovered is over 30cm long and over two litres in volume. Believed to be a Tyrannosaurus rex turd, the fossilised dung (also named a ‘coprolite’) is helping scientists better understand what the dinosaur ate.
Water might not be wet. This is because most scientists define wetness as a liquid’s ability to maintain contact with a solid surface, meaning that water itself is not wet, but can make other objects wet.
The world’s oldest dog lived to 29.5 years old. While the median age a dog reaches tends to be about 10-15 years, one Australian cattle dog, ‘Bluey’, survived to the ripe old age of 29.5.
Most maps of the world are wrong. On most maps, the Mercator projection – first developed in 1569 – is still used. This method is wildly inaccurate and makes Alaska appear as large as Brazil and Greenland 14 times larger than it is. For a map to be completely accurate, it would need to be life-size and round, not flat.
Snails have teeth. Between 1,000 and 12,000 teeth, to be precise. They aren’t like ours, though, so don’t be thinking about snails with ridiculous toothy grins. You’ll find the snail’s tiny ‘teeth’ all over its file-like tongue.
Sound can be minus decibels. The quietest place on Earth is Microsoft’s anechoic chamber in Redmond, WA, USA, at -20.6 decibels. These anechoic chambers are built out of heavy concrete and brick and are mounted on springs to stop vibrations from getting in through the floor.
You can be heavily pregnant and not realise it. Cryptic pregnancies aren’t that uncommon, with 1 in 500 not recognised until at least halfway through and 1 in 2,500 not known until labour starts.
Your nails grow faster in hot summer. This is probably due to increased blood supply to the fingertips. It could also be because you’re less stressed while on holiday so less likely to gnaw away at ‘em.
Animals can be allergic to humans. Animals can be allergic to our dead skin cells – dander. These allergic reactions can be just like ours, too, including breathing difficulties and skin irritation.
Martial artists who smile before the start of a match are more likely to lose. This could be as a smile can convey fear or submissiveness.
You don’t like the sound of your voice because of the bones in your head. This may be because the bones in our head make our voice sound deeper.
Mirrors facing each other don’t produce infinite reflections. Each reflection will be darker than the last and eventually fade into invisibility. Mirrors absorb a fraction of the energy of the light striking them. The total number of reflections mirrors can produce? A few hundred.
There might be a cure for ‘evil’. Well, a cure for psychopathy, anyway. Psychologists argue that aspects of psychopathy can be ‘cured’ by cognitive behavioural therapy, which is said to reduce violent offences by those with the condition. Preliminary research suggests that computer-based cognitive training could help a psychopath experience empathy and regret, too.
You remember more dreams when you sleep badly. Research suggests that if you sleep badly and wake up multiple times throughout the night you will be more likely to recall the content of any dreams you had. You are also more likely to remember a dream when woken from one.