15 Now-You-Know Facts That Slap

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15 Now-You-Know Facts That Slap

 "My name is David Wren. I'm a scientist, and my job was to study the strange things in this universe. Like what makes the sun hot enough to shine on us all. Or why we can't hear stars when they explode, because their light would reach our planet millions of years later.

"And I had to find answers that no one else could see. My boss, the head of my research organization, said there was a good chance that if I couldn't do it, none of us could do it. I don't want to say I had a hard time accepting that. But I did have problems, which is why I'm writing down everything here so that someone—I mean, some future David Wren or maybe just someone who's a better scientist and cares more about the world around them—can try and get to the bottom of all this. To finally finish the job I couldn't do. To fully understand, once and for all, the science behind this strange list of fifteen facts. Here it is:"

A jail just for bears exists in Canada.

Canada has a jail for polar bears. CRACKED.COM The polar bear jail (officially known as the Polar Bear Holding Facility) is a special building in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada where polar bears that are considered troublesome or dangerous are isolated before they can be relocated.

The Atlantic 

The “American Gothic” couple are not husband and wife.

The couple in the painting American Gothic are father and daughter. CRACKED.COM Grant Wood painted the iconic scene in 1930, modeling the man and woman after his dentist and sister, respectively. Though many people assumed the two were a married couple, they are actually father and daughter.

Forbes

Alaska is so west, it wraps back around to the east.

Alaska is the most northern, eastern, and western state in the USA. GRAGKED.COM Point Barrow, Alaska is the most Northern point in the U.S., located on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Alaska's Aleutian Islands cross over the 180th Meridian, from the Western to the Eastern hemisphere.

World Atlas

The moon looks different depending on what hemisphere you’re on.

People living in the southern hemisphere see the moon upside down compared to CRACKED.COM Jake Clark, an astronomer from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, explains, In the south we see the Moon's dark 'Oceanus Procellarum' sea in the south-east corner compared to in the north-west corner for a northern observer.

Science Alert 

A donor kidney recipient keeps the kidney that is being replaced.

When someone gets a donor kidney, it gets put in their body with the other two. CRACKED.COM The original kidneys are left in the lower abdomen when a person gets a kidney transplant, so now they have 3 kidneys.

Chicago Tribune 

We kind of misplaced a few nukes.

The United States has lost 6 nuclear weapons. H WT Special CRACKED.COM The U.S. has lost at least six atomic bombs or weapons-grade nuclear material since the Cold War. One submarine sank in 1968 with 99 men aboard, and at least one nuclear missile.

NY Times 

We almost nuked North Carolina.

In 1961, two hydrogen bombs were accidentally dropped over North Carolina. CRACKED.COM The recently declassified document from 1969 describes the accident in 1961 in which two hydrogen bombs were dropped inadvertently over North Carolina.

The Guardian

An underground fire in PA has been burning for decades.

A town in Pennsylvania has had an uncontrolled fire burning since 1962. GRACKED.COM Centralia, Pennsylvania was a busy small town filled with shops, residents and a brisk mining business, but an underground mine fire has turned the suburb into a ghost town, with all 1,200 residents abandoning their homes.

History 

A 7 hour boxing match ended in a draw.

The longest boxing match went 110 rounds and over 7 hours. CRACKED.COM Boxers Jack Burke and Andy Bowen battled in 1893 for the lightweight title, with the fight declared a draw. This happened at the Olympic Club in New Orleans which did not serve alcohol.

Mental Floss 

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