12 Bizarre Facts

Necessity drove invention. Engineer Walter Hunt knew this from experience. Born in New York in 1796, Hunt spent his life inventing. One of Hunt's key inventions, a small one, was the safety pin.

Hunt developed the safety pin out of necessity.Hunt was $15 in debt.In the 19th century, he had no small sum. He considered how to create something to pay bills. While twisting a wire, Hunt found a new idea: a pin that folds and clasps. This created the modern safety pin.

Safety pin versions existed before Hunt.They existed since the ancient world.These pins were called fibulae; they fastened things. Hunt improved on earlier fibulae by adding a spring to the pins.The spring made the fastener tighter and more secure.This design created a tighter, more secure fastener.

The safety pin became a household item. Hunt did not see the full value of his invention.He sold the rights to the invention for $400.He sold the rights for $400.

Frogs control their food by vomiting their entire stomach if they suspect poison. They then quickly clean the stomach.Frogs clean the stomach to purge toxins before swallowing them back.This process is fast. Researchers observed a frog takes as little as .3 seconds to throw up, clean the stomach, and reclaim it.

The frog's process is not long. Researchers noted it takes a frog as little as .3 seconds to throw up, clean the stomach, and reclaim it.Researchers noted a frog takes as little as .3 seconds to throw up, clean the stomach, and reclaim it.Researchers observed a frog takes as little as .3 seconds to throw up, clean the stomach, and reclaim it.

Rumors suggest lobsters live forever. These crustaceans actually live for a few decades.Female lobsters usually outlive males. The oldest recorded female lobster lived to 72.The oldest recorded female lobster lived to 72.

Lobsters are not immortal. Even though they are creatures, their bodies keep growing.Their bodies keep growing right up until they die. Lobsters can get surprisingly large.The largest lobster weighed 44 pounds when fishermen caught it in Nova Scotia in 1977.Fishermen caught the largest lobster weighing 44 pounds in Nova Scotia in 1977.This happened in Nova Scotia in 1977.

Each molting lets the lobster grow larger. After shedding its shell, a lobster consumes it.A lobster consumes the shed shell to recapture lost nutrients.Lobsters consume the shell to get back nutrients they would lose otherwise.

Messages in bottles capture imagination because they show human communication across time and space.

People have put messages in bottles and sent them to sea over millennia. The earliest instance seems to be 310 BCE when Greek philosopher Theophrastus acted.Theophrastus put a message-filled bottle into the ocean to track the Mediterranean Sea.They put it into the ocean to track the Mediterranean Sea's flow.

Messages in a bottle drift until found because they depend on the sea. Some drift longer than others.

The oldest known bottle drifted at sea for 132 years before discovery.The oldest known bottle drifted at sea for 132 years before discovery.The bottle originated on the Paula.The bottle originated on the Paula.The Paula was a German ship traveling in the Indian Ocean in 1886.

Whoever threw the message overboard likely did so on purpose. German vessels used messages in bottles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.The experiment involved tracking ocean currents.The message in the bottle asked finders to record the location and return it to Germany.

Modern invention created time zones to manage travel and communication via railroads, steamships, and telegraphs.

In 1878, SirSandford Fleming proposed the ideaHe divided the world into 24 time zones using lines of longitude. Zones use hours, but some areas use finer half-hour sub-zones.

Time zones mirror the earth's longitude lines. Thus, the North Pole and South Pole have no time zones.all longitude lines meet there..

The poles' position creates long, disorienting periods of daylight or darkness, making time feel like it stops. Science writer Katie Weeman explained this inScientific AmericanScientific American:

One day, bounded by sunrise and sunset, occurs once a year at the North Pole. This makes one question: Does a single day up North last months? Is a year just one day?PolarsternThe Polarstern faced darkness in October after a three-week sunset. Meanwhile, the other pole experienced the first part of a three-week sunrise after months of black.

The "Man of the Hole," the last member of an Indigenous Brazilian tribe, was the sole survivor in the Brazilian Amazon. Ranchers and miners killed his community members over several decades. By the late 1990s, he hadThe man becomes the last survivor..

The man got his nickname because he dug holes. Researchers still do not know what those holes did or what they meant to him.

Officials with Funai, an Indigenous agency in Brazil, [were involved].discovered the mandied in 2022.

Long Island juts from New York City. Its density near NYC—including Brooklyn and Queens—makes itthe 13th most populous state if it gains statehood.in the country if it ever wins statehood.

