15 Now-You-Know Facts That Hard-Boiled Our Brains
![15 Now-You-Know Facts That Hard-Boiled Our Brains](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/7/2/836172_320x180.jpg)
In 1629, they took beard care pretty seriously. An influential book on the subject starts with this passage:
“In the mean time, when we have got well into the second book, we meet with what seemeth a strange kinde of person, which the name is 'Tobacoo,' and hath an exceeding big beard, very thick and curly all over his body and face; so great a one that if any gentleman be not ashamed of himself to take such a beard on hime, I cannot well conceive. For, as he may not keep his beard cleanly by the waye of soape and water, I will now show unto the gentlemen in the worlde how he may do the same, that they may know how much a great mane is needful for their faces to be made cleanse by washing thereof; or else they may use some other method to get them well clear; which I hope will please all that desire it.” And it goes on for six whole pages about mustaches.
Okay, not really. That was just the product of our fevered imaginations. But we DO have some content related to both the 1600s and mustache care, and this is it:
Opossums give birth after 2 days.
![The opossum only carries its young for 12 days before giving birth. CRACKED.COM The Virginia opossum has the shortest known gestation period, just under two weeks. The longest? The Indian elephant, with 22 months.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/0/835630.jpg)
The arch in St. Louis is just as tall as it is wide.
![The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is exactly as wide as it is tall. CRACKED.COM Since you're not always looking at the arch straight on, you experience an illusion that it's much taller than it is wide, but the arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/7/835627.jpg)
There is oxygen on Mars, but don’t breathe it.
![Venus and Mars have a lot of atmospheric oxygen. CRACKED.COM The closest planets to Earth, which probably formed in similar conditions, have oxygen just like us. In their cases, however, most of the oxygen is there in the form of carbon dioxide.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/9/835629.jpg)
The Earth is moving faster than the speed of sound.
![The Earth moves at 1,000 MPH CRACKED.COM If you were to hang above the surface of the Earth at the equator without moving, you would see 25,000 miles pass by in 24 hours, at a speed of just over 1000 miles per hour.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/8/835628.jpg)
Tonsils can come back after being removed.
![It's possible for tonsils to grow back after being removed. CRACKED.COM During a tonsillectomy, most of the tonsils are removed. However, some tissue often remains, so tonsils can occasionally regenerate- although they probably won't grow back completely or to their original size.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/6/835626.jpg)
You could buy a car radio in the ‘30s.
![The first car radios were sold in 1930. 12. CRACKED.COM The Galvin Corporation introduced one of the first commercial car radios, the Motorola model 5T71, which sold for between $110 and $130 ($2,200 in today's money) and could be installed in most popular automobiles.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/5/835625.jpg)
Ice cream sundaes were all about breaking the rules.
![The ice cream sundae was created to get around laws against soda water. and VIEKYOMN CRACKED.COM Laws were once passed that prohibited the selling of soda water on a Sunday in Illinois in 1890. As an alternative on Sundays, local soda fountains started selling ice cream sodas minus the soda, which left only the ice cream and syrup.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/1/835621.jpg)
A nice amount of water is frozen.
![69 percent of Earth's water that is not in the ocean is frozen. CRACKED.COM Of the three percent of the water that is not in the ocean, about 69 percent is locked up in glaciers and icecaps. Ninety percent of that frozen water is in Antarctica and about nine percent covers Greenland.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/2/835622.jpg)
A person’s lungs are not both the same size.
![One of your lungs is slightly smaller than the other. CRACKED.COM The left lung is slightly smaller than the right lung because 2/3 of the heart is located on the left side of the body. The left lung contains the cardiac notch, an indentation in the lung that surrounds the арех of the heart.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/8/835618.jpg)
The UK has their own “Tornado Alley.”
![The UK has more tornadoes, relative to its land area, than any other country. CRACKED.COM On average, England is hit by about 34 tornadoes a year. They are most common between Reading and London, with a 6% chance that a tornado can touch down within 6 miles of any area in the Thames Valley.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/9/835619.jpg)
“Unfriend” has been around for centuries.
![The verb unfriend first appeared in 1659. UNFRIEND GRAGKED.COM 'Unfriend' was once semi-synonymous with 'enemy' in the 13th century. It made its first appearance in the late 12th or even early 13th century Middle English poem Layamon's Brut (which also used the word 'muggle').](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/4/835624.jpg)
Pencils are yellow to pay tribute to royal heritage.
![Graphite pencils are yellow as a nod to their Chinese roots- but not in a bad way. CRACKED.COM American pencil manufacturers began painting their pencils, made with Chinese graphite, bright yellow to communicate regal feeling and association with China, where the color yellow is associated with royalty and respect.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/6/835616.jpg)
There are more birds than you think that make milk.
![Pigeons, flamingos, and emperor penguins produce milk. CRACKED.COM Both male and female pigeons make milk for their young, and with flamingos and penguins, are the only birds to have the ability.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/3/835623.jpg)
Protecting your mustache in the 800s was an important job.
![A mustache guard was patented in 1890 to save your whiskers from soup. GRACKED.COM Patented in September 1890 by Ruben P. Hollinshead, this guard is designed to a gentleman's mustache in order to keep the same up out of the way at the table ...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/7/835617.jpg)
Crabs are choosing underwater cables over sex.
![Deep sea crabs are getting addicted to underwater cables. CRACKED.COM Brown crabs can't resist the electromagnetic pull of underwater power cables and it's changing their behavior and their biology at a cellular level, not foraging for food or seeking a mate.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/2/0/835620.jpg)