11 Mario Owned And Abused Donkey Kong
Most of us are familiar with the original Donkey Kong video game. In the game you play an early version of Mario, who at that stage was a carpenter, not a plumber, and have to climb a series of girders while an ape, Donkey Kong, is throwing barrels at you to rescue a kidnapped woman. Most of us would think that the bad guy is Donkey Kong and the hero is Mario. But you might be surprised to learn that Donkey Kong is the hero and Mario is the villain.
Donkey Kong, and his son Donkey Kong Jr., were actually pets of Mario. Mario mistreated Donkey Kong by forcing him to perform in a circus. While performing in the circus, Kong had to balance on barrels, juggle pineapples while also avoiding flames. Poor Donkey simply escaped the cruelty one day and captured Mario’s girlfriend, Pauline, not the princess, and then took her to a construction site. That is where Mario enters the story again and the game begins.
But this behavior is only half of his evilness. Mario takes it to an all new level when he kills people on a mass scale.
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12 Some Women Are Allergic to Their Own New Born Babies
The condition is called pemphigoid gestationis and usually presents itself in the second or third trimester of pregnancy, and occasionally after birth. It is an auto immune disease that affects the skin, and will result in an itchy or painful rash and blistering. In some people they will only get a rash, while others will have the blisters. Auto immune diseases are when the bodies natural immune system begins attacking its own tissues. It was originally known as herpes gestationis, although it has no association to the herpes virus whatsoever.
Unfortunately there is no cure for the condition, but in most cases it will resolve itself within a few weeks of birth. Most women will be given treatments to alleviate the symptoms. Occasionally some women will suffer for months and years after the first signs, and in rare cases it will also pass onto the baby. It can often leave scarring and dark patches of skin. The condition affects one in every 50,000 pregnancies.
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13 The Average Weight Of Cremated Remains Is 2.4 kg (5.3 lb)
When a person dies sometimes the body is cremated. You will often see the remains of the cremated person in an urn or similar vessel. But have you ever wondered how much the ash weighs?
When a person is cremated the weight of the ash will be approximately 3.5% of the bodies original weight. The mean weight for a man’s cremated remains is approximately 2.7 kg (6 lb), while the mean weight for a woman is around 1.8 kg (4 lb). The mean weight of an adults cremated remains is 2.4 kg (5.3 lb).
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14 Urine Was Used To Make Gunpowder
As surprising that it is that one of the ingredients of dynamite is peanuts, urine was actually used to create gunpowder.
The gunpowder that was produced with urine was the black powder, not the current smokeless powders used in ammunition today.
The process of producing gunpowder with urine was a lengthy one. The urine, which is rich in nitrogen, was used to soak straw and other organic substances. The product was left moist and allowed to rot for up to a year or even more. This process of rotting straw and other organic substances in urine produced salts that were washed away with water, and then allowed to evaporate and dry. The remaining product was a crude form of saltpeter crystals, the main active ingredient in gunpowder.
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15 The US Was About to Drop A Nuclear Bomb On Tokyo Just Before Japan Surrendered
In the closing days of the Second World War the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The first fell on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the second was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Both bombs left the cities in ruins, and they still remain to this day the only two cities to have ever had nuclear weapons used against them. But a third city nearly faced the same fate.
On August 15, 1945, the Emperor of Japan, Emperor Hirohito, announced the surrender of Japan. Japan’s surrender had ended the war and an inevitable land battle on the main Island of Japan that would have cost many civilian and military deaths. But it also saved the capital Tokyo. The United States were planning on dropping a third atomic bomb on the Japanese capital on August 19, 1945.
Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945, ending hostilities.
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16 Mona Lisa’s Eyes Have A Secret Message, AKA The Real Da Vinci Code
The well publicized book, and later movie, about a hidden code in the art piece “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci may not have been as far fetched as you may think. It is just the painting was wrong. The real secret message lies in the eyes of Mona Lisa. Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage recently discovered that there are tiny letters and numbers in the eyes of the Mona Lisa painting. It is like the eyes, not the smile of Mona Lisa are concealing a secret message. The right eye has “LV” while the left eye has “BE” or “C”. But the painting also has symbols hidden elsewhere. On the bridge in the background the number 72 appears.
