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Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. This recent Ask Reddit thread is a great example of that.

“What is a true fact so baffling, it should be false?” someone posed a question, sparking a viral thread full of random and hard-to-believe facts.

Did you know that cheetahs don’t roar? And what about the fact that we live many times closer to the last dinosaur than the first and last dinosaur did to each other?

Below we wrapped up some of the most unbelievable and mind-bending facts, so pull your seat closer.

#1

People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones [Switzerland has accidentally invaded Liechtenstein thrice in the last 50 years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein%E2%80%93Switzerland_relations). * On the first time in 1976, Swiss military got lost and ended up in Liechtenstein, so the Liechtensteiners offered them drinks like proper hosts. * On the second time in 1992, Swiss military forgot that a certain observation post was actually not in Swiss territory but in Liechtenstein territory, so they just said sorry and forgot about it. * Then again in 2007, the Swiss army got lost and entered Liechtenstein, but eventually realized they weren't in Switzerland anymore, Toto, so they turned back. Liechtenstein didn't even know this happened till the Swiss apologized (again), to which they basically said, no problem, bro. Takeaways: The Swiss army are bad with directions. The Liechtenstein ~~army~~ people are chill bros.

sendhelpandthensome , St9191 Report

LK
Community Member
2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The last time Liechtenstein saw military action was in 1866, during the Austro-Prussian War, when they sent 80 troops to guard the Tyrolean border. They returned home with 81 men, having suffered no casualties and gained a new recruit en route.

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    #2

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Cheetahs cant roar, but they can meow like house cats.

    karatekid606 , Piet Bakker Report

    Stephanie A Mutti
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They chirp, like birds. Many videos online of chirping cheetahs.

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    #3

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Even if 99% of Earth's population thought you were unattractive, 76 million people would still find you attractive

    forsoythemilk , cottonbro studio Report

    Loverboy
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Kind of you to assume 1% of people would find me attractive.

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    #4

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones One day Mao Zedong saw a sparrow eating grain. Thinking that the sparrows were hurting China's grain supply, he and the Communist Party launched the *Four Pests Campaign*. The Chinese military and population [took out] every sparrow they could find. Embassies didn't allow the Chinese to [take out] sparrows on their property, so the Chinese banged pots and pans outside the embassies 24/7 until the sparrows died of exhaustion. Unfortunately for the Chinese, sparrows mainly eat insects, not grain. The locust population exploded and [***43 million people starved to death.***](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-four-pests-campaign-objectives-execution-failure-and-consequences.html)

    WooIWorthWaIIaby , Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto Report

    TotallyNOTaFox
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There were 2 countries that declared a war on birds - and both lost it.

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    #5

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones The life of Frane Selak, the luckiest unlucky man in the world: • January 1962- Frane is riding on a train through a freezing canyon when it fell into an icy river. All 17 other passengers died while he escapes with a broken arm and hypothermia. • 1963- On his first plane trip he was sucked out of the plane’s door and landed in a haystack, unscathed. 19 other people were killed in the crash. • 1966- He was riding in a bus when it skidded off the road into yet another icy river. 4 passengers drowned while he only received some minor cuts and bruises. •1970- His car’s engine burst into flames while he was driving but he managed to escape before it exploded. •1973- In yet another driving incident, his car’s engine was doused with hot oil from a broken fuel pump. This caused flames to shoot through the air vents, singing off all of his hair. He was otherwise unharmed. •1995- He was hit by a bus but only sustained minor injuries. •1996- To escape a head-on collision with a United-Nations truck on a mountain curve, he swerved into a guard rail that broke on impact. to save himself, he jumped out of his car’s open door and grabbed onto a tree branch as he watched his car plummet off the cliff. Suffice to say the guy had a complicated relationship with the Grim Reaper. Edit: Got his name wrong Edit 2: Got the first edit wrong, turns out i was right the first time

    GenericDefense , Fact Maniac Report

    Gaya Knust
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's simple: he's secretly a cat and has used up 7 of his 9 lives so far

    Sonja
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Oh the grim reaper got him in the end. He died in 2016 of old age. But he also won the lottery twice and was married 5 times

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    Jrog
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There are very few -if any- factual confirmation of these events outside of him winning the state lottery in 2003 (curiously omitted from this list). The train and airplane accident would definitely have been reported if real, but there is no factual news about those. The whole story is based on stories told by Selak himself before his death in 2016. Selak's son went on to clarify that his father always dreamed to be famous, and said: "After winning that jackpot, my dad, who dreamed of fame all his life, have found (and paid!) local journalist to write about amazing life, full of close encounters with death". The guy is known also by a nickname, given by his son himself: "Croatian Baron Munchausen".

