January 2018

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27 Fun Facts About 2017

27. Super Structures

2017 was a banner year for skyscraper construction, with over 144 buildings over 200 meters being constructed. 15 of those buildings exceeded 300 meters, and two buildings exceeded 500 meters. The structures spanned 69 cities in 23 countries, with China beating out every country, with 73 buildings constructed over 200 meters.

26. Impacting Entertainment

According to USA Today, one of the people who made the biggest impact on entertainment this year was author Margaret Atwood. The television adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale was one of the most talked-about and celebrated shows of the year. First published in 1985, the book takes place in a totalitarian theocracy where women are stripped of all rights. The image of the handmaids in their red robes and white bonnets immediately became iconic, and has showed up in political protests, Halloween costumes, and more.

25. Box Office Bomb

Matt Damon’s movie Suburbicon was the biggest box-office flop of 2017, grossing only 5.7 million. Rounding out the top 3 were A Cure for Wellness with 8.1 million, and Thank You for Your Service with 9.4 million. None of these films came close to recouping their costs, which were $25 million, $40 million, and $20 million, respectively.

24. Total Eclipse of the Sun

On August 21, 2017, North America was treated to a total solar eclipse. It was the first total solar eclipse to cross the United States in almost four decades.

23. Year of Sustainable Tourism

The United Nations designated 2017 as the Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. The goal of the initiative is to educate people on how international tourism helps people understand different cultures and the heritage of other civilizations. The hope is that it will help strengthen world peace.

22. Always Check Your Pockets

In May 2017, a New Jersey man was watching TV when he saw a news report about a $24.1 million unclaimed New York Lottery prize that was about to expire. He went to his closet, checked the stack of tickets he’d stuck in a shirt pocket, and was shocked to discover that he in fact had the winning ticket!

21. A Colorful Concoction

On April 19, Starbucks introduced a limited-edition menu item called a “unicorn Frappuccino.” The drink was a bright purple color with blue syrup drizzle, topped with whipped cream and blue and purple sprinkles. The drink quickly became a social media fad, and increased sales at least 4% over the previous quarter.

20. The Ginger Takes It

In September 2017, Ed Sheeran’s single “The Shape of You” topped the Spotify charts for most streamed song of all time with over 1.3 billion plays. Sheeran is also the most streamed artist in the world with over 40 million monthly listeners on the service.

19. What’s in a Name?

According to Nameberry, Atticus and Olivia were the top names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2017. Atticus was the name of the central character in Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as the name of a Roman literary figure.

18. Turning 20

There are a number of major events and pop culture phenomenons that turned 20 in 2017. In 1997, the Backstreet Boys released their debut album, the Spice Girls released the Spice World movie, the movie Titanic smashed box office records, the Harry Potterbook series was released, and Ellen DeGeneres made history when she officially came out in an issue of Time magazine. Also notable was the death of Princess Diana, which occurred in summer 1997.

17. Word of the Year

The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary has selected “Feminism” as the 2017 Word of the Year. Lookups for the word increased 70% this year, making it 2017’s most-searched word. The first spike took place around the time of the Women’s March in January 2017, and searches for the word also spiked with the release of Wonder Woman.

16. Binge Watching

Thanks to streaming services like Netflix, binge watching TV shows is now commonplace around the world. According to Netflix, we collectively watch 140 million hours of shows and movies per day. Data revealed that one Netflix user streamed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl 365 days in a row, and Mexico has the most members watching Netflix on a daily basis.

15. Chicken Nugget Challenge

In April 2017, Carter Wilkinson, a high schooler, asked Wendy’s how many retweets it would take for him to get free chicken nuggets for a year. The joking answer was 18 million, and while he didn’t quite reach that number, he did beat the long-standing record set by Ellen DeGeneres for most retweets of a single tweet. In addition to free nuggets for a year, Wendy’s also made a donation to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption in Wilkinson’s name.

14. Oscars Gaffe

For the first time in Oscars history, the wrong movie was announced for Best Picture in 2017. After first announcing La La Land as the winning film, the film’s producer took the mic and announced Moonlight as the winner instead. A duplicate of the Best Actress envelope had accidentally been handed to the presenters instead of the one for Best Picture, causing the unprecedented mix-up.

13. ALS Treatment

In 2017, the fruits of the research funded by the “ice-bucket challenge” paid off, and Israeli Scientists at Ben-Gurion University announced that they’d developed a new treatment that extends the life expectancy of patients suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The drug may also have implications on the life expectancy of patients with other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

12. Extra-Vehicular Time

In 2017, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson broke the record for most cumulative days spent in orbit by a US Astronaut. She also holds the record for the woman with the most extra-vehicular time, and was the first woman to command the International Space Station.

