OMG Facts

In 1953, it took 27 hours to make one Marshmallow Peep.

Thu, 31 May 2012 22:00:03 -0500

In 1953, it took 27 hours to make one Marshmallow Peep.

Peeps are marshmallow candies produced by Just Born known mostly as chick or bunny shapes sold around Easter. More than 1 billion of them are made every year.

In 1953, Just Born acquired the Rodda Candy Company which had hand produced Peeps (though they had a different name at the time). Before being purchased by Just Born, the Rodda Candy Company made each Peep in a painstaking hand-forming process, which took 27 hours for each one.

The Peeps, in chick form only back then, were squeezed out of a tube one at a time and the eyes were hand painted on. Once the company’s ownership changed, however, the production of Peeps was greatly sped up by way of a mass production line.

The time it takes to create them has decreased as technology has improved, and today it takes around six minutes to create a Peep- of course they aren’t made one by one. The machines used to create them make 3,500 every minute.

(Source)

Of course eating them is the LEAST fun thing you can do with Peeps, check out this video of us at the office Peep-Jousting

The Yucatan Peninsula translates to "I don’t understand you" peninsula in Mayan!

Thu, 31 May 2012 21:00:04 -0500

The Yucatan Peninsula translates to "I don’t understand you" peninsula in Mayan!

Before the Spaniards arrived to the peninsula, the area was called el Mayab by the Mayans meaning "a few." It was a very important region to the Mayans with many of their key cities.

After the Spanish conquest, the Yucatan Peninsula became a single administrative and political entity. The region was renamed Yucatan out of confusion. Before the Spaniards conquered the area, they had sent conquistadores for early exploration.

In 1517, the Spanish explorers were trying to communicate with the Mayans. They asked for the name of the region, but the Mayans couldn’t understand them.

They simply said something along the lines of “I don’t understand you” in their native tongue. It ended up sounding like “Yucatan” to the Spaniards, and they continued to call the area by that name.

The same thing happened in Australia and the aborigines. When the Europeans came to explore the land, they asked the native aborigines the name of an interesting animal that was very tall and hopped on its two back feet.

The aborigines said “kangaroo” which meant “I don’t understand you.” The Europeans thought they had given them the name of the animal and called it a kangaroo ever since.

(Source)

In June 2008, a tornado hit Kansas State University's campus destroying only one building: their wind erosion lab.

Thu, 31 May 2012 20:00:06 -0500

In June 2008, a tornado hit Kansas State University's campus destroying only one building: their wind erosion lab.

In 2008, the weather was not kind to Kansas. The state was hit with 187 tornadoes that year, more than any other state. Over Memorial Day weekend of the same year, 412 separate tornado and thunderstorm warnings were issued to the state.

The damage caused, as you may remember from the news, was nothing short of catastrophic. Kansas State University wasn’t exempt from the damage, with several buildings harmed on campus.

The engineering complex, though still standing, faced significant damage, as did the building that housed the university’s nuclear reactor. Both buildings were still standing, though, despite the 20 million dollars of damage to the campus, which included damaged or torn off roofs and blown out windows.

Because nobody was harmed, it makes it considerably more comedic that the only building destroyed was the Wind Erosion Lab.

(Source)

You cannot drown in quicksand!

Thu, 31 May 2012 18:00:04 -0500

You cannot drown in quicksand!

The reason for this is very simple. You can only sink halfway, because the quicksand is twice as dense as the human body. It's actually also twice as dense as water, so it means that you float more easily in quicksand than you do in water.

Daniel Bonn took quicksand samples from Iran to figure out what it is actually made up of. He found that quicksand is made up of four key ingredients: sand, water, clay, and salt.

Together they create a structure much like a house of cards. There are large water filled gaps between the sand, which is loosely glued together by the clay. When the quicksand is left alone it is stable.

When the quicksand is disturbed by something stepping or falling into it, the consistency of the clay changes. It changes from a jelly-like consistency to a runny liquid.

By liquefying the clay, the quicksand as a whole becomes very runny and the whole thing collapses in on you. The sand then sinks to the bottom and the water floats to the top.

With enough salt present, when the clay liquefies, electrical charges make it stick together and make bigger particles. The particles then settle at the bottom with the sand.

This results in a very heavy layer of sand and clay that is twice as dense as the original quicksand. It is packed tightly around the trapped body part.

(Source)

The "Human Barbie" has had over 100 surgeries!

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:00:06 -0500

The "Human Barbie" has had over 100 surgeries!

Sarah Burge is a British woman who’s undergone over 100 plastic surgeries over the past 20 years. Her first surgery was when she was SEVEN years old to pin her ears back, because she felt they stuck out.

Then, at the age of 26, she had surgery on her "double chin." After that, she was beaten by her boyfriend within an inch of her life. He broke her cheekbones, her jaw, and smashed her face with scissors.

He threw her down a flight of stairs and left her for dead. After her harrowing ordeal, she made a business proposition to plastic surgeons telling them that if they put her back together, she would become their walking advertisement.

Now, she’s had over £250,000 worth of plastic surgery done and continues to be a consultant for the plastic surgery industry. She has admitted to being a plastic surgery addict and won’t stop until she dies.