    HelluvaHedgehogAlien
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Remind me to never be in the same building, car, bus, ship or plane with this guy

    CrazyKnitter
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Coming here to say the same thing. I have no interest in being near him on any transportation. Also add trains to your list.

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    Stardust she/her
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Reminds me of that nurse who survived many ship sinkings including the titanic

    Jrog
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The story of Violet Jessop is real and confirmed by official sources, though.

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    Dave In MD
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If true, which I doubt, he would be very lucky since he survived all of this. Also, the one about a broken fuel pump causing hot oil to douse the engine and then cause flames to shoot through the air vents doesn't even make sense.

    Austin Sauce
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Is he the inspiration for the movie “Unbreakable?”

    GayPenguin
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He actually seems pretty lucky

    Rebecca McManus
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Now we know where the plot for Unbreakable comes from.

    alberta mountainmum
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He also was married 5 (?) Times and won the lottery 2 days after his birthday. He spent a little but gave most of the $ away if I remember correctly

    Grace Smith
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What does this guy know? Who’s putting hits on his life?

    Stephanie Barr
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sounds pretty lucky to me, but I'd be cautious taking a trip with him. His companions did not fare so well.

    Alexigirl1
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Holy Sh*t!!!! A suitable travelling companion, I think not!

    Gionanna
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well you might enjoy the story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, survived to 2/2 atom bombs

    Androgyny Lunacy
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Do you have documented proof? Lol It sounds so unbelievable. And imagine the survivor's guilt. Also I might just not leave my house after the 3rd time. Lol

    RedPanda
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    First thing I wondered about was his insurance 😬

    Monarch cat lady
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Just as long as he is not in a plane ,train, automobile with me.

    Edward Finger Hands
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Dang his guardian angel must be exhausted. “Really, Frane?? How many hints do I have to give you to check your engine!”

    Alora Ardoni
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    he is either the most unlucky man in the world, or the luckiest.

    Michelle C
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I can only imagine the interviews he’s given if he’s ever consented to giving even one!

    Jen Mart
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Edit 3: spelled his name wrong again It's Freigheighn

    jjdubs W
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He actually seems rather lucky to me!

    serenarita
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I looked it up. He finally died in 2016 at age 87 of natural causes. This dudes a legend!!

    Miriam
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Someone or something did a terrible job trying to kill him.

    Ms.GB
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Guy must have had major ptsd!

    Lily from England
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In a way, he is also the luckiest. 🤣

    Mommy Panda
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Moral of the story: do not get into any type of vehicle with a guy named Frane Selak

    Kathryn Baylis
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I wouldn’t call him the unluckiest man, he DID survive every one of those accidents with, at the most, minor injuries while everyone else died. So I’d call him extremely lucky, considering all that fate has tried throwing at him.

    Robert Trebor
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He should stay home and read, but then, he might get paper cuts.

    The_OG_Catlady
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The movie Unbreakable in real life.

    Rachel Connot
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So, you're saying to NOT get in a vehicle with this guy?

    Barbara Forshee
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't know about you but it sounds like someone has it out for this guy. They just aren't good at accomplishing it.

    Little L
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Never go on a trip with him.

    Astrius
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The true main character of earth.

    Debby Keir
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Don't tell me - eventually he died from a cat scratch that went septic........

    Hotdogking
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yo this guy is the 20th century addition of Sinbad

    The mad duck
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How was he not scared to get into another car/plane after all of that????

    Nice Beast Ludo
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Is this lucky though???? Sounds like Seattle Grace hospital and I believe the characters consider it to be the unluckily place in the world

    Deborah B
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Note to self: Never get in a vehicle with Frane Selak.

    Mav Mav
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    man, I miss the 50s and 80s, they didn't try to kill me at all!

    Lace Neil
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Note: never travel with this man.

    Mtownmick
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Unbreakable. Should make a movie about this, oh wait they did. Not this guy but this kind of luck.

    Donnie Mc00
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    This comment has been deleted.

    Crazy Dog Lady
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He is also unluckiest b/c he kept getting in accidents. He also could never get anyone to travel with him.

    Sydney Rice
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    His insurance must of been outrageous!