11. Transforming the Industry

At the 2017 Grammy Awards, Chance the Rapper, an unsigned rapper with a huge following, made history by winning three awards (for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Performance). His album was released on streaming services only.

10. Operation Pets Alive!

In fall of 2017, Hurricane Harvey left many animals stranded at overcrowded shelters. Southwest Airlines stepped in with “Operation Pets Alive” and transported 60 puppies from Houston to San Diego, where thanks to the Helen Woodward Animal Center, they found new homes.

9. Year of the Rooster

On the Chinese lunar calendar, 2017 was marked as the “Year of the Rooster” and was a “Fire rooster” year. According to Chinese astrology, each year is associated with one of the five elements, as well as an animal. The last time fire and rooster combined was in 1957.

8. SkinGun

RenovaCare developed a device in 2017 called a SkinGun that sprays burn victims with their own stem cells. These cells help the damaged skin regrow without scars. The device is still waiting for FDA approval, but has already proven successful with patients in the US and Germany.

7. Quote of the Year

Kellyanne Conway’s “Alternative Facts” quote topped the Yale Book of Quotations for 2017. The quote is chosen by Fred Shaprio, associate director at Yale Law School, and the quotes are chosen for level of fame, or for their revelation of the spirit of the times.

6. Where Have All the Pilots Gone?

In November, a computer glitch allowed thousands of American Airlines staff to schedule vacation during the last two weeks of December, leaving several flights without pilots. As of November 30, more than 15,000 flights did not have a pilot, first officer, or both, and the airline was left scrambling to schedule employees to avoid cancellations.

5. A Royal Engagment

On November 27, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle officially announced their engagement. The fact that Markle is an actress, American, and of mixed race signifies a major break from British Royal tradition, and is a step towards modernizing the monarchy.

4. What’s on Your Mind?

“Hurricane Irma,” “iPhone 8,” “iPhone X,” “Matt Lauer,” and “Meghan Markle” were the top five Google searches of the year. “How to” searches were also popular, with people wondering how to make slime, how to make glasses for the solar eclipse, and how to buy bitcoin ranking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

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3. The Human Chain

In July 2017, two young boys were swept away by a riptide in the waters of Panama City, Florida. Their mother and most of her relatives immediately jumped into the water to save them, but they too were trapped by the strong current. Others who tried to rescue them also got stuck, leaving nine people struggling to stay alive. That’s when something incredible happened: 80 people formed a human chain from the beach to the water, and they were able to pull all of the exhausted swimmers back to safety.

2. Breaking the Silence

Each year, the editors of Time magazine select a Person of the Year based on a group, person, idea, or object that had the biggest influence on the events of the year. For 2017, the #metoo movement and the courageous women who spoke out against sexual harassment and assault were selected as “The Silence Breakers.” According to Time, “The galvanizing actions of the women on our cover … along with those of hundreds of others, and of many men as well, have unleashed one of the highest-velocity shifts in our culture since the 1960s.”

42 Fun Facts for People Who Love Fun Facts

They say you learn something new every day. Well here are 42 fun facts just for today, so you can take the next 42 days off!

42. How Convenient!

The device you’re reading this one probably has a QWERTY keyboard. Many different arrangements were used by early typewriters, but QWERTY is the one that ended up sticking. Strangely, one of the longest words that can be typed on a single row of a QWERTY keyboard is “typewriter.”

41. A Big Heart

The blue whale is the largest animal that’s ever existed, and it weighs almost twice as much as the heaviest dinosaur. An animal that big needs a serious heart to keep it going: The blue whale’s heart can be the size of a small car, weigh 1,300 pounds, and has vessels so large that a human could swim down them (though I imagine the whale would not be thrilled about this)!

40. Tennis Anyone?

Your lungs are filled with tiny sacs called alveoli that draw oxygen from the air you breathe into your bloodstream. In total, the average adult has around 600 million of these alveoli, and their combined surface area is roughly the size of a tennis court.

39. The Safest Way to Travel

Aviophobia, or the fear of flying, affects millions of people, but between 1983 and 2000, 96% of people who were involved in plane crashes survived! It actually is the safest way to travel.

38. Bit by Bitcoin

Satoshi Nakamoto is the inventor of bitcoin. Nakamoto published a paper in 2008 that first described the currency, and released the first version of a bitcoin software client in 2009. But “Satoshi Nakamoto” is a pseudonym, and to this day no one knows who he or she is. The last anyone has heard from them was in 2011, and various sleuths have tried to uncover their identity (unsuccessfully) ever since.

