Bi-weekly has two different definitions: Twice a week or once every two weeks.
Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, which drew more visitors to see the empty space than the actual painting.
There is an insurance policy issued against alien abduction. Around 50,000 policies have been sold, mainly to residents of the U.S. and England.
Volvo invented the three-point seatbelt, then gave the invention away for free. They decided it was too important of an invention to keep to themselves.
In 2005, Connecticut was accidentally issued an Emergency Alert to evacuate the entire state. Only about 1% of the people actually tried to leave.
An 18-year-old with dwarfism played the 8-year-old Grinch in The Grinch (2000). He passed away two years after the film was released.
Rebecca Felton was the first woman to ever serve in the United States Senate – but she only served for one day.
Webster’s Dictionary accidentally had a word that didn’t exist in it for five years – “Dord.”
Amber-colored rear turn signals are statistically proven to reduce collisions by about 28%.
Roselle, a guide dog, led her blind owner down 78 flights of stairs during 9/11. The descent took about an hour, and they both safely made it out.
It is thought by Russians that eating ice cream will keep you warm.
Somebody hid an episode of South Park inside Tiger Woods 99 as an Easter egg, causing EA to do a massive recall.
Madagascar was once a stomping ground for lemurs, which were the size of today’s gorillas.
Underneath the streets of Beijing, there are over a million people who live in nuclear bunkers.
The full name of the famous Chuck E. Cheese’s mouse is Charles Entertainment Cheese.
The American roulette wheel is different from the European wheel. The American one has 2 green spaces while the European one only has 1. Although on both, if you add up all the numbers on a roulette wheel, you will get 666.
The day after Thanksgiving is called “Brown Friday” by plumbers in America because it is their busiest day of the year.
The wife of Anthony Perkins, the original Norman Bates, Berry Berenson, died as a result of being a passenger on one of the 9/11 planes.
The thumbs-up sign is believed to have originated from Chinese pilots. It was used to communicate with the ground crew before take-off.
In Toy Story 2, in the scene where Buzz gives a speech in front of the American flag, the flag was edited to be a globe for release in non-American countries.
The tallest mountain in our solar system, Olympus Mons, is 3 times taller than Mount Everest.
Batman and Predator exist in the same fictional universe. Since 1991, they have been featured together in three comic books.
A study from Harvard University finds that having no friends can be just as deadly as smoking. Both affect levels of a blood-clotting protein.
In South Dakota, you can get a driver’s permit at age 14 with parental consent. Once you turn 16, you can get your license.
The Backpack Kid’s real name is Russell Horning.
In 2017, Adidas sold over 1 million pairs of shoes made from recycled ocean plastic, each pair taking 11 plastic bottles to make.
The British Pound is the world’s oldest currency still in use at 1,200 years old. The pound has been an identity as a symbol of British sovereignty.
The world’s smallest mammal, a Bumblebee Bat, weighs about the same as a U.S. dime. Native to Myanmar and Thailand, these bats are endangered.
As of December 2018, The Itchy & Scratchy Show that takes place within The Simpsons has 107 episodes.
Will Smith owed $2.8 Million to the IRS and almost went bankrupt just before he signed the contract for The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.
The Great Pyramid of Giza actually has eight sides rather than four. All of the other pyramids have just four sides.
English is not native to the British Isles. It was brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th Centuries by German, Danish, and Dutch settlers.
When we’re born, the only innate fears we have are the fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds. All other fears are learned.
In Korea, there is a breed of dog called a Sapsali, which was originally thought to banish ghosts and evil spirits.
Qantas Airways once powered an interstate flight on cooking oil. This marked Australia’s first commercial flight using sustainably derived biofuel.
Berries are simple fruits stemming from one flower. This means that pineapples, bananas, watermelons, pumpkins, and avocados are berries.
One horse can have approximately 15 horsepower. Horsepower is about 746 watts. The term was coined in the late 18th Century.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is tilted because of the soft soil on which it’s built, which has also protected it from at least 4 powerful earthquakes.
All the paint on the Eiffel Tower weighs the same as ten elephants. It gets repainted every 7 years without being closed to the public.
All new FBI special agents and intelligence analysts are required to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
While dinosaurs roamed the Earth, they lived on every continent, including Antarctica.