    Libstak
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Note to self, when my time travelling vacation comes to fruition absolutely DO NOT travel anywhere with this man.

    Donna Cheung
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So he was the protagonist in Unbreakable?

    still the same farting bee
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    🎶Frane is riding on a train, engine burst to flames🎶

    Shyla Bouche
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm just going to stay away from him, thank you.

    TotallyNOTaFox
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I would have stayed away from any motorized vehicle after the first three accidents

    Ian Webling
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Unlucky? He sounds like the luckiest man alive.

    Suz66
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He married 5 times in his life. He won around $1.1 million us$ in the lottery. He bought a house and a boat with his lottery money but gave the rest of the money to family and friends and took on a minimalistic lifestyle.

    Binky Melnik
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He did, however, manage to go 22 years without any apparent life-threatening accidents, so that was cool. Either that or they weren’t newsworthy enough to attract attention.) Still, I hafta wonder what on earth he did that karma was so determined to do him in!

    Scott Rackley
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    God must have been highly irritated he wouldn't stay down

    Mulberry Juice
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Final destination can finally say “based on a true story” if they use these events

    Jrog
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Read my comment above. Both the movie and this story have the same root in real events... none.

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    #6

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones People were deliberately infected with malaria to cure their syphilis, and the man who developed this treatment - Julius Wagner-Jauregg received the nobel prize for it. (The extremely high fevers of the malaria infections [unalived] the syphilis bacteria, then the patients were cured of the malaria using quinine.)

    zazzlekdazzle , en.wikipedia.org Report

    Enrique
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I sincerely think that censoring the word "killed" is going too far. At least the substitution word is imaginative.

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    #7

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones It's pretty well known by now, but calculators today have more computing power than Apollo 11. We got to the moon with slide rulers and huge balls.

    SayNoToStim , Mikhail Nilov Report

    Robert K
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And a group of very intelligent women

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    #8

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Oxford University Predates the Aztec empire by over 200 years. And, for fun one of my favorites: Woolly Mammoths were still around at the time the Great Pyramids in Giza were built.

    oldenbka , Samuel M Report

    Loverboy
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Cleopatra lived closer to the moon landing and creation of the iPhone than the construction of the Pyramids of Giza.

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    #9

    I just read a post on /r/technicallythetruth. We’ve all kicked a pregnant woman before.

    LurkersGoneLurk Report

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    #10

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones If every single person on the entire planet took part in a rock paper scissors contest. Where everyone paired up and played, losers were knocked out and winners stayed on etc You would only have to win 33 times in a row to beat all 7.53 billion people on the planet

    Afasso , Thirdman Report

    Enrique
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Each play reduces the number of players in half, so it's easy to understand why it wouldn't last much. 1) 7.530.000.000 2) 3.765.000.000 3) 1.882.500.000 4) 941.250.000 5) 470.625.000 6) 235.312.500 7) 117.656.250 8) 58.828.125 9) 29.414.062 10) 14.707.031 11) 7.353.515 And so on :)

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    #11

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones From 1613 and 1620 a Samurai travelled to Rome by way of Mexico. During this time, Shakespeare was still alive, Virginia had been founded for around a decade, Gallileo was accused of heresy, and Pocahantes arrived in England. He met the Pope he was made a Roman citizen. His name was Hasekura Tsunenaga, and was the last japanese person to officially visit Europe until around 1860.

    thecinnaman123 , Claude Déruet Claude Deruet Report

    Loverboy
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For a brief period of time, Snoop Dogg existed at the same time as Picasso

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    #12

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones We live many times closer to the last dinosaur than the first and last dinosaur did to each other.

    Laikathespaceface , Marcus Lange Report

    Pansexual Child of Hades
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    last dinosaur? hey, BP, summon feathered dinosaur. we need to figure out if this is true or not. I thought dinosaurs evolved, grew feathers, etc etc. FEATHERED DINOSAUR, I SUMMON THEE FOR A PEACEFUL MEETING/ DISCUSSION.

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    #13

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Giant squids have a donut shaped brain so their esophagus can run through the middle. If they try to swallow too large a bite of food they can get brain damage.

    VerminSupreme__ , Jonathan Diemel Report

    Shyla Bouche
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    When Zara comes back from her exams, we HAVE to tease her about this!

