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Another 20 Useless Things
Another 20 Useless Things
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When you're on the golf course, you're probably paying more attention to
what club you're using than the details of each golf ball. But if you did take
notice of the specifics, you might discover that your golf balls can have
anywhere between 300 and 500 "dimples," though most tend to have 336.
According to the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, "golf balls are usually covered with dimples in a highly
symmetrical way," which "is important or the ball will wobble."
22
Montpelier, Vermont, is the only U.S. capital without a McDonald's.
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In many cities, you can pick up a Quarter Pounder or some McNuggets on
every other block. However, it's not as easy for residents of Montpelier,
Vermont, to get a Big Mac. That's because it's the only U.S. state capital that
doesn't have a McDonald's. As the smallest state capital in terms of
population (approximately 7,500), the city doesn't have a Burger King,
either. Sorry, Whopper lovers! To enjoy a meal from either fast food chain,
Montpelier residents can simply head over to the neighboring city of Barre.
23
Apple seeds contain cyanide.
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As they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away—unless you eat too many
apple seeds, that is. The tiny black seeds found in the fruit contain a plant
compound called amygdalin that turns into hydrogen cyanide if the seeds
are chewed or digested, according to Medical News Today. Seeing as
cyanide is poisonous (even deadly in high doses), you should definitely spit
those seeds out. Do the same for apricot, peach, and cherry seeds, which
contain the compound as well.
24
Mulan has the highest kill-count of any Disney character.
Walt Disney
Mulan is fierce, brave, and incredibly inspirational. But she's also incredibly
deadly. In fact, she was not only the first Disney princess to kill someone
on-screen in the 1998 film Mulan, but she also has the highest kill-count of
any Disney character, according to UNILAD. Mulan took out nearly 2,000
people over the course of the animated film, including the evil Hun leader,
Shan Yu, and 1,994 Huns by triggering an avalanche.
25
A cubic inch of human bone can bear the weight of five standard pickup
trucks.
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Human bodies can sometimes feel vulnerable and fragile. But if you want to
feel like a superhero, keep in mind that human bone is actually stronger
than both steel and concrete. "Bone is extraordinarily strong—ounce for
ounce, bone is stronger than steel, since a bar of steel of comparable size
would weigh four or five times as much," biomedical engineer Cindy
Bir told Live Science in 2010. "A cubic inch of bone can in principle bear a
load of 19,000 lbs. (8,626 kg) or more—roughly the weight of five standard
pickup trucks—making it about four times as strong as concrete."
26
A frigate bird can sleep while it flies.
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Birds can do some pretty amazing things. For example, frigate birds can
sleep while flying. That's because they can snooze while using only one
hemisphere of the brain at a time, according to a 2016 study published in
the journal Nature Communications.
27
Jupiter is twice as massive as all the other planets combined.
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Maybe you already knew that Jupiter was the biggest planet of them all. But
did you know just how big? Not only is it more than twice as massive as all
the other planets combined, but if Earth were the size of a grape, Jupiter
would be the size of a basketball, according to NASA.
28
Your body contains about 100,000 miles of blood vessels.
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Blood vessels are incredibly small, measuring around five micrometers (for
reference, a strand of our hair is about 17 micrometers). However, because
we have so many in our body, The Franklin Institute explains that if you
laid them out in a single row, a child's blood vessels would stretch more
than 60,000 miles, while an adult's would measure around 100,000 miles
long.
29
The little dot above a lowercase "i" and "j" has a name.
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While many other languages include written accents throughout their
alphabets, English only has two letters that include a "diacritic dot,"
according to Dictionary.com. That small mark you make over a lowercase
"i" and a lowercase "j" is called a "tittle." It's likely a combination of the
words "tiny" and "little" since it is an itty-bitty dot.
30
The chicken and the ostrich are the closest living relatives of the
Tyrannosaurus rex.
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While we used to think that dinosaurs were giant lizard-like creatures that
roamed the earth, it's now widely accepted that dinosaurs have more in
common with present-day birds than they do with oversized reptiles.
Research out of Harvard University in 2008 confirmed that the
Tyrannosaurus rex shared more of its genetic makeup with ostriches and
chickens than with alligators and crocodiles.
31
There's a trademark on the world's darkest shade of black.
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In the late 2010s, artist Anish Kapoor won the exclusive rights to use the
color called vantablack, the "blackest black," meaning no other artist could
use it. This didn't sit well with other creative-types, which is why Stuart
Semple created the "pinkest pink," which he made available for purchase to
anyone except Kapoor.
Baur was so proud of his invention that he wanted to take it to the grave—
literally. He communicated his burial wishes to his family, and when he
died at 89, his children stopped at Walgreens on their way to the funeral
home to buy the burial Pringles can for his ashes. They did have one
decision to make, though. "My siblings and I briefly debated what flavor to
use," Baur's eldest son, Larry, told Time. "But I said, 'Look, we need to use
the original.'" And that's exactly what they went with.