Thunder-plump is an early 19th century Scottish word meaning a heavy and sudden shower of rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. – WTF Fun Facts
Awesome
WTF Fun Fact – Swiss Bunkers
Switzerland is the only country in the world which could fit more than its entire population into bunkers in case of an emergency. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=2fd3ae6425264b2fb54247636671810c
WTF Fun Fact – Meteorwrong
A meteorwrong is a rock that is believed to be a meteorite, but is in fact just a rock that is terrestrial in origin, also known as a pseudometeorite. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meteorwrong
WTF Fun Fact – Nightingale Floor
The builders of Japan’s Nijo castle created purposefully squeaky floors, known as nightingale floors, to prevent ninja assassins from sneaking in. The floors were designed so that just the lightest step produced a clearly audible sound warning guards. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/04/nightingale-floor-ancient-japanese.html
WTF Fun Fact – La Cucaracha Marijuana
There is a version of the Mexican song La Cucaracha sang by Poncho Villa’s troops in battle during the Mexican Revolution that is about a cockroach that can’t walk because it doesn’t have marijuana to smoke. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.leafly.com/news/lifestyle/la-cucaracha-references-marijuana
WTF Fun Fact – Whoopass Stew
“The Powerpuff Girls” was originally called “Whoopass Stew!” Rather than adding Chemical X to his formula, Professor Utonium accidentally adds a can of whoop ass and creates The Whoopass Girls. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsx0uF80n8U
WTF Fun Fact – Cowabunga!
Snoopy used the phrase ‘Cowabunga!’ in the 1950’s, long before the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles used it as their catchphrase in the 1980’s. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.comixology.com/Snoopy-Cowabunga/digital-comic/47154
WTF Fun Fact – Japanese Ama
Ama or uminchu, are female Japanese pearl divers that start diving at the age of 12-13 and are sometimes active into their 70s. They free dive with only a wetsuit and a traditional headscarf. They have a unique and defining technique in which they release air in a long whistle as they resurface. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ama_(diving)
WTF Fun Fact – 1960’s Skydiver
In 1960, Col. Joseph Kittinger set the then world record for the highest skydive at just over 19 miles. During free fall, he reached a speed of 614 mph, nearly the speed of sound. His record was finally broken by his mentee in 2012 – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger
WTF Fun Fact – Stompie The Tank
After being denied permission to construct a building on an empty lot, a London man applied for a permit for a tank. The council approved thinking it was a septic tank. Instead the man bought a Russian T-34 tank, parked it on his property and pointed the gun towards the city planning office. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/stompie-the-mandela-way-t-34-tank
WTF Fun Fact – Horrendous Space Kablooie
A Calvin and Hobbes comic from 1992 referred to the start of the universe as the “Horrendous Space Kablooie” (or HSK) because they thought “The Big Bang” was too boring. The term has since become popular among scientists and has been included in books and university courses. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_and_Hobbes#Art_and_academia
WTF Fun Fact – Recycling Facts
Incredibly, recycling just one ton of paper saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, 17 mature trees, 682.5 gallons of oil and 7000 gallons of water. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.recyclingbin.com/Recycling-Facts
WTF Fun Fact – NASA Sextant And Slide Rule
On NASA’s Gemini XII flight, the computer docking system failed and Buzz Aldrin (who did his doctoral thesis at MIT on line-of-sight orbital mechanics) successfully calculated the docking trajectory using a sextant and a slide rule. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/gemini-xii-crew-masters-the-challenges-of-spacewalks
WTF Fun Fact – Vesna Vulović
Vesna Vulović was a Serbian flight attendant who was the only surivor after JAT Flight 367 exploded on January 26, 1972. As a result, she holds the world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute. She fell over 33,000 feet while trapped in the fuselage. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87
WTF Fun Fact – Storm Ciara Tailwind
Recently, a British Airways Boeing 747 set a new sub-sonic record for a flight between New York’s JFK and London’s Heathrow airports. The jumbo jet maxed out at 825 mph while riding a 200 mph jet stream tailwind to arrive in 4 hours and 56 minutes. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/storm-ciara-flight-record-new-york-london-time-atlantic-winds-british-airways-a9325396.html
WTF Fun Fact – Cow Shoes
During the US prohibition era, moonshiners would wear cow shoes. The fancy footwear left hoofprints instead of footprints, helping distillers and smugglers evade police. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/cow-shoes-prohibition-1924/
WTF Fun Fact – Trash Cleanup Brings Olive Ridley Hatchlings
Volunteers spent 2 years cleaning up over 11,500,000 pounds of trash along Mumbai’s Versova beach in one of ‘the world’s largest beach clean-ups’, resulting in Olive Ridley turtles returning to lay eggs for the first time in 20 years. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/mumbai-beach-clean-up-turtles-2/
WTF Fun Fact – A Monkey Faced Orchid Named Dracula
There’s a species of orchid that looks like a monkey’s face called ‘Dracula Simia’. It is native to the tropical cloud forests of Southeastern Ecuador and Peru as it grows best in elevations above 2,000 feet. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_simia