Useless Facts

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The U.S. Air Force introduced Bob Ross to painting.​

Bob Ross via YouTube
The late Bob Ross, the host of The Joy of Painting, was known for being a soft-spoken artist with a signature hairstyle and a stunning talent for painting dreamy landscapes filled with happy trees. But he might not have ever been the painter we came to adore if he hadn't been in the U.S. Air Force, according to an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. While rising to the rank of Master Sergeant, Ross was also able to take a painting class, and he was inspired by the scenery in Alaska where he was stationed. The state's landscape would often pop up in his work throughout his artistic career.

 

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The sun makes up more than 99 percent of our solar system's mass.​

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The Earth may seem like a giant place, but our planet is incredibly small compared to the sun, which makes up an incredible 99.8 percent of our solar system's entire mass, according to the experts at Space.com.

 

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There's a tiny home in Virginia called the "Spite House" because that's why it was built.​

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In the Old Town district in Alexandria, Virginia, John Hollensbury once owned a house on Queen Street. He apparently hated the fact that horse-drawn wagons would travel down the alley beside his building and wasn't fond of the people who liked to hang out in the space either. So, to spite them, he built a second tiny house in the alley to keep everyone out, which is how the home earned its name: the "Spite House," according to The New York Times. The house is seven feet wide and 25 feet deep. There's also a walled patio outside that goes back an additional 12 feet.

 

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In old Christian art, good angels were red and Satan was blue.​

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If you were to draw the devil, you'd probably give him horns, a tail, and a pitchfork. And even if you decided to take a few creative liberties, there's still a good chance you'd make your demon red from head to toe. But this is a modern interpretation. The oldest representations of Satan in early Christian art actually showed him as a blue angel, while the good angels were red.

 

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The first Nerf ball package claimed the toy "can't hurt babies or old people."​

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When Parker Brothers released the first Nerf ball in 1970, they wanted the public to be aware of how safe the four-inch foam toy was. To do that, they included text on the box that told buyers, "Throw it indoors. You can't damage lamps or break windows." They also added, "You can't hurt babies or old people." What a selling point!

 

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The tallest supported bamboo sculpture is more than 164-feet high.​

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In April 2019, the Kasama Kita Sa Barangay Foundation and the people of Bayambang in the Philippines set the Guinness World Record for the tallest supported bamboo structure. They built a sculpture of St. Vincent Ferrer that stood 164 feet and 9 inches tall.

 

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A Harry Potter book filled with typos sold for $90,000.​

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Although American readers may recognize the book as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the British story was originally titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. And when a few of the first editions were printed, there were some mistakes inside. On top of the word "philosopher" being misspelled on the back cover, "1 wand" was listed twice when it came to the supplies Harry was meant to take to school. When one of these books was up for auction in March 2019, it sold for a staggering $90,000.

 

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There is a metallic asteroid shaped like a dog bone named "Kleopatra."​

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Space is filled with all kinds of wonders, including an asteroid called "Kleopatra." While it sounds like an Egyptian queen, the metallic minor planet—which has two of its own moons, Alexhelios and Cleoselene—is similar in shape to a dog bone

 

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Queen Elizabeth II's cows sleep on waterbeds.​

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It turns out even Queen Elizabeth II's cows enjoy a life of luxury. The monarch's 165 dairy cows spend much of their time snoozing and relaxing on waterbeds, said Mark Osman, the manager of the royal's farm at Windsor Great Park, in an episode of BBC's Countryfile. "As the cow lies down, the water pushes underneath the pressure points where the cow lies, and the cow ends up floating," he said.

 

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A journalist in 1950 predicted that women in the year 2000 would be amazons like Wonder Woman.​

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In 1950, an Associated Press article titled "How Experts Think We'll Live in 2000 A.D." included a prediction from editor Dorothy Roe, who thought that in the future, the average woman would "outsize Diana," AKA Wonder Woman.

"She will be more than six feet tall, wear a size 11 shoe, have shoulders like a wrestler and muscles like a truck driver," Roe said. "Her proportions will be perfect, though Amazonian, because science will have perfected a balanced ration of vitamins, proteins, and minerals that will produce the maximum bodily efficiency, the minimum of fat." She also thought that women would forgo traditional meals and instead opt for "food capsules."