The blue whale’s heart is the size of a VW Beetle and weighs up to 1,000 lbs (453 kg).
One of the most widely used symbols for medical assistance is actually the Swiss flag and not a medical symbol.
Until 2007, slavery was legal in Mauritania. Even still, 1-4% of the population is still living as slaves.
A man named Ronald MacDonald robbed Wendy’s in 2005.
The longest unbroken alliance in world history is between England and Portugal. It has lasted since 1386 and still stands today.
Before finally being accepted, J.K. Rowling’s original Harry Potter pitch was rejected by 12 publishers.
The Japanese term for a Shotgun Wedding is “Dekichatta kekkon,” which literally translates to “oops-we-did-it-marriage.”
Garlic is known to attract leeches.
In 1992, a shipping crate containing 28,000 rubber duckies fell overboard. They washed up around the world for the next 20 years.
After the release of the 1996 film Scream, which involved an anonymous killer calling and murdering his victims, Caller ID usage tripled in the United States.
Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed because the pilot let his kids fly the plane, who unknowingly disengaged the autopilot function. The crash killed everyone on board.
It takes Uranus 84 years to orbit the Sun once.
A 26-sided shape is known as a rhombicuboctahedron.
Mob boss Vincent Gigante used to wander around New York in his bathrobe to convince the police he was insane and avoid capture.
The military has used silly string to detect tripwires in Iraq. Before entering a room, they can squirt it inside. If it hangs in the air, it may have revealed a wire.
By applying even pressure to an egg, it is nearly impossible to break the shell by squeezing it.
So far, two diseases have successfully been eradicated: smallpox and rinderpest. The last case of smallpox was in 1977, and the last case of rinderpest was in 2001.
A recently discovered deep-sea snail, the Scaly-Foot Gastropod, has a shell that is impressively developed. So much so that the U.S. military is trying to use its design to inspire defensive layers in military armor.
There are over 6,000 known species of grass.
The total weight of all air on Earth is 11 quintillion pounds.
“Time anxiety” occurs in a person when they are perpetually afraid of being late or of others being late.
Ant queens can live for up to 30 years.
In 2014, Princeton researchers determined that Facebook would lose 80% of its users by 2017.
It’s believed that Orlando Bloom has swinophobia, which is a fear of pigs! He was seen running away from a pig on the set of Kingdom of Heaven.
Eight of the ten largest statues in the world are of Buddha.
Meghan Trainor has Nyctophobia, which is a huge fear of the dark.
Garrett McNamara holds the record for the largest wave ever surfed, set in 2011 in Nazare, Portugal. The wave was 78 feet tall.
The logo on the Red Bull cans are not cattle, but a type of bovine called a “gaur.”
In Bruges, Belgium, there is an underground pipeline that runs 2 miles to transfer beer from a brewery to the bottling plant.
The collective group of lemurs is called a conspiracy.
The first Primark store opened in Dublin in June 1969 under the name Penney’s.
Ron Swanson’s character on Parks and Recreation is based on a real person – a woman who works in a high bureaucratic position who is also anti-government.
Captive tigers in the U.S. alone outnumber the amount of wild tigers worldwide.
The 1831 London Bridge was sold in 1962 when it needed to be replaced. It was bought by Lake Havasu City, Arizona, to help tourism.
Scrappy-Doo, widely considered to be one of the most hated characters in fiction, has not appeared in an animated Scooby-Doo production since 1988 due to audience backlash.
The first X-rated animated movie was Fritz the Cat. It is still the most successful independent animated feature to date.
Roughly 33% of cats are not affected by catnip. The euphoric reaction commonly associated with catnip is hereditary.
Facebook will track and record nearly everything you do if you browse the web while logged in to your Facebook account.
Bubble wrap was originally invented to be wallpaper. The creators tried to make plastic wallpaper with a paper backing, but it came out with plastic backing.
The longest Cricket Test match lasted over 12 days between England and South Africa. It only ended because the English team would have missed their boat home.
MIT, often cited as one of the world’s most prestigious universities, puts almost all of its course materials online for anyone to access for free.
Albert Einstein had mastered calculus by the tender age of 15.