37. Take the Stairs

The entire state of Wyoming has only two escalators, both in the city of Casper. They’re so rare that some Wyoming residents visit these escalators just for the novelty of it, with one of them describing it as “like riding a tilt-a-whirl, but only slower.”

36. Christmas in Vietnam

If you were listening to the radio in Vietnam in April, 1975, you might have heard a surprising song: Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” That’s because it was the secret signal for Americans to evacuate the country in an event called Operation Frequent Wind.

35. Half a Million on Your Head

The F-35 fighter jet is one of the most expensive military projects of all time. It’s estimated that by the time the project is finished, it will have cost $1.4 trillion. Clearly no expense was spared at any point, and that includes in the pilot’s helmets: Each F-35 helmet costs a whopping $400,000.

34. Hope You Like Walking

In an effort to make the city more pedestrian friendly and to lower its carbon footprint, the city of Oslo in Norway has plans to ban all cars from entering the city center by 2019. Though the revolutionary plan will allow, among other things, an enormous amount of real-estate taken up by parking to be repurposed, many residents are understandably upset that such a big change is going to happen so quickly.

33. A Cat by Any Other Name

The cougar goes by more names than any other animal. You might know it as a puma, mountain lion, panther, catamount, or one of another 40 English, 18 native South American and 25 native North American names.

32. Dinner and a Show

The founder of the iconic Japanese restaurant chain Benihana was a man by the name of Rocky Aoki. If you recognize that name, it’s because his son is DJ Steve Aoki. But although Rocky was a millionaire, he didn’t spread the wealth to his children. Since he came from nothing, he wanted his children to do the same, and never gave Steve any money to start up his record label.

31. Searching for Giants

The expedition of Lewis and Clark is famous for many reasons, but they had one goal you might not expect. Thomas Jefferson had a thing for mammoths (or, more accurately, American Mastodons). He was completely enamoured with the extinct behemoths, and held out hope that they continued to live many miles away in the west of America. So when he sent Lewis and Clark out on their famous expedition, he told them to look for mammoths. What a discovery that would have been!

30. It’s-a-Me! Tom Hanks!

Tom Hanks was initially cast to play Mario in the 1993 movie Super Mario Bros. However, this was early in Hanks’ career, and the studio heads were concerned about his star power (no pun intended) and how much money he was asking for. The studio then replaced Hanks with Bob Hoskins, who they considered to be the more bankable star. The movie? Did not make bank.

29. Shhhh!

The British Library has more than 150 million items, and that number keeps growing. Every year, more than 3 million items are added to the collection, meaning that 12km of shelves need to be added yearly to accommodate it all.

28. Smells Like… Deodorant!

When he set out to write “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Kurt Cobain said that he was trying to write the ultimate pop song in the style of the Pixies. He came up with the title when a friend of his (Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of Bikini Kill) wrote the phrase “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” on his wall. Cobain thought the sentence had a certain poetic ring to it, and the rest is history. Really though, Hanna just mean he smelled like Teen Spirit, a popular deodorant at the time.

27. Crocs of a Feather

Crocodiles and alligators are archosaurs, a classification they share with a surprising relative: birds. Crocodilians and dinosaurs both evolved from a common ancestor, while birds evolved from dinosaurs. That means that your pet Cockatoo is actually a closer relative to crocodiles than a lizard is.

26. Old Man Ben

Of all the 56 delegates who signed the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin was the oldest. He was born in 1706, so he was already 70 years old at the time of the signing.

25. Space Pharaohs

The era of Ancient Egypt lasted for thousands of years, which can be hard to wrap your head around. To put it in perspective, the Great Pyramid of Giza was built roughly between 2550 and 2490 BC, while Cleopatra took the throne in 51 BC. That means that the Cleopatra’s reign was closer in time to the moon landing than it was to the building of the Great Pyramid.

24. The Shrimp from Hell

The mantis shrimp attacks its prey by essentially punching them extremely hard. Their fist-like appendages can punch so fast that they can boil the water around them and split your finger to the bone.

23. How Do You Sing Along?

Spain’s national anthem has no words. It’s called the “Marcha Real” and it’s one of four anthems on earth that’s entirely instrumental (the other countries are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and San Marino).

22. No Expiry Date

Everyone’s had to deal with emptying a fridge of food that’s long since gone bad, but there’s one food that you don’t have to worry about: honey. Because of its unique makeup, it never spoils, and people have found pots of honey that are thousands of years old with the sweet stuff still perfectly preserved inside.

21. Watching the Universe

The static on your old TV set is actually caused in part by the Big Bang! Television static is caused by your antenna picking up radiation in the atmosphere. Much of it is known as the “cosmic microwave background,” which is leftover radiation from the formation of the universe. So they next time you’re watching static on a TV, know that you’re looking actually looking at part of the beginnings of our universe.

