While knowledge is most definitely power, there are a few facts so simple, that we didn't even register their truth while going about our day-to-day lives. Tidbits like percentages being reversible, software "patches" finding their origins in the days of punch-card computing, and pufferfish filling their cheeks with water ... and not air.
From the truth about roller coasters to why almost every bunny-filled children's cartoon is a bold-faced lie, here are 23 simple facts we're just dumb enough to believe.
1
“Poison dart frogs obtain their toxin by eating poisonous bugs, like fire ants. When you feed them crickets and such they are perfectly safe to handle.”
3
“Well all know the dinosaurs died out a long time ago (~64 million years ago). But what's even longer: they roamed the Earth for over [165] million years. The Stegosaurus went extinct [66] million years before the T-Rex even existed.”
6
“The term ‘bug’ in computing has been around a long time. The term was not commonly used until an actual bug landed on an electrical switch causing the computer to malfunction.(Returning a zero when it was supposed to be a 1). The term bug grew in popularity afterwards and landed us where we are today. When we find a bug in software we apply a "patch"... This comes from old cardex/punch card systems. If a punch card was punched in the wrong spot, you could fix it by applying a patch to the hole.”
8
“Plumbing comes from the root Latin word of Plumbum which means lead and is the reason it's Pb on the Periodic table, because the Romans made water pipes out of lead—as an aside they knew it was a problem for brains, but they just didn't care as it mostly affected the poors.”
9
“Rollercoasters are built to shake! I’ve seen so many people decide to not get on because of the sway, but it’s important! If the support beams and tracks didn’t shake, they’d simply snap with all the force from the coaster cars roaring over them.”
11
“Pufferfish are filled with water, not air. It wouldn’t even make sense, yet a lot of people are like what??”
13
“Rabbits don't have paw pads like cats or dogs. They've got nothing but fluffy feet.You see a cartoon rabbit with paw pads, it's all lies.”
14
"German chocolate was made by an American named Samuel German. Not an actual German."
15
“Trees get the vast majority of their mass from the air. All that wood? That was once air and sunlight.”
16
“The human body glows in the dark. No, seriously. It emits visible light at all times, but our eyes are too weak to see it. So yeah, you’re glowing right now, but no one can appreciate it.”
17
“In the US, even-numbered highways go east-west and odd-numbered highways go north-south.”
18
“I had no idea that the little hole in pen caps is there to prevent choking if swallowed. Seems so obvious now!”
19
"For the longest time I thought a pony was just a young horse."
23
“Ecuador is called that because it's on the equator.”