She’s even gone so far as to give her seven year old daughter, Poppy, vouchers for breast implants, liposuction, and other elective surgeries worth £22,000 pounds to be redeemed when Poppy turns 18.

(Source)

The grave marker seen in the film "Tombstone" at the beginning when the Earps enter the town is real!

Thu, 31 May 2012 14:00:05 -0500

The grave marker seen in the film "Tombstone" at the beginning when the Earps enter the town is real!

When the Earp family arrives in Tombstone, Arizona (in the film "Tombstone") the camera spans a cemetery with a unique grave marker. The grave marker says "Here lies Lester Moore, Four slugs from a .44, No Les No more."

There is an actual grave stone in Tombstone, Arizona with that epitaph. The film was originally written as an epic, but later trimmed down to focus on the Earp family.

Wyatt Earp’s fifth cousin, Wyatt Earp, plays Billy Claiborne in the film. The director wanted everything to be as authentic as possible. Therefore, all the actors wore wool suits, as was customary in that time period.

The director was quoted as saying that all lightning and mustaches were real. The big storm that took place the night the cowboys attacked the Earp family in the film wasn’t in the script. The storm blew in and the director decided to film with the storm.

(Source)

The fact that full eclipses occur on Earth is a giant coincidence.

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:00:03 -0500

The fact that full eclipses occur on Earth is a giant coincidence.

Unless you're an early 16th century Jamaican, you probably know what an eclipse is. As we just saw recently, the moon eclipsed the sun during a solar eclipse, or when the moon is in perfect alignment between the Earth and sun.

Though a planet’s moon crossing the line of sight it has with its sun is a relatively common occurrence, the chances of the distances being just right for an eclipse are actually really small. In fact, the only reason it happens for Earth is because the size and distance of the sun and moon.

The sun is about 1.392x10^6 km in diameter and about 1.496x10^8 km from Earth. The moon, on the other hand, is 3,474 km in diameter and a distance of 384,400 km from the Earth.

If you take a quick look at the numbers, you’ll notice that means the moon is about 400 times smaller than the sun, but just happens to be 400 times closer to the Earth than the sun as well.

If that weren’t the case, when the moon crossed the sun’s path between the Earth, we would see the moon covering up part of the sun, but a full eclipse wouldn’t be possible.

(Source)

Homosexuals Often Had a High Status in Native American Tribes

Thu, 31 May 2012 00:00:02 -0500

Homosexuals Often Had a High Status in Native American Tribes

Native American males were expected to become warriors and hunters, but it was also recognized that the stress of being under such burdens often demanded spiritual advice and healing.

This duty would usually fall upon a homosexual Shaman. In the Native culture, to be gay meant to be "from the outside world," to be "spiritually gifted." However, Homosexual only included men who preferred social and sexual "female roles."

Needless to say, they were highly respected within the community. In fact, straight men could have sex with a homosexual without having his manhood doubted.

It was actually considered a huge honor to have a Gay lover or "wife," and raised one’s honor in the tribe. In many other ancient cultures, such as the Greek and the Roman, homosexuality was associated with spiritual insight.

(Source)

The Dutch government sends Canada thousands of tulips every year!

Wed, 30 May 2012 22:00:03 -0500

The Dutch government sends Canada thousands of tulips every year!

The Netherlands has been sending thousands of tulips to Canada every year since 1945 as a gift from the Dutch Royal Family in thanks for sheltering Princess Juliana during World War II.

The Canadian Tulip Festival, held every May in Ottawa, is the world’s largest tulip festival. It began because in 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians sheltering Princess Juliana and her daughters during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

The festival started in 1953 in part because of how famous the tulips became. In 1967, Queen Juliana returned to celebrate the festival, and Princess Margriet (Princess Juliana’s daughter) came to visit in 2002 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival.

The festival also featured outdoor musical performances for years. In 1972, famous musician Liberace performed. In 1987, Alanis Morissette performed in her very first appearance at the age of 12. After several years of poor weather drove the festival to the brink of bankruptcy in 2006, the musical performances were cancelled.

The following year, the festival was reorganized to promote international friendship, the original symbol behind the gift of tulips.

(Source)

One of the Bond Girls Was Born a Man!

Wed, 30 May 2012 21:00:06 -0500

One of the Bond Girls Was Born a Man!

One of the Bond Girls, Caroline Cossey, was actually born as Barry Kenneth Cossey. She is now an English model and perhaps most popular for being the first transsexual person to pose for Playboy.

Courtney fought for her right to be legally considered a woman, and triumphed. She began her hormone therapy at 17, and a few years later, had a full sex reassignment surgery. Barry was somewhat feminine growing up, because he had a condition called Klinefelter's syndrome.

People with Klinefelter's usually have two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome. In Cossey's case, he had three X chromosomes instead. He never got along with boys and his closest companion was his sister.

Courtney was cast as an extra in the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only." The tabloid News of the World responded by doing what they had threatened to for years; revealing that she was transsexual.

This brought her modeling and acting career to a halt until she decided to fight the assault. In 1982, Cossey retaliated with her first auto-biography; I Am a Woman.

