Curious Mind Blowing Facts - 63

Your brain can’t tell the difference between something real and something you vividly imagine.

So, just thinking about a stressful event can make your body react like it’s happening again. Same stress, same chemicals, same loop.

That’s how people get stuck in the past.

But - if you imagine a better future and feel emotions like gratitude or love now, your body starts to believe it’s real. This can actually change your brain and body.

Over time, your body begins to act like the future already happened. That’s when big shifts can happen.

Bottom line:
Where you focus your attention is where your energy goes. And that shapes who you become.

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Walt Disney originally named Mickey Mouse “Mortimer” but he changed the character's name at his wife’s request.

Do you watch Survivor? Did you know that all the participants make some money.

The first eliminated is given $3,500.

Anyone who makes it to the jury stage gets $40,000.

Third place is $75,000,

The runner-up is guaranteed $100,000.

Winner gets a $million.
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There are over 11,000 accepted species of grass, with some estimations reaching as high as 13,000. These grasses belong to the Poaceae family, which includes everything from lawn grasses to crops like wheat and rice. Yes Rice and Wheat are classified as grasses.

Walmart does not have any physical stores within New York City (NYC). Despite numerous attempts, Walmart has been unable to open stores in the city due to extensive political opposition and pushback from residents, labor groups, and political leaders. Concerns about local business competition, potential traffic issues, and job displacement have contributed to the opposition.

A current episode of Saturday Night Live costs $4,000.000 to make, which is about $100,000,000 per season.

If you think brown eggs are healthier than white eggs, you’d be wrong. Some retailers want you to believe that brown eggs are organic. And organic must be better and healthier, right? Not necessarily.
We have been conditioned to think that organic is healthier. And therefore more expensive because they are kind of premium.
The linked article tells us that brown eggs are the same as white eggs. The only difference between white and brown eggs is that the brown eggs have been laid by brown feathered hens. https://slate.com/life/2025/04/are-brown-eggs-healthier-nutrition-cost-organic.html

True or False? The triple crown of horse racing was first won by a horse with 3 heads, thus he wore a triple crown. Its name was “Long Faces”.

obvs - False!

Juicy Tomato facts:

1. Tomatoes were once thought to be deadly.
In the 1700s, Europeans called them "poison apples" because rich folks ate them off lead plates. The acid pulled out the lead, and they got sick. Tomatoes got the blame.

2. They are technically a fruit... and a vegetable.
Botanically, they’re fruit. But in 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled they are legally vegetables for tax reasons.

3. There are over 10,000 tomato varieties.
Tiny ones. Giant ones. Blue ones. Even some that look like striped candy.

4. The first tomatoes were small and yellow.
The original wild tomatoes from South America were about the size of peas. Bright yellow.

5. Tomatoes have more genes than humans.
Tomatoes have about 31,760 genes. Humans? Around 20,000–25,000.

6. They once fueled a war.
In the U.S. Civil War, soldiers sometimes survived off tomatoes because they were easy to grow and packed some nutrients.

7. Tomato juice was once marketed as medicine.
In the early 1900s, people drank tomato juice to cure indigestion.

8. A tomato was the first vegetable grown in space.
NASA astronauts grew a tomato plant on the Space Shuttle.

9. You can hear a tomato grow.
Scientists recorded plants making clicking and popping sounds when growing or stressed.

10. Tomatoes can suffer from "catfacing."
When the weather’s too cold, tomatoes get bumpy, scarred, and weird-looking — like a grumpy cat’s face.

11. There’s a tomato that tastes like pineapple.
It’s called the Pineapple Tomato. Sweet and tangy.

12. People throw 150,000 tomatoes at each other in Spain every year.
At La Tomatina festival, a whole town has a giant tomato fight. Streets run red.

13. Some tomatoes glow in the dark.
Scientists spliced a firefly gene into a tomato plant to make it light up. Basically, nature’s nightlight.