20. Checkmate

It’s common knowledge that chess is a complicated game, but just how complicated is hard to imagine. In fact, there are so many different possible moves in a chess game that it isn’t even worth the huge amount of effort it would take to calculate it. But scientists can confidently say that there are far more potential chess games than there are atoms in the entire universe.

19. We Learn Fast

Before 1903, no human had ever achieved powered flight. But once we passed that barrier, progress started happening fast. Airplanes were used in warfare within a decade, and people had landed on the moon just 66 years after the first flight. Not bad considering people had been trying to fly for centuries.

18. Months of Traffic

Next time you’re stuck at a red light, try not to do the math of how much time you spend there—it won’t make you feel any better. Drivers spend an average of two days a year waiting at red lights, which adds up to about 4 months over the course of a lifetime driving if you live to be 75.

17. Smart Birdy

Along with dolphins and chimpanzees, the Eurasian magpie is right up there with the most intelligent animals on earth. The mirror test (the ability to recognize yourself in a mirror) is seen as an important test in animal intelligence, and the Eurasian magpie is the only non-mammal that has passed it. It also has one of the largest brain-to-weight ratios in the animal kingdom and has been observed using tools, working in teams, playing games, and grieving.

16. More Unique Than Unique

Inhabitants of Fort Keogh in Montana found snowflakes that were more than a foot across during a snowstorm in 1887. Some of the flakes were 15 inches wide, the biggest ever recorded.

15. Wealth Gap

If you combined the wealth of the 48 poorest nations on earth, they would still have less money than the world’s three richest people.

14. I Wonder if They Tried Honking

The biggest traffic jam of all time happened in 2010 in China. Mostly taking place on China National Highway 110, it affected cars for over 60 miles. The jam lasted for more than 10 days, and some people were trapped in their cars for five days straight.

13. I Bet, I Bet, 50 Words or Less

Green Eggs and Ham is one of the most popular children’s books of all time, and if you count them up, it uses exactly 50 different words. That’s because Dr. Seuss wrote it on a bet: his publisher bet Seuss $50 that he couldn’t write an entire book with 50 or fewer words.

12. Duck Money

Scrooge McDuck was named by Forbes as the richest fictional character in the world. They estimate his personal net worth to be $65.4 billion. They said he made his money in mining and treasure hunting, and that he kept most of his wealth, of course, in his gold coin swimming pool.

11. Pennyweight

The smallest birds on earth are hummingbirds. Although they come in a variety of sizes, the smallest weighs as little as 2.4 grams. For comparison, a US penny weighs 2.5 grams.

10. #onelongbook

If you took everything posted on twitter every day and put it into a book, that book would be 10 million pages long.

9. Fluffy and Heavy

Clouds are made up of water vapor that’s collected in the atmosphere. Because they float in the sky, you might think that they’re light as a feather, but actually the average weight of a cumulus cloud (the really fluffy looking ones) is 1.1 million pounds.

8. Get Your Peafowl Straight

Peacocks are all male. They’re actually a kind of bird called a peafowl, and the females are called peahens.

7. It’s Way Less Fun That Way

If you straightened out the wire of an original Slinky, it would stretch to be over 80 feet long.

6. Scarface Furniture Sales

Al Capone had many occupations: bootlegger, gangster, crime boss. But if you checked his business card, you wouldn’t find any of those: It actually said that he was a used furniture salesman.

5. The Big Guys Can’t Jump

Elephants, rhinos, and hippos are some of the very few types of mammal that can’t jump. While rhinos and hippos will occasionally get all four feet off of the ground while running, the elephant never does at all, staying firmly landlocked at all times.

4. Try to Name Them All!

English is a complicated language, and words like “set” and “run” don’t make it any easier. For years, set was considered to have the most meanings of any word, with the Oxford English Dictionary giving it 430 separate definitions in 1989. But according to OED’s chief editor John Simpson, the word “run” has surpassed it with a whopping 645 meanings as of 2011!

3. Throwing Around the PigskinCowskin

Despite the common nickname, NFL footballs are actually made from cow leather, and it takes 3,000 cows to supply the league with footballs for just one season.

2. Big Brained

Though the human brain is larger when compared to body weight, the biggest brain in the entire world belongs to the adult male sperm whale. It weighs close to 17 pounds.

1. Poopy Time

Not such a fun fact: Toilet paper is so ineffective that using it to wipe your butt after you poop doesn’t even prevent health problems such as urinary tract infections. It simply doesn’t remove all the poop. There’s also research to suggest aggressive wiping with toilet paper can cause anal fissures and even hemorrhoids. Doctors recommend using wet wipes instead, which are far more effective at removing fecal matter.

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