Madagascar got its name when Marco Polo misspelled it. The name stuck, and the island was christened to the name in 1500.
Tom Hanks had an asteroid named after him which was called “12818 tomhanks.“
The number of stars on the EU flag doesn’t represent anything. 12 stars were chosen as a number with no political association and as a symbol of unity.
High heels are nothing new to the world. In the 18th Century, they were fashionable even for children.
Elephants think people are cute, the same way people think puppies or kittens are cute.
Cats which have blue eyes for the duration of their lives are likely to be deaf.
The manager of Guinness started the Guinness Book of World Records when he got annoyed that he couldn’t find out what the fastest game bird was ever recorded.
Barry Manilow wrote many famous jingles for companies like McDonald’s, State Farm, and BandAids.
One of the smartest bird species is the magpie. They can even recognize themselves in mirrors.
In order to keep Nazis away, a Polish doctor faked a typhus outbreak. This strategy saved 8,000 people.
The atomic number of zinc is 30.
The tall chef’s hat is called a toque.
There’s very little evidence the TSA has ever stopped a terrorist or found a real bomb. When tested, they failed to find fake weapons and bombs 95% of the time.
In the United States, each person owns an average of seven pairs of blue jeans. That’s one for every day of the week!
Whenever Charles Dickens was away from home, he would always realign the bed he was sleeping in to face Northwards, as he felt that this fostered and unlocked his creativity.
The Shawn Mendes EP reached Number 1 on iTunes in 37 minutes.
Since 1990, the United States has added more acres of forest than it has lost, with almost 20 million new acres of forest land added in the last 2 decades.
There is a liquid that you can breathe in called perfluorohexane. Animals can be submerged in a bath of perfluorohexane without drowning.
Feeding curry to a sheep reduces the amount of methane in its farts by up to 40%.
During a conversation, each speaker’s “turn” averages 2 seconds, and the pause in between is only 200 milliseconds. That figure is nearly universal.
Cold showers have more health benefits than hot or warm showers. These include improving circulation, stimulating weight loss, and easing depression.
Despite being landlocked, Mongolia has a navy consisting of seven men and one vessel, the “Sukhbaatar III,” stationed on Lake Khövsgöl.
During the Second World War, German tank drivers would drive their vehicles over camel droppings, thinking it would bring them good luck.
In Alabama, it is illegal to participate in shooting, hunting, gaming, card playing, or racing on Sundays. The fine ranges from $10 to $100.
Originally, bumper cars were not supposed to hit each other. Drivers were actually supposed to avoid crashing in spite of chaotic driving. The first company to patent a bumper car was in 1920, named Dodgem.
A woman was elected to the House of Representatives four years before women even won the right to vote.
In the Netherlands version of Sesame Street, instead of Big Bird, they have a bluebird named Pino. He was later established as Big Bird’s cousin.
The full Bible has been translated into over 3,000 languages. Among those include fictional languages like Elvish, Klingon, and Na’vi.
The voice of Stargazer in Mass Effect 3 was done by Buzz Aldrin.
The first 4th of July celebration was in 1777.
Justin Bieber’s first tweet was at 8:27 pm on May 11, 2009.
Snakes and lizards both molt out of their old skin as they grow. Investigators have come to the conclusion that dinosaurs may have also molted.
Zebras have only one toe on each foot.
Humans have been performing dentistry since 7000BC, which makes dentists one of the oldest professions.
Originally, the Pokémon Vulpix was going to be called “FoxFire.”
The first-ever documented feature film was made in Australia in 1906.
Ancient Roman surgeons were trained to block out the screams of human pain.
William Hung, made famous for his appearance on American Idol singing “She Bangs,” is a 73rd generation descendant of Confucius.
From 1937 to 1953, NBC’s Today Show had a chimpanzee co-host named J. Fred Muggs. It is estimated he brought in the network around $100 million.
Because snow is composed of ice, it can be classified as a mineral. Water, however, does not fall under the same classification and is not a mineral.
Of the 9,000 Blockbuster stores that existed in the early 1990s, only one remains. The last Blockbuster on Earth can be found in Bend, Oregon, USA.
There is a geocache on the International Space Station placed in 2008. It has since been visited four times by other astronauts.
