Jake Jacobs - The Giant Book Of Shocking Facts (The Big Book Of Facts 14)

The Giant Book of Shocking Facts

By

Jake Jacobs

Kindle Edition

* * * * *

Published by Jake Jacobs at Amazon Kindle

The Giant Book of Shocking Facts

Copyright 2018 by Jake Jacobs

The Vatican has a nominal GDP per capita of $365,796, making it the richest state on the planet by this measure.

Reference: ( http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/how-rich-vatican-so-wealthy-it-can-stumble-across-millions-euros-just-tucked-away-1478219 )

The conquest of British Somaliland was Italys only victory, without the cooperation of German troops, in World War II against the Allies.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Somaliland#British_Somaliland )

Researchers trained pigeons to discriminate between paintings by Picasso and by Monet. They won the humorous Ig Nobel Prize in psychology for their work.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_intelligence#Discrimination_abilities_of_pigeons )

The Baphomet Sigil, which is also known as the pentagram with the goat in it, is actually trademarked by the Church of Satan.

Reference: ( https://www.churchofsatan.com/history-sigil-of-baphomet.php )

Pink Floyd band members Richard Wright and David Gilmour have each cited Wish You Were Here as their favorite Pink Floyd album.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_You_Were_Here_(Pink_Floyd_album) )

The worlds most powerful nuclear powered icebreaker, which routinely visits the North Pole, cant cross the equator and sail to the southern hemisphere because the tropical waters are too warm for it to operate.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamal_(icebreaker) )

President Martin Van Buren spoke Dutch as his first language.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Van_Buren )

Hundreds of hip-hop songs can be traced back to Slick Rick's and Doug E. Fresh's La Di Da Di.

Reference: ( https://genius.com/videos/The-lyrical-legacy-of-la-di-da-di )

During World War II in Africa, U.S. tanks were outmatched by the superior German tanks. Therefore, the U.S. used Jeeps with machine guns to go behind enemy lines and destroy the fuel trucks supplying gas to the German tanks, thereby disabling them.

Reference: ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsa6lTbZVQs&feature=youtu.be )

The term weather forecast was coined by a 19 th century naval captain; the same one who took Charles Darwin on his famous voyage in 1931. After he committed suicide, Darwin contributed 100 to a fund set up for his wife and daughter.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoy )

The word didgeridoo is a western invention, it isn't native to Australia.

Reference: ( http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Didgeridoo#Etymology )

Schizophrenia has been linked to maternal exposure to influenza.

Reference: ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2441883/ )

McDonalds, and other fast food chains, werent accepting credit cards until 2002.

Reference: ( http://money.cnn.com/2002/11/26/news/companies/mcdonalds/ )

The first German serviceman killed in World War II was killed by the Japanese and the first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians.

Reference: ( http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Defensewatch_111903_Lighter,00.html )

Metcalfe's law states that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law )

The largest surviving relative of the Tyrannosaurus is the common Ostrich.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theropoda#Size )

Albert Einstein published a paper in 1905 that proved atoms are real.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion )

The Hamza River is an underground river discovered in 2011 that flows 13,000 feet below the Amazon River.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamza_River )

Susan B. Anthony's father withdrew her from a school that would not allow her to learn long division as boys did.

Reference: ( http://kenburns.com/films/alone/ )

It is illegal in China to be reincarnated without government approval.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Religious_Affairs_Bureau_Order_No._5 )

4 of the 5 longest bridges in the United States are located in Louisiana.

Reference: ( http://listosaur.com/miscellaneous/top-10-longest-bridges-in-the-united-states/ )

In Northern Ireland, there are multiple peace lines, which are concrete and metal border fences that separate Protestant and Catholic communities, with some as long as 3 miles and up to 25 feet high.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_lines )

The perseverative cognition hypothesis states that health deterioration stems not from a stressful event, but rather from the rumination on such an event.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseverative_cognition )

Soft-shelled crabs are just regular crabs removed from water after moulting to prevent their shells from hardening and not a species of crab with soft shells.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-shell_crab )

Up through the 18 th century, it was cheaper to move a ton of cargo across the Atlantic then to move it 30 miles over land.

Reference: ( https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/ch2c1en.html )

Thomas Jefferson was among many things, an accomplished architect. Some notable works designed by Jefferson include the Virginia State House, several buildings in the University of Virginia, which he also founded, and the colonnades in the White House.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffersonian_architecture )

Nazi Party propagandists used hiking, nature and dogs to promote Hitler to voters that were anxious about his racism and talk of revolution.

Reference: ( https://placesjournal.org/article/hitler-at-home/ )

During World War II, German soldiers in North Africa ate camel feces to cure dysentery outbreak.

Reference: ( https://warhistoryonline.com/featured/german-soldiers-eat-poop.html )

Nazi Germany had the most powerful anti-smoking campaign in the world. Smoking was banned on public transportation, restricted in public spaces, and was openly criticized by Hitler himself.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tobacco_movement_in_Nazi_Germany )

The Disney movie The Rescuers has a second home video release that included a picture of a topless woman in the background in two different frames forcing a recall of almost 3.4 million copies.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rescuers )

Deinosuchus was a massive ancestor of the crocodile, measuring around 10 to 12 meters long. By studying teeth marks on other fossils, paleontologists have concluded the Deinosuchus killed and ate some of the most fearsome dinosaurs of its era, including the T-Rex.

Reference: ( http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/d/deinosuchus.html )

th century China's use of the porcelain tea cup stunted their advancement of science when compared to Europeans who preferred glass cups.

Reference: ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Ff0D-dWew )

A post World War II tank, that was used in a nuclear test, stayed in service for 23 years afterwards.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_(tank)#Nuclear_tests )

Leo Major is a Canadian soldier who singlehandedly captured 93 German soldiers, liberated the Dutch city of Zwolle alone and captured and held a hill against 54,000 men with a group of 20 soldiers. He did all of this after losing an eye from a phosphorous grenade.

Reference: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9o_Major )

When William the Conqueror died, his funeral was delayed for several days. By the time they laid him to rest, his body was too bloated from decay to fit in his tomb. They tried to force it in and he exploded.