Interesting Facts - Page 172

856
In 1988, only one state in the U.S. allowed a person to carry a firearm without a permit: Vermont. As of 2023, more than half of the states allow it.
857
In 1860, just before the Civil War, about 57% of the population of South Carolina were slaves.
858
The words moron, imbecile, and idiot used to have precise meanings. A moron was an adult with a mental age of 7-10, an imbecile had a mental age of 3–7, and an idiot had a mental age of 2 or less.
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According to a recent study, about 7% of all people who have ever lived are alive right now.
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The country of Bangladesh has suffered seven of the eight deadliest tropical storms in the world since 1900. The deadliest, the Bhola cyclone of 1970, killed over 300,000 people.
17 Comments
+6
Level 59
May 7, 2023
1. A well-known British medical journal, The Lancet, is named after the tool used in blood-letting.

2. Sauerkrout was renamed Liberty Cabbage during WW1 in the United States due to Anti-German sentiment.

4. The Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted 38-45 minutes.

5. The American National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, has 3 extra stanzas that aren't sung. The German National Anthem is somewhat similar.

7. 24 Elements are man-made (out of 118). More could be possible.

9. Taiwan has border disputes with many countries that it doesn't border (being an island), since it claims the entirety of the Qing Dynasty.

10. The size of TVs is determined by their length diagonally (is this common knowledge?)

11. Wilmer McLean fled his home which was near the Battle of Bull Run, to escape the fighting as the American Civil War started. However, the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, considered the end of the war, happened in his parlor.

12. 117,000,000,000 humans have ever lived. That's 117 billion.

+1
Level 61
May 8, 2023
yay you fixed fact 9
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Level 59
May 8, 2023
Interesting Facts #531 (writing for something later)
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Level 84
May 9, 2023
About Fact 5: I think several countries can say the same thing.

For example, the Mexican National Anthem original lyrics had 10 stanzas and a chorus sung between each stanza, at the beginning and at the end of the anthem.

In 1943, it got shortened to four stanzas (I, V, VI and X), as the other ones made reference to Antonio López de Santa Anna and Agustín de Iturbide, controversial figures in the modern Mexican history.

This was made official until 1984, so technically speaking, the anthem is now made of 4 stanzas and a chorus (sung 5 times).

However, nowadays, in nearly every event, you would only hear the first stanza and the chorus (sung twice). Only official events use the four-stanza anthem.

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Level 78
May 21, 2023
sauerkraut*
+2
Level 54
Dec 20, 2023
Where's facts no. 3, 6 and 8?
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Level 54
May 7, 2023
Michelangelo wrote a poem about how much he hated painting the Sistine Chapel
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Level 69
May 8, 2023
Despite both being from Michigan, Henry Ford and Gerald Ford were not related.
+1
Level 69
May 8, 2023
Heinrich Himmler claimed to have found the Lance of Longinus, though the Vatican has never certified this.
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Level 60
May 9, 2023
Liberia's largest city, Monrovia, has 18 times more people than its next largest city, Ganta. (1 million vs 57000).

Decimation originally meant killing every tenth person but now more means large destruction.

There is only 2 official Jewish jurisdictions in the world, one being Israel and the other being the Jewish Autonomous Oblast which has a 1% Jewish population.

The Russian Army has their own beauty pageant named "Miss Russian Army"

Kasongo Ilunga was supposedly the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the DRC for 4 months despite not being real, this damaged the reputation of the government as this happened the first democratic election in over 40 years.

The Roman Empire possibly had an embassy to China

+1
Level 59
May 9, 2023
Hence the Deci
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Level 51
May 22, 2023
East Timor's largest City, Dili has almost 15 times more people that its next largest city, Baucau (222000 vs 15000)
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Level 64
May 9, 2023
Took me a solid minute to read #859
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Level 89
Jul 29, 2023
I stumbled on 858.
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Level 69
May 9, 2023
Ohio wasn't officially admitted by Congress until 1953.
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Level 60
May 10, 2023
Uranium is used by some bacterium such as Shewanella putrefaciens, Geobacter metallireducens and Paraburkholderia fungorum for growth.

The shape of the toothpaste commonly seen on toothpaste packaging is called a "nurdle". Companies have even been doing lawsuits over it.

+3
Level 48
Jul 13, 2023
I discovered this fact while scrolling on Google Earth

In some coasts, we can see the sunrise on the beach but not the sunset (example: US east coast). While on some other coasts, we can see sunset on the beach but not sunrise, (US west coast).

But is there a country in the world which has a coastline, but cannot see sunset or sunrise in the beach?

Yes there is, Bosnia and Herzegovina only has a 20 km coastline.

The horizon from this coast is covered by a Croatian island, making it impossible to see sunset or sunrise in the beach from Bosnia, even though it has a coastline.