The Vatican had music that was forbidden to be copied and was only played twice per year. It was secret for almost 150 years until a 14-year-old Mozart heard it and transcribed it from memory.
Canada eats more macaroni and cheese than any other nation in the world.
Octopuses only touch in situations of mating or aggression. Female octopuses sometimes do both, strangling and eating the male after mating.
Scotland wanted to replicate the Parthenon, bigger and cheaper, in 1826. It was never completed and is now nicknamed “Scotland’s Disgrace.”
A French general gave John Quincy Adams a pet alligator. Adams kept it in one of the White House bathtubs and enjoyed showing it off.
In 1866, The United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million by writing a check.
In the Philippines, you can buy spaghetti at McDonald’s, where they also sell a “McDo” piece of chicken.
Though most think it’s Italian, pepperoni is an American invention. The first use of the word dates back to 1919.
The pumpkin is a member of the cucurbit family, which are gourds, such as cucumbers and squashes.
Any prime number higher than three, when squared and subtracted by one, will always turn out to be a multiple of 24.
When dogs are first born, they are completely blind & cannot hear anything. The first sense that they develop is the sense of touch.
Margherita Pizza uses tomato, mozzarella, and basil toppings to represent the Italian national flag. It was originally to honor the Queen of Italy in 1890.
Sudan has more pyramids than any country, with 255. They outnumber Egyptian pyramids by twice the amount.
The money for the Statue of Liberty came from fundraising from auctions, a lottery, and boxing matches in Europe and the U.S. The Statue cost the French about $250,000, which today would be over $5.5 million dollars.
Not all hamsters are small. Although some hamsters are as small as 2-4 inches, the largest ones are approximately 13 inches long.
The hand and footprints in front of the Chinese Theater tradition started accidentally when silent film actress Norma Talmadge stepped on wet cement.
Snakes can help predict earthquakes. They can sense a coming earthquake from 75 miles away, up to five days before it happens.
Soviet Russia needed lighthouses on their uninhabited Northern Coast, so they built automated lighthouses powered by small nuclear reactors.
Animals yawn based on how large their brain is. The bigger the brain, the longer they will yawn.
Before Apple bought Siri, it was originally going to be released as an app for Android & Blackberry.
Approximately 1 in every 2,000 babies already has a tooth when they are first born.
The Young America Township in Minnesota has a population of less than 1,000 but more than 20 zip codes.
The United States Department of Agriculture says the official definition of a sandwich is: “at least 35 percent cooked meat and no more than 50 percent bread”.
Nutella was invented during WWII when an Italian pastry maker mixed hazelnuts into chocolate to extend his chocolate ration.
The original name for Xbox was DirectXbox, designed to show how Microsoft’s DirectX graphics could improve the console market.
In Switzerland, it is illegal to own just one guinea pig. This is because guinea pigs are social animals, and they are considered victims of abuse if they are alone.
Walter Hunt, a man from America, invented the safety pin back in 1849.
The highest recorded fall without a parachute happened in 1972 at 33,333 ft. The victim, Vesna Vulović, was in the hospital for 16 months after the fall.
A mason in 1700s Jerusalem left his wooden ladder behind after doing some work on a church, and now it can’t be moved without the agreement & permission of six different Christian leaders.
Eminem’s mother filed an $11 million defamation lawsuit against him because of his lyrics about her. She settled for $25,000, and $23,354.25 of that went to her lawyer.
San Marino is the fifth smallest country in the world (and the third smallest in Europe).
A woman faked her entire tragedy and the loss of her husband during the 9/11 attacks and became the President of the Support Network in New York.
The Postal Service got its name based on the fact that they originally used USPS to send each other music tracks because of conflicting schedules.
December 3rd is known as “Roof Over Your Head Day” – a day to be grateful for what we have in life!
Alaska is the only state in America that can be typed on one row of a traditional English QWERTY keyboard.
Michael Jackson’s shiny glove was actually just a modified golf glove.
The spiked dog collar was invented by the Ancient Greeks to protect their dogs from wolf attacks.
Mr. and Mrs. originated from using the words master and mistress.
Kosher salt is salt traditionally used for koshering meat, a process that removes the blood from it. It’s also fantastic for cooking with, as it contains no iodine or anti-clumping agents!
