20 Facts To Sharpen Your Knowledge About The Wonderful World.

"Mecca is considered the spiritual center of Islam as it was where the Prophet Mohammed is said to have received his first revelations in the early 7th century. At its heart is the cube-shaped Ka'ba, built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, according to the Quran". 

" There was a news story recently where some guy showed Putin an expensive ring. Putin asked if he could hold it, then he put the ring into his pocket, got up, and walked away with his bodyguards. It almost caused an international incident, and the guy was pressured to invent a story that he gifted the ring to Putin" 

"But why only a Brazilian passport ⁉️That's quite a common conception - that because of Brazil's diverse population, almost anyone on the planet could plausibly claim to be Brazilian and the passports are thus in high demand. A Brazilian official made such a claim to an al-Jazeera journalist in 2011. In fact, there isn't much data to suggest this assertion is currently valid. A survey by Vocativ in 2015 found Brazil did not feature in its list of the most expensive - and therefore most desirable - phoney passports available on the dark web (the criminal underbelly of the internet). Back in the 1990s, though, it was a different story. The Brazilian government itself concedes that before it introduced a raft of security features in 2006, the "Brazilian passport was one of the most commonly f@ked". The Kims could also easily pass as part of Brazil's large populations of East Asian origin."

"recognize and honor dogs during Tihar, a garland of flowers is draped around the neck of every dog—pets, police canines, service animals, and strays alike. In addition to the flower necklace, each dog gets a red mark on its forehead called a tika, made from a red dye powder. The tika marks the dog as a sacred being (who is definitely allowed on the couch even with muddy paws). The tika also works as a way of letting dogs display their own appreciation as the mark serves as a blessing to anyone who encounters the dog during Tihar." 

"A cat with gang tattoos had been rescued from a Mexican prison in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico during a police raid. The cat is believed to have been a victim of severe mistreatment during his time at the prison. Then, through unanimous voting, the Egyptian cat was sent to the US — where it was adopted by an unidentified, adoptive human." 

"The 25 year-old shipyard worker was sentenced to 17 years of prison. The civilian painter and sand blaster told authorities that he needed to go home because he was suffering from an anxiety attack and had no more vacation or sick leave. He said he never envisioned such extensive damage when he used a lighter to set fire to a plastic bag of rags that he left on a bunk in a state room. The blaze quickly grew into an inferno spewing superheated smoke that billowed from hatches. It took 12 hours for more than 100 firefighters to save the submarine."

"They were introduced near the end of the 19th century as a way to simplify sweeping. True to their name, stair dust corners prevent clumps of dust from developing in hard-to-sweep areas. Simply put, their small, concave shape prevents dust from gathering in corners by getting rid of corners altogether."

"This mating strategy means each brown antechinus litter contains babies from multiple fathers--typically three or four, according to previous studies in the wild."

"The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster takes a pretty lighthearted view of religion and spends the majority of their time endeavouring to point out to folks that, in their opinion, all the differences that people insist on having with their fellow humans on religious grounds are a little bit silly. They try to make their point in funny ways, and one 'Pastafarian', as they like to be known, in New Zealand decided to do so by getting his driver's licence snap taken with a colander on his head, as you can see above. The resulting licence is a little bit absurd, but he has stated that it is real and legitimate, given that he asked for the right to wear the colander on religious grounds, as it is part of his beliefs. He's not the first person to try it, however, as a fellow 'pastafarian' in Austria also won the right to do so a little while back, and now has an equally brilliant licence photo. "

"The leader of the Roman Catholic Church, who has made waves reaching out to disaffected Catholics and insisting on making the poor a top priority, hasn't watched TV since July 15, 1990."

"Records of cannibalism among anacondas are usually of large females ingesting smaller males. After mating, females sometimes eat one or more of the males from the breeding ball. This extra food may help the female green anacondas survive their long gestation when their ability to move about and forage is limited. " 

"Fun Fact:  Anacondas are viviparous, bearing live young. Females usually give birth to 20 to 40 babies, but can give birth to up to 100 babies. Like all boas, anacondas do not lay eggs; instead, they give birth to live young. The young are attached to a yolk sac and surrounded by a clear membrane, not a shell, as they develop in their mother's body. This ensures they are kept at a fairly constant temperature and are protected from predators."

"Tilly, was a captive killer whale who spent most of his life performing at SeaWorld Orlando. He was captured in Iceland in 1983 at Hafnarfjörður, near Reykjavík. About a year later, he was transferred to Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia. He was subsequently transferred in 1992 to SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. He sired 21 calves, of which nine are still alive as of 2021. Tilikum was heavily featured in CNN Films' 2013 documentary Blackfish, which claims that killer whales in captivity suffer psychological damage and become unnaturally aggressive. Tilikum was involved in the deaths of three people: Keltie Byrne– a trainer at the now-defunct Sealand of the Pacific, Daniel Dukes – a man trespassing in SeaWorld Orlando, and SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau."

"Pu'sea' cat w Pawsports💀Cats have been carried on ships for many reasons, most importantly to control rodents. Vermin aboard a ship can cause damage to ropes, woodwork, and more recently, electrical wiring. In addition, rodents threaten ships' stores, devour crews' foodstuff, and can cause economic damage to ships' cargo, such as grain. They are also a source of disease, which is dangerous for ships that are at sea for long periods of time. Rat fleas are carriers of plague, and rats on ships were believed[a] to be a primary vector of the Black Death."

"The scandal broke in November 2000 when Carlos Ribagorda, a member of Spain's gold medal-winning intellectually handicapped basketball team in Sydney, claimed that he and other athletes in categories such as track and field, table tennis and swimming were not mentally deficient. 'Of the 200 Spanish athletes at Sydney at least 15 had no type of physical or mental handicap - they didn't even pass medical or psychological examinations,' he wrote in Capital magazine just days after the Paralympics ended. Ribargorda said he had played for the Spanish Paralympic basketball team for over two years but had no mental handicap. He said the only test he had been asked to complete at his first training session was six press-ups, after which his blood pressure was taken, nor did he face an intelligence test when he was in Australia. The final team did comprise two players with IQs below 70 as required, but the other 10 posed as mentally disabled players with the help of fake medical certificates they were provided with."

"The World's Biggest Liar competition is held every November at the Bridge Inn, Santon Bridge, in memory of Will Ritson (1808–1890), a pub landlord from Wasdale, who was well known for his "tall tales". One of Ritson's most famous fibs was that turnips grew so large in the Lake District that people carved them out to make cow sheds. Want to listen more interesting tales from winner of this competition?"

"People named ‘Ju-ae’ in North Korea will now be required to change their names as part of the regime’s effort to isolate leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Ju-ae, from the rest, according to The Korea Times.Multiple anonymous sources told Radio Free Asia that authorities in the country are forcing people named Ju-ae to change their names."

"is also known as the "revenge bedtime procrastination." The "revenge" prefix is believed to have been added first in China in the late 2010s, possibly relating to the 996 working hour system (72 hours per week). "Revenge" because many feel that it is the only way they can take any control over their daytime self.⁠ The term "bedtime procrastination" became popular based on a 2014 study from the Netherlands.⁠ Writer Daphne K. Lee wrote about it on Twitter, describing it as "a phenomenon in which people who don't have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early in order to regain some sense of freedom during late night hours."⁠ An individual may procrastinate sleep due to a variety of causes. The person may not necessarily be avoiding sleep, but rather continuing to complete activities they perceive as more enjoyable than sleep"