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    #14

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones In the last 3,000 years, there were only 268 years in which there was no war in the world

    Kanuchoo , Santiago Sauceda González Report

    Two_rolling_black_eyes
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That's wars we have modern records for. That number should be way lower. For instance, the records of Ptolemjc Egypt's wars were lost when columns were destroyed to scrub someone from history and when the library of Alexandria burned. They could have been fighting 200 Taureg precursors in the Sahara for six months and there's no records.

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    #15

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones if sound could travel through space, the roar of the sun would be deafening even though it's 93M miles away. EDIT: because space is a vacuum. sound can't travel though a vacuum. EDIT AGAIN: obviously lots of other things in the universe would change, and yes, presumably other stars and planets would make noise too. we'd probably all die screaming as the earth itself imploded from the pressure of traveling so fast though a universe that WASN'T a vacuum. LAST EDIT: YES, JESUS CHRIST RICK AND MORTY, AS HUNDREDS OF YOU HAVE POINTED OUT.

    cubs_070816 , Jonathan Gross Report

    Sassawrasse
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The last edit perfectly describes Rick and Morty fans.

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    #16

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones The record for most children born to one mother is 69, to the wife of Feodor Vassilyev (b. 1707–c.1782), a peasant from Shuya, Russia. In 27 labors, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. Edit: wife name is Valentina Vassilyeva.

    manoa99 , twitter.com Report

    Pedantic Panda
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Had to edit to include the name of the woman who the fact was actually about!? Patriarchy is strong with this one.

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    #17

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones The longest time between two twins being born is 87 days.

    Psycondriact , Kübra Kuzu Report

    LK
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's 90 days, according to Guinness World Records. Molly and Benjamin West were born in 1996. Molly was born prematurely at 6 months, but the doctors were able to halt the delivery of Benjamin. He was delivered fully term, 3 months later.

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    #18

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones A morbidly obese person can survive with absolute starvation without any sickness or feeling ill (under close control). There have been studies since 60's, there is a patient in 1973 who went under a 382 day starvation diet for therapuetic purposes under close control with only vitamin and mineral supplements and water intake without protein, carbohydrate or fat intake (no food at all). Dropped from 207 kg to 88kg and maintained it. After a follow up check-up 5 years later, the patient was 96 kilograms, stabilized. Prolonged fasting had no ill effects. If anybody is curious about the article, the pubmed ID is: PMC2495396. Edit: fixed autocorrect

    Dartosismyname , Towfiqu barbhuiya Report

    Ines Olabarria-Smith
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Under close control. I guess that’s the key. Don’t try this at home.

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    #19

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones An eyewitness to Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theater told his story on national television. EDIT: Based on suggestions below, I’m proposing a new version of this factoid which makes it sound even crazier (but still factually true)... An eyewitness to Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theater appeared as a contestant on a nationally televised game show with Lucille Ball

    bufadad , Moses Parker Rice Report

    Gaya Knust
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not only that, but you can watch the episode on YouTube. It's called What's My Line. (I love 1950s and 60s television). The witness was of course a very young boy when he saw the assassination.

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    #20

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones A 500 lb. cigarette-smoking, beer-drinking brown bear named Wojtek was enlisted and served in the Polish army during WWII. "Private Wojtek" helped the Polish win the brutal Battle of Monte Cassino, and was even promoted to corporal. Following the war, he retired in Scotland.

    CaptainWisconsin , en.wikipedia.org Report

    TotallyNOTaFox
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He carried ammunition and got an official rank because pets weren't allowed on british ships

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    #21

    If you took every civilian-owned firearm in the US and laid them side-by-side, you would have a giant belt of guns long enough to go completely around the moon. After going completely around the moon, you would still have enough guns left over to equip every soldier in the world with two guns.

    generica_ccount Report

    Shyla Bouche
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Why would we want to encircle the moon with guns? I say encircle the moon with mousie toys and sofas to bat them under.

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    #22

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Stalin, Hitler, and Freud all lived in Vienna at the same time. Edit: And as others have pointed out (including a source further down), Tito and Trotsky were also there.

    Tsquare43 , Philipp Deus Report

    #23

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Only four people have been to the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the ocean. One of those people is James Cameron, the director of Titanic.

    agnomengnome , MARK THIESSEN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Report

    Steve Kenney
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'll just keep experiencing it in Youtube videos thanks.

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    #24

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Giraffes eat bones.

    anon , Francesco Ungaro Report

    #25

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones When Mt Everest was first measured it was exactly 29,000 feet. It was reported as 29,002 because exactly 29,000 was not believable.