14. There’s a tomato with black skin.
It’s called the Indigo Rose. Dark purple, almost black. Packed with antioxidants.

15. Tomatoes have a better memory than you think.
Plants, including tomatoes, can "remember" droughts. They adjust their future growing patterns based on stress they’ve survived.

16. Tomatoes can clone themselves.
If a tomato seedling’s DNA gets messed up, it can sometimes fix itself without needing Mom and Dad plants.

17. Scientists made a square tomato.
In the 1940s, they bred tomatoes into cube shapes to fit better in shipping boxes. Looked weird. People hated it. Back to round they went.

18. A single tomato plant can grow 15,000 tomatoes.
In Disney’s Epcot, they grew a tree called The Tomato Tree that produced 32,000 tomatoes in one year.

19. Tomato plants release "distress chemicals" when injured.
When you cut or bite a tomato plant, it sends out airborne cries for help. Other plants nearby "hear" it and brace themselves.

20. Ketchup used to be made from... not tomatoes.
The OG ketchup was made from fermented fish guts in ancient China. Tomato ketchup didn’t hit the scene until the early 1800s.

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The top 10% of Americans held 93% of all stocks, the highest level ever recorded.

Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans held just 1% of all stocks in the third quarter of 2023.

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The United States is home to 34 million businesses.
And there are 4.3 million businesses in Canada.

Dana Carvey had heart-bypass that was done incorrectly. He was awarded $7.5 million for medical malpractice which he donated entirely to charity.

Before Google launched Gmail, 'G-Mail' was the name of a free email service offered by Garfield’s website. The Garfield-branded email service offered a unique email domain "@catsrule.garfield.com".

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How to Banzai Skydive

Banzai Skydiving is an extreme and highly dangerous variation of traditional skydiving, characterized by a jaw-dropping sequence: the diver throws their parachute out of the plane first, then leaps after it, aiming to catch and deploy it mid-freefall before landing safely. Here's a detailed breakdown of this audacious sport:

1. The Mechanics of Banzai Skydiving

• Step 1: Parachute Release
  The diver tosses the unopened parachute from the aircraft at high altitude, allowing it to deploy fully in freefall.

• Step 2: The Jump
  Moments later, the diver leaps after the parachute. Timing is critical—delays or synchronization errors can be fatal.

• Step 3: Mid-Air Retrieval
  The diver must catch the parachute, secure the harness, and pull the ripcord. This requires exceptional skill and precision, as the parachute drifts at a slower terminal velocity than the diver.

• Step 4: Landing
  Successful deployment leads to a controlled descent, ideally to a pre-planned landing zone.

Yasuhiro Kubo’s 2000 Record

Claimed a Guinness title by waiting 50 seconds after jumping before retrieving his parachute. However, the lack of verified evidence fuels debate.

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Neil Young once wired up his house to be the left speaker and the barn as his right speaker so that he could listen to music from a boat in the middle of his lake.

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In the early 1970s, a schoolteacher in England assigned a class project where students were to determine their own blood type by analyzing their parents' blood types. However, this project inadvertently revealed that around 30% of the students' presumed fathers were not their biological fathers.

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Panthera is actually the name of a genus based on skull features that is comprised of contemporary species like jaguars, leopards, and even lions and tigers. “Black panthers” aren’t a real species.

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Sapphires and rubies are both varieties of the mineral corundum, and they have the same basic chemical composition. The difference in their color comes from trace impurities within the corundum structure. For example, ruby gets its red color from chromium, while sapphires can be blue, pink, or other colors due to impurities like iron, titanium, or vanadium.

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Apple uses the font face SF Pro' as it has been proven to be easy to read. It is not a Google Font, but you can get similar readability with Roboto, Noto Sans, Lato, or Open Sans.

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Bob Ross attributed his soft voice to a promise he made to himself "never to scream again when he left the Air Force".

