Interesting Facts - Page 59

291
In Communist Romania, the secret police was known as the Securitate. 1 in 43 Romanians was an informer.
292
Until the early 20th century, it was common for young boys to wear dresses instead of pants. For example, here is a picture of a two year old Franklin D. Roosevelt.
293
The tiny suburb of Medina, Washington has a population of 2,969 but at one time was home to the two richest people in the world: Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
294
Don't trust low numbers in poll data. A certain percent of people will give a nonsensical response to polls just for fun. This phenomenon has been called "Lizardman's Constant", so called because one poll suggested that 4% of Americans believe that the U.S. government is secretly run by lizard people.
295
Certain tribes in the Amazon used to collect the shrunken heads of their defeated enemies. In the early 1900s, Western collectors started buying the heads. This caused an increase in murders as "headhunters" killed people and shrunk their heads to make money.
+15
Level 19
Aug 27, 2019
How come that Medina, Washington could have a Net worth more than the GDP of New Zealand??? Like, Come on, how could be a town that’s has a net worth of over $204.9 BILLION?!
+3
Level 68
Oct 8, 2021
Imagine the wealth per capita
+1
Level 50
Jul 6, 2022
I know right
+4
Level 73
Sep 1, 2019
Pants would have been really unworkable with pre-20th century diapers, so the dress thing makes total sense to me.
+1
Level 83
Mar 4, 2024
Some people do still use cloth nappies though?
+9
Level 89
Nov 25, 2019
Anyone who's ever done the "How'd I wind up in this corner of YouTube" chain of 4 random videos will suspect that at least 4% of people are that crazy as just a starting point.
+3
Level 61
Mar 5, 2020
Yeah, I was thinking folks shouldn't assume those answers are given to be funny. The Flat Earth movement is real.
+1
Level 26
Sep 23, 2020
it is not real the countries are not flat because the countries are wide that time the countries could not be wide that is a circle country shape that is flat
+2
Level 71
Jan 29, 2021
Does a 'Flat Earth' believer think that the moon is a flat disc hung up in the sky?
+2
Level 60
Aug 8, 2021
No, they think Hollywood has big projectors.
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Level 26
Sep 23, 2020
1
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Level 18
Jan 27, 2021
2
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Level 46
May 21, 2021
3
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Level 60
Aug 8, 2021
4
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Level 39
Aug 15, 2021
5
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Level 59
Sep 27, 2021
6
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Level 68
Oct 8, 2021
7
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Level 62
Jan 17, 2022
8
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Level 66
Jan 19, 2022
9
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Level 65
Feb 1, 2022
10
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Level 43
Feb 1, 2022
11
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Level 71
Feb 1, 2022
12
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Level 37
Feb 2, 2022
13
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Level 68
Feb 2, 2022
14
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Level 68
Feb 4, 2022
15
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Level 65
Feb 10, 2022
16
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Level 30
Oct 12, 2023
17
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Level 69
Feb 17, 2022
18
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Level 50
Sep 17, 2023
19 Why did everyone skip this one?
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Level 47
Mar 12, 2022
20
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Level 64
Mar 24, 2022
21
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Level 34
Mar 29, 2022
22
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Level 54
Apr 5, 2022
23
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Level 85
Apr 10, 2022
I love that there's no 19.
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Level 50
Jul 6, 2022
69420
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Level 53
Oct 27, 2022
01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110011 01110100 01110101 01110000 01101001 01100100
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Level 59
Mar 20, 2023
24
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Level 50
May 14, 2023
25
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Level 48
Jun 29, 2023
26?
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Level 29
Aug 8, 2023
27
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Level 50
Sep 17, 2023
29
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Level 50
Sep 17, 2023
30
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Level 50
Sep 17, 2023
31
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Level 50
Sep 17, 2023
32
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Level 50
Sep 17, 2023
33
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Level 30
Oct 12, 2023
34
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Level 56
Dec 11, 2023
35
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Level 56
Dec 11, 2023
36
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Level 56
Dec 11, 2023
37
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Level 56
Dec 11, 2023
38
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Level 56
Dec 11, 2023
39
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Level 56
Dec 11, 2023
40
+1
Level 51
Jan 31, 2021
Or do they believe that it's a solar panel getting energy from the sun (true), but randomly floating around in space 😂
+9
Level 71
Feb 5, 2021
I think that for people to accumulate a 100 billion dollars and not spend it by helping the needy of this world is beyond me. I don't call giving a million or two here and there as spending. They should have a few million dollars in the bank and the rest should have been used already.
+5
Level 71
Feb 5, 2021
WHO prioritised 11 African pathogens that are most likely to cause severe outbreaks in the near future: Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever, chikungunya, Ebola, Lassa, Marburg, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Nipah, Rift Valley fever, severe acute respiratory syndrome, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, and Zika.

progressing at least one vaccine through to the end of phase 2a for each of the 11 epidemic infectious diseases would cost a minimum of $2·8–3·7 billion ($1·2 billion–$8·4 billion range).

...........And these people have 100 billion in their pockets:

+2
Level 53
Oct 27, 2022
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the world and, since opening in 2000, has donated well over $44.3 billion. And, as of Spring 2013, Bill had donated $28 billion of that out of his own pocket. And to add on to that Bill Gates said that when he's gone his money will not stay in his family or go to his children. He plans to donate the vast majority of it to charities that help people in less fortunate situations.

Among the good causes the BMGF supports is malaria control, basic sanitation, infectious diseases control, it works globally.

Just thought I'd defend Bill.

+5
Level 52
Jun 3, 2021
fact now outdated due to musk having more money, change to 2 of the richest people
+2
Level 52
Jun 3, 2021
the average networth of medina is 69m LMAO
+2
Level 82
Feb 27, 2022
There legitimately are people who believe in the lizard people - and quite a few equally stupid things - and their numbers are growing. I've personally known some of them.
+1
Level 50
Jul 6, 2022
I wonder if I can go to Medina, Washington and ask one of them for money if I do meet one of them
+1
Level 73
Oct 17, 2022
I do agree with the genuine premise of Lizardman's Constant, but as kalba said there are a few who actually believe that, and the "lizards run the world" thing specifically started out as a dogwhistle used by neonazis, since using the original "Jews" got them weird looks, so it's plausible in my opinion some answered with that in mind to try and use the poll as a gauge for how accepted their ideas are.

Nowadays though the lizard conspiracy is a lot more popular taken literally, and idk how many neonazis in the US are entrenched enough to know its origins.

I'd guess most of those "yes" answers were jokes, but even that conspiracy theory has a history predating the poll that could have influenced its numbers.

+1
Level 53
Jan 7, 2023
#293 is inaccurate, as Bernard Arnault is the richest person. I would reword it to two of the richest people.
+1
Level 61
Feb 3, 2023
What about Elon? He doesn't live there, but he's still pretty dang rich.
+1
Level 45
Feb 11, 2023
Fact 292 'it was common for boys to wear dresses in the early 20th century' attached photo is from 1884.
+1
Level 83
Mar 4, 2024
'UNTIL the early 20th century'