    1pointtwentyone , shankar s. Report

    Loverboy
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hm, adding onto the number in order to make it seem better, reminds me of something...

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    #26

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones The phrase "plastic surgery" has nothing to do with the material. Plastic surgery as a field predates the development of plastics by 70 years. The two terms simply share a Greek word root meaning "sculpted" or "reshaped".

    mwoody450 , Anna Shvets Report

    Seven Soda
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hmmmm, I've always wondered about that (but never googled it).

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    #27

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Ireland was a net exporter of food during the great potato famine.

    270343 , William Murphy Report

    Elita One
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yeah cause England was stealing it all.

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    #28

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones If you earned $1 every second, it would take 2,921 years to have more money than Bill Gates.

    grwrnotashowrthought , Greg Rubenstein Report

    Loverboy
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you made $50,000 a day, 365 days a year, from the time they were building pyramids in Ancient Egypt to now, you would only have about 70% of Elon Musk's wealth. Edit: 40%, thank you RafCo. His net worth is constantly changing though, that figure will change eventually

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    #29

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones There were more planes destroyed in World War II than there are (currently intact) planes on Earth today

    Dickcheese_McDoogles , Jack Report

    TotallyNOTaFox
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They were easier to produce and maintain back than, nowadays they are full of electronic systems, carry jet engines and cost a few millions. The numbers of operated planes during World War 2 looks comically ridiculous compared to current times. Edit: I forgot effectiveness - a modern plane can do much more in comparison and doesn't have to soley rely on numbers, the expected casualities are also way lower nowadays. (A wing of 12 planes had an average loss rate of 3-4 planes in the pacific)

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    #30

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones To scale, the distance between a nucleus and orbiting electron is 16 times longer than the distance between the Sun and Pluto.

    LonelyPauper , Pietro Zuco Report

    Toothless Feline
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Missing a critical piece of information which, in being absent, robs this of meaning: "scale" relative to what?

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    #31

    GPS satellites have to compensate for time dilation, because time runs at a different rate in orbit.

    anon Report

    #32

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones there is no universally accepted definition of "vegetable." it's a cultural and culinary term, and varies from place to place.

    cubs_070816 , Mark Stebnicki Report

    Loverboy
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "Technically speaking, a fruit is a plant's developed ovary that comes from a flower and contains one or multiple seeds. The term vegetable is much broader—it refers to any part of a plant that's used for food, including the roots, tubers, stems, and leaves."

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    #33

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones There is an extremely rare condition called "Stone Man Syndrome", it causes any, smallest damage done to tissue to regrow into a bone, speaking briefly. People affected by this sickness slowly turn into living statues as they get older

    EnderCorePL , Orthobullets Report

    Monday
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    At some point in their lives they have to make a choice to either be in a seated position for the rest of their life or a standing position for the rest of their life. I watched a documentary years ago where a lady argued that seated was better since she can easily use a wheelchair to get around, whereas a gentleman argued that standing was better since he could still comfortably lie down in bed. Horrifying disease.

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    #34

    There used to be a radioactive energy drink called "Radithor" that was in the US market for a decade from 1918-1928. Some of the more prominent users had to be buried in lead coffins.

    WildWonderWolf Report

    Stardust she/her
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Someone drank so much of it that his jaw fell off

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    #35

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones There are more trees on the earth than stars in the Milky Way. Every time you shuffle a deck of cards, you've probably made an entirely unique order, as compared to every other shuffle in history.

    ConneryFTW , Johannes Plenio Report

    #36

    There was this french guy named Tarrare in the late 1700s that could eat ANYTHING, in any amount. He was able to eat a quarter of a cow on one day and ate dinner for 15 for one meal when he was being tested. He was even able to swallow an entire eel, with bones included, without hesitating. When he went to the militar service, they used him as message transport, but after being captured he went back and tried to find a cure. In the hospital where he was staying, he was suspected of eating a baby so they kicked him out. He was average weight and when he died a few years later they could see inside his stomach just by opening his mouth. Here’s a video which explains it on better detail: https://youtu.be/nYHDj2sB-rc

    thealterlion Report

    Kira Okah
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The speculation is that he had hyperthyroidism or a damaged amygdala. It's not known despite his being autopsied because no other known case to this extreme has been found.

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    #37

    Taser is actually an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle." T.A.S.E.R.

    AnnoyingEditor Report

    Jrog
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The name was taken from a classic sci-fi novel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift_and_His_Electric_Rifle with the "A" just thrown in for readability.

