Facts You Probably don’t Need
- Roughly half of Icelandic mDNA, which is passed through the female, is Irish in origin. This is due to Dublin being the center of the Viking slave trade in the 10th and 11th centuries.
- Men’s curling was included in the Olympic program in 1924 at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix. It was then dropped, and later reintroduced in 1932 in Lake Placid.
- After about a year inside its mother’s womb, a baby blue whale emerges weighing up to three tons and stretching to 25 feet.
- Great Britain is an island that consists of regions that include England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom is a country that includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- The numbers on the toaster represent minutes, not level of toastiness.
- The painting American Gothic is a depiction of father and daughter, not husband and wife.
- For the most part, your wrist to your elbow is very similar to the length as your foot.
- Your tongue knows how things feel just by your brain looking at them. Brick wall? Carpet? Tree bark? You’ve (probably) never licked them, but just by looking at them, your tongue knows and tells your brain the texture.
Facts by Sean McVeigh, factologist.
