- [Narrator] Sometimes it pays to be knowledgeable
about the obscure things in life.
After all, random trivia is the making
of a dazzling conversationalist, right?
There's nothing more satisfying
than artfully sharing your wisdom with friends and family.
And I've collected some of the most amazing facts around
so you can do just that.
If you enjoy this video enough, let me know,
and I'll create some more to make this the best series
about amazing facts on the web.
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Why do UPS trucks always have their doors open?
Ever noticed how UPS drivers always speed around
in trucks without any front doors on?
This unusual practice is perfectly legal in America.
And it all comes down to saving precious time and money.
You see, the average UPS employee
makes about 130 stops a day.
That's a lot of time spent opening and closing doors,
especially when some stops are just
minutes away from each other.
In business terms, more time always equals more money.
So it makes financial sense
for the company to remove the doors altogether instead.
UPS trucks are also not fitted with AC
for the very same reason,
'cause getting in and out of the truck multiple times
wouldn't make for a very efficient flow of cold air.
As a result, UPS drivers also rely on
the breeze blowing through their doorless vehicles
to get some much needed respite
from the scorching summer heat.
Why don't UPS trucks turn left?
Generally speaking, you'd be hard pressed
to find a UPS truck making a left-hand turn
at a busy intersection.
And it's all about that cold hard cash.
When UPS decided to focus on greener driving
they fitted trucks with special sensors
and did some data mining to discover that
too many drivers were idling
while waiting to make a left turn.
From 2004 onwards management instructed drivers
to turn right instead by reworking pre-planned routes
to minimize the amount of necessary left turns.
UPS saw an immediate positive response
to this new clockwise system,
which amounted to some 350,000
more packages delivered annually.
Around 10 million gallons less gas burned.
And $35 million saved.
What is that tiny pocket on jeans?
There are plenty of everyday things you've
probably never questioned the real purpose of.
And I'll bet that tiny pocket
at the front of your jeans is one of them.
Historically speaking, this seemingly useless addition
to one of the world's most popular clothing items
was known as a watch pocket.
This came about in the 1800s when cowboys
used to wear their pocket watches on chains
in their waistcoats.
Until Levi's introduced the small rectangular pocket,
which would keep the watches from getting broken.
As times changed the pocket adopted various other names,
each describing a new use.
Including ticket pocket, coin pocket,
and even condom pocket.
Nowadays it's too small to hold anything useful,
but it remains as a staple of iconic fashion history.
When was the least interesting day in history?
You might think you've had a dull day at work or school,
but can it compare to what has been dubbed
the most boring day since the turn of the 20th century?
According to the results of the search engine True Knowledge
April 11th, 1954, has been officially bestowed
with such a glowing title.
By analyzing some 300 million facts
about newsworthy events,
the search engine was able to identify
that on this particular Sunday in 1954,
only two notable events occurred.
A football player named Jack Shufflebotham died,
and a Turkish academic named Abdullah Atalar was born.
Besides these events, no real history was made that day.
It has now surpassed April 30th, 1930,
which had previously been considered the dullest day
after at BBC radio announcer declared, there is no news.
Why can't pigs look up at the sky?
Pigs might be one of the most
surprisingly intelligent animals around,
but they're also one of the only creatures
that are unable to look up and see the sky.
Although they could lay on their backs,
or see it in a watery reflection,
pigs will never be able to gaze at the sky like we do.
Simply because their anatomy doesn't allow it.
Their neck muscles are developed
in such a way that they can't raise their heads
enough to see the sky above them.
And it comes down to evolution.
Most animals evolve in a way that optimizes
escaping predators and finding food.
And as a pig's natural food, like roots,
flowers, and insects, are all down low,
there's no need for such neck flexibility.
Were high heels always for women?
High heels and stilettos might be
considered a feminine accessory.
But once upon a time this wasn't the case.
Back in the 10th century, men in horseback riding
cultures in Europe wore heeled shoes,
which would make it easier for them
to stay in their stirrups.
The Persian calvary adopted inch high heels like these,
and the trend then spread to Europe
as a signifier that someone owned horses,
and was therefore wealthy.
Eventually upper class women also began wearing heels
to assert their equality.
And the shoes became a standard form of dress
for the wealthier members of society
throughout the 17th century.
By the turn of the 19th century,
men had renounced the high heeled shoe
as highly impractical.
But women's heels had already become
more decorative and fashionable.
So the custom continued.
Why can't you hold your nose and hum?
Humans are capable of lots of things, but humming
and holding our noses at the same time is not one of them.
The simple explanation is the same reason you can't exhale
while holding your nose and closing your mouth,
because there's nowhere for air to escape from.
To create a humming noise,
air must pass through your larynx,
also known as your voice box.
But it's impossible for this to happen
when your lips are tightly sealed.
As a result, you may be able to hum for a couple of seconds,
but you'll eventually have to open your mouth
and catch your breath.
Go ahead, try it.
Why can't newborn babies cry tears?
This might come as a surprise.
After all, most babies come out screaming
and crying from the get-go.
But newborns can't actually cry real tears.
This is because we're not immediately born
with functioning tear ducts, which usually don't develop
until we're somewhere between two weeks and two months old.
Tears are produced by the almond shaped lacrimal glands
under our eyelids.
They come down over our eyes,
and the tear ducts in the corners then act as
a handy drainage system to release them onto our cheeks.
Like a glass of water overflowing.
Scientists aren't really sure why
the system isn't in place straight away.
But most babies definitely make up for it
once those ducts open up.
