David Fickes > Quotes

“The zombie ant fungi can hijack an ant’s central nervous and force the ant to do what it wants. When an ant contacts the fungal spores, the fungus infects the ant and quickly spreads throughout its body. Fungal cells in the ant's head release chemicals that hijack the ant's central nervous system. The fungus forces the ant to climb up vegetation and clamp down onto a leaf or twig before killing it. After the ant is dead, the fungus grows a spore releasing stalk out of the back of the ant's head to infect more ants on the ground below.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff for Kids: 1,500 Fascinating and Educational Facts

“111,111,111 multiplied by 111,111,111 equals 12,345,678,987,654,321.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Volume 2: 1,200 Fascinating Facts

“The placebo effect works even if people know it is a placebo. In studies, if people were told the pill they were taking was a placebo but were also told that placebos can have an effect, they experienced the same outcome as those unknowingly taking a placebo.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Volume 2: 1,200 Fascinating Facts

“Southern Florida is the only place in the world that alligators and crocodiles exist together naturally in the wild.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“The meteorologist that first named hurricanes named them after politicians he didn't like, so he could make disparaging comments about them wreaking havoc, etc.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“314)  Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is the fear of the number 666.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“252)  For humans, the rarest hair and eye color combination is red hair and blue eyes that account for only about 0.17% of the population. The combination is so rare because both red hair and blue eyes are recessive traits, where both parents must carry the gene for the child to have it.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“For sedation, natural redheads require about 20% more anesthesia. They also require more topical anesthetics, but they need lower doses of pain killers and seem to be less sensitive to electric shock, needle pricks, and stinging pain. Both parents must pass along a recessive trait for their child to have red hair; the trait is also responsible for skin color and for midbrain function that determines pain response.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“2350)  Albert Einstein's 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics was for the photoelectric effect, not for his work on relativity. He suggested for the first time that light is both a wave and a particle and established the existence of photons.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“Since 1993, tear gas has been banned in warfare, but it is still used in domestic law enforcement.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“In 1989, Spy Magazine sent out small checks to some of the wealthiest and most famous people to see who would cash them. They first sent out checks for $1.11 to 58 people; 26 people cashed them. They sent a second check for $0.64 to the 26 people who cashed the first check; 13 people cashed the second check. They sent a third check for $0.13 to the 13 people who cashed the second check; only 2 people, a Saudi Arabian arms dealer and Donald Trump, cashed the third check.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Volume 2: 1,200 Fascinating Facts

“Christopher Cross is the only artist to win best new artist and record, album, and song of the year Grammys in the same year in 1981. Adele is the only other artist to win all four awards, but she didn’t win them in the same year.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know: 1,500 Fascinating Facts

“Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“422)  You will be the last person to die in your lifetime.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“The word mortgage comes from a French word that means death contract.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know: 1,500 Fascinating Facts

“In the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme, there is no indication that he is an egg. Early illustrations portrayed him as a young boy.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Volume 2: 1,200 Fascinating Facts

“In 1957, bubble wrap was invented by sealing two shower curtains together with some air pockets between; it was originally intended to be used as wallpaper.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“873)  Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaunga-horonukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the longest place name in the world; it is a hill in New Zealand.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know: 1,500 Fascinating Facts

“The most searched tutorial on YouTube is how to kiss.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“The asshole is the first part of the human body to form in the womb, so every human starts as an asshole; some just stay that way.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“436)  An ultracrepidarian is a person who expresses opinions on matters outside the scope of their knowledge or expertise.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Mega Edition: Over 3,000 Fascinating Facts

“The Snickers candy bar is named after the creator's horse.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know: 1,500 Fascinating Facts

“In 1804, Alexander Hamilton was shot and mortally wounded by Aaron Burr in a duel in the same location that his eldest son was shot and mortally wounded in a duel three years earlier in 1801.”
― David Fickes, Really Interesting Stuff You Don't Need to Know Volume 2: 1,200 Fascinating Facts