Random factoids you can't help but remember

[Cekoviu]

STDs (particularly Chlamydia) are wiping out koalas in Australia.

John Oliver, known from satiric news shows, has a koala chlamydia ward named after him.

Thanks, Russell Crowe.

[The Blaatschapen]

Nintendo did not start off as a video game company but instead started out as a company that made Hanafuda playing cards.

Not only that: Nintendo was founded in 1899 AD and has always made toys and playing cards. They still make cards to this day.

It was founded in 1899 CE

[West Leas Oros 2]

Napoleon wasn't actually short. He was short compared to other noblemen, but he was actually of average height for a Frenchman of his time.

Yep, a French foot was a different measurement to an English foot, leading to the misconception. When measured in English feet, Napoleon was pretty average.

I thought the misconception was due to propaganda? Like "hahaha Napoleon is short because he's a stupid dummy" but this honestly is a lot less realistic than it being measurement differences.

[West Leas Oros 2]

IKEA was founded by a Nazi.

Also IKEA is in everyone's homes... Does this mean the Nazis won in the end?

[Cekoviu]

Not only that: Nintendo was founded in 1899 AD and has always made toys and playing cards. They still make cards to this day.

It was founded in 1899 CE

*11899 HE

[Bluelight-R006]

Oliver Cromwell was a leader of the Republic of England shortly after the beheading of King Charles I. He would soon die and be succeeded. The Kingship was then reinstated 11 years after Charles I’s death.

Actually, this factoid helped me in making up a history of Bluelight. But it’s actually quite random to me.

[Ethel mermania]

IKEA was founded by a Nazi.

Also IKEA is in everyone's homes... Does this mean the Nazis won in the end?

The euro means the nazi's won in the end.

[Evil Dictators Happyland]

In the Deities and Demigods sourcebook for AD&D, the eldritch entities of the Cthulhu Mythos are present, and they follow the same rules as all other gods there. This means that not only can you have player characters who worship Cthulhu, you can even kill Cthulhu in combat, because he has a stat block just like any other monster and sufficiently high level parties can easily overcome his stats (iirc he has a large number of hit points and very powerful attacks, but after a certain point, that's just not enough). The Great Old Ones were removed in later editions because of a copyright issue, but if copyright had never been an issue, they could easily be present in Dungeons and Dragons to this very day.

[Page]

Everyone knows what it means to be anal retentive but there is also an inverse of this personality type: anal expulsive. The anal retentive people were thought to hold their poop in for as long as they can before they were potty trained, as a way of trying to please their parents. But there are also the anal expulsive kids who just shit freely as they please, and as adults these types are the more laid back folks who don't care about all the strict organization that anal retentive people do.

[Federal Spanish States]

This is one from my city, so here it goes!

In 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, the French Army took over the city of Vigo, in Northwestern Spain. One day later, on March 28th, the French got kicked out by a peasant mob.

It is said that the current flag of Vigo originates from that event.

Nowadays, this is a local holiday over there, one that's still a matter of pride for the inhabitants of Vigo.

[New Legland]

The scientific name of the tokay gecko is Gekko gecko.

The scientific name of the American bison is Bison bison.

The scientific name of the western lowland gorilla is Gorilla gorilla gorilla.

[Coccygia]

The common rock barnacle has, in relation to its size, the longest penis in the animal kingdom.

[Yansu]

There is statistically a higher chance of winning the British Lottery than getting every single card in a poker deck in the right order, by suit.

[Thepeopl]

There is statistically a higher chance of winning the British Lottery than getting every single card in a poker deck in the right order, by suit.

I assume the poker deck must have been shuffled for this to be true

My random fact.
What a lactating mother eats, will end up in the mother's milk. Very funny when she ate something the baby doesn't like.

[Yansu]

A speech by the Brazilian(?) Prime Minister to the Brazilian team during a World Cup had him saying lots of praises and stuff like "you who I salute as conquerors!" and Brazil proceeded to lose the very next day.

[West Leas Oros 2]

A speech by the Brazilian(?) Prime Minister to the Brazilian team during a World Cup had him saying lots of praises and stuff like "you who I salute as conquerors!" and Brazil proceeded to lose the very next day.

Speech 100