What is the loneliest creature on Earth?
In 1989 an array of underwater hydrophones called SOSUS,
which had been built by the Navy to detect enemy submarines,
picked up some usual signals near the Pacific coast.
The sounds were familiar enough
to be classed as whale songs,
but they were at a frequency of 52 hertz.
Which is significantly higher than a blue whale,
which sings between 10 to 40 hertz,
or fin whales at around 20 hertz.
A marine mammal researcher named Bill Watkins
then decided to dedicate his life's work
to tracking the solitary whale, which he nicknamed 52.
By the time Watkins passed away in 2004,
he had collected 12 years worth of recordings
of the unrequited mating calls of this lonely whale.
Whose voice is simply too unique to attract a lover.
Researchers have never even seen the whale
and can't be certain if 52 still wanders the sea today.
Were stop signs always red?
Road signs are well-established nowadays,
but once upon a time
the iconic bright red stop sign was yellow instead.
The story goes, that in 1922
the American Association of State Highway Officials
met to determine a standard design
and settled on yellow as their second choice.
By this time, red was already used on traffic lights.
Partly because the color had historically signified danger,
but also because it is scientifically classed
as the color with the longest wavelength.
The cone shaped cells in our eyes are tuned to detect
different wavelengths on the visible light spectrum
from 380 to 700 nanometers away.
And as red falls right around 700,
it is the color that can be seen from furthest away.
Sadly, there was no red dye in 1922
that wouldn't eventually fade,
so they settled on yellow,
which has the second longest wavelength.
Until fade resistant red porcelain enamel
became available in 1954.
How many licks does it take to reach
the center of a Tootsie Pop?
This age old question has troubled anyone
with a sweet tooth and a taste for Tootsie Pops
since the candy launched the iconic slogan
in its commercials in 1970.
Although, as the commercial states,
the world may never know for sure,
a few official attempts have been made
to settle the debate once and for all.
Engineering students from Purdue University
designed a licking machine,
which was built to function exactly like a human tongue.
And found that it took an average
of 364 licks to reach the Tootsie Roll center.
20 human volunteers also participated in the experiment
the old fashioned way, and averaged around 252 licks.
So I guess the real number is somewhere between the two.
In other words, it takes too many licks
than anyone truly has time for.
Unless you want your tongue to end up like this.
How old is the phrase OMG?
OMG, which was officially welcomed
into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011,
is undoubtedly one of the most widely used
slang acronyms out there, besides LOL.
But the origins of the phrase are actually far older
than you might think.
In fact, the earliest use can be traced
right back to a letter dated from a British Navy admiral
named John Arbuthnot Fisher, in 1917.
And its recipient was none other than
Winston Churchill himself.
Fisher famously wrote, I hear that a new order of knighthood
is on the tapis, OMG.
Oh my God!
Shower it on the admirality.
If only Fisher could foresee what would become of
the English language in the 21st century.
Why are chefs hats pleated?
The classic chefs hat, which is officially called
a toque blanche, is instantly recognizable
for its towering white shape.
But there's more to this design than just fashion.
Origin stories vary from talk
that chefs were gifted special head gear
in the seventh century to placate them
into not poisoning the king.
To one tale that Henry VIII ordered his chefs to wear hats
after he found a hair in his soup.
By the time the toque blanche had reached
its recognizable design though,
the pleats came to serve a subtle purpose
by signifying how much experience a chef had.
In the early days, a chef with 100 pleats
might know 100 different ways to prepare eggs
or cook a chicken.
Nowadays chef's hats don't have so many pleats,
but a greater number, even if it's only three or four,
still demonstrates their level of experience.
Why does one nostril get blocked at a time?
One of the earliest signs that you're coming down
with a common cold might be a stuffed up nose.
And usually one nostril feels suspiciously
more blocked than the other.
This is thanks to a mind blowing process
called the nasal cycle, which happens constantly,
but only becomes apparent when you're sick.
You may never notice,
but you're always breathing more heavily
from one nostril than the other,
because they switch sides throughout the day.
The body inflates tissue with blood
to open one side of your nose
and partly close the other every three to six hours,
so that they work in regular shifts.
This system is thought to round out our sense of smell
because some smells are better picked up
by fast flowing air through the nose,
while others are detected with slow moving air.
A constant stream of air through both nostrils
would also dry out and kill the tiny hairs
which protect us from foreign contaminants.
This subtle process is amplified when you're sick
because the nostril that is effectively turned off
feels way more clogged than the other.
How was Nutella invented?
Nutella is one of the world's favorite spreads,
which can now be found in many shapes and forms.
But its beginnings are far humbler than you might imagine.
Although the first jar of Nutella left the factory
on April 20th, 1964, its origins
can be traced back to the 1940s.
During World War II,
an Italian pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero
decided to mix a sweet paste he'd made from hazelnuts
with a small amount of precious cocoa
to make his chocolate ration last as long as possible.
His popular creation named Giandujot
after a famous local carnival character at the time,
was then packaged in the form of a small loaf
and sold in slices.
Legend has it on one hot summer in 1949,
the same year Pietro died,
the Giandujot product melted in a warehouse in Alba.
So his son Michele packaged and sold it in jars instead.
After being branded Nutella in 1962,
the spread slowly gained its legendary status.
And it was a series of accidental coincidences
that started it all.
So do you want this format of video turned into a series?
If so, let me know in the comments below
and I might just do it.
Also, make sure to let me know down in the comments
which of these interesting facts wowed you the most,
and what's your favorite piece of random trivia.
Thanks for watching.
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