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Here is a monopoly hack you can use to win in 4 turns. (Very unlikely…it could happen "once every 253,899,891,671,040 games"):

Player 1, Turn 1:

Roll: 6-6, Lands on: Electric Company
Action: None, Doubles therefore roll again

Roll: 6-6, Lands on: Illinois Avenue
Action: None, Doubles therefore roll again

Roll: 4-5, Lands on: Community Chest "Bank error in your favor, Collect $200"
Action: Collects $200 (now has $1700)

Player 2, Turn 1:

Roll: 2-2, Lands on: Income Tax
Action: Pay $200 (now has $1300), Doubles therefore rolls again

Roll: 5-6, Lands on: Pennsylvania Rail Road
Action: None

Player 1, Turn 2:

Roll: 2-2, Lands on: Park Place
Action: Purchase ($350, now has $1350), Doubles therefore rolls again

Roll: 1-1, Lands on: Boardwalk
Action: Purchase ($400, now has $950), Doubles therefore rolls again

Roll: 3-1, Lands on Baltic Avenue
Action: Collect $200 for passing GO (now has $1150), Purchase 3 houses for Boardwalk, 2 for Park Place ($1000, now has $150)

Player 2, Turn 2:

Roll: 3-4, Lands on: Chance, "Advance to Boardwalk"
Action: Advance to Boardwalk, Rent is $1400, only has $1300 = Bankrupt

GAME OVER

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The Windsor salt mine (Ojibway Mine) is significantly larger than the Detroit salt mine. The Ojibway Mine in Windsor, Ontario, is the largest salt mine in the world.

Here are a few interesting facts about the Salt Mine in Ontario:

1. Massive Underground Salt Deposits: The Windsor Salt Mine is built in a 100-million-year-old salt deposit that stretches across Ontario. The mine is 2,000 feet underground!

2. World's Largest Underground Salt Mine spanning 1,000 square kilometers of salt formation.

3. Rock Salt & Production: The mine produces rock salt, mainly used for road de-icing in winter. Each year, it pulls out millions of tons of salt.

4. Rich History: The mine has been active since 1958, providing a steady source of income and a crucial resource for the region's economy.

5. Underground Storage: It’s also used to store liquid petroleum products in caverns, taking advantage of the natural salt formations to safely hold fuel.

6. Unique Ecosystem: There’s a special saltwater ecosystem below the surface, including brine shrimp and unique bacteria that thrive in salty conditions.

Potential Future: The mine could continue operating for many more decades, given the size of the salt deposits and the ongoing demand for salt and other resources.

Salt is surprisingly versatile. Here are some other interesting uses:

1. Preservation: Salt has been used for centuries to preserve food by drawing out moisture, which helps prevent bacteria growth.

2. Water Softening: Salt is used in water softeners to remove calcium and magnesium from hard water, making it gentler on pipes and appliances.

3. Cleaning: It’s a natural cleaner. You can use salt to scrub pots, clean stains, and even get rid of odors in shoes.

4. Deicing: Beyond roads, salt is used to melt ice on driveways, sidewalks, and stairs during winter.

5. Health: Salt baths are said to help with muscle aches and skin conditions. Himalayan salt lamps are also popular for their supposed air-purifying benefits.

6. Beauty: Salt is often used in exfoliating scrubs and facial masks to remove dead skin cells and improve skin texture.

7. Industrial Uses: In industries, salt is used in the manufacturing of glass, soap, and even in some chemical processes.

8. In Agriculture: Salt is sometimes used to treat animal feed to balance minerals and prevent deficiencies.

9. In Pharmaceuticals: Salt is a key ingredient in making saline solutions, which are used in medical treatments like intravenous fluids or nasal sprays.

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Franchises and brands that Shaquille O'Neal owns or has invested in, based on publicly available information up to October 2023:

Big Chicken (his own restaurant chain) and Superstar Car Wash are proprietary brands, not franchises of existing companies.

Investments like JCPenney, Google, and Ring are equity stakes, not franchise ownership.

Shaq also owns real estate, music rights, and holds endorsement deals (e.g., The General Insurance).

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