14 fascinating facts behind things we take for granted

Published on May 15, 2019, 12:40 am

Written by Straker Julia in Entertainment

Lots of things that we take for granted have an unusual story behind them. Things that did not come about by chance and may stem from a hidden past.

Illustration : "14 fascinating facts behind things we take for granted" — Photo d'illustration

Objects, people, events...Things that barely makes us think twice when in fact they should! If that's got you curious, then check out these 14 fascinating facts...

1. Winnie the Pooh was named after a real bear called "Winnipeg"

In 1914, a bear cub was bought from a hunter for $20 and sent to London Zoo, where it was named Winnie. Christopher Robin, son of Winnie the Pooh creator Alan Alexander Milne, saw the bear and even decided its fur was a different color. This inspired his dad, who published the first of the Winnie the Pooh books in 1926.

2. Interesting fact about the ISS? It only takes 90 minutes to circle the Earth, meaning the astronauts see sunrises and sunsets 16 times a day!

3. Kangaroos and emus can't walk backwards and this is why they became Australia's emblems - a sign that the country continually moves forwards!

4. Butterfly McQueen, who played Prissy in Gone With The Wind, was banned from the movie's premier as theaters were exclusively reserved for white people

5. The most securely-guarded dinosaur skeleton in the world and it's the size of a car

6. A pink bunny is the Duracell emblem except for in the US and Canada, where the bunny is used to advertise Energizer batteries

The first Duracell commercial with a pink bunny appeared in 1973, but Energizer had already trademarked a pink bunny image, meaning both companies have the right to use it. In 1992, the brands came to an agreement, hence the different use in the US and Canada.

7. The inside of the Tower of Pisa is... Empty!

8. John Tyler (10th US president between 1841 and 1845) has two living grandsons

9. The physicist Robert Millikan didn't agree with Einstein's photoelectric equation and set out to test it. 10 years later, he found that the equation was correct and this proof led to him receiving a Nobel prize.

10. Pandas in captivity will 'fake' pregnancies in order to get more food from their keepers

11. Thanks to Foldit, an online puzzle game, the structure of a virus was defined 15 years after it was first discovered.

12. On May 16th 2010, Jupiter, Venus and the Moon aligned to form a celestial face

13. "The Krusty Krab" from SpongeBob SquarePants is based on a lobster trap

14. The word "boycott" first appeared in 1880. It was derived from the surname of a man nobody liked!

In 1880, the Irish ostracized a land agent called Charles Boycott because of rising rents and evictions. By "boycotting" Charles Boycott, this land agent ended up leaving Ireland after a few weeks, but his name has gone down in language history!

By Straker Julia
Writer

Passionate about writing, I write articles on the subjects that I love. Creativity and Animals themes are my favorites!