The United States Supreme Court ruled Long Island's name is wrong in 1985.cannot be considered an island.Instead, the court said Long Island functions as a peninsula attached to mainland New York.

Thereasoning behind this decisiondetermined who had jurisdiction over the land strip. If it were an island, the federal government would claim rights to the surrounding sound; if it was a peninsula, the sound belonged to New York State. The state argued the East River, which separates Manhattan from Long Island,is a tidal strait, making Long Island a peninsula.

Everyone has a party trick. John Cummings's trick was riskier: he swallowed knives. A sailor by trade, Cummings allegedly first wanted to swallow knives whenEveryone has a party trick. John Cummings's trick was riskier. He swallowed knives. A sailor by trade, Cummings first got interested in swallowing knives whenhe saw a performer do it in France in 1799. Cummings wanted to try it. He swallowed four knives in one sitting. Cummings later swallowed knives regularly.

He swallowed20 knives.Unlike before, he did not pass these knives. Instead, he became sick and saw a doctor. Over several years, Cummings coughed up or passed knife pieces. After health problems, he died in 1809.

An autopsy showed a small piece of a knife hadfinally killed himby piercing some of his organs.

He swallowed at least 30 knives in his life.

Disneyland's slogan, “the happiest place on earth,” does not always mean everyone can visit.

Fresh off his success atPsycho, director Alfred Hitchcock planned another film: The Blind Man, starring Hollywood legend James Stewart. Stewart's character joins a chase in an amusement park that wasclearly based on Disneyland..

When Disney learned of Hitchcock's plans, John Russell Tyler’s book, Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, he promptly stated that Hitchcock, maker of that gross moviePsycho, be allowed to shoot a foot of film in Disneyland.

NASA scientists showed cleverness when they built a special “space pen” astronauts could use in space. This happened in zero-gravity. How else could astronauts take notes or write if gravity couldn't pull the ink to the pen?

NASA scientists did not invent the space pen.

NASA scientists did consider which writing tools worked for astronauts. They rejected pencils because they fearedbroken lead could cause issues on the spacecraft.Rather than making their own pen, NASA contacted the Fisher Pen Company, a Chicago maker developing a pen for zero gravity. As Fisher

NASA did not invent the space pen or even try. NASA contacted the Fisher Pen Company, a Chicago maker building a pen for zero gravity. As Fisherspokesperson Gabriel Reyes saidReuters:

NASA did not develop the pen. Paul C. Fisher, founder of the Fisher Pen Company, personally committed to making a zero-gravity pen. He spent over $1 million and ten years developing the pressurized ink cartridge that lets pens work in zero gravity and harsh conditions.

The pen debuted with NASA in 1968. Astronauts used it on the Apollo 7 flight.

Self-immolation, lighting oneself on fire, has a political history. For instance, in 1963, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated in Saigon toprotest the South Vietnamese governmentSelf-immolation history spans millennia. One case dates to 19 BCE. A man from South Asia burned himself alive in Athens.

Ancient writers say Zarmanochegas (or Zarmarus) came to Athens from Barygaza, now Bharuch in western India. His reason for coming likely involved Roman Emperor Augustus visiting the city and emissaries meeting for business.Augustus and Zarmanochegas joined an Athenian mystery cult.The man from Barygaza joined an Athenian mystery cult. He chose to self-immolate.

Ancient historian Cassius Dio told the story.Cassius Dio recounted the events.:

Zarmarus, one of the Indians, wanted to die. He might have done this because he was a sage, driven by ambition, or because of old age, or to show off for Augustus and the Athenians (since Augustus had reached Athens). Thus, he joined the mysteries of the two goddesses, which were out of season because Augustus, also an initiate, was involved. He then threw himself into the fire.

What is the name for the device people hold to switch TV channels? Though the right word is 'remote control,' some call this small box a clicker.

Modern remotes do not make clicking sounds. So, where did this nickname start?

Remote controls for radios came before TV devices. By the 1950s, TV makers created easier ways for customers to change channels instead of standing up to turn the dial.

In 1956, Zenith Electronics inventor Robert Adler made a remote control.Robert Adler designed a remote control.This controller talked to its TV using ultrasonic sound. The controller made a clicking sound beyond human hearing. Still, it gave the device its nickname.The sound gave the device its nickname..