20 Trivia-Tastic Facts That Really Stirred Our Coffee
There's something definitely otherworldly about hands that have a mind of their own and, well, alien hand syndrome is a rare neurological disorder where one hand functions involuntarily. AHS sufferers often report feeling as if the affected limb has a life of its own. Moving to history, giant soldiers might sound like they're straight out of Game of Thrones, but Prussian King Frederick William I really did breed tall men to create an elite regiment in the 1700s. These “Potsdam Giants” were given extra money for being taller, and even more money was doled out if they married tall women in hopes of continuing to produce giant heirs. Except none of them ever saw action - turns out when you've got giants on your side, you become too valuable to risk losing them in battle. Now, on the subject of literature, blank pages can be pretty intimidating whether you're staring down writer's block or just trying to doodle some flowers around the margins, but for JRR Tolkien it was actually where he found inspiration for The Hobbit. One day while grading papers, he came across an empty sheet and suddenly wrote ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’ And with that simple sentence began one now-beloved fantasy series.
Gamers are more prone to be lucid dreamers.
Shirley Temple had to rinse her hair with vinegar every week.
The West Virginia book hysteria in 1974 got violent.
The biggest nuclear bomb test by the US was by accident.
The Wright brothers' first airplane made it to the moon, eventually.
A Nobel Prize winner was given a beer pipeline.
Tree shrews in Borneo use pitcher plants as toilets.
The Human Torch did battle with Asbestos Lady.
A man at the Bronx Zoo attempted to be “one with the tiger.”
Half of all CDs on Earth had the AOL logo at one time.
A Scottish folk singer named Shelagh McDonald abruptly and mysteriously vanished in 1972.
One snake’s bite dissolves your muscle tissue and overloads your kidneys.
Radiation makes astronauts see flashes of light in space.
A ship parked at the equator and skipped New Years Eve, 1899.
A farmer exploited a loophole to build a castle.
It only takes one single snowflake to make a “white Christmas” in the UK.
The Wizard of Oz sequel was not so kid friendly.
Tolkien started “The Hobbit” on a blank page while grading papers.
A Prussian King bred tall soldiers with tall women to make giant soldiers that never saw any action.
Alien hand syndrome is a disorder where one hand acts with a mind of its own.
