People Share The Most Random Facts They Know

We all have random thoughts and tidbits ready to be shared, and most of the time we have no idea how we acquired the information. But it all does make for interesting dinner conversation.

Lefties

"I used to always notice that Bart Simpson is left-handed, and then someone pointed out that pretty much everyone in Springfield is left-handed. I cant unsee it."

- Extrasherman

In the Saddle

"One horse is 15 horsepower at a sprint."

- trinckettbelle 

"Well a horse power is the measure of the power a horse can output sustained for a whole day."

"EDIT FOR CLARITY: a horse can sustain a specific amount of energy over a 24hr period without dying. 1 horsepower is the power at any given instance (assuming the horse is working consistently).The reason this is power and not energy is because it only measures the rate the horse is working, not the total output of the horse over the whole day."

- Jalibut

The Shutter

"You can't turn off the shutter sound on mobile phones in Japan. The reason for this is because up skirt photography is common and to reduce it they decided to add sound to make it easier to spot the pervert."

- The_Takoyaki

"It used to be true on all Samsung phones. That and turning the volume up past halfway for more than a few minutes, would cause a voice to warn about hearing loss, and it would turn back down."

- Smurf_Cherries

Facts of the Leader

"There has only been one US President arrested while in office, and it was Grant on the charge of speeding and reckless driving in his horse & buggy."

- HoopOnPoop

"Since we're spouting presidential facts:"

"If you flip a penny and call heads, you're technically right on either side it lands."

"There's a tiny Lincoln in the memorial on the back. 'Heads'."

- CujohFE40536

In Code

"I recently discovered that the word Snafu is actually a military acronym for "situation normal, all f**ked up". I thought it was just a word."

- marabou22

I gotta write all that down. And now I have to start watching "The Simpsons." Which I stopped watching decades ago. We're all a bunch of encyclopedias just roaming around. Tell me more...

Spray Off

"If a group of penguins feel threatened, they put the women and children in the middle and form a huge circle around them with the males facing inwards, and they spray their crap out to fend off predators."

- Lukebwwfc

The Higher Pitch

"You hate the sound of your recorded voice because it's missing the low frequency you're used to hearing. When you talk, you hear your voice as it goes to the air and back to you ear. It also goes through your skull to your ear, and this bone conduction mechanism transmits the low frequencies better than air does."

"Your recorded voice only has the air transmitted sound. That causes the dissonance between what you think your voice sounds like, and what it really does. It's also why your voice will always be higher pitch than you think."

- BlocterDocterFocter

Sad Facts

"Omaha Nebraska was fire bombed by Japan during WW2. No casualties and residents weren't aware until the next morning."

"Japan launched 9000 balloons with fire bombs attached into the wind. They hit 26 states as well as Canada and Mexico. Nobody was hurt except in Oregon, where an unexploded bomb killed a woman and five children. The whole incident was covered up so that it wouldn't scare the public during the war."

- MoistYeastInfection

When Mating...

"The cicada mating call is made by males chirping really loudly, which we all know. But you didn't know that the females' positive response is made by clapping her wings together, which sounds almost exactly like snapping your fingers."

"So if there's a tree of horny cicadas in your backyard that won't shut the hell up, walk over to it and start snapping your fingers to catfish them into being quiet and trying to find the dtf female. If you're lucky one might catch on and land on your arm!"  

- MasterOfOne

The Fall

"When a whale dies, it falls to the bottom of the ocean. This phenomenon is called a whale fall and an entire small ecosystem can thrive on the carcass for a few years!"

- weekendrant

That whale fall is very dramatic. How did we not hear about it sooner? Some facts I could def do without. But I feel one step closer to Jeopardy. You?