Knowledge is power, and there is so much to take in.
What’s funny though, is that in some situations, some knowledge we acquire can sound more like made up storytelling.
There have been plenty of times where an Onion article became reality.
Go figure.
Redditor SuruchiSushi wanted to discuss all the fascinating facts about life that leave us reeling because it sounds more like fiction.
They asked:
“What is a fact so ridiculous that it sounds fake?”
Let’s talk about what’s really real.
Pre-Zombie Menu
“We’ve eaten mummies into rarity.” ~ Daylight_The_Furry
“Yep, it was all the rage a few hundred years ago in Europe. Largely for medicinal purposes, ground up into powder and mixed with stuff, mostly.” ~ Reddit
“I mean, this was around the same time that British scientists categorized aboriginals as fauna. I don’t think they had a very good sense of who counted as people.” ~ Callmecaesar1
“Not only eaten, but they used to be ground up to make pigment for paints. Literally called mummy brown.” ~ThatOneAsianGuy33
Missing Parts
“Some moths emerge from the cocoon without a mouth or anus.” ~happy_cake_babe
“Serious response: a lot of what we think of as ‘insects’ are actually the adult forms, and often don’t live very long as adults.”
“Basically they emerge as adults, go find another to make babies with, and then die once the eggs are laid.”
“If they’re only going to live a few hours or days, they can get by without mouths or buttholes.”
“A lot of insect species spend most of their time as little maggoty things, and only take their distinctive adult forms for a brief portion of their life.”
“Insects are weird, yo.” ~ AndAzraelSaid
Bad Words
“The term ‘prime minister’ was first used as a slur.” ~ ____andresito____
“The term ‘Prime Minister’ as we know it today emerged in the 18th century, during the prolonged conflict between Britain and France.”
“It was first applied insultingly to Sir Robert Walpole, who is now considered the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.”
“It was used by members of Parliament against Walpole, who served for 21 years and oversaw the increasing power of his role and simultaneous withdrawal of King George I from cabinet meetings.”
“The derogatory nature was derived from its comparison to France’s Chief Minister, Cardinal Richelieu.”
“The British were proud of not to be an absolute monarchy, like France, so the comparison was intended to be offensive.”
“Source” ~ Zhyko
Among the Stars
“When two galaxies merge, almost nothing collides despite each having trillions of stars.” ~mrbigmac61
“Yep, it’s because there’s really just far too much space between objects when you zoom in.”
“Even the asteroid belt has thousands of miles of empty space between each asteroid.”
“If you flew through the asteroid belt, you’d only crash if you did so on purpose.” ~ nsci2ece
Hey Rubber Ducky
“In 1992, shipping containers with around 28,000 rubber ducks were lost at sea(in the Pacific Ocean)…. they’re still being found today.” ~ BlueSparkle2810
“Imagine being lost at sea for a few days, you see something in the water in front of you.”
“Maybe a clue to where land is? No. It’s a friggin’ rubber duck.” ~ DancingDoggos
A Massive Population
“Bangladesh, a really tiny country has a population larger than all of Russia.” ~ R4zerSins
“Just scanning over Bangladesh on Google maps satellite view is incredible.”
“Even in areas that look green from zoomed out, there’s villages absolutely everywhere when you zoom in.”
“And then when you do get cities, they’re mega-densely populated metropolises with huge slum areas. It’s mad.” ~PillarofSheffield
Give me the keys…
“It’s legal to own, and drive a tank in the USA.”
“You can even drive it on the road if you replace the steel tracks with rubber tracks. The guns and cannon must be disabled though.” ~ KKKKOOOOBBBBRRRRAAAA
“Actually that last ‘fact’ is untrue. You do not need to disable the gun, in fact you can buy tank shells.”
“The reason however most are disabled (there are a few not disabled) is its ridiculously expensive and requires a lot more paperwork.” ~corbear007
Flying High
“On the 29th of September 1940 two planes had a mid-air collision, got stuck together and successfully landed.”
“The pilot used the controls of the top plane and the engines of the bottom plane.”
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp478Tgm5gg“. ~ alphaechothunder77
Meeting your maker…
“France didn’t stop executing people by guillotine until 1977.” ~ whereismattdamon
“Yeah, like all the modern execution methods. And the guillotine is even more sure than getting shot in the head.”
“The ol’ chopper is the method I’d choose if I had to be executed.”
“Course, I’d request that they quickly grab my chopped head and show me my body. That’d be sick.” ~ 4_P-
The Missing
“20% of foster children are missing at any given time.” ~ SagiTsukiko
“20% of foster care children are missing.”
“A lot of this is due to runaways.”
“My girlfriend works in foster care and every week she has at least one foster child runaway, mind you these are just her cases and not her coworkers cases who also have constant runaways.” ~ skuzzlebut90
“98%. 2% are unaccounted for. It’s still a major issue that so many foster kids are running away, though.”
“A glimpse into how inadequate the system and many foster parents are.”
“It’s not always their fault that they cannot adequately care for a foster child, though, and many foster parents who are not abusive simply just were not prepared for a lot of the issues that may arise with a traumatized child who has been removed from their birth family and shuffled around.” ~ SagiTsukiko
Playing the Devil
“2 actors have died playing Judas in live biblical productions by accidentally hanging themselves for real in his death scene.” ~ acronicality
Death
“The last time an inmate in the USA was executed by firing squad was on June 18th, 2010.” ~bob4for4
“Ronnie Lee Gardner (January 16, 1961 – June 18, 2010) was an American criminal who received the death penalty for shooting a man in the face and killing him during a robbery in 1985, and was executed by a firing squad by the state of Utah in 2010.”
“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Lee_Gardner“. ~ Reddit
Well that was a lot of knowledge to devour at once. Some fascinating, the rest surprising.
We were still using firing squads in this century?
I have no words.
Now we’re all one step closer to Jeopardy.