Invented in 1923, Q-Tips were originally called Baby Gays; then Q-Tip Baby Gays, then finally, just Q-Tips. The Q stands for quality.
1912 saw the last Olympic gold medals made entirely out of gold.
Every 10 years, the human skeleton repairs and renews itself. Essentially, you have different bones now than you did 10 years ago!
The first game to be played in space was Starcraft – Daniel Barry took it with him in 1999 on the Space Shuttle mission STS-96.
Houston is the most diverse city in the United States. As of 2010, 43.8% are Latino, 25.6% are White, 23.1% are Black, and 6% are Asian.
May 29th is “National Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day.” It is celebrated in Europe & USA to bring luck & wealth to the household.
When water freezes to ice cubes, it will take up 9% more volume.
The little piece of paper sticking out of a Hershey’s Kiss is called a niggly wiggly.
As a child, Jet Li performed with the Chinese National Wushu Team for President Nixon. Nixon asked him to be his personal bodyguard, but he declined.
Eating grapefruit can restrict the effects of 43 different kinds of medications.
Dinosaurs would swallow large rocks, which stayed in their stomach to help churn and digest food.
The word robot comes from the Czech “robota.” This translates into forced labor or work.
During 1943, U.S. officials imposed a short-lived ban on sliced bread as a wartime conservation measure. It lasted less than 3 months.
Abraham Lincoln loved cats and once let one eat from the table during a formal White House dinner.
The Canadian government isn’t sure when Canada became a sovereign state. The Supreme Court ruled that sovereignty occurred sometime between 1919 and 1931.
On April 1, 2005, NASA pulled an April Fool’s prank telling the world that they had found water on Mars.
There’s a town in the Oklahoma panhandle named “Hooker,” and its slogan is “it’s a location, not a vocation.”
Japan is facing a ninja shortage. There is a high demand for “ninja shows,” but it is a dying tradition, and companies have trouble time finding properly trained ninjas.
New Jersey had 4 Governors in the span of 8 days in early 2002. The shortest term of those was served by John Farmer Jr. for 90 minutes.
George Miller – the person who created Mad Max is the same person who created Happy Feet.
Surgeons who play video games at least 3 hours a week perform 27% faster and make 37% fewer errors.
In Svalbard, a remote Norwegian island, it is illegal to die.
This is because bodies are unable to be buried safely due to the permafrost on the ground. If you are about to die, they fly you back to mainland Norway to pass on there.
When cellophane was invented in 1908, it was originally intended to be used to protect tablecloths from wine spills.
A Dutch start-up company has been able to start training wild crows so that they pick up cigarette butts and put them in bins for a peanut as a reward.
We feel “hangry” because it’s harder for us to control our emotions when our brains are low on glucose.
The mayor of a historical district in Alaska is a cat named Stubbs. Mayor Stubbs drinks catnip-laden water from a wineglass every afternoon at a local restaurant.
Spam mail got its name from the canned meat after a Monty Python skit that made fun of Spam as tasting “horrible and being ubiquitous and inescapable.”
Humans specifically have eyes that face forward for the purpose of seeing in 3D. On the other hand, vegetarian dinosaurs such as the Triceratops had eyes that looked out to the side so they could stay vigilant, watching for danger as they ate.
In the 1980s, the founder of Pringles, Fredric Baur, requested to be buried in a Pringles can. His children honored the request.
You can now get a headstone with a QR code. Called “Living Headstones,” they show pages with photos, video biography, and comments from loved ones.
While filming Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey had his crown temporarily removed – that chipped tooth is real and a result of a childhood fight.
Ginger beer is brewed and fermented with ginger, while ginger ale is merely carbonated water flavored with ginger.
During the first live iPhone presentation, Steve Jobs had to frequently switch phones behind his desk. Otherwise, it would run out of RAM and crash.
In Mississippi, it is considered a federal offense to Dine-n-Dash on a check that is over $25. In California, it is only petty theft.
The NYPD had a police officer follow Andre the Giant whenever he went out drinking. This was to make sure he didn’t get drunk and fall on anyone.
In the popular film, The Godfather, the word “mafia” is never said because the actual mafia commanded it.