 

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A British teen changed his name to "Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined."​

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In 2008, then-19-year-old George Garratt from the U.K. legally changed his name to this incredibly long moniker, which was believed to be the longest name in the world. Once he "decided upon a theme of superheroes," he apparently just went for it.

Unfortunately, the name change also meant that his grandmother was no longer speaking to him, Mr. Captain Fantastic told The Telegraph.

 

[01dragonslayer]

According to the Bible, the chicken came before the egg.
man holding two baby birds in his hand
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If you pick up a Bible and flip to Genesis 1:20–22, you'll find the following: "And God said, 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.' So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.'"


Therefore, according to Moses, who is credited with writing Genesis, God made birds first and the egg would have come afterward when those birds were "fruitful" and multiplied.

 

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Scientists discovered the fossil of a 430-million-year-old monster.​

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Those who love creepy creatures likely know that the Cthulhu is a fictional monster that first popped up in H. P. Lovecraft's 1928 tale The Call of Cthulhu. And in 2019, when scientists found a 430-million-year-old fossil with tentacle-like features that reminded them of the Cthulhu (which was much like an octopus), they officially named the newly discovered species the Sollasina Cthulhu, according to the research they published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

 

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Facial reconstruction was used to see what dogs looked like 4,000 years ago.​

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In April 2019, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) gave us a look at a Neolithic dog that lived around 4,000 years ago—or rather, they gave us a glimpse at what the ancient canine probably looked like by using a skull that was found in 1901 in Scotland. A CT-scan of the skull was taken and a 3D print was created, which forensic artist Amy Thornton then used as a base to add fake muscle, skin, and hair, resulting in a model of the pup.


"Looking at this dog helps us better relate to the people who cared for and venerated these animals," HES interpretation manager Steve Farrar explained.

 

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The Bubonic plague encouraged Shakespeare to write poetry.​

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In an attempt to prevent the plague from spreading back in Shakespeare's time, many public places were shut down until things improved. That's why theaters were closed in Jan. 1593 and didn't reopen until the spring of 1594. This closure meant that playwrights like William Shakespeare were temporarily out of work. And that's when the Bard spent his time writing poetry instead of focusing on his famous plays. It's likely when he began his 154 sonnets.

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Antarctica is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth.​

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The continent is "governed internationally" through the Antarctic Treaty System, which includes Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. However, the land can only be used for "peaceful purposes"—that, and a whole lot of science.

 

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More human twins are being born now than ever before.​

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Do you get the feeling that there are more twins around these days than there used to be? No? Well, you should, because according to a new study in the journal Human Reproduction, the "twinning rate" has increased by one-third since the '80s—up from 9 to 12 twins per 1,000 deliveries. Currently that adds up to about 1.6 million twins born each year across the world—meaning one out of every 42 babies is a twin. Helping drive this is the increasing use of medically assisted reproduction, and the delay in childbearing (twinning has been found to increase with a mother's age).

 

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A narwhal's tusk reveals its past living conditions.​

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Much like the rings of a tree can tell you its age and provide clues about the life it has lived, so too does the long tusk of the narwhal. Recent research led by a bioscience professor at Denmark's Aarhus University has shown that this peculiar arctic whale adds a layer to its distinctive tusk each year. And not only do these layers offer insight into the age of the narwhal (they've been known to live up to 50 years) but the conditions in which they lived—such as level of pollution, temperature levels, and even what their diet consisted of. You are what you eat!

 

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The first person convicted of speeding was going eight mph.​

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According to Guinness World Records, the first person to be charged with speeding was Walter Arnold of the English village of Paddock Wood, Kent. On Jan. 28, 1896, Arnold was spotted going four times the speed limit in his 19th-century Benz—but since the speed limit at the time was just two miles per hour, that meant he was not going too fast by today's standards. The constable had to chase him down on his bicycle, issuing a ticket for £4 7s and earning Arnold the speedy distinction. For more trivia to impress, here are 40 Random Obscure Facts That Will Make Everyone Think You're a Genius.

 

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"New car smell" is the scent of dozens of chemicals.​

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Few odors are as pleasing as "new car smell"—and not just because it's nice to be in a brand new car. But while the scent may be strangely satisfying, the fact is that it's pretty much just a combination of 50+ chemicals (known as "volatile organic compounds") that are released into the car, decaying quickly over time. The concentrations found in a typical new car aren't dangerous, but among the VOCs that make up much of that new car smell are those found in nail polish, auto fuel, and petroleum.