(Source)

If you could fold a piece of paper 42 times, it would reach the moon.

Wed, 30 May 2012 20:00:05 -0500

If you could fold a piece of paper 42 times, it would reach the moon.

This is possibly one of the most unbelievable facts we’ve ever posted. What you first might think is that this can't possibly be true because the 200 paper stacks sold at stores are only a few centimeters.

But if you consider how folding paper works, it all makes sense. The moon’s average distance from earth is 384,000 kilometers away. If you take a piece of paper and fold it in half, it would be twice as thick as it was before. One page is about 0.01 centimeters high.

That means it would take 3,840,000,000,000,000 pages, or 3.8 pentillion pages, to reach the moon- if they were stacked on top of each other. How then, could one piece of paper folded 42 times reach the moon?

The answer is simple when you consider exponential growth. When you fold a page, it becomes twice as thick as it was before- two pages thick. But when you fold it a second time, it becomes four pages thick because it doubles again. If you fold it a third time, it’s eight pages thick.

Because paper folding is subject to exponential growth, if you could fold a paper twenty times, it would pass Mt. Everest at 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). With this math, it takes only 42 foldings to reach the moon, and 94 foldings to make something the size of the known visible universe.

The only problem is you’ll have trouble folding a piece of paper more than a few times.

(Source)

The zero gravity fight scene in Inception was not CGI, but rather an entire rotating set!

Wed, 30 May 2012 18:00:04 -0500

The zero gravity fight scene in Inception was not CGI, but rather an entire rotating set!

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie Inception was the fight sequence between actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the thugs he is trying to defeat. In that scene, gravity seizes to exist while the combatants continue to attempt to defeat the other.

At first glance one would assume the scene was simply done with CGI, yet Nolan refused to let it be done this way! Director Christopher Nolan’s right hand man Wally Pfister described the scene as the most difficult to film in the movie.

To create the environment, Nolan decided to build massive, rotating sets that twisted and turned 360 degrees! 500 crewmembers helped with the schematics and it took over three weeks to shoot just the one scene.

Built inside of a World War I airship hanger outside of London, the hallway setting rotated both horizontally and vertically while the actors were strapped to steel trolleys.

Levitt had to intensely train for several weeks before to ensure he landed in just the right place, because even the slightest error could have caused him to land in a spot that wouldn’t be there only moments later!

(Source)

Women do this 3.5 times more than men. What is it?

Wed, 30 May 2012 17:00:00 -0500

Women do this 3.5 times more than men. What is it?

An Australian prisoner escaped so many times the government had to build a special cell to hold him.

Wed, 30 May 2012 16:00:06 -0500

An Australian prisoner escaped so many times the government had to build a special cell to hold him.

The cell they built was so strong they promised to forgive his crimes if he could escape again. His name was Joseph Bolitho Johns, but he was better known as Moondyne Joe.

He was Western Australia's best known bushranger, a term which referred to runaway Australian convicts or criminals who had the survival skills to hide from authorities in the Australian bush in the 1800's.

His first charge was for burglary, which earned him a sentence of penal servitude for ten years. For good behavior, he got off after only five years in 1855. In 1861, Joe was put in a lockup overnight for horse theft (branding a horse that wasn't his), but escaped on the same horse he had stolen.

He was caught the next day, but had killed the horse and destroyed the evidence, which meant he only was sentenced to three years in prison for jail-breaking. He left jail in 1864. The next year, he was accused of killing a neighbor's steer, and was put in another ten years of penal servitude.

He professed his innocence, and displeased with the sentence, he escaped. He was on the run for a month, but was ultimately caught and sentenced to twelve years in irons. He escaped again, and he and his gang performed several small robberies until they decided to travel to South Australia.

They were caught on the way there, and Moondyne Joe was given a special escape-proof cell and an additional five years of hard labor. The governor was so confident of the arrangement that he told Joe if he escaped, he would be pardoned. Joe was put to work breaking stone in a corner of the prison yard, but because the broken rock wasn't regularly removed, a pile grew until Joe could hide behind it and start breaking at the wall of the prison.

In 1867, he escaped. Two years later, he was caught stealing wine, but instead of being pardoned like promised, he was put back in jail and had his sentence increased. The new governor heard of this, and reduced his sentence. He was freed in 1871.

(Source)

A roundup of today's interesting and odd stories

Wed, 30 May 2012 15:00:00 -0500

A roundup of today's interesting and odd stories

We've partnered with our friends at Newser.com to give you a roundup of some of the most interesting or odd stories of the day. Let us know what you think in the comments!

The LA Coliseum once served as a set for a porno.
There's gotta be some sort of Trojan joke here, but I can't find it.

New Apple CEO says Apple will be even more secretive about their products.
Apparently, you will have to BUY the next iPhone before even knowing what features it has.

The official Mitt Romney App misspells 'America' to 'Amercia.'
Hey typos happen right?

Due to the failing Facebook stock, Mark Zuckerberg is no longer on Bloomberg's daily Billionaires index.
He's now only slightly *less* rich than God.

A Mexican drug cartel torched 5 PepsiCo / Frito Lay warehouses.
I bet they couldn't just have one.