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    #38

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones If Earth was a basketball, to scale the moon would be a tennis ball. It would orbit around 7.5 meters away, which is a lot farther than most people think. If the nucleus of a hydrogen atom was a tennis ball, to scale the electron would orbit at about 2500 meters away. There is no ball small enough to compare to how small electrons would still be at this scale.

    anon , NASA Goddard Space Fligh Report

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    #39

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones You are closer to being a millionaire than Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos.

    vswr , Pixabay Report

    #40

    If you're launching from Earth, the most difficult place to reach in the solar system is the sun. The reason for this is that to fly directly into the sun you need to first launch from Earth, and then remove all of your orbital velocity around the sun. Anything less will just put you into a different orbit around the sun rather than directly into it. The amount of power required for that to do it directly is basically impossible currently. As an alternative you could, for relatively little power, fly all the way out to Pluto distance, slow down much less, and then fall back into the sun. The trade off being the travel time is now about 90 years. There are other in between paths that will could get you there for different balances of energy and time but all of them are tougher than getting basically anywhere else in the solar system with an equivalent balance. There's a mission currently traveling to study the sun, the Parker Solar Probe, it won't be flying directly in, but plans to make the closest passes than any probe ever has. It's going to make seven passes by Venus to shed speed so it can get closer and closer to the sun. The full flight time is planned as just less than 7 years. As of this post they are 1 week shy of a year in.

    sharrrper Report

    Shyla Bouche
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I would strongly suggest not flying into the sun. I understand it's a wee bit warm there.

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    #41

    The smell of freshly cut grass is actually a distress signal. It's the smell of the grass releasing chemicals to save itself from injury.

    victini_2012 Report

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    #42

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones More people died making the V2 rockets during WW2 than were [unalived] by them

    nellifant032 , A Guy Named Nyal Report

    Phendrena
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    [unalived] killed, murdered, death, sent to meet thy maker, kicked the bucket, is no more, has ceased to be, bereft of life, rest in peace

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    #43

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones In chess there are over 9 million variations after just 3 moves each. 288 billion different possible positions after 4 moves each. In a complete game there are more possible positions than there are electrons in the observable universe.

    canyouevenreadthat , Pixabay Report

    Loverboy
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "I looked forward in time. I saw 14,000,605 possible moves." "How many were good ones?" "None of them.".

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    #44

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones There is no good metric for 'the number of languages on earth'. This is mostly because linguists cannot agree on what constitutes a new language and what constitutes a dialect of an existing language. The best current metric of how many languages exist is the number of translations of the Christian bible.

    default52 , John-Mark Smith Report

    Adam Jeff
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm pretty sure that's not considered the best metric except by Christian missionaries.

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    #45

    17 inch pizza is bigger then 2 12 inch pizzas

    Oob631 Report

    jay gerhard
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    this is due to the fact that Pi is in the calculations

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    #46

    Saddam Hussein was an erotic romance novelist in his spare time as the dictator of Iraq. [Sauce](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein%27s_novels)

    JuneFrances Report

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    #47

    You can fit every planet between the earth and moon, including all the gas giants. But if you lined up all of Jeff Bezos’s money from end to end, it wouldn’t fit between the Earth and moon. It could go to the moon and back 34 times. Jeff bezos has enough money to make a ladder to the moon. And to make it out of money.

    anon Report

    #48

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones Nintendo was founded in 1889.

    RanaGrenier , Evan-Amos Report

    Mario Strada
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They had a really hard time finding an outlet, but with supreme patience they waited until the electrical grid was invented.

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    #49

    Sharks evolved before trees did.

    roran_ramsey Report

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    #50

    A black widow spiders web is 12 times the tensile strength of steel!

    Jasper923 Report

    Gaya Knust
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And its bite can cause priapism (an erection that won't subside easily)

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    #51

    In 1000 BC, a war was cancelled due to rain. Edit: Wooo first silver! Thank you stranger!

    Cav-Allium Report

    RafCo (he/him/ele)
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    As a student of military history, I have no idea what almost war this person is talking about. Many battles were postponed due to inclement weather. But I suppose if the war never happened... I wouldn't necessarily be aware of it. My brain keeps going to the Battle of Rain, but that was named after a town in Bavaria, not the weather phenomenon. And it was a battle in the 30 Years War, which would have been in the mid 17th century between the Swedish Germans and the Holy Roman Empire via the Catholic League of States. And was a protestant vs catholic religious contest. Around 1000 BC the big conflicts in recorded history were in Egypt/Mesopotamia, India, and China. So maybe around something to do with those guys.