The letters and numbers were discovered after a committee member found them in an old book he bought at an antique shop. The experts are still baffled at what the symbols mean, but it is thought the LV is the artists signature.
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17 There Is Gold In Seawater
The next time you go for a swim or a surf at the beach it could make you rich in gold. Well, not really, but sea water does actually contain gold in it. Depending on the location as much as 2 milligrams of gold per ton of sea water. The sea ocean not only contains salt and gold either. Many other natural resources are also present in sea water including manganese, copper and silver. Whilst 2 milligrams per ton of sea water does not sound like much, the sheer volume of sea water would translate into trillions of dollars worth of gold.
The cost of extracting the gold from the ocean has always been more expensive than the gold it would produce. But this hasn’t stopped people from trying. Following the end of the First World War a German chemist named Fritz Haber spent years trying to perfect a way to extract the rich natural resource from the ocean in a hope of paying off his nations debts. Others have even used it as a scheme to swindle people out of money. Even a Nobel laureate Sir William Ramsay fell for a scheme by endorsing a company who said they could extract gold from the sea.
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18 The Yo-yo Was Used As A Hunting Weapon In The Philippines
Well this is a surprise. The humble Yo-yo, favorite toy of kids for practically centuries, was used as a hunting weapon in the Philippines around the 1500’s. That’s right, the small, inexpensive yet popular toy was used as a weapon for hunting. But how could something so small and harmless be used as a weapon?
OK, sure, this toy could possibly put someones eye out if hit with enough force, or maybe even deliver a black eye. I guess there’s also a choking hazard for small children with the string, but that would have to be about the extent of its dangers. But with a few modifications here and there, a simple toy can be turned into a deadly device.
While evidence of the Yo-yo as a hunting weapon is scant, it has been suggested that in the Philippines hunters would enlarge the disc and attach it to a longer piece of string. they would then lie in wait in a tree for their prey to approach before throwing it at the animal. The idea was for a weapon similar to a boomerang, where you could throw it at a target, and if you miss you can try again.
As we have said, while the evidence of the Philippines using a Yo-yo as a weapon in the 1500’s is hard to come by, it’s hard to say with any certainty that they didn’t use it that way.
For the record, the Yo-yo has been used as a toy for at least 2,500 to 3,000 years, and is the second oldest toy known to man.
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19 Toilet Paper Has Been Around Since The 6th Century
Toilet paper, something we all take for granted has been around since at least the early 6th century in China. The first recorded use of toilet paper was in 589 AD when the scholar-official Yan Zhitui wrote about it saying “Paper on which there are quotations or commentaries from the Five Classics or the names of sages, I dare not use for toilet purposes.”
The first recorded noting from a person outside of China was a travelling Arab who said in the year 851 AD “…they (the Chinese) do not wash themselves with water when they have done their necessities; but they only wipe themselves with paper.”
Paper for use as toilet paper was mainly only used by the Emperors as paper was a very expensive commodity. Prior to the widespread use of toilet paper people used to carry around a sponge in a special bag, or they would use the smooth edge of broken pottery to scrape away the left over mess. Toilet paper was introduced to the US by Joseph Gayetty in the 1920’s.
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20 Playboy Started When Hugh Hefner Didn’t Get A $5 Pay Rise
Rounding out our list of ridiculous but true facts is one about the famous mens magazine, Playboy.
Playboy, the original men’s Adultographic magazine was started over a pay rise dispute. Hugh Hefner, men want to be him, and if they can’t, they want to be like him, started Playboy magazine because he couldn’t get a $5 pay rise.
Playboy is no longer just a magazine. it is an empire expanding into the online realm, television, resorts and night clubs. But exactly how did it all begin. Perhaps one of the inspirations could have been when his first wife had an affair and she confessed to Hugh she told him he could sleep with as many women as he liked. After completing his degree at Northwestern University he began work at Esquire magazine. When he asked for a $5 raise and didn’t get it he quit and raised $8000 to begin publishing an extremely controversial magazine that became Playboy. He is now estimated to be worth $300 million.
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Bonus Fact
Believe it or not but if you multiply 111,111,111 by 111,111,111 the answer is 12,345,678,987,654,321.
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