The Nilotic peoples Nuer, Dinka, and Atuot of South Sudan occasionally sacrifice a cucumber instead of an ox. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://brill.com/previewpdf/journals/jra/22/1/article-p47_4.xml
WTF Fun Fact – Cucumber Sacrifice
People
Fun facts about people in history and other weird celebrity facts!
WTF Fun Fact – Jordan’s Nike Contract
Nike had a clause in Michael Jordan’s record rookie contract: be rookie of the year, average 20 ppg, be an all star, or sell $4 mill worth shoes in a year. Jordan became rookie of the year, scored 28.2 ppg, named all star, and Nike sold $100 mill of shoes in 1984-85. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.espn.com/blog/playbook/dollars/post/_/id/2918/how-nike-landed-michael-jordan
WTF Fun Fact – The Isolator
In the 1920’s, Hugo Gernsback invented The Isolator which was a helmet aimed to improve concentration by blocking out noise and narrowing the users field of view. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/12/22/the-isolator-an-invention-from-1925-designed-to-improve-work-productivity/
WTF Fun Fact – Milton Hershey School
Milton Hershey didn’t have any children so he opened an orphanage school and left his entire fortune including majority ownership of Hershey Chocolate Company in a trust for the school. 70% of the company is still owned by Milton Hershey School. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_S._Hershey
WTF Fun Fact – Inca Quipu
The Incas used colorful knotted cords called Quipu to record numbers and archives such as census data, tax obligations, and storehouse records. They had up to a thousand unique strands. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu
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 – World’s Largest Gathering
The Kumbh Mela (or Grand Pitcher Festival) is a huge Hindu religious festival that takes place in India every 12 years. In 2001, 60 million people attended, breaking the record for the world’s biggest gathering. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46834335
WTF Fun Fact – Reagan’s Squirrely Advice
Ronald Reagan enjoyed the White House’s squirrel population so much that on his last day in office he left a sign for them warning them to beware of George H.W. Bush’s dog. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/politics/remarks-by-former-president-george-hw-bush.html
WTF Fun Fact – Living Buddha Card
In 2016, there were 870 Chinese-licensed “living Buddhas,” searchable by name, temple and identity card number or “living-Buddha card number.” The license process aims to help cut down on fraud. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-reincarnation-law-20160307-story.html
WTF Fun Facts – Elon Was Broke
In 2008, Elon Musk had to borrow money from friends to pay rent after he invested all US$180 million earned from the sale of PayPal to Ebay on his three ventures SpaceX, Tesla and Solar City. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.ccn.com/elon-musk-broke-save-tesla-in-2008-now-worth-21-billion/
WTF Fun Fact – Shaggy The Marine
Grammy award winning Jamaican rapper Shaggy, famous for his hits “It Wasn’t Me” and “Boombastic”, served as a US Marine in Operation Desert Storm during the First Persian Gulf War. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaggy_(musician)
WTF Fun Fact – Poe’s The Conchologist’s First Book
Edgar Allan Poe’s bestselling book as a living author was a schoolbook he was hired to abridge and reorganize titled The Conchologist’s First Book. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2015/12/14/edgar_allan_poe_s_textbook_on_seashells_was_his_only_bestseller.html
WTF Fun Fact – Whipple-Scrumpets
In Roald Dahl’s Charlie and Chocolate Factory, the Oompa-Loompas where at one point known as Whipple-Scrumpets.– WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28980257
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 – Francis Pegahmagabow
Francis Pegahmagabow was a Canadian indigenous man who fought in WWI. He killed 378 enemies with his Ross rifle and captured another 300, making him one of the most successful marksmen in WWI. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/legendary-ojibwa-sniper-unsung-hero-of-ww-i-1.2725241
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 – Magnus Carlsen Grandmaster
While playing a 3-minute blitz game of chess at the World Championships in 2019, grandmaster Magnus Carlsen wasted 20 seconds of his time taking his suit coat off, drinking water, and organizing his pieces – and still won. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQqpeMNtL5A