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    #52

    Mike the Headless Chicken lived without a head for 18 months. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34198390

    eternalrefuge86 Report

    Pedantic Panda
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The farmer was killing his chickens by removing the heads but left enough of the brain stem for Mike to survive. Has his own website, . https://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/mike/page/history

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    #53

    If you shrink down our sun to the size of a white blood cell, the Milky Way galaxy would be equal to the size of the continental United States! Space is huge!

    Wisex Report

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    #54

    Horses can't vomit.

    Amygdaloid_00 Report

    Sassawrasse
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    All herbivores lack the ability to vomit. (Regurgitation is not vomit.)

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    #55

    You see your nose all the time, but your brain just ignoring it.

    crushtoher Report

    Mario Strada
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I can see it! Nope, I can't anymore. It's there! Gone again.

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    #56

    People Are Sharing Facts That Sound Fake But Are Totally True, Here Are 30 Of The Most Baffling Ones The Tyrannosaurus Rex lived closer in time to us than it did the Stegosaurus.

    bolivar-shagnasty , Dennis Jarvis Report

    Pedantic Panda
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And is closer to being a millionaire then Bill Gates.

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    #57

    The youngest mother to give birth became pregnant at 4 years old.

    mortyshaw Report

    Stardust she/her
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Poor girl, her name was Lina Medina and her son thought she was his older sister until he became 10

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    #58

    When a woman with breast implants is cremated, the implants will melt into "goo." It drips to the bottom of the furnace, and needs to be cleaned up once cooled.

    Back2Bach Report

    Jrog
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Doubtful. Most polymers, including silicon, burn at about 270°C and auto-ignite at 450-500°C. The cremation temperatures are above twice that, and for quite a long time. Only metals and some ceramics can survive those temperatures.

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    #59

    President John Tyler, born in 1790, has two living grandsons.

    BasilFronsac Report

    Annabet
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not anymore... the last living grandson died in 2020

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    #60

    The USA is the third most populated nation on earth. If you were able to add one billion people to the US population today, it would still be the third most populated nation on earth.

    austeninbosten Report

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    well yes, china and india are each 1.4bn or thereabouts, and usa is about 350m.

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    #61

    1 billion seconds is about 31 years

    underwhelming1 Report

    Pedantic Panda
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    1 million seconds is 11.5 days. 1 second is about 1 second.

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    #62

    Your head ages faster than your feet

    altijdweergijs Report

    Mario Strada
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My head asked my feet about it, but they were silent and just walked away.

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    #63

    We live closer to the lifetime of Cleopatra than she did to the building of the Great Pyramids.

    PhilBabbsBalls Report

    Matias Marczak
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And Cleopatra lived closer to Woolly Mammoths than iPhones I guess.

    #64

    If you could fold a piece of printer paper in half 103 times it would be the width of the observable universe.

    VirtualBooby Report

    Donkey boi
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I've done the maths. a standard piece of paper is around 0.102mm thick. Doubled up with each fold, according to OP the observable universe is 1,034,402,889,786,235,191,624,309.82 Km wide. Or in words: one septillion, thirty four sextillion, four hundred two quintillion, eight hundred eighty nine quadrillion, seven hundred eighty six trillion, two hundred thirty five billion, one hundred ninety one million, six hundred twenty four thousand, three hundred nine. Point Eight Two.

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    #65

    Sense of smell is molecular, meaning that molecules of what you are smelling are actually inside of your body as a result of smelling them. Think about that the next time you enter a public restroom.

    RandomWeatherPattern Report

    Jrog
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That's a common misconception but it's FALSE. Only some molecules or elements are volatile enough to be odorous. They should be light enough and able to evaporate, hygroscopic and hydrosoluble so they could bind to the nasal receptors, but not too volatile or they will pass through the mucous membrane. In a "public restroom" you won't smell excrements' particles: you would smell part of the sulphur content common in feces, maybe urea and other similar ammonia-based compounds, but mostly the organic compounds produced by decay of metabolic aminoacids, the most common being a compound called "skatole", an apparently innocuous methilic compound, made only of Carbon, Hydrogen and Nitrogen. So, you are breathing stuff that you are normally breathing, just arranged in an unpleasant way.

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